Thursday, October 1, 2026
Last week, in a small, comfortable room in the basement of the Rockville Centre Library, a Zen master sat and spoke to his students.
“Who were you before your parents were born?” he asked them.
It was the last meeting of the library’s newest program, Zen Meditation. Like many of the library’s other adult programs, it was a six-week class. Due to the positive reception it received, the class will be returning for another six-week session starting March 28.
The program came about because one of the librarians studies at the Clear Mountain Zen Center in West Hempstead under Reverend Kendo Rich Hart, an ordained Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest.
Hart leads the classes at the library. He also teaches regularly at the Zen Center. “And any place that can tolerate me,” he added.
A Zen Buddhist for decades, Hart has been teaching others the ways of Zen for 50 years. He got his start in Zen from Chester Carlson, the man who invented Xerox. Hart was staying as a guest at Carlson’s house. “We had dinner and we talked, and the next morning I came down for breakfast and he slides an envelope across to me,” Hart said. “I opened it up and inside there’s six Xerox stocks, which at that time … was worth about $6,000 and a check for $6,000 to get started. He said, ‘Open up a Zen center that you want and we’ll pay all the bills.’”
To help him on his way even more, Carlson introduced Hart to a Zen master in New York City who taught him. Today, Hart lives and works in West Hempstead.
Hart himself is not what many would expect when they think of a Zen master. He makes his life’s work more relatable to others, peppering his discussions with talks of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and their relation to Zen. And he’s not afraid to yell at his students if he doesn’t like their answers.
He said that no two classes are the same, and the session that starts on March 28 will be different from the one that just concluded. “The group causes me to say what I say,” he said. “I get a feel of what the group’s atmosphere and mood are and I address that.”
In addition to a discussion of Zen, the classes at the library also include meditation.
To register for the upcoming session, visit the Adult Reference Desk at the library. There is a $25 cost for the six-week session, which will meet on Friday mornings.
