Jewish & Buddhist Practice

“An enlightened being does not ignore cause and affect.” - Zen Master Hyakujo, Gateless Gate, case #2

Rami’s embrace of his Jewish ancestry is his practice of his own karma, the cause and effect he experiences. Weaving the universal aspects of both Judaism and Zen Buddhism, with his ancestral-specific Jewish mystical languyage and liturgical practices.

History

Rabbi Rami Avraham Efal has been practicing since 2005 in buddhist Vipassana tradition of Insight Meditation Society and mostly in the Zen Buddhist lineage of Hakyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi. Rami’s first teacher was John Daido Loori Roshi, then his successors Senseis Shugen Arnold and Ryushin Marchaj. He trained with the Mountains and Rivers Order between 2005 to 2013. In those years he lived in monastic training over fours years between Zen Mountain Monastery & Zen Center of New York City, studying sutras, koans and Zen arts, and returning to frequent sesshins (week long intensive meditation. retreats) when not in residency. In 2011 he received the Buddhist precepts (Jukai) and the dharma name Mukyu, 夢究, Japanese for ‘penetrating the dream deeply.’

In 2013, Rami left the monastery and met Bernie, also known as Bernie Glassman or Tetsugen Roshi, in that year’s Auschwitz-Birkenau Bearing Witness Retreat. In 2015 he began serving as Bernie’s attendant (Jisha,) and later as the executive director of Zen Peacemakers International, a buddhist social activist community, and studying with Bernie his ‘Three Tenets:’ Not Knowing, Bearing Witness and Taking Action. Bernie died in November 2018.

Following Bernie’s passing, in November 2019, Rami was acknowledged by several Zen Peacemaker teachers, headed by Paco and Barbara, as a dharma holder (hoshi) in their lineage. Soon after Rami began his rabbinic studies and ordained as a Rabbi in 2024. Rami has maintained regular and intensive meditation practice throughout.

Sharing Each Other’s Temple

Acknowledgement of Jewish Participation in Bringing Buddhism to the West.