January 14th, 2026
by Chang Yuan Fashi
Establishing a practice center is no small feat. Yet, a single thought to take up the Master’s vow quietly set in motion the causes and conditions that would give birth to the Dharma Drum Meditation Center in Manhattan (www.ddmcnyc.org).
Looking back to August 2020, I had just transferred to the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in New York. Early the following year, Abbot Guo Yuan shared with me Master Sheng Yen’s unfulfilled wish:
“Shifu once mentioned that he made a vow to establish a meditation center in the heart of Manhattan, to connect Chan with mainstream Western society.”
At that time, it was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was the sole executive monastic at Dharma Drum Retreat Center (DDRC, www.dharmadrumretreat.org), responsible for maintaining the 106-acre estate as the only attending monk. Simply sustaining daily operations was already a heavy responsibility. To establish a new meditation center in Manhattan with such limited resources seemed almost unimaginable. Knowing well the immense challenges involved, I initially did not agree.
It was not until July 2021 that Venerable Guo Yuan raised the idea again. This time, I did not refuse.
For him to bring it up a second time, I sensed that the causes and conditions had ripened. This was not simply an idea. It was the continuation of the Master’s compassionate vow. I have never been one to turn away from such a request. With this single thought, I agreed to begin searching for a venue.
Thus, the path quietly began.
At first, the journey was anything but smooth. We asked a volunteer, Yang Fan, to look for a property, whose early efforts we sincerely appreciated, but the causes and conditions had not yet ripened, and half a year passed without news. In early March 2022, when the Chinese Buddhism Association visited for the Lunar New Year, I shared the idea of establishing a Manhattan Meditation Center, hoping for the possibility of collaboration. The chief executive invited me to submit a proposal for their consideration. In the end, the causes and conditions did not continue to unfold, and the matter naturally came to a pause.
Looking back now, I understand that the path had not closed. It was simply changing form. The turning point came in late 2022, when Warren traveled to DDRC to plead for the continuation of the San Francisco Bay Area online group meditation classes with Abbot Guo Yuan. After the pandemic, Venerable Chang Xiang, superintendent of the Fremont Center, had announced the discontinuation of their online meditation program. Warren found this surprise deeply troubling. In just two years, the course had attracted more than one hundred participants from nineteen countries. To let such a program come to an end would have been a great loss.
At that moment, a thought arose naturally. Why not merge this online program into the future Manhattan Meditation Center?
It was a perfect convergence of causes and conditions.
In February 2023, our center officially launched its online platform under the name Global Meditation Center New York (www.gmcny.org). In this way, the Manhattan Meditation Center that I had long carried in my heart was born first in the digital realm. We began with Sunday afternoon meditation and sutra lectures. Gradually, we invited teachers such as Venerable Chang Ji, Rebecca Li, An-Yi Pan, and Ian Urquhart to offer monthly Dharma talks, while continuing to hold refuge-taking ceremonies once each season, welcoming many new practitioners onto the path.
Among them, one practitioner named Tia left a deep impression on me. She practiced diligently herself and also brought her family and friends to DDRC for retreats. In April 2023, she took the Three Refuges and Five Precepts. By October, she brought her sister so they could take the Bodhisattva Precepts together. Seeing this quiet transformation, I truly felt the living power of the Dharma. She is a Bodhisattva with deep and wholesome roots.
Although the online platform flourished, our ultimate wish remained to establish a physical center in Manhattan. I was deeply moved by Abbot Guo Yuan’s persistence in carrying out this vow. Out of gratitude and a desire to repay the Master’s kindness, and despite my limited English, I summoned the courage to walk the streets of Manhattan in search of a venue. In my heart, I constantly prayed to Guanyin Bodhisattva, wishing for this pure land to be realized soon.
Yet the Manhattan real estate market is complex and costly, especially for those unfamiliar with its ways. Beginning in April 2023, Venerable Guo Yuan and I continued scouting for properties while I also searched for a team. Reason reminded me that a meditation center cannot function without people. After every Chan retreat, I would look for suitable candidates and sincerely invite them to join us.
With Guanyin Bodhisattva’s blessing, the right people always appeared at the right time.
In addition to Warren, I first invited Beth. Then Ian, Jessica, and Caroline joined one after another. Although Jessica and Caroline later withdrew due to relocation, Caroline introduced Ray, and the team gradually took shape.
