YOU BELONG HERE.
At the Buddhist Faith Fellowship, we believe that Buddhism isn’t about retreating from life, it’s about awakening within it. You don’t need to shave your head, wear robes, or withdraw from the world to walk the Buddha’s path. We are everyday people—parents, teachers, artists, and seekers—living extraordinary lives shaped by the timeless wisdom of the Buddha. Our teachers are certified and trained in authentic Buddhist lineages, sharing the Dharma in ways that speak to today’s world.
Join us to discover purpose, hope, and the joy of awakening—not apart from life, but right in the heart of it.
Be still; truth arises in silence.
The Buddhist Faith Fellowship in Middletown, Connecticut is a contemplative center with an open and nurturing community, dedicated to spiritual fulfillment and enlightenment. Here, mindfulness flourishes, kindness is practiced, wisdom is embraced, and compassion is at the heart of everything we do.
We offer a variety of activities to promote the Buddhist teachings, training, and practices, such as our Meditation & Talk Sundays, morning mindfulness retreats, Buddhism 101 courses, and a number of spiritual, cultural, and outdoor field trips. See our Courses and Programs tabs or calendar for current activities. We are open to the public; no experience or knowledge of Buddhism necessary.
As a community of individuals from a variety of religious and non-religious backgrounds, we are deeply inspired by the wise and compassionate example of the historical Buddha and the living Buddhist teachings that have been clarified by generations of great teachers. What moves us most is the call of boundless compassion that welcomes us just as we are. Through the traditional Three Trainings of ethics, mindfulness, and wisdom, alongside teachings such as Other Power (grace), trust, and gratitude, we offer a practical and accessible path to greater peace and fulfillment in this moment and beyond.
Our mission and vision focus on sharing, promoting, and practicing the Buddhist teachings without any political agenda. We do not endorse any political theory, ideology, or social activism, but we solely focus and rely on the Three Jewels—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. We believe that the Buddhadharma itself—the Buddhist Teachings —is enough to transform the world one person at a time, starting with each of us.
We recognize that lasting transformation begins from within. To bring more clarity, compassion, and meaningful connection into our thinking and daily life, we first work to transform self-centered habits, unskillful patterns, and distraction into greater awareness, compassion, and care for others. In this way, we cultivate understanding and become more effective in service to others, addressing suffering with insight and compassion. Our practice emphasizes mindfulness, inner inquiry, and wholehearted engagement with life, helping each of us grow toward becoming bodhisattvas and Buddhas in the world. Recognizing that true transformation begins from within, we also see how modern life can pull us outward, prompting us to seek happiness and security in ways that overlook our inner refuge in the timeless Buddhist path.
Modernism, a cultural movement that prizes rationality, control, and external solutions, often encourages us to seek happiness, security, and relief primarily through external means, including technology, constant stimulation, productivity, consumption, or chemical solutions that promise escape from pain. While such tools can offer temporary comfort or convenience, modern life often conditions us to rely on them as substitutes for genuine refuge. Buddhism recognizes this tendency as a feature of modern consciousness itself, a restless turning outward that overlooks the roots of suffering and well-being within. At the Buddhist Faith Fellowship, we do not reject technology or medicine, nor do we judge those who seek relief through substances. Rather, we question the assumption that lasting fulfillment can be engineered, numbed, or outsourced. Instead, we invite people to take refuge in the ancient yet ever-relevant Buddhist path, pointing inward toward natural awareness, ethical living, wisdom, and compassion as the true foundations of healing, happiness, and freedom.
We warmly invite everyone to participate in our gatherings, courses, and retreats—no prior knowledge or experience with Buddhism is needed. Our approach to the Buddhist teachings and practices is designed to be highly accessible and supportive, offering practical insights that are easy to follow and meaningful for people from all walks of life. As our dharma teacher often says, “Come and join us, just as you are.”
Our Story
Our journey began on Hana-matsuri Festival in April 2001, celebrating the historical Buddha’s birth, when a small group gathered in Rev. G.R. Lewis’ apartment in Bristol, Connecticut, near ESPN.
Inspired by his studies under Venerable Thich Tri Hoang—a 43rd-generation member of the Lieu Quan lineage in the Thièn Lâm Te (Linji Chan, i.e., Rinzai Zen) school—and after receiving lamp transmission and ordination as a dharma teacher in the Dharma Teacher Order in 2000, our founding teacher, Rev. G.R. Lewis, M.A. (Nguyện Trí / Wisdom Vow), studies and training drew on Theravada, Mahayana, Thièn (Vietnamese Zen), and Pure Land traditions.
Seeking to deepen his education, he then continued his studies under prominent teachers in the Shin Buddhist and Vajrayana schools, including the late Rev. Taitetsu Unno, Ph.D., through his Lay Teacher’s Program at the Northampton Shin Sangha in Massachusetts. Galvanized by Rev. Unno vision, Rev. Lewis formally established the Buddhist Faith Fellowship in 2001 as Connecticut’s first independent group blending Zen and Shin traditions, with the aim to invite a new generation into the path of awakening and compassion.. Over decades, he has refined this vision and teachings, forging a new path from self-effort to grace that truly reflects Mahayana’s non-duality—advaya.
