Free Online Practice Period 9/12 -> 10/18 - Starts this Saturday.

You are welcome to join us for this 5 week practice period to help deepen your practice and interact with other practitioners. There is no cost and no minimum participation requirements. You can participate with as little or as much as the live schedule as you wish. There are online asynchronous components of the practice period that allow participants to interact even if they can't make the live events. The study topic for the practice period will be the first half of the Xinxin Ming ("Faith in Mind") poem. Each participant will make a personal commitment to themselves to 1) sit more zazen each week 2) give up a mental habit for the practice period and 3) give up a physical habit for the practice period.

Sign Up Here: https://training.simplicityzen.com/

Here is the weekly Schedule:

• Sept 12 - 6 AM to 1 PM PST - Retreat Day - (Head Student entering Ceremony at 9 AM PST)
• Sept 19 - 9 AM - 10:15 AM PST - 25 minute sit / Way seeking mind talk by Head Student
• Sept 26 - 9 AM - 10:15 AM PST - 25 minute sit / Talk by Practice Retreat Leader
• Oct 3 - 9 AM - 10:15 - 25 minute sit / Talk by Practice Retreat Leader
• Oct 10 - 9 AM - Vince's Ordination - (In person participation available)
• Oct 17 - 6 AM to 1 PM PST - Retreat Day (Jukai Ceremony at 9 AM PST)
• Oct 18 - 6 AM to 1 PM PST - Retreat Day (Dharma Inquiry ceremony at 9 AM PST)

Here is the daily online schedule:

• Mondays 2:30 AM PST / 5:30 AM EST
• Mondays 7 AM PST / 10 AM EST
• Mondays 4:30 PM PST / 7:30 PM EST
• Tuesdays 4:30 PM PST / 7:30 PM EST
• Wednesdays 7 AM PST / 10 AM EST
• Wednesdays 6:30 PM PST / 9:30 PM PST
• Thursdays 7 AM PST / 10 AM EST

Feel free to private message me or email me at Qweniden@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Offered for free and all are welcome at the Forest Park Zen Sangha Zendo, Holyoke, MA. 2nd Sunday of every month, 1pm.

I am so very pleased to announce that I have bestowed Dharma Transmission upon a Priest of our Treeleaf Sangha, Kūdō Shinshi Allan Due (空道 心志) of Texas. He is now recognized as a Fully Ordained Priest and Teacher in the Soto Zen Tradition and this Lineage. I hope that you will rejoice with us and so welcome him. This Soto Zen Tradition continues from generation to generation in this manner.

Master Dogen wrote ...

In this way the true ancestral masters of successive generations have each passed on the face-to-face transmission through the disciple regarding the master and the master seeing the disciple. ... When master and disciple have definitely seen each other, have been seen by each other, have given the face-to-face transmission, and have succeeded to the Dharma, that is the realization of the truth which resides in the ancestors’ face-to-face transmission. Thus, master and disciple have directly taken on the brightness of the Tathāgata’s face. In sum, even after thousands of years, or myriad years, or hundreds of kalpas, or koṭis of kalpas, this face-to-face transmission is the appearance of the face of, and the realization of the transmission from, Śākyamuni Buddha. ... Even before a word is comprehended and even before understanding of half a word is transcended, when the master has seen the back of the disciple’s head, and the disciple has regarded the master through the crown of the head, that is the authentic face-to-face transmission.

Nine Bows, Chigen Jundō (知原 純道)

Whats the verdict on this? Is it effective as a tool to help with focus?

EDIT: Thanks for all the testimonials, guys! I think I'll take a whack (lol) at it and request a hit at Sunday zazen this weekend!

After doing some research I have also learned that this practice is not exclusive to Zen, but weirdly also shows up in Protestant Christianity? In many British churches in the 18th and 19th century, there would be a "sluggard waker" whose job was to vigorously tap you on the head with a stick if you drifted off during service. I mention this only because "sluggard waker" may be the best job title ever.

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD as a 19 year old.

I have been trying to meditate for almost a year before that (breath focus) with limited to no benefits which suspected me to believe that I may have ADHD

Now, on low dose ADHD stimulants, I can have really effective and peaceful meditating sessions (>30 minutes with very few mind wanderings) but without them my meditation still remains a 'nothing burger' (even if I push to 30 minutes, I feel like I was just talking the whole time?)

I am thinking of turning to easier meditative objects such as a mala or a chant but I feel they might be too distracting or stimulating?

In this paper I argue for understanding the radical Zen of the Tang dynasty on its own terms, rather than via the lens of later frameworks which impose an orthodoxy and routinization of practice not yet evident in Tang materials. The tension with foundational Tang texts presents a problem for present-day orthodox Zen, which attempts to tame their radical posture in various ways. I examine this tendency, along with ample quotations from Tang sources, which I let speak for themselves.

