What is Zen?                       ​

Elements of Zen Buddhist Practice

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  • Zazen - Soto Zen style meditation - sitting in bare or plain awareness
  • Buddha Practice - establishing & maintaining a daily meditation and mindfulness practice
  • Sangha - practicing & sharing in a community
  • Dharma - ongoing exploration, learning, and study
  • Sesshin - extended or deepening practice through retreats
  • Dokusan - working with a teacher on deep questions of practice
  • Learning how to take the wisdom from the cushion into our lives and the world 

Why We Meditate

  • To understand the interconnectedness, interpenetration (singularity) of all existence & things
  • To see directly into the mind and know the exact nature of reality
  • To walk fully and completely with all beings & things, the great earth, and the vast universe, hiding nothing and hiding from nothing
  • To learn, be, and grow loving kindness, compassion, equanimity, and sympathetic joy in all things