The first years of the Buddhist Faith Fellowship were filled with shared purpose, but soon outgrew the little apartment. After searching for a public place to gather, we found a low-budget space at Elmwood Community Center in West Hartford where we meet for two years. In 2004, we found a spiritual home at Wesleyan University in Middletown, first meeting at Memorial Chapel before moving to the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies, which includes a tatami room and overlooks the beautiful Shôyôan Teien Zen garden, which has inspired our Meditation & Talk Sundays.
Since then, over the years, our fellowship grew into a vibrant Buddhist community, offering a variety of enriching programs, courses, workshops, and retreats. We expanded to include local chapters across the United States, providing resources and support to a diverse range of practitioners. While some initiatives, such as our environmental, philosophical, and family groups, were phased out, their legacy of community and spiritual growth continued to inspire our mission.
For 16 years, our fellowship’s activities were held exculsively in Middletown, Connecticut, until the global health crisis in 2020, when we transitioned to an online format. Surprising, our online presence lead to an unexpected boon of expanded national and international participation in our Meditation & Talk Meetings. Post-pandemic, we joyfully resumed in-person activities in Middletown and amplified our presence on social media platforms such as Meetup.com, Facebook, X, and Instagram, and have reignited our outdoor activities, inviting all to join us on this transformative journey.
As of this writing, the Buddhist Faith Fellowship stands as the only community in New England—encompassing Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine—blending Zen and Shin traditions, unique and independent in its integrative path.
Our story is not complete; we are still evolving. Come, be part of this unfolding journey. Join us on Sunday mornings or in our courses or retreats to experience the transformative path of mindfulness, grace, and connection.
Our Teachings: The BFF Approach
From the ultimate perspective, our path does not teach anything in the conventional sense. As D. T. Suzuki wrote, “Zen (as meditation) teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become aware. It does not teach, it points.” Buddhist practice, as we understand it, gently awakens us from our personal narratives and the cultural habits that shape our sense of self and world. It invites us to recognize a clear, natural awareness already present within us, what Mahayana traditions call Buddha Nature and what we experience as a lived sense of grace and compassion in ordinary life.
Our teachings grow from the great stream of Mahayana Buddhism, the Universal Vehicle, with a special emphasis on Zen and Pure Land. Like the 17th century Zen Master Bankei, who spoke of the simple, ever present “Unborn Mind,” and the 13th century religious reformer Shinran Shonin, who taught the way of deep trust and gratitude through the Great Compassion known as Amida Buddha, we seek to make the Buddhadharma accessible for everyday people in the midst of ordinary life. What may seem like complex teachings are, at heart, reminders that awakening and compassion are available to all of us, here and now.
The Buddhist Faith Fellowship draws from the richness of the Mahayana tradition, particularly the Zen, Pure Land (including Shin), and Tathagatagarbha traditions, while also incorporating selected contemplative teachings and practices from Vajrayana Buddhism. We honor all Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma: the First Turning, which establishes the path through the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path; the Second Turning, which deepens our understanding through the wisdom of emptiness, compassion, and the Bodhisattva path; and the Third Turning, which reveals the teachings of Buddha Nature and the innate potential for awakening present in every being.
While embracing all Three Turnings as complementary expressions of the Buddha’s wisdom, we find particular inspiration in the Third Turning’s vision of our naturally luminous Buddha Nature, always understood in harmony with the Mahayana insights of emptiness, nonduality, compassion, and interdependence. Together, these teachings remind us that awakening is not something to be acquired from outside ourselves, but something to be recognized, embodied, and shared for the benefit of all beings.
Our understanding is also shaped by many of the great Mahayana scriptures. The Queen Shrimala Sutra and other Tathagatagarbha sutras affirm that every being, no matter how lost or burdened, possesses an obscured yet ever present potential for awakening. The Larger Sutra of Immeasurable Life invites us to entrust ourselves to the Great Compassion and its grace, while the Lotus Sutra proclaims that through skillful means (upaya), there is One Vehicle of awakening open to everyone without exception. Other texts, such as the Lankavatara Sutra, point us toward the nature of mind itself, while the stories of the Buddha’s life remind us that the Dharma is lived, not merely studied.
To help illuminate these teachings, we draw upon the insights of the 6th-century Master Zhiyi (Chi-i) and his teaching of the Three Truths: Provisional Truth (samvriti satya), the world of everyday appearances and distinctions; Ultimate Truth (paramartha satya), the reality of emptiness beyond conceptual limits; and the Middle Way (madhyama pratipad), the nondual realization that the provisional and ultimate are inseparable. Simply put, this framework helps us see that ordinary appearances and ultimate reality are not separate but mutually interpenetrating. This insight resonates with the Heart Sutra, which reminds us that “form is emptiness, emptiness is form; form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form.” As the 9th century Zen master Linji said, “The one is in the many and the many are in the one.” In other words, awakening comes from recognizing that the relative and the absolute are inseparable and that true understanding arises from perceiving their unity.
