Blue Heron Zen Community exists solely for you. We offer group practice, retreats, talks, and other activities with the simple goal of inspiring and supporting your own efforts to perceive your true nature. The programs at Blue Heron Zen Community can help you begin and sustain a rewarding Zen meditation practice. On this page, you can find out more about:
Our Community
Blue Heron Zen Community practices Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn, the first Korean Zen Master to live and teach in the West. We are a successor organization to Dharma Sound Zen Center which was founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1980. In 2006, Zen Master Ji Bong, our guiding teacher for 22 years, asked interested members of Dharma Sound Zen Center to join him in making the ancient principles of Zen Buddhism available in new ways to American lay students. Our warm-hearted community encourages dialogue and discovery of new ways to bring the gifts of Zen training to the widest possible audience.
Our Teachers
The Guiding Teacher of Blue Heron Zen Community is Zen Master Ji Bong who is responsible for our spiritual practice. Zen Master Ji Bong has named four of his senior students "Ji Do Peop Sa Nims" to teach under his supervision. A Ji Do Poep Sa Nim (JDPSN) has the authority to lead retreats and teach kong-an training.
Zen Master Ji Bong: Our guiding teacher, Zen Master Ji Bong (Robert Moore), a Zen student since 1969 and a founder of the New Haven Zen Center, began studying with Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1974 and became a Zen master in 1997. He teaches music composition and theory at the University of Southern California. In addition to serving as guiding teacher for Blue Heron Zen Community, he guides Golden Wind Zen Center in Long Beach, CA. He has a long-standing interest in the martial arts and teaches a variety of internal martial arts and chi kung in conjunction with Zen practice. He has three children and lives with his wife in Long Beach, CA.
Jeff Tipp, JDPSN was ordained as a monk in an order of Christian mystics in 1968, entered the Dharma in 1973, met Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1978, and founded the precursor to Blue Heron Zen Community in 1980. He recieved Inka from Zen Master Ji Bong in 2006 and is a practicing Psychotherapist.
Anita Feng, JDPSN has practiced Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn since 1976. In the late '70s she lived and studied intensively with Zen Master Seung Sahn at the Providence Zen Center. Since the '90s she has studied under the guidance of Zen Master Ji Bong, receiving Inka in 2008. Anita works as a ceramic artist making raku Buddhas. She lives with her family in Issaquah.
She can be reached at anita@blueheronzen.org
Eric Nord, JDPSN has practiced Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn under the guidance of Zen Master Ji Bong since 1996. He has served as Head Dharma Teacher for Blue Heron Zen Community and its predecessor organization since 2002. He received Inka from Zen Master Ji Bong in 2008. Eric lives with his wife and two daughters in Seattle.
Tim Colohan, JDPSN has been practicing Zen in the lineage of Zen Master Seung Sahn and Qigong under the guidance of Zen Master Ji Bong since 1985. Tim is on the board of directors of Golden Wind Zen Center in Long Beach, California, and he organizes and carries out all of the training programs at that center. Tim received Inka from Zen Master Ji Bong in 2008. He works as a Set Decorator in TV and film and lives with his Domestic Partner in Los Angeles.
Membership
We invite you to become a member of the Blue Heron Zen Community. Blue Heron provides an opportunity for you to learn Zen meditation, and to develop and deepen your practice. Your membership supports the entire community. By becoming a member, you help make it possible for the Blue Heron to continue offering programs and activities, and to help pay the costs of owning and maintaining our center. Membership represents your support for the Teachers, Teachings, and the Community.
We offer four categoriesf membership. Feel free to support our community at the level that works for you:
Associate Member: $20 per month
Regular Member: $40 per month
Sustaining Member: $60 per month
Sponsoring Member: $120 per month
For more details on membership, please contact us at .
Related Zen Centers
Blue Heron Zen Community is an independent Zen center under the guidance of Zen Master Ji Bong. As a dharma heir of the famous Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn, Zen Master Ji Bong carries forward a vital, authentic Zen lineage that originated in China, matured in Korea, and is now taking root in America. Zen Master Ji Bong also oversees teaching at:
Golden Wind Zen Center, Long Beach, California