by Elsie Walker

“Community” is a word which comes to mind when talking about the Empty Cloud Monastery on Ridgeway Avenue in West Orange.  A Buddhist monastery, in addition to sharing the Buddhist teachings, Empty Cloud offers ways for anyone of any faith (or agnostic or atheist) to grow through meditation. Its retreats and activities are offered free to the public. Also, it has reached out to the community with a food distribution program during the Covid pandemic.  That spirit of generosity has been reflected back to the monastery through those in the local and wider community who help sustain the monastery and its monks.   Recently, two of the monks, Ayya Soma and Bhante Suddhaso talked about Buddhism and the offerings at the monastery.

Soma and Suddhaso started the non-profit organization, Buddhist Insights, in January 2016.   Its mission is to connect people with Buddhist monastics. The organization was located in New York City and moved to West Orange in January 2020.

The Buddhist monastery is located in what was formerly a Catholic monastery named for the area in which it is located:   St. Cloud’s.  In naming their monastery, the Buddhist monks wanted to keep the location part of the name.  When asked why their monastery was named Empty Cloud, the monks noted several things that go with the “empty” part of the name. Suddhaso noted that in coming there, one’s goal is to empty their mind of hatred, greed, and delusion.  Soma noted the idea of being empty of independence, that everyone is dependent on someone else.  She shared how that was seen during the pandemic, with who was labeled as “essential workers” opening people’s eyes as to how much people needed each other.  Finally, Empty Cloud is the name of a famous Asian monk. 

The monks shared some basics of Buddhism.   Buddhism is a set of practices for achieving unconditional happiness through generosity, kindness, and meditation.  For example, through meditation, people can change their mindset as to how they see themselves and the world around them.  Negative thoughts could be replaced with more positive, loving ones.  Change starts from the inside and becomes an outwardly one. Through meditation people can help themselves change how they see others.  Suddhaso mentioned that meditation can also help people to love themselves, and have compassion for themselves and others.  

“One doesn’t need to be a Buddhist to practice Buddhism,” Soma noted.  She mentioned that Buddhism can help people of other faiths (Christian, Muslim, Jew), atheists, or agnostics to grow.   Soma noted that it is said that God helps those who help themselves.   Buddhism is a way to help oneself.

The monastery offers a variety of retreats, activities and educational offerings to the public at no cost, plus has offered food assistance during the pandemic. Retreats allow people to deepen their meditation practice in an intensive and supportive environment, and people can stay at the monastery for a few days or weeks.  Educational offerings are live streamed on Facebook and available on YouTube.  Through those, the monks reach not only those in the area who are interested in learning more about Buddhism, but also reach people in areas of the world who want to study Buddhism but don’t have a monastery near them for instruction.  The monastery offers family days where families can bring food to share and spend a day.  During this time of COVID, it is best to check the following site to see the offerings available:  www.buddhistinsights.org/events. In addition to their programs, Soma noted that they started a food distribution program in April 2020 to help families in need experiencing food insecurity due to COVID19.

The spirit of community flows both ways.  The monks have taken a vow of poverty and so rely on donations to sustain them. In these days of what seems to be bad news everywhere, Soma mentioned how heart-warming it is to see that there are so many generous people in the world who help them.  They go weekly to the West Orange Farmers Market where people give them donations of food and other donations are given at the monastery or made online.  

For more information about Empty Cloud, see its website at www.emptycloud.org.