On Friday, September 5, 2008, David Shaner Sensei and his student, OPB Abbot Jim Eubanks (Shi Yong Xiang), carried out a formal Buddhist ceremony for the dedication of the Place of Peace (Hei-Sei-Ji), a Japanese Buddhist temple generously given to Furman University by the Tsuzuki family, friends of Shaner Sensei and life-long residents of both Nagoya, Japan and Greenville, South Carolina.
This is the first such authentic temple to be deconstructed in Japan, shipped by boat through the Panama Canal to the United States, and reconstructed by Japanese master artisans at Furman. The temple is symbolic of a much greater Asian Studies vision, a commitment that embodies the growth of intercultural relationships and Furman’s unique academic approach of engaged learning. Shaner Sensei uses the temple to teach philosophy and Asian studies students in mind-body education, including Ki breathing, meditation, and exercises in bodymind unification.
For OPB, this temple truly represents a symbolic beginning for its own growth as a unique and maturing Buddhist Order, which seeks to bring together the best of East and West through Pragmatic Buddhism.
The dedication ceremony included Japanese and American counterparts who had intimate ties to the project: Furman University President Dr. David E. Shi; donors Seiji and Yuri Tsuzuki; Director of Honmachi Taisyokan, Satoshi Yamamoto; President of Aichiken Construction, Masao Nakajima; Construction Supervisor Hiroshi Sato; Consul General of Japan Masahiro Katamoto; Dr. David E. Shaner Sensei; and OPB’s Shi Yong Xiang Jim Eubanks. Shaner Sensei and Shi Yong Xiang performed a traditional Japanese Buddhist blessing for the temple.