By July 2023, our entire team officially shifted its focus toward preparing for the new center. We met frequently to discuss direction and curriculum. Still, the property search only truly accelerated after Bob, Echo, and Sophine joined. Because Sophine is a real estate agent herself, she quickly compiled a list of potential rentals. The process was that team members would contact agents first, followed by site visits with Venerable Guo Yuan.
I must admit that it was mostly Venerable Guo Yuan who led these visits. Due to my language limitations, I often understood only part of the conversations and chose to remain quietly in the background. Sophine’s careful eye proved crucial. On one occasion, she discovered that an agent had tampered with a contract. Had we not been vigilant, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
On April 2, 2024, my R-1 visa expired and I had to leave the United States. From then on, I participated only online. Each time Bob sent videos from a site inspection, my heart filled with a bittersweet mixture of longing and excitement. I wished I could cross the ocean and be there in person, yet reality allowed only distant encouragement and silent prayers.
The team inspected countless venues. Finally, the causes and conditions ripened, rewarding our perseverance.
On April 1, 2025, we officially signed a five-year lease. The lessee is the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, and the actual user of the unit is Manhattan Meditation Center, officially named Dharma Drum Meditation Center.
Our new home is located at 122 West 26th Street, Suite 801, in a commercial building in Manhattan. It is a location full of promise. The Google headquarters is nearby, and three colleges and New York’s famous arts and fashion districts surround it, drawing a vibrant, diverse community. The area naturally attracts many young people, yet the energy of the city comes from a rich mix of cultures, talents, and perspectives. New York is a global melting pot where creativity, ambition, and multicultural vitality converge, making this location uniquely suited for a Chan practice center.
The news of the successful signing was like a sudden surge of vitality. Anticipation quickly transformed into certainty. We felt that the time had truly arrived to plant the roots of Chan practice deep within the concrete jungle of Manhattan.
There was no time for prolonged celebration. Preparation began immediately.
Through Ray’s introduction, we welcomed a new team member, Eduardo, a young Puerto Rican Bodhisattva who has lived in the United States for many years. He had served in a meditation center in Upstate New York for four and a half years and was well versed in administrative operations. His arrival was like adding lubricant to grinding gears. Suddenly, the complex work began to move smoothly.
Under his coordination, the team was divided into four groups: Curriculum, Website, Volunteers, and Operations. Although meetings were irregular, Warren and I met with Eduardo regularly on Zoom to ensure that every milestone was implemented carefully and step by step.
As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning. Creating something from nothing is indeed arduous. Even now, many details still await refinement. Yet the opening day, January 24, now stands right before us.
Looking back on this journey, I have come to deeply understand the Master’s words: “One does not truly know the difficulty until one has lived through it.”
This space in Manhattan is far more than a rented space. It is the crystallization of countless transoceanic meetings, fervent prayers, and tireless collective effort. The Master’s vow, carried forward by Abbot Guo Yuan’s devotion to his teacher, has now been entrusted to us. In the heart of Manhattan, the first lotus flower has quietly bloomed.
Although I’m far away in DDRC and can’t touch the walls there, the memory of the team members’ radiant smiles transcends time and space, reaching deep into my heart.
Soon, the sign of the Dharma Drum Meditation Center will light up the bustling streets of Manhattan. In the future, this place will be more than a point on a map. It will become a spiritual oasis. People of all backgrounds, races, and orientations will push open these doors, set down the weariness of the city, and rediscover inner peace amid the hustle and bustle.
This five-year lease marks only the beginning. The persistence that carried us from zero to one will sustain us as we write the next five, even ten years. May this pure land, as the Master once wished, guide innumerable sentient beings, allowing the Buddha-dharma to flourish endlessly here in New York and throughout the West.
Thank you for your commitment to the practice and for this wonderful article. I haven’t been able to visit DDRC since I became a mother, and a solo parent. My last visit was in Dec – Jan 2020 for a 10 day silent retreat. I am so joyful for the center opening in Manhattan and I look forward to visiting and frequenting it again. Thank you and Blessings to all those who worked so hard to make this happen and continue the Buddha’s teachings
What an inspirational story.
You dont know the difficulty until you experience it! WOW. I will be attending the beginners meditation retreat March this year. Im just across the bridge here in New Jersey with this new center Im defintley looking for an opportunity to visit. 😊.
Congratulations! This is an inspiring and heart warming read. I look forward to visiting the new center, it is just what we need in the furiously busy city.
Welcome to Manhattan location.
I look forward to attending the programs at your new place.
Best regards.