Foundation One · 01
Buddhism beyond sectarian boundaries
Lineage as inheritance, not inheritance tax. We study every school as a window onto the same liberation.
For two and a half millennia, the Dharma has been carried by communities who shaped it to their times, languages, and landscapes—Theravāda in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, Chan and Zen in East Asia, Vajrayāna in the Himalayas, Pure Land across the Mahāyāna world, Nichiren and Sōka movements in Japan, and newer streams of Insight, Secular, and Engaged Buddhism in the West.
Each tradition guards real treasures. None of them owns the moon they point to. Our church refuses the false choice between fidelity to a lineage and openness to the others. We can do both.
In depth
What 'beyond sectarian' actually means
Honor sources by name
When we chant the Heart Sutra in English, we say where it comes from. When we sit zazen, we name the lineage. Influence without attribution is appropriation; attribution is gratitude.
No required orthodoxy
There is no creed to sign. A Theravāda practitioner, a Soto Zen student, a Tibetan ngöndro practitioner, and a secular meditator are all members in full standing.
Comparative literacy
We teach the differences—anatta and tathāgatagarbha, sudden and gradual, self-power and other-power—so practitioners can hold them with nuance rather than confusion.
No syncretic mush
Holding many traditions does not mean blending them into one beige mixture. We let each be itself, in its own integrity, in the same room.
Practice
How this shows up in our shared life
- Services rotate through chants and readings from multiple traditions across the liturgical year.
- Resident and visiting teachers are introduced with their full lineage so students know what they are receiving.
- Study groups read across schools—Pāli suttas one season, Mahāyāna sūtras the next, modern teachers the next.
- Disagreement is welcomed; sectarian contempt is not.
“There are many lamps, but the light is one.”
If you have only ever practiced in one school, you are welcome exactly as you are. If you have wandered through several, you are welcome too. The point of the path is not the path. It is the freedom it makes possible.