Welcome
Hokai Sobol is committed to contemporary Buddhist practice of Mahayana and Vajrayana, and has been waving the flag for 30 years as disciple, pathfinder, teacher, promoter, and speaker. Working with groups and individuals, leading retreats and courses, translating and publishing titles from leading edge authors, contributing through writings and talks, teaching in traditional and contemporary formats, mentoring through individualized instruction, Hokai has been assisting the establishment of a nonsectarian Buddhist practice, at once responsive to shifting cultural currents, and adaptive to actual lives.
“Buddhist practice has been taught, transmitted, and applied in different styles and modes, thus giving rise to mystical lineages, schools of thought, monastic orders, and popular movements. The early presentation is a product of the movement initiated by Siddhartha Gautama’s own awakening and teaching. Mahayana arose as a deeper potential initiated among the early sangha, responding to observed limitations. In addition, Ch’an/Zen and Vajrayana are results of further shifts within Mahayana itself, integrating a variety of influences and unique features.
Now, looking at twenty five hundred years of continuation, it seems obvious that these turnings proceeded along a spiritual trajectory hardly envisaged or planned, yet inevitable. Each of these forms retained what was necessary for a somewhat organic continuation, while also advancing creative innovations. The last of such radical innovations, however, happened long before the advent of modernity. What remained of novelty was institutionalized and thus its radical potential subverted, and often lost. This gap is being negotiated today – in both East and West – as conditions keep changing.”
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