If you would like to join us for our weekly Zazen sessions on Thursday evenings at 7pm (UK time), then you may need to do a little preparation beforehand.

Our aim for the Dharma Centre is to provide a virtual place for those who cannot access a Buddhist meditation venue locally. We cannot replace the experience of visiting a temple or Zen meditation hall (Zendo), but we can offer something that will help you establish both a sitting meditation practice and, importantly, a mindfulness practice. We tend to use the term ‘daily life practice’ to make clear that meditation can be practised throughout the activities of daily life. To support you in this, we offer access to a Zen teacher as well as a small, dedicated community.

If you are new to Zazen (sitting meditation), then you might like to take a look at our video tutorial, How to Sit Zazen Meditation. This will give you some basics on posture and method. We use a simple meditation on the breath which is common to most Buddhist schools. You may already be familiar with this if you are already meditating. If so, then bring your method along when you join us. Our meditation is done in silence, so we recommend finding a place where you can be quiet and undisturbed for an hour, which is the length of our weekly class.

We would also recommend setting up a small shrine to provide a focus and centre for your meditation area. This can be a small table, the top of a chest of drawers or a portion of a bookshelf. You can find more details about what this entails in our article on setting up a home shrine.

The format for our classes is as follows:

Week 1 – One period of Zazen (30 mins), chanting the Heart Sutra and Four Bodhisattva Vows,* followed by a Dharma talk (a talk on Buddhist practice).

Week 2 – Two periods of Zazen (with a short break to relax the posture), followed by chanting the Heart Sutra and Four Bodhisattva Vows. During the Zazen periods, there is an opportunity for an individual talk with the teacher on any aspect of Buddhist practice, including mindfulness and Zazen practice.

* You can find information about our chanting, together with the text, in our audio course How to Chant.

This meditation programme then repeats. We also take some time off during holiday periods. Announcements are given in class and on our dedicated Telegram page.

As a member of the Dharma Centre, you can always email me if you would like to have a chat about practice at thezengateway@gmail.com.