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Zen Center of Syracuse

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ8068948 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Zen Center of Syracuse (or, Syracuse Zen Center), temple name Hoen-ji, is a Rinzai Zen Buddhist practice center in Syracuse, New York, one of the oldest continuously running Zen centers in the United States. Founded in 1972, the center is currently led by Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi . Originally at 111 Concord Place, the meditation hall is now located in the former carriage house at 266 West Seneca Turnpike and offers Zen practice for laypeople. Several clergy and practitioners live in a house next door and in the Joshua Forman house, where programs are also conducted. The Zen Center of Syracuse began as a group of graduate students from Syracuse University, with Chayat eventually becoming the center's leader. In addition to Zen practice, the center also provides some instruction in Tibetan Buddhism. According to The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, "The Syracuse Zen Center also leads meditation at Syracuse University, Syracuse area schools, recovery and justice system institutions, hospitals and corporations." The center also won two awards for their restoration of The Forman House from the Preservation Association of Central New York . This house was instrumental during the War of 1812 and the American Civil War, for it was a bandage assembly area for wounded troops.

See also

Buddhism in the United States

Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

Notes

References

Ford, James Ishmael (2006). Zen Master Who?: A Guide to the People and Stories of Zen.

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The public source identifies “Zen Center of Syracuse” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Center, Syracuse and Open-knowledge.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1972, 1812, 2006—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1972. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Center, Syracuse and Open-knowledge providing the first useful test.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8068948. Authority coordinates are 43.002, -76.149. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 1812 and 2006.

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This entry incorporates text from “Zen Center of Syracuse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.