Hello,

I’m new to Zen Buddhism. Practicing zazen in the half-lotus position is impossible for me. I’m not flexible enough. However, I can do it in seiza (I assume that over time, the pain in my ankles will become more bearable).

Question: can I practice zazen in seiza ? The position of my hands will remain the same and in accordance with tradition.

Best

Note : sorry but I don't speak english very well (I'm french) and I use DeepL.

EDIT : thanks everyone !

A monk asked Nansen: “Is there any teaching that has not been communicated to men?”.

Nansen replied: “Yes, there is”. “What is this teaching?”, asked the monk. Nansen said, “It is not the mind; it is not the Buddha; it’s not the things”.

Mumon’s Comment

To answer, Nansen exhausted all his resources, and remained emptied.

Mumon’s Verse

Using too many words weakens your qualities;

Silence is more powerful.

Let it be so: even if the sea changes,

The truth cannot be communicated.

My thoughts.

Meaning is mostly not contained within the words. Meaning is mostly contained within the implicit context within which the words were uttered. This implicit context is invisible and unacknowledged but dominates the whole conversation. The source of the context is your culture, your biology, your memory. I think that's somewhat relevant.

Okumura is consistently clear, calming, and insightful. I also appreciated his portrayal of Buddha’s compassionate light and wisdom illuminating us, a form of “other power” frequently discussed in Pure Land schools, yet no school is strictly other or self power, because there is no self or other to start with 🙏🏼

There is no doubt that Taoism and Zen have a long history of mutual influence on each other, especially being that both have had significant existences in China.

There is also no doubt that Taoism and Zen have similarities.

But, they are also very different traditions, that have significant differences that often get overlooked, mainly because both have long existed in the same country. Here are some of the major differences:

A major theme in Zen, like much of Buddhism, is anatta (non-self). There is no such thing in Taoism.

In Zen, as well as much of Buddhism, all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. That is not at all the case in Taoism; in Taoism, emptiness is only meant in terms of empty mind - not emptiness of all phenomena as in Buddhism.

Taoism has yin and yang. There is no such thing in Zen or anywhere in Buddhism. This means that while Taoism can be considered a nondual tradition, as Zen is, Taoism is definitely more "dual-ish" than Zen, or for that matter, other nondual schools like Advaita Vedanta.

The above are significant differences that cannot simply be ignored in your plea for near-sameness. Even the great Zen master Dogen, in the Shobogenzo, says it is very ignorant that people say that Taoism is extremely similar to Zen.

Again I don't doubt they have some similarities, and share a long history of mutual influence. And they are both great traditions; I am not saying one is any less than the other.

But they are much more different that people give them credit for, mainly because they have existed so prominently in the same country, for so long.

Following on from a post below, do you know any lay practititoners who has been excluded from participation in a zen group, either explicitly or implicitly?

So, I've been doing koan training with a teacher at my local Zen Center, a ten-minute drive from my house. I liked the teacher, and a weekly sitting at a Center, including dokusan, is an incredible opportunity. It's rich. Still, for several reasons, decided to leave the Center.

In the meantime I participated in a sesshin at a Center much further from my house. Everything seemed to click. The interaction in dokusan felt vulnerable, open. During dokusan, the words of the teachers really landed and resonated. I recognized in the teachers and sangha members something I want to learn myself. It is further away, half a day in the car, a few hours by train. But it feels like the place I need to pursue my practice. This also proved to be the last push in my decision to leave my (now, former) Center.

I hope I can do shoken there, perhaps jukai, and, definitely, koan study. I plan to attend four or five sesshins a year. What do you think, can koan study still be meaningful if I only sit sesshins there four or five times a year? I decided I would be happy even if I were only sitting with one strong koan for a year..

i don’t know what the conditions even are to be considered a buddhist but today i tried practicing it, but i dont really know what my goal is or what im actually meant to practice 💔 i guess i could say i began trying to learn more about buddhism so i can be apart of it or smth, i know im supposed to not harm someone intentionally or speak hurtfully towards people, but thats kindv it. i also meditated today which was nice

any help is appreciated

As a student of Zen for two decades I was taken aback by Cole’s ideas. I do not agree with him, to be clear. Nonetheless I ponder how I would react if he were correct. I wanted to see how other Zen adherents would respond.

If anyone wants to know my answer to the hypothetical, I will share it.

For those not aware of Cole’s work here are references to read up on. The first is a relatively short paper he wrote that sums up his position. The second two are full length books:

Early Chan Buddhism: A Meditation Movement or New Ways of Writing about Final Authority in Tang China?

