On Nov 19, 2011 Somerset County Cultural Diversity Coalition awarded the 2011 Faith Community Diversity Award to So Shim Sa Zen Center. During a formal Interfaith Thanksgiving Dinner the president of the Coalition Dr. Tulsi Maharjan also presented Ven. Myong-Ahn and the Zen Center with citations from both the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders as well as The State of New Jersey. The Diversity Award and the citations were issued as a recognition of So Shim Sa's activities of "promoting the grater understanding and civility, tolerance, diversity, collaboration and cooperation". We are honored to receive this recognition from all three agencies.
On Monday, June 22 nd Soshima Zen Center presented “Life, Death, Bardo, Next... a Meditative Journey Cloaked in Music”, a dramatic representation of the universal human journey as reflected in Mahayana Buddhist teachings. Attendees entered a darkened room to encounter a circle of cushions surrounded by a ring of electric candles. As they lay supine in the silent hall, the reverberation of the meditation bell signaled the beginning of the journey. Then, a dramatic narration began, accompanied by musical selections chosen to inspire the listener to imagine each stage of the process. The narrative told the story of a person transitioning from living mundane everyday life, unmindful of death, through sudden diagnosis of serious illness, struggle with disease, gradual acceptance of death, passing away of the body, the migration of the spirit, wandering in the bardo, liberation from the wheel of samsara, and the attainment of the Bodhisattva ideal. The conclusion of the prog...
