Rev. Song Dō (Jeremy Williams)
- Founder, Guiding Teacher & Abbot of the Zen Reformation Center
Although Song Dō is a practicing anesthetist, whose job it is to help people sleep safely through surgery, his job as a Zen priest is, ironically, to help people wake up.
Song Dō grew up in the Presbyterian Church in N.C. Around the age of 14, he was introduced to meditation, the Tao Te Ching and many other "new-thought" Christian spiritual teachings. He studied about every major world religion and was especially interested in the mystical side of these religions, such as Kabala, Sufism, Christian mystics, etc. But it was Taoism and Buddhism that held the most attraction for Song Dō. So, naturally, he started focusing more on them.
Song Dō started down the Buddhist path in earnest in the year 2000 when he attended meditation courses in the Shambhala Tibetan tradition in Boulder, CO. He formally took the Five Precepts in 2004. Because of his personal interest and inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr., Song Dō discovered Thich Nhat Hanh. He read many of Thay’s books and eventually sat with him in a week-long retreat in the mountains of Colorado. He was involved in Thay's Sangha for many years.
Later Song Dō discovered Zen Master Seung Sahn and BOOM! "It was like coming home," he says. Song Dō felt such a strong inclination to Zen Master Seung Sahn’s teachings that although Song Dō never met Seun Sahn in person, he felt as though he could hear his voice and his laughter as he read the ZenMaster's books.
Song Dō read many other wonderful teachers in almost every major Buddhist school: Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, etc, yet he says he is most in tune and attracted to the Zen method and path because he feels it is best suited to himself and cuts straight through most of the fog of his mind and gets right at the heart of life.
Song Dō started Zen Reformation Center (formerly named New Tampa Zen Sangha) in January, 2012.
- Founder, Guiding Teacher & Abbot of the Zen Reformation Center
Although Song Dō is a practicing anesthetist, whose job it is to help people sleep safely through surgery, his job as a Zen priest is, ironically, to help people wake up.
Song Dō grew up in the Presbyterian Church in N.C. Around the age of 14, he was introduced to meditation, the Tao Te Ching and many other "new-thought" Christian spiritual teachings. He studied about every major world religion and was especially interested in the mystical side of these religions, such as Kabala, Sufism, Christian mystics, etc. But it was Taoism and Buddhism that held the most attraction for Song Dō. So, naturally, he started focusing more on them.
Song Dō started down the Buddhist path in earnest in the year 2000 when he attended meditation courses in the Shambhala Tibetan tradition in Boulder, CO. He formally took the Five Precepts in 2004. Because of his personal interest and inspiration from Martin Luther King, Jr., Song Dō discovered Thich Nhat Hanh. He read many of Thay’s books and eventually sat with him in a week-long retreat in the mountains of Colorado. He was involved in Thay's Sangha for many years.
Later Song Dō discovered Zen Master Seung Sahn and BOOM! "It was like coming home," he says. Song Dō felt such a strong inclination to Zen Master Seung Sahn’s teachings that although Song Dō never met Seun Sahn in person, he felt as though he could hear his voice and his laughter as he read the ZenMaster's books.
Song Dō read many other wonderful teachers in almost every major Buddhist school: Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, etc, yet he says he is most in tune and attracted to the Zen method and path because he feels it is best suited to himself and cuts straight through most of the fog of his mind and gets right at the heart of life.
Song Dō started Zen Reformation Center (formerly named New Tampa Zen Sangha) in January, 2012.