Tax deductible
By end of January 2020, either we finish the serious renovations required by the government at American Zen College (officially known as Dizang-Qi Buddhist Association of America), or this sacred and valuable place (one of the only two places in US that holds relics of Shakyamuni Buddha) might be shut down completely due to the failure to meet the construction code. This is a race against time and we need your help to save American Zen College. Your donation is tax exempted.
You will also receive the following benefits when you donate to this project:
$200 free 2-day retreat at American Zen College
$500 free 7-day retreat at American Zen College
$1000 free stress reduction program for one year (twelve 2-day retreat plus regular online practice)
Shakyamuni Buddha's relics
First of all, how could this even be? Relics of Shakyamuni Buddha are stored in American Zen College? Yes, this is true. We are not kidding. This has not been realized by most people, not even in the Buddhist communities, but indeed, American Zen College is one of the only two places in US that holds these precious relics of Shakyamuni Buddha. If this place was in one of the Asian countries, there would be thousands of visitors daily.
So how exactly did these relics come to American Zen College? Long story short: these relics were given to Goryeo (an ancient Korean kingdom) as gift from India. For long time these relics were stored in a Buddhism temple in South Korea and were really considered as national treasure. Back in late 1970s and early 1980s, South Korea experienced a dark political time and it was during that period time, this temple was not well maintained and got into a very bad condition. It happens that a four star general in South Korea is a good friend of our previous owner, a South Korean Buddhist monk, and this four star general decided to send these relics to American Zen College.
In early 1980s, these relics arrived in American Zen College, and the monk built a Stupa to store the relics. Below is the picture taken when these relics just arrived and the picture of the Stupa.
Believe it or not, one day I was working in the garden and a gentleman came in. He told me that he followed the energy flow and got here.
Historical place facing new issues
So how did this place get troubles? It all started in 1978. As mentioned, the previous owner of this place is a South Korean Buddhist monk. In 1978 he purchased the current property and established a Buddhist temple. He gave it a very nice name: American Zen College (It was dismissed upon selling to us. We then registered American Zen College as the trade mark of our own non profit organization.) With a lot of effort, he built a beautiful and fantastic Buddha Hall, in addition to three buildings already existing back then, as the main part of this Buddhism organization. Unfortunately, the Buddha Hall was built without a permit. And there was never a permit to this building. This is essentially the core of all the issues we are facing.
For three decades, the government did not bother to inspect and the monk was able to teach Buddhism and meditation here, until 2015. In 2015, a power outage uncovered the issue. When the government officers came to inspect the electricity, they realized that the buildings here did not meet the code. They further realized that the Buddha hall did not have a permit, and the entire property was registered as residential, and therefore was not supposed to be used as a Buddhism temple. The government asked him to bring the buildings up to code, and get building permit, or they will shut it down.
In 2016, this property, with four buildings on it, was sold to us. And the South Korean Buddhist monk went back to South Korea.
Below are the pictures of the Buddha hall. The more I look at this Buddha Hall, the more beautiful I feel.
A few sentences about us
Our organization is a tax exempted non-profit organization, aiming to foster Buddhism teaching and meditation practice. The meditation techniques we teach, which have a tradition from Chinese Pureland Buddhism lineage , were very well received. From 2012 to 2015, we organized two days or seven days retreat to help people practice in many different states, from Washington, California, all the way to Pennsylvania and New York.
When it got to 2016, we needed a permanent place to settle down and we were able to get enough funds for that.
To high light a few issues we are facing
We didn't realize how serious the issues were until we started to work on it. The more we work on it, the more issues are uncovered. A lot of the issues are very technical, and took our architect months to check codes and talk to officers to just understand. Here let me highlight a few:
new access for the fire truck
underground fir cistern
sprinkler system for the buildings
bring the Buddha Hall (built in 1979) to the code of 2019 in order to get the permit
soil erosion control
storm water management
new street access
septic and well repair
demolish one of the building
On top of the issues above, this property is on agriculture zone and it self was registered as historical site, which means a lot of restrictions and regulations. For instance, one of the building had a roof leak and water got into the building. We could not simply fix it. We had to apply for roof repair permit since the building was historical, and it took months.
Almost ready to start the renovations
After about two years of hard work, we figured out almost all the issues. We are now at a point where we could start the real constructions soon. In the meantime, we don't have much time either. If we don't finish all the constructions by end of January 2020, government could in principle shut it down completely. One of the biggest part of this, is the funds. We need about $800K to one million to finish it (we will post the exact budget later on), and we desperately need your help. Every penny counts!
