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MKZC
P.O. Box 270494
Dallas TX 75227-0494
Tel: 214-388-1122
zenhelp@mkzc.org
about MKZC I about the teachers I a message from the teacher I mission statement
About the Maria Kannon Zen Center
The Maria Kannon Zen Center is a non-profit corporation which offers a setting for people of various backgrounds and faith traditions to practice Zen. The members are bound together by a common commitment to cultivate wisdom and compassion in their daily lives and in their relationships in society and the whole world. While offering opportunities for people to practice Zen meditation, the Center also welcomes groups who practice diverse meditation forms. Further, the Center provides opportunities for people to offer their services to the wider community in various ways.
Members practice Zen in the lay Zen tradition of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage, also referred to as the Harada-Yasutani lineage. Sanbo Kyodan Zen is based on the combined teaching and practice of Harada Daiun (Great Cloud), Yasutani Hakuun (White Cloud), and Yamada Koun (Cultivating Cloud). The lineage brings together elements of the Soto and Rinzai Zen traditions. Its home practice place is San-un Zendo, (Zen Hall of the Three Clouds), located in Kamakura, Japan, and now has affiliate Zen centers and communities in different parts of the world. (See webpage, Sanbo Kyodan Religious Foundation)..
Ruben Habito, founding Teacher of MKZC, received authorization to teach Zen by Yamada Koun in 1988, and was conferred the Zen Master's name of Keiun (Grace Cloud). In his early twenties, Habito went to Japan in 1970 from his native Philippines and was ordained Jesuit priest in Tokyo in 1976. He then completed doctoral studies in Buddhism at Tokyo University, and taught at the Jesuit-run Sophia University. He continued Zen practice under Yamada, and in 1989 moved to Dallas to teach at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University where he continues to be a faculty member. He is married and has two sons.
Valerie Forstman assists Ruben Habito in teaching duties. She has practiced Zen with MKZC since 1994. Ryoun Yamada, current head of Sanbo Kyodan, appointed Forstman Teacher in 2005, a position confirmed by Habito. She continues to practice under his guidance.
Helen Cortes assists Ruben Habito in teaching duties. She has practiced Zen with MKZC since 1992. Ruben Habito appointed her Asst. Zen Teacher in 2006. She serves as Executive Director at the Zen Center and continues to practice under Habito.
“Zen can offer something very simple, very direct and readily accessible to anyone seeking inner peace, seeking healing in some form, or seeking answers to questions such as 'Who am I?' 'How can I find meaning in my life?' 'How can I live in a most authentic way?'
As we look around us, we see how there is so much woundedness on different levels, individual, social and ecological. Some of us may already be engaged in tasks of social change or in some form of ecological action, yet in all this we also come realize that there is a deeper wound we each need to address. Deep within, we realize that what we seek is our own peace within ourselves, as well as with one another.
Zen practice offers very concrete guidelines toward a realization of our connectedness with mountains and rivers, with every sentient being, with all that there is. This realization of our connectedness with one another is the key to healing ourselves, and to healing our Earth.
– Ruben Habito
The Maria Kannon Zen Center is a non-profit corporation which offers a setting for people of various backgrounds and faith traditions to practice Zen. The members are bound together by a common commitment to cultivate wisdom and compassion. The center's primary commitment is to offer people an opportunity to practice Zen meditation as well as promote an ecumenical haven of diverse meditation forms for practitioners. For members who wish to practice beyond meditation, the Center offers an opportunity to offer their services to the larger community and provide activites with groups of common interests.