In plain and practical language, we share these timeless stories and insights to help people live more mindfully, cultivate faith and compassion, and awaken to the deeper truth of nonduality, advaya, the inconceivable reality that transcends all opposites. Through meditation, mindfulness, study, ethical living, abiding in open natural awareness, and deep trust in the dynamic activity of Great Compassion, our path offers a gentle movement from self-effort toward grace, from striving toward letting go. Ultimately, the Dharma is not abstract philosophy but a living path that points us back to the clarity, kindness, and freedom already present in the midst of our lives.
Our Practice: Awakening in Everyday Life
At the Buddhist Faith Fellowship, our practice is not simply about relaxation or stress reduction, though these often arise naturally. The heart of our path is awakening: recognizing and embodying our true nature of wisdom, compassion, and luminous awareness already present within us. Drawing inspiration from Zen, the Pure Land tradition, selected contemplative practices of Vajrayana Buddhism, and the broader Mahayana tradition, we cultivate an integrated path that weaves together meditation, contemplative chanting, ethical living, study, and compassionate engagement with the world. Each practice is a skillful means (upaya), pointing toward the same awakened reality from a different angle.
Our primary contemplative practice is Shamatha-Vipashyana meditation. We begin by calming and stabilizing the mind (Shamatha), then cultivate clear seeing (Vipashyana), gradually learning to rest in open, natural awareness beyond habitual grasping and distraction. The aim is not merely concentration or tranquility but awakening itself: recognizing our Buddha Nature and directly experiencing the inseparability of emptiness and luminous awareness. Like the highest contemplative teachings of Zen, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen, our practice ultimately points beyond conceptual thinking toward recognizing the natural, awakened awareness already present within each of us.
Contemplative chanting is another central practice of our community. We chant traditional sutras, gathas, and mantras not as ritual alone but as forms of meditation that gather the scattered mind, open the heart, and awaken qualities already present within us. Among the mantras we especially treasure is Om Mani Padme Hum, the mantra of the Great Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, traditionally recited to cultivate boundless compassion, purify obscurations, and remind us that wisdom and compassion are inseparable. We also chant other Buddha and Bodhisattva mantras as contemplative practices that deepen mindfulness, compassion, and awakened presence.
A distinctive feature of our path is what we call Name-Prayer (Nembutsu) and Name-Mantra. Through the Name-Prayer, Namo Amida Buddha, and the Name-Mantra, Om Namo Amitabhaya, we contemplate Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life, in the spirit of the Pure Land and Shin Buddhist traditions. These contemplative practices cultivate gratitude, humility, trust, and openness to the natural activity of Great Compassion, gently moving us from self-centered striving toward entrusting ourselves to the compassionate wisdom that continually embraces all beings.
At the heart of all our practices is Bodhichitta, the awakened aspiration to realize Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. Conventionally, we cultivate Bodhichitta through the Bodhisattva Vows, the Six Paramitas (Perfections), and the Four Immeasurable Minds of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. From the deeper perspective of Mahayana and the Third Turning, however, this blossoms into what we understand as Maha-Bodhichitta (Great Bodhichitta), not merely something generated by the separate self, but the natural activity and spontaneous expression of our already awakened Buddha Nature. In this way, Maha-Bodhichitta closely parallels Shin Buddhism’s understanding of Shinjin as the awakening of deep trust through Great Compassion rather than an accomplishment of the separate self.
Because awakening is never separate from the lives of others, our practice naturally extends into everyday life. We do not withdraw from the world but seek to embody wisdom and compassion in our families, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities. Every encounter becomes an opportunity to practice generosity, patience, mindful listening, forgiveness, and compassionate service. All authentic Buddhist practices ultimately point us toward recognizing the same naturally present Buddha Nature. Whether through meditation, mantra, name-prayer, ethical living, or entrusting ourselves to Great Compassion (grace), each expresses and cultivates the same awakening from a different angle. In this spirit, the Dharma is not confined to the meditation hall or chanting service but becomes a living path of awakening in the midst of ordinary life.
Come as you are
For disciples and seekers. For individuals and families. For young and old. For men and women. For the highly educated and not so learned. For believers and non-believers. For saints and the wicked. For the lucky and for the less fortunate. For straight and gay. For any race and ethnic group. For blue collars, white collars and no collars. For liberals, conservatives, and any other political belief. For the healthy and the sick. For locals and from abroad. At Buddhist Faith Fellowship, labels do not matter; the Buddha’s message of transformation and supreme liberation is open for everyone. Come as you are.
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