About Us
The United Buddhist Church is a Buddhist order founded by the Most Venerable Sunyananda Dharma. A multi-yana trained, lineage holding priest, Sunyananda wanted to create a container to synthesize his teaching and dharma inheritance.
The United Buddhist Church aims to make the teachings of the Buddha Dharma accessible and practicable for all those entering the doors of our teaching avenues. Simply put, our mission is the transmission of the culture and wisdom cultivation of the Buddhist tradition throughout the contemporary world. Therefore we encourage, in affirmation of our guiding teacher's direction, the exploration and integration of many varied modes of practice, regardless of origin. The United Buddhist Church reflects a synthesis of its parent traditions, namely the Japanese Zen school of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the Vietnamese Zen tradition of the Most Venerable Dr. Thích Thiên Ân, the Il Bung Zen Tradition of His Holiness Dr. Kyung Bo Seo, and the Korean Seon tradition of Zen Master Seung Sahn, and therefore embraces a broad scope of practice and cultivation.
Members of the United Buddhist Church are committed to fully honoring mission of the Church by supporting the transmission of Dharma to all those interested. We strive to do this in a way that is truly non-sectarian, psychologically astute, and community oriented. We are socially and ecologically concerned, rooted in meditative experience, egalitarian, simplified and demystified. In combination, all of these facets work together to provide an ever-deeper vessel to receive ever-deeper teachings in fulfillment of our Church's mission of transmission.
The United Buddhist Church is noted for its openness. Throughout its structure, our tradition infuses a commitment to the recognition and affirmation of wisdom whenever and wherever it appears. Therefore our entire tradition is truly available without discrimination or distinction, especially with regards to ones length of experience, age, economic reality, education, ethnicity, faith history, physical and/or mental ability, race, sexual orientation, gender expression etc.
The United Buddhist Church is especially concerned, not only with the teaching of Buddhist laity, but also with the training of professed clergy and teachers who can effectively teach and spread the dharma while living fully engaged lives of service.
Our members, affiliated teachers, centers and practice groups are joined together freely in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation. Primarily this is accomplished by means of our shared commitment to deepening our own practice to the greatest extent possible in this lifetime by committing wholeheartedly to the selfless path of a Bodhisattva, and supporting our guiding teacher in maintaining a long and productive tenure in his “teacher's seat,” through which our teachers are recognized and our membership transmitted the dharma.
In alignment with our non-sectarian mission and direction, our Church does not mandate that member teachers, centers, groups and individual practitioners follow a strictly regimented liturgy and set of forms. Rather the Church's membership draws on a vast array of available liturgical forms and practice modes, utilizing them to best propagate the dharma according to the needs and necessities of our respective communities and their unique situations.
The United Buddhist Church aims to make the teachings of the Buddha Dharma accessible and practicable for all those entering the doors of our teaching avenues. Simply put, our mission is the transmission of the culture and wisdom cultivation of the Buddhist tradition throughout the contemporary world. Therefore we encourage, in affirmation of our guiding teacher's direction, the exploration and integration of many varied modes of practice, regardless of origin. The United Buddhist Church reflects a synthesis of its parent traditions, namely the Japanese Zen school of Taizan Maezumi Roshi, the Vietnamese Zen tradition of the Most Venerable Dr. Thích Thiên Ân, the Il Bung Zen Tradition of His Holiness Dr. Kyung Bo Seo, and the Korean Seon tradition of Zen Master Seung Sahn, and therefore embraces a broad scope of practice and cultivation.
Members of the United Buddhist Church are committed to fully honoring mission of the Church by supporting the transmission of Dharma to all those interested. We strive to do this in a way that is truly non-sectarian, psychologically astute, and community oriented. We are socially and ecologically concerned, rooted in meditative experience, egalitarian, simplified and demystified. In combination, all of these facets work together to provide an ever-deeper vessel to receive ever-deeper teachings in fulfillment of our Church's mission of transmission.
The United Buddhist Church is noted for its openness. Throughout its structure, our tradition infuses a commitment to the recognition and affirmation of wisdom whenever and wherever it appears. Therefore our entire tradition is truly available without discrimination or distinction, especially with regards to ones length of experience, age, economic reality, education, ethnicity, faith history, physical and/or mental ability, race, sexual orientation, gender expression etc.
The United Buddhist Church is especially concerned, not only with the teaching of Buddhist laity, but also with the training of professed clergy and teachers who can effectively teach and spread the dharma while living fully engaged lives of service.
Our members, affiliated teachers, centers and practice groups are joined together freely in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation. Primarily this is accomplished by means of our shared commitment to deepening our own practice to the greatest extent possible in this lifetime by committing wholeheartedly to the selfless path of a Bodhisattva, and supporting our guiding teacher in maintaining a long and productive tenure in his “teacher's seat,” through which our teachers are recognized and our membership transmitted the dharma.
In alignment with our non-sectarian mission and direction, our Church does not mandate that member teachers, centers, groups and individual practitioners follow a strictly regimented liturgy and set of forms. Rather the Church's membership draws on a vast array of available liturgical forms and practice modes, utilizing them to best propagate the dharma according to the needs and necessities of our respective communities and their unique situations.