photo by: Lauren Fox

From left, abbot Dennis Duermeier and teachers Judy Roitman and Stanley Lombardo assume a meditative position in the dharma room at the new Kansas Zen Center at 1201 Laura Avenue.

After 42 years of conducting Zen practice in a variety of locations across Lawrence, the Kansas Zen Center has found a permanent home.

The organization, which teaches and practices Korean Buddhism as an affiliate of the Kwan Um School of Zen, had to turn people away at their last location, which was not easily accessible for people with disabilities.

“Occasionally somebody would say, ‘I’m in a walker. I’m in a wheelchair. Can I come?’ And we’d have to say, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t,'” said Judy Roitman, guiding teacher at the Kansas Zen Center.

The new center, a $1.1 million project, is a three-lot, handicap accessible property at 1201 Laura Avenue. It was finished in December and designed by architect Mike Myers.

“The main impetus was to be physically accessible,” Roitman said.

photo by: Lauren Fox

The new Kansas Zen Center building 1201 Laura Avenue was completed in December of 2019. It is pictured here on February 25.

Before entering the 4,200 square foot building, visitors must remove their shoes and place them on a rack outside the front door.

The social hall serves as the entry room to the center and is where group classes will take place. On Tuesday, Roitman, her husband and fellow Zen Master Stanley Lombardo, Zen Center abbot Dennis Duermeier and contractor Chris Koehler sat in the social hall, sunlight streaming in through the windows.

photo by: Lauren Fox

The entrance room in the new Kansas Zen Center at 1201 Laura Avenue is pictured on Feb. 25.

Koehler alerted the Journal-World of the center’s new building, and his interactions and friendly attitude toward the three Zen Center leaders proved the project was a special one for him.

Koehler explained that his goal is to help local businesses and families bring their dreams to fruition, and he was grateful that the group trusted him with the project.

“I felt like the first time I visited you guys and looked at the plans, and we were sitting on the dharma room floor, in the previous dharma room, I just had a feeling like, ‘Yeah, this makes sense. This is what I want to become,'” he said.

The dharma room is where meditation practice occurs. The large space has wooden floors, dozens of individual black mats and an altar to the Buddha. Outside the dharma room, gray robes hang on pegs, ready to be worn during meditation.

photo by: Lauren Fox

From left: Zen Center teacher Stanley Lombardo, contractor Chris Koehler, Zen Center teacher Judy Roitman and Zen Center abbot Dennis Duermeier.

The main floor of the center features a kitchen “three times” the size of their old one, Roitman said. It also has accessible bathrooms and an interview room.

photo by: Lauren Fox

The dharma room in the new Kansas Zen Center is located on the first floor, making it accessible to anyone who would like to come meditate.

photo by: Lauren Fox

Robes line the wall outside the dharma room at the new Kansas Zen Center, located at 1201 Laura Avenue.

The interview room — “sound proofed, I might add,” Koehler said — is where students can ask and answer questions from teachers Roitman and Lombardo.

photo by: Lauren Fox

The interview room is where members of the Kansas Zen Center can have one-on-one conversations with teachers.

Upstairs, there is a large multipurpose room and a bedroom where Duermeier, the abbot, sleeps. The abbot is the caretaker of the facility. Duermeier said the center is open to renting the multipurpose room and that there is currently a yoga instructor who uses the space. The room will also be used as a sleeping space during retreats.

One of the things Roitman is most looking forward to with the new space is promoting an open meditation hour that occurs from noon to 1 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It is not affiliated with any religion, she said. It’s just an hour where people can come and sit in a quiet space.

As a child growing up in New York City, Roitman fondly remembers stopping in churches on 5th Avenue and soaking in the silence.

“I was always in some sort of turmoil,” she said. “The thing is that I was sort of soaking something up and it was helping me.”

She thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there could be a place to do that?”

The Kansas Zen Center opened in 1978 and currently has 35 members. The group hopes the center’s new home will provide greater visibility and allow people of all physical abilities to participate.

“There’s a lot of people who might be looking for something like this and not know it,” Koehler said. “That’s the whole point of this building, to open up and grow and invite more new people in.”

photo by: Lauren Fox

The symbol of the Kwan Um School of Zen hangs in the window of the new Kansas Zen Center, 1201 Laura Avenue, on Feb. 25. It includes lotus petals, the wheel of dharma and the Sam Tae Geuk symbol, which Kansas Zen Center teacher Stanley Lombardo said represents the three planes of existence: the world of desire, the world of form and the world of formlessness.