Atlanta Gets First Zen Master

August 3, 2007

Author: MONI BASU

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,4596,0,0,1,0

Atlanta, Georgia (USA) -- The way Taiun Michael Elliston proposes you wake up is to plant yourself on a black-cushioned bench facing a blank wall and sit still. In silence. And keep sitting.

His disciples follow him into a small sanctuary near Emory University. They endure what is seemingly easy, but difficult to do. Human minds and bodies, especially in this modern age of myriad distractions, are not trained for emptiness.

But it is detachment that awakens your senses and lends stability, says Elliston, abbot at Atlanta's Soto Zen Center, where in a secret ceremony tonight, he will become Atlanta's first Zen master, and one of only 80 in America.

After 40 years of Buddhist study, Elliston will be formally recognized by his priestly peers as a Zen teacher who has attained a high level of enlightenment.