Three Mountains Way Wisdom Lineage
Three Mountains Way is a living spiritual path that is rooted in Buddhism, Kwanzaa, and Taoism :
Buddhism — awakening, ethical conduct, meditation, and compassionate action
Kwanzaa (Nguzo Saba) — African-centered ethics, communal responsibility, and cultural grounding
Taoism — harmony with the Way, balance, non-forcing (wu wei), and natural
This practice involves working with the principles and validating the study through lived experiences, and it matures as practitioners walk the peaks and valleys between the mountains of our lives.
Three Mountains Way arose from the local founders’ lived practice, not theory. Our foundational practices are based upon the texts and Wisdom teachings of the following;
Kwanzaa: Maulana Karenga — Ujamaa teachings and the founder of Kwanzaa in 1966, the first pan-African holiday.
Zen Buddhism, Okumura Roshi of the Sanshin Zen community
Zen Buddhism, Hoko Karnegis of the Sanshin Zen community
Taoism, Eva Wong of Limitless Gate Taoism
Zen Buddhism teaches us how to sit still inside our mind and life To meet reality without turning away,
To trust practice even when clarity was absent.
Kwanzaa shows us the stillness of a moral direction.
It insists that awakening without ethics is incomplete.
That spirituality must serve people, culture, and community,
Not just personal peace.
Taoism teaches us how to breathe again.
How to move with the seasons,
How to act without forcing,
How to honor energy, rest, and natural limits.
Teaching Integrations
Zen grounds Kwanzaa in lived practice, presence, and embodiment.
Kwanzaa brings Zen into communal life, ethical action, and shared responsibility.
Taoism offers ease, balance, and natural flow, softening effort and inviting sustainability.
Like three mountains standing side by side—
Distinct, rooted, and shaped by different forces—
They create a landscape where life can flourish.
Three Mountains Way is not about mastery.
It is about showing up.
Returning again and again to breath, ethics, and balance.
This path exists so that spiritual practice may be lived—
In our bodies,
In our communities,
And across the changing seasons of our lives.
These traditions are held in respectful dialogue, not blended into sameness, but practiced side-by-side as complementary paths toward ethical living, embodied wisdom, and communal care.