The Story of
Maria Kannon Zen Center

(Note: click here to read "Maria-Kannon: A Focal Point for Buddhist Christian Interactions" by Jason Bartashius)

The name of Maria Kannon Zen Center is taken from the two leading figures of compassion from the Christian and Buddhist traditions: Mary or Maria from Christianity and Kannon (Sanskrit Avalokitesvara: Chinese, Kuan Yin) from the Buddhist tradition. The representation of Maria Kannon derives from a unique historical time of persecution of Christians from Japan. The following paragraphs provide some background to the name of our zendo

Maria Kannon

“Maria Kannon” was the name of a certain kind of religious figurine venerated in many areas of Japan during the period of persecution of Christians. At the time, civil authorities had banned the practice of Christianity throughout the country, and forcibly closed Japan to the outside world, except through a small port in Kyushu that remained accessible to Dutch traders.

During this period of nearly three hundred years every citizen was required to profess adherence to, and register membership with, a local Buddhist temple, or else face grave consequences. Many Christians who refused to comply with these demands were tortured and executed.

Some groups of Christians chose a way of external compliance; registering with a Buddhist temple and even installing Buddhist statues in their homes, but meeting regularly in secret to encourage one another and pray together, to keep their Christian faith alive. These “hidden Christians” continued to practice their faith from generation to generation through the years of prohibition. Their existence came to light after the reopening of Japan to the West in the nineteenth century.

In many of the houses where hidden Christians lived were found an image of Avalokitesvara, or Kannon in Japanese, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion. Yet on closer look, one could also see the figure of Mary the Blessed Mother in the same figure. The Bodhisattva of Compassion was a familiar figure in Buddhist temples and homes. Christians gathering in secret, however, were in the company of the Mother of their Saviour, to whom they would turn for intercession in prayer.

Recently, Christians in Japan, in the attempt to give expression to key Christian themes from within their culture, have looked to Maria Kannon for significance over and above the historical context. Maria Kannon is being accorded renewed expression of a mutually resonating theme in the Buddhist and Christian traditions: the theme of compassion in its cosmic dimensions.

It is in the context of such a renewed appreciation and new significance, and in the hope of birthing a new possibility, that we look to the image o f Maria Kannon as inspiration for Zen practice that cuts across traditional lines of demarcation between the Buddhist and Christian traditions.