
Fudo Myoo Teja Bell Roshi
California
Ordained in 2004 by Junpo Denis Kelly – lineage Rinzai Zen and Dharma heir – Teja was given the dharma name “Fudō Myōō – The Immutable One.”
Teja Bell (Fudo Myoo Roshi) is a lineage dharma teacher and Rinzai Zen master, an 84th ancestor of Lin-Chi I-Chuan’s Chan lineage. He is a 6th degree Black Belt in Aikido and a life-long practitioner and teacher of Chinese Internal Arts and Qigong. Teaching Internationally (in China and Europe), Teja integrates meditation, dharma, with somatic practices as embodied mindfulness, and guides embodiment practices and Dharma teachings in a weave that is supportive of genuine insight, contemplative focus, well-being and mental/emotional clarity. He conducts teacher-trainings and in-depth practice sessions along with regular online classes and has taught scores of Zen retreats and over 150 residential retreats and Daylong events at Spirit Rock Meditation Center since 1999.
Teja has these reflections on his ordination and dharma name:
Before the age of two, I was known in my family as “Fu.” This name came to me by way of my Great Aunt Leona, who Fudo Myoospent over thirty years living in China. I also have her last name as my middle name, which is Linden (from Vander Linden). Being called Fu or Fudo is commonplace amongst my family and close friends from this early age to present. The fierce deity of fire and wisdom, Fudō Myōō is my resonant spirit.
Fudō Myōō, (Achalanatha in Sanskrit), is the guardian of wisdom, the Unshakable Spirit, that personifies the virtue of perseverance – is portrayed holding a sword in his right hand and a coiled rope in his left hand. With this sword of wisdom (akin to Manjushri), Fudō Myōō, cuts through delusion and ignorance, and with the rope he binds violent passions and destructive emotions – known in Buddhist nomenclature as kleśā.
Fudō Myōō is often portrayed surrounded by flames, flames that consume the delusion and the ignorance of this world. Fudo is the principal deity of the Five Lords of Light. He has close association with the Dragon (Ryujinsama) divinity and with the Martial Arts. Fudō Myōō (Acala Vidyârâja) transmits the teachings and the injunctions of Mahâvairocana (theFudo Myoo life force – Ki/Chi – of the Buddhas that illuminates everything) to all living beings. Fudō’s nature is essentially one of compassion and he has vowed to be of service to all beings for eternity.
Fudō Myōō has two teeth protruding from out of his mouth, an upper tooth and a lower tooth. The upper tooth is pointed downward and this represents his unlimited compassion to those who are suffering in body and spirit. His lower tooth is pointed upward and this represents the strength of his desire to progress upward in his service of the Truth. In his upward search for Bodhi -enlightenment – and in his downward concern for suffering beings, he represents the awakening of the Bodhicitta: compassionate concern for others.
Mantra
Nômaku sanmanda bazaradan senda
makaroshada sowataya un tarata kanman
(Japanese)
Namah samanta-vajrânâm canda
mahârosana sphotaya hûm trat hâm mâm
(Sanskrit)
Homage to the all-pervading Vajras!
O Ferocious One of great wrath!
Destroy! hûm trat hâm mâm