Our Story

Holds The Moon Quan Yin Water Temple (“HTM,” previously known as 3 Sisters Kuanyin Temple of Aquatic Wellness), was created in July 2019 here in Huchiun, occupied unceded Lisjan Ohlone territory, otherwise known as East Oakland. HTM is in the family of contemporary Zen (Chinese: “Ch’an”) Buddhism through founder James Jishin Anthony’s 44 years of Zen koan meditation practice with Robert Aitken Roshi in Honolulu (Diamond Sangha), and with John Tarrant Roshi and Steven Grant Roshi in the SF Bay Area (Pacific Zen Institute). Through James as an ordained Zen Priest (“Sensei”) HTM offers regular meditation instruction and other religious practices and services as a Zen Buddhist Temple. 

Part of the intention of HTM is to promote aquatic meditation and healing practices, especially the Triad Round. The Triad Round is a non-professional, peer-to-peer practice of sharing simple warm water bodywork with friends and family, inspired by Harold Dull, the founder of Watsu (the original aquatic bodywork form he created at Harbin Hot Springs in 1980). James designed the HTM warm pool with Harold in Spring 2019, and brought it to temperature in July, the same month that Harold died. In 2023, Seh-reum Tom joined HTM as co-steward in developing programming and protocols to make meditation and aquatic healing work more accessible to historically marginalized communities and to support the reclamation of ancestral and spiritual relationships to the medicine of water. Seh-reum is a student of Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) and a Vajrayana practitioner in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage under Dr. Nida Chenagtsang from Amdo, Tibet.

Through Seh-reum and James as co-stewards, HTM offers various temple religious services, including meditation, healing, ceremonial blessings (weddings, baby blessings, funerals, etc.), pastoral counseling, and community gatherings and feasts.

HTM wants to make the practice of aquatic healing more equitably available because of its power to connect people with themselves, with each other, and with the water bodies that compose our planet earth home. Holds The Moon Quan Yin Water Temple is a space for sharing the Buddha dharma, particularly dedicated to Quan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion & Healing.