Unadorned Lotus Dharma Studio is a Buddhist practice in West Michigan. Art studio, meditation, and Buddhist teachings combine to form an intimate dharma practice that embraces and nurtures the natural creativity in all, while engaging the Buddhadharma.
Art Practice, or Dharma Art, engages the space where awareness and action meet. In the Dharma Studio, we connect to our innate creativity through meditation practices, and explore ways to nurture and strengthen awareness and Buddhist practice. Drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, creative writing, and mixed media are all processes we have engaged.
Linking creativity and the arts to Buddhist practice carries a long tradition. At Unadorned Lotus Dharma Studio we bring that tradition to the forefront of practice.
Recommended related reading:
Zen and Creativity, John Daido Loori
The Path of Dharma Art, Chogyan Trungpa Rinpoche
How the Dharma Studio Got Its Name
The lotus grows from the dark watery mire and remains completely unstained by it. It is a major Buddhist symbol of renunciation, purity, and freedom from the suffering of cyclic existence. The lotus is primarily an emblem of Amitabha Buddha, whose qualities of discernment represent the transmutation of passion into discriminating wisdom. It is also an emblem of Amitabha’s main Bodhisattva, Avalokiteshvara, who bears an unadorned lotus in his hand, representing his perfection of compassion. Wisdom and compassion: the Buddha taught that to realize enlightenment, a person must develop these two qualities. These are sometimes compared to the two eyes that work together to see deeply.
Unadorned Lotus Dharma Studio is a non profit organization for Buddhist practice. The monks and teachers at the Dharma Studio receive no compensation for their work. Fees, donations, and the contributions of the teaching clergy support the practice.
Teachers
Venerable Lianghua Su Jill Eggers. Lianghua Su Jill Eggers is an ordained lineage holder in the Buddhist Hua Yen tradition with training in Dzogchen. She is the founder of Unadorned Lotus Dharma Studio. She is a lifelong practitioner with over 30 years experience as an art professor and art educator.
Kyoun Sokuzan is the abbot and head teacher of Sokukoji Buddhist Temple Monastery, Battle Creek, MI. He is a fully transmitted monk in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. His primary teachers were Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and Kobun Chino Roshi, a Zen meditation master from Japan.
Chiezan Kyle Tomczyk is a student of Sokuzan and the head monk residing at Sokukoji Buddhist Temple Monastery, in Battle Creek, MI. He leads meditation and discussion sessions every Tuesday night at the Dharma Studio.