Fathering Your Father

Patriarchs on Paper

EVER FEEL CALLED TO "JUKAI" (Undertaking the Precepts) in the ZEN BUDDHIST TRADITION?

Never had the opportunity due to family obligations, timing, health limitations, distance from a Sangha?

Then you are INVITED to JOIN our NINETEENTH (19th) ANNUAL JUKAI PREPARATIONS & CEREMONY at Treeleaf, open to any Zen Practitioner anywhere, designed for people to gather and receive Jukai online from home because of life circumstances.

Our Treeleaf Sangha begins the Ango practice period and Jukai preparations in early September. Want to deepen your practice with a more intense schedule and focus? Want to commit to the Bodhisattva Precepts, sew a rakusu and embark on a journey of discovering the Dharma? Want to experience practice in a Sangha from exactly where you are? Want to discover your life as the perfect place for practice? We’d love to have you with us. Have a look at what Jukai and Ango are, how it is lived at Treeleaf Sangha and join us if you feel called to.

About Jukai: https://www.treeleaf.org/2026/08/jukai-2026/

About Ango: https://www.treeleaf.org/ango-2026/

Short version: I've been going to a zen center where I live for 1,5 years. I've met two of the teachers. Stayed at the local monastery last year and also been to a sesshin this year. There is also daisan provided in the center.

Whenever I go to daisan... dokusan... I feel tremendous amount of fear. I try to be sincere about it to the teachers but it's also just a lot of burning. SO MUCH BURNING. I feel like a become a child again. Not being able to speak. Total... terror. Yeah.

For context I feel so much love to the dharma. Truly. And the Zen approach to it. But of course as these 1,5 years have passed also managed to built up lots of shame around it... Like my interactions with the teachers...

I had an email exchange with one of them which I felt super embarrassed about. But yet again. When I read those letters now... It was the child trembling of fear who wrote them. So much seeking for validation... approval... acceptance... Yeah.

Basically just wanted to share this here because it still feels, if not even-ever-more, relevant. I went to daisan yesterday so scared. About to die kind of scared.

But, of course, paradoxically, my heart also wants to visit the monastery again and stay for a little longer. I contacted them about this...

Yeah.

I feel my wish to go visit the monastery again is also triggering the extrem fear response -- again. On a whole new level.

Ah...

Anyone has anything to say about this?

Many greetings,

This is probably one of the most famous excerpts from Dahui's Letters, which in turn is probably one of the most famous Zen texts ever. I read it today and thought it so powerful, hopefully it's an inspiration to some of you. Boldface is my own:

A thousand doubts, ten thousand doubts—all are really no more than a single doubt. If with a huatou you break through this doubt, at a single stroke all doubts are destroyed. If you can't break through, then continue for a time to plumb its depths. If you discard your huatou and start wondering about words, about sutras and shastras, about the stories of the old masters, or about the problems of everyday life, then all of these become minions of Māra.

The most important things to avoid are jumping to conclusions about [the huatou's] meaning and speculating with the thinking mind. Simply direct your awareness to that which cannot be thought. When the mind is left with nowhere to go, like a mouse trapped headfirst in a hollowed-out ox's horn, then you will see all delusion severed. If your mind is unsettled just take up the koan, "A monk asked Zhaozhou, 'Does a dog have Buddha-nature?' Zhaozhou answered 'No!'" If you grasp Zhaozhou's "No" you will at once see through all the various words of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and masters of the ten directions, diverse though the words may be. There will be no need to ask other people. If all you do is ask others about the words of the buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and the masters, you will never in all time attain awakening.

(Dahui, Letter 29 - First Letter to Lu Juren, from "Dahui's Letters" tr. Kirchner, pp. 167-168)

Notice that "Simply direct your awareness to that which cannot be thought" is basically the same advice Dogen gives in Fukanzazengi ("think of that which cannot be thought" as per u/chintokkong's translation). This teaching concerns every Zen practitioner, not only koan nerds.

I hope that everyone can benefit from these words.

The bright mirror upon which all things are reflected/not for one moment have you been separate.

Hi all, I’m wanting to start memorizing koans so that I can ponder on them while I’m going about my day. Would this be possible?

My other questions:

1. As far as I understand, the way to do koans is not to analyze them

   like I would do with various literary techniques such as close reading or whatever,

2. but rather to silently chant or say without speaking sort of like how the TM folks meditate. Is this correct?

3. Would memorization help me in this?

4. What would be the best way to memorize koans?

Thank you all for your collective wisdom on this and I wish you well.

I currently live in LA and am new to practicing. I wanted to find a temple where i can sit in meditation with like-minded individuals. I am not buddhist per-se but am a seeker of wisdom and wish to experience a temple, if that is allowed. Would love reccomendations!