Zen College Pagoda in Germantown, Maryland

The American Zen College was founded in 1976 by Zen Master Gosung Shin on a 12-acre farm near Germantown, Maryland, with the purpose of practicing and teaching Zen Buddhism.

The building of the college included the erection of an impressive 30-foot-tall pagoda carved out of Indian limestone and flanked by statues of the Buddha. The pagoda can be seen by people hiking the Greenway Trail in the Seneca Creek State Park adjacent to the college but otherwise, it is hidden from the view of motorists driving by the entrance of Zen College.

In Buddhist tradition when a master dies and is cremated, pearl-like objects called sarira are placed among the remains. Sariras are believed to have spiritual significance.

When the Zen College pagoda was constructed, the national treasury of South Korea donated four sarira from the historic Buddha Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, to be housed in the pagoda. This pagoda is one of only two sites in the United States containing remains of the Buddha (the other site being the Lu Mountain Temple in California).