Tendai is gaining acceptance in the western world really fast and one big proof of this is the Tendai Buddhist Institute in Cannan, New York. The institute consist of three primary components. These include the temple known as Jiunzan Tendai-ji, the Karuna Tendai Dharma Center and the Tendai-Shu New York Betsuin.
The traditional name of the temple is Jiunzan Tendai-ji. This can be roughly translated in English to the 'Compassionate Mountain Cloud Tendai Temple'. The institute is located at 1525 Route 295 East Chatham, NY 12060. Today, the Tendai institute operates under the spiritual leadership of Abbott Monshin Paul Naamon.
The Karuna Tendai Dharma Center started its operation in 1995 and it is affiliated to the Tamon-in Tendai Buddhist temple which is one of the most well established institutions of Chiba, Japan.
The institute was first registered as a not-for-profit body in New York in 1995. During its early days, the institute offered certain meditation services, and also ran periodic spiritual retreats based in a small bed and breakfast which drove the finances. By 1996, the institute was given 501(c)3 designation from the Internal Revenue Service marking the institute as a Buddhist church. The Tendai-Shu New York Betsuin has also been registered as a sub set of the same legal entity.
During the last 15 years, the institute has evolved in a full time Buddhist temple which offers a wide range of religious, spiritual and pastoral services. In 1999, the bed and breakfast operations were ceased as the need for Buddhist services started to increase and it became difficult to ensure proper coordination among the two. With ongoing increase in the number of followers, the institute had to get more space. This led to the establishment of smaller 'sitting groups' of the sangha. The key locations of these sitting groups are in Great Barrington in the state of Massachusetts and Albany and Buffalo in the state of New York. As of now, an approximate number of 100 families are affiliated to the center. (Note that the Tendai denominations count the membership on family basis and not on the basis of number of individuals. This is because Tendai considers the family to be the smallest sub set of the human society.)
The institute was given official membership of Enryakuji which is the spiritual HQ of Tendai in the year 2001. This lead to the designation of the head priest of the institute as the officially established abbot of an officially recognized temple. The first Jichin-sai was performed in the Cannan campus in 2004 with strong representation from the Tendai HQ. The ceremony was conducted by 30 monks and today the institute is fast becoming one of the primary centers of Tendai in the new world.
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