You will also receive the following benefits when you donate to this project:
$200 free 2-day retreat at American Zen College
$500 free 7-day retreat at American Zen College
$1000 free stress reduction program for one year (twelve 2-day retreat plus regular online practice)
Shakyamuni Buddha's relics
First of all, how could this even be? Relics of Shakyamuni Buddha are stored in American Zen College? Yes, this is true. We are not kidding. This has not been realized by most people, not even in the Buddhist communities, but indeed, American Zen College is one of the only two places in US that holds these precious relics of Shakyamuni Buddha. If this place was in one of the Asian countries, there would be thousands of visitors daily.
So how exactly did these relics come to American Zen College? Long story short: these relics were given to Goryeo (an ancient Korean kingdom) as gift from India. For long time these relics were stored in a Buddhism temple in South Korea and were really considered as national treasure. Back in late 1970s and early 1980s, South Korea experienced a dark political time and it was during that period time, this temple was not well maintained and got into a very bad condition. It happens that a four star general in South Korea is a good friend of our previous owner, a South Korean Buddhist monk, and this four star general decided to send these relics to American Zen College.
In early 1980s, these relics arrived in American Zen College, and the monk built a Stupa to store the relics. Below is the picture taken when these relics just arrived and the picture of the Stupa.
Believe it or not, one day I was working in the garden and a gentleman came in. He told me that he followed the energy flow and got here.
Historical place facing new issues
So how did this place get troubles? It all started in 1978. As mentioned, the previous owner of this place is a South Korean Buddhist monk. In 1978 he purchased the current property and established a Buddhist temple. He gave it a very nice name: American Zen College (It was dismissed upon selling to us. We then registered American Zen College as the trade mark of our own non profit organization.) With a lot of effort, he built a beautiful and fantastic Buddha Hall, in addition to three buildings already existing back then, as the main part of this Buddhism organization. Unfortunately, the Buddha Hall was built without a permit. And there was never a permit to this building. This is essentially the core of all the issues we are facing.
For three decades, the government did not bother to inspect and the monk was able to teach Buddhism and meditation here, until 2015. In 2015, a power outage uncovered the issue. When the government officers came to inspect the electricity, they realized that the buildings here did not meet the code. They further realized that the Buddha hall did not have a permit, and the entire property was registered as residential, and therefore was not supposed to be used as a Buddhism temple. The government asked him to bring the buildings up to code, and get building permit, or they will shut it down.
In 2016, this property, with four buildings on it, was sold to us. And the South Korean Buddhist monk went back to South Korea.
Below are the pictures of the Buddha hall. The more I look at this Buddha Hall, the more beautiful I feel.
A few sentences about us
Our organization is a tax exempted non-profit organization, aiming to foster Buddhism teaching and meditation practice. The meditation techniques we teach, which have a tradition from Chinese Pureland Buddhism lineage , were very well received. From 2012 to 2015, we organized two days or seven days retreat to help people practice in many different states, from Washington, California, all the way to Pennsylvania and New York.
When it got to 2016, we needed a permanent place to settle down and we were able to get enough funds for that.
To high light a few issues we are facing
We didn't realize how serious the issues were until we started to work on it. The more we work on it, the more issues are uncovered. A lot of the issues are very technical, and took our architect months to check codes and talk to officers to just understand. Here let me highlight a few:
new access for the fire truck
underground fir cistern
sprinkler system for the buildings
bring the Buddha Hall (built in 1979) to the code of 2019 in order to get the permit
soil erosion control
storm water management
new street access
septic and well repair
demolish one of the building
On top of the issues above, this property is on agriculture zone and it self was registered as historical site, which means a lot of restrictions and regulations. For instance, one of the building had a roof leak and water got into the building. We could not simply fix it. We had to apply for roof repair permit since the building was historical, and it took months.
Almost ready to start the renovations
After about two years of hard work, we figured out almost all the issues. We are now at a point where we could start the real constructions soon. In the meantime, we don't have much time either. If we don't finish all the constructions by end of January 2020, government could in principle shut it down completely. One of the biggest part of this, is the funds. We need about $800K to one million to finish it (we will post the exact budget later on), and we desperately need your help. Every penny counts!
Organizer
Sheng Ran
Organizer
Germantown, MD
American Zen College
Beneficiary