Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeffrey Zlotnik
Jeffrey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The Dharma Bum Temple opened in 2006 in its small, unassuming Downtown San Diego location with no advertisement or even a sign on the door. Nevertheless, over the next 10 years, people found their way and the community grew. In 2009, we took over Buddha for You Gifts & Books in the college area. The gift shop sells Buddhist statues, Asian art and meditation supplies from all over the world. In the back of the gift shop, we built a meditation room holding weekly classes and programs. We eventually outgrew both locations and needed a space that could house all we offered to the community. In 2017 the Dharma Bum Temple and Buddha for You moved to its current home in the beautiful, historic Swedenborgian Church building built in 1927 and located in University Heights. Since its opening, thousands of people have walked through its doors or logged in online looking to suffer less, curious about Buddhist practice, or looking for a community of like-minded individuals.
The Dharma Bum Temple is a home for the study and practice of Buddhism. We do not advocate one particular school of Buddhism; our community is simply a bridge for people to learn how to make change within their own lives and be of benefit to others. For many Westerners, the idea of Buddhism or a Buddhist practice can initially feel intriguing but often many describe feeling disconnected from Buddhist practice in traditional cultural temples. The Dharma Bum Temple was created to make meditation and Buddhist practice as accessible as possible for people in Western culture. Focusing on basic meditation and universal Buddhist teachings, day in and day out practitioners learn simply to sit and breathe, to be kind to themselves and others, and to suffer a little bit less today than yesterday.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It may seem counterintuitive, but the Dharma Bum Temple was created with great thought put into removing as many cultural aspects of Buddhist practice as possible. With tremendous appreciation of and respect for the rich and varied traditional Buddhist customs and rituals, the founders knew when it came to Western practitioners, a space was needed where people could come together to learn and practice basic meditation and foundational Buddhist teachings without the ritual, chanting, bowing, and robes. So many Western people enter traditional Buddhist places of practice with a sense of hopeful curiosity only to end up feeling disconnected. The cultural richness and diversity of Buddhism often function as overarching cultural obstacles in the West, which ultimately lead many people to abandon their practice. The intention is to create a place where people could come together to practice, create a sense of community, and start to experience a little more peace for themselves and everyone around them. This is the reason that for 18 years after a class practitioners repeatedly hear that those who lead are not nuns, monks, gurus, masters, or teachers and are not looking for students. They are practitioners sharing their practice. It is fundamentally in the experience of sitting and breathing, thinking good thoughts, speaking good words, and doing good deeds that people are able to make positive changes in their lives. For millions of people around the world Buddhism and Buddhist practices are a way of life and very much their religion. From its inception, the Dharma Bum Temple never intended to create more Buddhists, but rather a place where people of all religions or no religion at all could create more peaceful changes for themselves.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Most people show up to the Dharma Bum Temple for a few reasons. They’re curious about Buddhist practice, they’re struggling and in pain, they’re sad, angry, and depressed, or they feel lost and scared. What all of them hear when they show up is the same: think good thoughts, speak good words, and do good deeds every single day. It seems simple but it can be really difficult, and this very simple, basic teaching of loving kindness and compassion is practiced day in and day out. What this practice teaches is to stay present one breath at a time, one step at a time, and that’s the focus of the Dharma Bum Temple. Can we think good thoughts, speak good words, and do good deeds in this moment and in every moment for the rest of our lives? The people who have come to the Dharma Bum Temple for years have heard this same thing year in and year out and they keep showing up. They need to hear the reminders because as simple as it is to say, it can be incredibly challenging in practice. Then there are the brand-new people who have walked through the door for the first time and have never heard this. Those people are experiencing an opportunity to make a difference in their own lives, to make their lives a tiny bit better, to suffer a little bit less today than yesterday. That’s the driving force behind the Dharma Bum Temple.
The Dharma Bum Temple offers Introduction to Buddhism and meditation Classes, Dharma talks, homeless outreach which includes a food redistribution program, knitting warm hats for those who sleep on the streets and volunteering to serve meals at PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), prison outreach, family classes for parents, kids and teens, an Engaged Buddhist Training Program, Women’s Buddhist Leadership Program, visiting monks, nuns & Buddhist scholars, silent retreats, social outings to various Buddhist Temples and meditation places, volunteer opportunities with San Diego Pride and the LGBT Community Center, meditation classes in Spanish, morning and afternoon meditation, Buddhist recovery programs for overcoming addiction, college meditation groups and more all for free and open to everyone.
Buddha for You Gifts & Books at the Dharma Bum Temple combines a sacred meditation space, bookstore, museum quality items, Buddhist Temple, and gift shop featuring Asian art from around the world. Housed inside an architecturally stunning 98-year-old church in University Heights just 10 minutes from downtown San Diego. Escape the busy day at one of San Diego’s most peaceful places and shop at the museum-style gift shop Buddha For You for home décor, jewelry, antique Buddha statues, and other meditation supplies. Please visit www.buddha-for-you.com for more information!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
For many Westerners curious about meditation, perhaps one of the most surprising things they learn is that during meditation nothing is going to happen to you. You’re not going to float away or have any mystical magical experiences. The second most surprising thing is that the mind that races all day long is not going to shut off and the point of meditation is not to think nothing. For most people, life is a series of occurrences and reactions to those occurrences but we as humans don’t really process life that way. We have thoughts and feelings and actions but all three can appear to occur simultaneously so much of the time we don’t recognize that they are indeed three separate things that don’t necessarily have to have a cascading effect. Meditation is brain training. Once we settle into silence and focus on the sensation of our own breath, allowing thoughts to come and go, refocusing our attention back to the sensation of our breath each time, we begin to allow our mind to settle. It is this practice of settling the mind that allows the body to follow and often many people describe this experience as a sense of calm.
Over time, meditation retrains the mind and body slowly to exist more and more in this state of calmness regardless of where you are. What meditation allows for is direct perception into the present moment and it is from this place of awareness that understanding and change are possible. By no means is meditation a quick fix for all of life’s problems nor is it always easy to just sit and breathe, but there are a few things that are helpful to keep in mind. Don’t judge your practice. Don’t ask yourself if your meditation is working or not working, or if you’re doing it right or wrong. Try to find a comfortable, attentive posture to sit in, whether it be on a cushion or on a chair, that you can commit to for the length of your meditation. Know that you’re going to hear sounds and feel sensations in your body. This is just life, and you can sit with the sounds and sensations without reacting to them. If you must move, simply move slowly and mindfully. Moving doesn’t make you a bad meditator. Your brain will wander off. When you realize your brain is doing what brains do, just bring your attention back to the sensation of your breath, however many times you need to do that. Don’t expect anything. You’re learning to sit quietly with life as it arises because direct perception into the present moment is the place from where you can cultivate a mind that is steady, clear, and focused. Start slowly. You don’t have to sit for hours on end. Even one minute of meditation is better than no minutes. And finally, be kind and compassionate with yourself. Just keep trying. If you are someone who enjoys practicing with others, seek out community. The Dharma Bum Temple offers programs and classes every day, for everyone, and everything offered is always free.
Pricing:
- Everything we offer is free
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thedharmabums.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dharmabumtemple/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedharmabumtemple/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DharmaBumTemple
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/buddha-for-you-gifts-and-books-san-diego-2
- Other: https://www.buddha-for-you.com/
Image Credits
Volunteers from Dharma Bum Temple
