Cambridge Buddhist Association

Founded to provide instruction in Buddhist meditation in the United States and to make available study materials. The association is nonsectarian and meetings are conducted by priests of different Buddhist sects, in accordance with the wishes of the founder, Shinichi Hisamatsu.

The association has been served by a series of outstanding Buddhist teachers. The first president was Shunryu Suzuki (also of the San Francisco Zen Center). He was succeeded by Rev. Chimyo Horioka of the Shingon sect of Buddhism, who graduated from Koyasan University, Japan, then studied philosophy at the University of Berlin, and science and the history of religion at Hamburg University, becoming instructor of Oriental studies. He immigrated to the United States in 1953 and in 1956 was appointed assistant to the curator of the Asiatic department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Horioka was succeeded by Maurine Stuart, a student of the late Soen Naakgawa. Stuart, also a musician, teaches Buddhism at the Philips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire as well. The association provides facilities for Zen meditation but is also open to a variety of Buddhist perspectives, and members are active in area interfaith activities. The association is housed in a residential neighborhood at 75 Sparks St., Cambridge, MA 02138.

Sources:

Cambridge Buddhist Association. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Buddhist Association, 1960.

Fujimoto, Rindo. The Way of Zazen. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Buddhist Association, 1969.

Renfrew, Sita Paulickpulle. A Buddhist Guide for Laymen. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge Buddhist Association, 1963.