toledoblade.com --

Every Wednesday evening, a dozen of so people gather at the spacious Toledo Zen Center in Holland, Ohio, for meditation, instruction, and camaraderie.

Led by Jay "Chikyo" Weik and his wife, Karen "Zuihan" Weik, the practitioners, wearing black gis, or loose-fitting outfits, bow several times, cued by the ring of a bell, in front of a small Buddha statue, then take their seats on black padded mats for a time of Zazen, or seated Zen.

The individuals chant, in deep and serious tones, poet Shih T'ou's "Liturgy of Relative and Absolute," which includes such lines as: "High and low are relative. In light there is darkness. Confronted, it cannot be fathomed."

Then, after half an hour of silent meditation, the Zen practitioners line up single file for a brisk "walking meditation," in which they are advised to "try not to think too much," moving silently with hands clasped around the edges of the dojo where, on alternate nights, the Weiks, both multiple-degree black belts, teach the martial art of Aikido. ("Unlike karate and other martial arts, the goal of Aikido is not to hurt anybody," Mr. Weik said.)

The weekly Zen gathering winds up with a Dharma talk by Mr. Weik, who has been studying the Eastern practice of Zen for 20 years and is close to "transmission" - the term for being elevated by his teacher to the status of Zen master.

At the center, Mr. Weik is known by his Zen name of Chikyo, a title bestowed upon him by his teacher; it means "wisdom mirror." With his shaved head and long, salt-and-pepper goatee, Chikyo has a gentle intensity about him.

His wife and Zen partner, with long red hair and bright smile, was given the Zen name of Zuihan for "bountiful or auspicious harvest."

The Toledo Zen Center, a serene space in a tidy but nondescript brick complex of offices and businesses on Angola Road, is the only one in the Toledo area dedicated entirely to Aikido and Zen.

A branch of Buddhism that arose in China in the 6th century, Zen emphasizes enlightenment through discipline and meditation. And although it came from Buddhism, the Weiks say it can be practiced by people of any faith, or of no faith.

"Zen is a practice that transcends your tradition," Mrs. Weik said.

Indeed, both Weiks consider themselves Catholics, and the dozen or so people who cut across the grain of American culture by studying Zen on Wednesday nights come from diverse religious and social backgrounds.

Kristi Cooper, 42, of Napoleon, said she began coming to the Zen center in a quest for peace.

"Like other people, I came when I was going through a difficult time - a divorce," she said.

She said she had noticed a difference in a co-worker, and after asking him some questions, learned that he was studying Zen. She began going to Ann Arbor to study Tibetan Buddhism before learning about the Toledo Zen Center.

"I started to feel better about myself fairly quickly," Ms. Cooper said.

She added with a laugh that she is still trying to assure her sister that she has not joined a "cult."

Simon Morgan-Russell, 41, of Bowling Green and a native of England, said Zen was "an easy fit" because it does not require belief in the existence God, something that "was always a stumbling block for me."

Diana Schnuth, 31, of Toledo, said she was raised in a Christian home but came to the realization that "I no longer believed what I was raised to believe."

She found that practicing Zen gives her a peaceful feeling. "I always come home from here feeling a lot better than when I arrived," she said.

Bob Bartels, 36, of Toledo, said Zen has helped him deal with the stress of work in information technology.

Sitting still goes against his nature, he said, and he thought meditation would be "boring."

But after two years of practicing Zen, "I am a much more relaxed person," he said.

He likes the fact that Zen teaches you to be accountable for your actions and your feelings.

"If you go to church, you hear sermons that say, 'Everybody sins, it'll be OK eventually.' In Zen, there is no escapism," Mr. Bartels said.

Mr. Weik, 38, said he first discovered Zen through the writings of Thomas Merton, an influential American Trappist monk.

Raised Roman Catholic, Mr. Weik is a Toledo native and former altar boy. He went to St. Pius Elementary School and St. Francis de Sales High School before enrolling at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees. In addition to his Zen and Aikido teaching, he also plays jazz guitar and teaches music one day a week at the University of Toledo.

"I took a class on Oriental philosophy at Berklee," he said. "I was looking for someone who would talk about that kind of stuff with a Catholic framework. That's when I encountered Thomas Merton. That was a big influence on me."

He said he has studied with a number of Catholic priests and monks, as well as Buddhist teachers.

"I don't want to say that mystics transcend their religion, but they are not bound to it in the normal form," Mr. Weik said.

While in Boston, practicing Aikido at a dojo, he met Mrs. Weik, a Boston native.

"Both of us are Catholics who studied Christian mystics and had incredible experiences," Mrs. Weik said. "In Christian mysticism, the steps are not clearly laid out. But in Zen, which has a 2,500-year tradition, there are very reproduceable steps to follow."

The couple moved to northwest Ohio in 2001, partly to be near Mr. Weik's extended family and partly because they felt it was a good place to open a Zen center and Aikido dojo.

Mrs. Weik said a Zen sensei, or teacher, passes down his or her wisdom and practices "mind to mind," creating a lineage that is traceable all the way back to Buddha, who was born in India in the 5th century B.C.

Mr. Weik said he decided to give a free public lecture on Zen to raise awareness of the practice and to dispel some of the rumors.

"People think it's a blackout trance or a mental Calgon bath to just create a happy place. The true contemplative practice is not that at all," he said. "I'm hoping people interested in a general orientation, who want to know what the whole Zen thing is about, what enlightenment is about, will come and get clear information about it."

Jay "Chikyo" Weik will give a free public lecture at 7 tonight on "Living Zen: Awakening the Joyful Heart," and lead a retreat on "Fundamentals of Zen Practice" from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. tomorrow. The cost of the retreat is $25. Information: 419-861-1163 or online at www.toledozen.org.

Permanent Link