Everyone is welcome to all of our practice activities. There is no charge, although donations are welcome.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

6:15 am Zazen
6:55 am Kinhin
7:05 am Zazen
7:45 am Service

6:30 pm Zazen
7:10 pm Kinhin
7:20 pm Zazen
8:00 pm End of practice

Saturday

6:15 am Zazen
6:55 am Kinhin
7:05 am Zazen
7:45 am Service

8:00 am Breakfast
8:20 am Temple Cleaning

9:15 am Coffee/Tea Break

9:30 am Dharma Discussion
10:30 am End of practice

Sunday

8:20 am Introduction to Zazen
9:40 am Zazen
10:20 am Dharma Talk

11:00 am Teatime

Weekdays

Our regular weekly practice consists mainly of zazen, or seated meditation, and kinhin, or walking meditation. Practitioners are welcome to come for either or both periods of zazen. In the morning, we follow zazen with a short chanting service made up of the Heart Sutra and full bows.

Saturdays (except during two-day sittings or sesshin)

After zazen and service on Saturdays we have breakfast together, either an informal breakfast on the first Saturday of the month, or a formal breakfast using oryoki bowls and including meal chants. The informal meal gives us a chance to chat and get to know each other, while the formal meal is a beautiful mindfulness practice that allows us to completely experience cooking, serving and eating, and to recall with gratitude the life of the Buddha and our interdependence with all beings.

Once breakfast is over, we take care of our facility by sweeping, vacuuming, tending the altar, washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms and floors, and doing other light housekeeping. After a brief break for tea or coffee, we're ready to begin our dharma discussion, where we read aloud from a dharma text and engage in lively conversation. Over the years we have read together a wide variety of texts, ranging from the Vimalakirti and Lotus Sutras to Dôgen's Bendowa and commentaries by Katagiri Roshi and Suzuki Roshi. No preparation is necessary; it's not a "course", the atmosphere is informal and all comments are welcome. It offers an unusual opportunity to engage in interactive study of dharma texts and to express one's own understanding of the dharma.

Sundays

Those new to Zen practice are invited to our weekly Introduction to Zazen.  Other sangha members will arrive a little later for a period of zazen and then the dharma talk, a short presentation by the practice director or a guest speaker. Afterward there's tea and a bit of social time.