01
The Name
The temple's formal name is 威光禪寺, Waken Temple — built in 1996, one name unchanged for thirty years. 威光 is majestic light — the light of the Buddha's power; the name comes from the repentance liturgy: "Gathering the majestic light of a thousand Buddhas, dissolving the karmic obstructions of lives past" (The Repentance Liturgy of the Compassionate Bodhimanda) — the name of the temple, and the daily work of the temple. 雲上威光, "Waken above the clouds," is the plaque over this online gate: with the grounds closed to visitors, above the clouds is where the temple and its students meet.
02
Our Way
"Rely on the dharma, not on persons; on the meaning, not on the words; on wisdom, not on consciousness; on sutras of definitive meaning, not on those of provisional meaning" (Mahaparinirvana Sutra, fascicle 6, T12n0374). These four reliances are the temple's way: what this site presents has its source; what is unsettled is honestly called unsettled.
03
The Fourfold Assembly and the Student's Way
The gate of the Buddha rests on the fourfold assembly: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen — the two renunciant assemblies uphold the discipline and transmit the teaching; the two lay assemblies protect the dharma and study it. The student's way is nothing beyond the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation: draw near good teachers and hear the true dharma, reflect on it thoroughly, and practice in accord with it. Do not rush toward the lofty; settle first into the ordinary. One stick of incense, one sutra, one period of sitting — continued day after day, this itself is the place of practice.
04
The Han Tradition: Teaching, Discipline, Practice
Han-tradition Buddhism was founded on the labor of translation, and three strands run unbroken through it: teaching, discipline, and practice. Teaching is the meaning set out in sutra and treatise, made clear by generations of translators and by the commentaries of the ancient masters. Discipline is the code the community rests on, restraining body and speech and forming the character of a monastic. Practice is the gates of stillness and insight, of mindfulness of the Buddha, of recitation — the body carrying out what has been understood. None of the three can be spared: teaching without discipline speaks but does not act; discipline without practice guards but does not advance; practice without teaching is diligent but easily goes astray. What this site presents is arranged along these three.
05
This Site as a Place of Practice
A place of practice need not be built of earth and timber; wherever the mind can settle is such a place. This site is ordered along a central axis and entered through practice, and what it seeks is not a long visit but a single steady thought: come in, sit a moment, light one lamp, read one passage, then leave and do what needs doing — that is enough. Whatever is unsettled is plainly called unsettled here; whatever has a source is given one. The site does not court your time, and it does not practice on your behalf.
06
Location
The temple is in El Monte, California; the address below is for letters and mailed offerings. The resident community's daily liturgy and ceremonies continue as ever; the temple, however, is not at present open to visitors, and we kindly ask that no requests to visit be sent. Students of the ten directions are welcomed here, in the online temple — a place of practice is not its walls but a moment of accord.
Waken Temple11657 Lower Azusa RoadEl Monte, CA 91732USANot open to visitors