The Temple and The Teacher
Click here for directions to the Meditation Hall
Walk to the courtyard fronting the largest building where you will see a large Kwan Yin Painting at the entrance. There is a ramp to the right. Walk up and around to the entrance of the large meditation hall. There is ample parking on the temple grounds.
Broken Ridge Temple is the English translation of “Mu-Ryang-Sa.” Located in a lush residential valley of Honolulu, it is the largest Korean temple outside of Korea. It was constructed in the authentic architectural style of an historical Korean temple and holds replicas of pagodas and statues dating to the 5th century. The construction of the first temple building began in 1980. During the temple’s construction, it was discovered that the roof of the main hall exceeded City and County height limitations. In order to comply with the building code, the roof was lowered resulting in the appearance of a broken ridge.
Gregory Pai was involved in the early design and naming of the temple. He immediately saw a significant Buddhist teaching, related to the words of the Buddha upon his enlightenment.
Through many a birth I wandered in samsara,
The Buddha
seeking, but not finding, the builder of the house.
Sorrowful is it to be born again and again.
O house-builder! Thou art seen.
Thou shall build no house again.
All thy rafters are broken. Thy ridge-pole is shattered.
My mind has attained the unconditioned.
Achieved is the end of craving.
Picture Gallery of the Temple
Keep scrolling down to meet the meditation teacher.
Click on the button below to take you to the full temple website:
Meditation Teacher
Gregory G. Y. Pai, Ph.D.
Gregory Pai began his study of meditation in the mid-seventies under Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. In the eighties he practiced under Roshi Robert Aitken in the Zen Buddhist tradition, and since then has been practicing Vipassana or Insight (Mindfulness) Meditation in the Burmese Mahasi tradition. His teachers have included Anagarika Munindra, Sri Goenka, Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Sayadaw U Silananda, and Sayadaw U Kundala of Burma. He also studied with Jon Kabat-Zinn in mindfulness based stress reduction. He is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leadership training program at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in the United States.
He began teaching meditation in the nineties with a public meditation program at the Broken Ridge Korean Temple in Honolulu. Since then, his teaching activities have included working with the mentally disabled at the Hawaii State Hospital and with retired veterans at the Veterans Administration Hospital and also at Kahi Mohala, a private facility for the mentally disabled and at the psychiatric unit at Queens Hospital. He has also worked with the homeless at the Institute for Human Services, homeless veterans, and in the state and federal prison system. He also taught at the Center for Alternative Medicine at the University of Hawaii School of Medicine and has also written and edited a number of works on mindfulness meditation.
Dr. Pai, who is now retired, formerly served as a Commissioner on the Hawaii State Public Utilities Commission. Prior to that, he served as the Director of the Office of State Planning, and Special Assistant for Public Policy under Governor Benjamin Cayetano, and as a Special Assistant for Economic Affairs under Governor John Waihee. Before joining the public sector, he was Vice President and Chief Economist for the First Hawaiian Bank.
Dr. Pai received his Ph.D. in economics and regional planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also a Masters in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1967 and attended Iolani School in Honolulu.
Gregory As An Artist
Gregory’s early interest and natural aptitude for art were channeled into architecture by his parents who felt that it was more practical career choice. After receiving advanced degrees from Yale, Harvard and MIT, his fledgling architectural career took an unexpected turn into public policy and urban planning. He returned to Hawaii and had many rewarding years as an economist in the private and public sectors.
Gregory’s interest in art never died and he was a lifelong student of art, in all forms: drawing, sculpture, photography and painting. His steadfast study and concentration, developed in meditation, were finally recognized and he began to exhibit his pastel and oil paintings in local art galleries and won several national awards.
The true flowering of Gregory as an artist occurred when he discovered that painting was a way for him to connect, to truly connect–by uniting his inner landscape with the outer landscape. Art, he believed, is more than a depiction of outer forms. Of necessity, there must be first and foremost, a spiritual communion with the landscape. If he were not able to hear the voices of the mountains and rainforests, there would be only lines and colors on the canvas. There would be no spirit.
Gregory’s recent paintings have focused on figurative art with the same degree of precision and attention to detail. Out of his compassion for the marginalized, he wishes to highlight the plight of the homeless and others in suffering. It is difficult to turn away from these images.
To view his art, click on the link below to take you to his art website: