People in Bloomington may not be familiar with Buddhism because it is not a mainstream religion in the U.S. Doju, a priest wearing Buddhism clothes, greeted people who entered one of the Buddhism temples in Bloomington for a routine gathering Sunday morning.
Zen Buddhism, which is known as Japanese Buddhism, is one of the schools of Buddhism. Doju has been practicing it for eight years when he was in graduate school.
Buddhism gathering at Sanshin Zen Community.
Preparing himself for a career in plant biology for 10 years, Doju, however, found that a scientist’s life was different from what he had expected. “I felt like I was missing in my life and I did not really know what the next step should be,” Doju said. Remembering his interests in books about Buddhism philosophy in high school, he thought it would be a good time to try meditation to ease his anxiety.
A concept of “letting things go” instead of seizing everything in his hands was one of the guidelines in Buddhism philosophy. Doju said that he thought of nothing and just focused on the breathing and the feelings in his body at that moment.
Doju explains how to do Zen meditation.
He originally lived in St. Louis and then moved to Bloomington to practice with Shohaku Okumura, who was a Japanese priest and founder of Sanshin Zen Community in Bloomington. Okumura had set goals for him to achieve before he was eligible to become a priest including practicing for a whole year and sewing his own okesa, which is a robe priests wear. One stitch at a time, it takes him two years to sew the huge piece of fabric by hand.
Doju said that his parents might have thought it was strange at first because Buddhism was not a mainstream part of American culture. “But my family is always being very encouraging towards letting me do whatever I like.” His mother attended the ceremony when he became a priest.
Doju has started his master’s degree in religious studies at Indiana University to dig into Buddhism. He practices at the temple from 5 am to 7 in the morning twice a week and does meditation for an hour in the morning and in the evening every day to clear his mind.
Priests can get married and interact with the local community in Japanese Buddhism while other Buddhism monks have stricter rules. Having a part-time job, having hobbies such as gardening and hiking, and going to IU for another master’s degree, Doju thought he lived a normal life when he was not practicing.
Okumura, as a teacher and transmitter of Zen Buddhism, has expectations for Doju. “Young people are the future of Buddhism in America,” he said, “We wish him to continue to study Buddhism, practice Zen and continue our effort to transmit Zen Buddhism from Asia or Japan, in my case, to this country. ”
Okumura praised Doju’s passion and kindness when he voluntarily took over the deceased office manager’s job. He helps to run the Sanshin temple in Bloomington and answers people’s questions in Buddhism. “I am seen as a leader in my community, the Buddhist community. So, I have to meet their expectations and the role,” Doju said.
Doju talks about what he has learned from Buddhism.
In Buddhism, it said that people suffered because they created attachments. Doju said what he learned from it was not to create too far from the plan, “You know, it is very often that our plans don’t work out.”
As a priest, he follows the philosophy and keeps learning lessons from Zen Buddhism. “I think that we often think that we have to do something extraordinary or something special in order to be successful. But, I think just living really down to earth in a normal way is really healthy, ” Doju said.
