Upcoming events
Monday Evening Zazen
Please join us on Monday evening at 5:00pm at Shakti Yoga in Maplewood NJ for two periods of zazen, with a short break following each sitting period, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion.
If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
You can register in advance so we know you are coming on the Shakti website.
Genjokoan: Fully Expressing Our Life
In this workshop, we’ll introduce Genjokoan, one of the most important philosophical texts written by Dogen Zenji, a Buddhist poet, teacher, philosopher and founder of the Soto Zen school.
Genjo means “to fully manifest or express”; koan as it’s used here means “the heart of the matter.” Genjokoan therefore means “fully manifesting the heart of the matter” or fully expressing the meaning of our life. It’s often translated “actualized the fundamental point.” I call it “the koan of everyday life.”
Our practice, when sitting zazen and in life, is to fully express and respond to the present moment, to reality-as-it-is, individually, in community and in harmony with the world. In zazen, as we become intimate with ourselves and our conditioning: we see the ways in which we are caught up in attachment and aversion. When we experience moments of awakening, they have the potential to become another form of attachment. Dogen’s teaching is for us to be fully present to all of these aspects of ourselves, without causing harm to ourselves and others.
Here’s a link to the translation of the Genjokoan we’ll be studying. Dogen’s use of language is original and is intended to move us beyond our conventional way of thinking. When you read Genjokoan, allow the words to penetrate your consciousness, like reading poetry.
We will continue working with this study text during Monday evening practice in the month following the workshop.
The workshop will be help at Shakti Yoga in Maplewood NJ. Please register for the workshop here.
Zen Meditation: Awakening to Your Life
Have you ever wanted to learn to meditate? Would you like to deepen your practice? Zen meditation, or zazen, is an ancient practice involving focused attention on our body, breath and mind. It helps improve concentration, reduce reactivity, and leads to a deeper understanding of oneself. For Zen Buddhists, it’s a path of spiritual awakening.
When we are not concentrating, our “monkey mind” busies itself with random thinking - thinking that often takes us away from what’s actually happening in our lives. Practicing zazen, we learn to be fully present to our moment by moment experience. We let go of any expectation of improving or getting anything from our practice. This simple practice can be transformative.. Our mind slows down. We develop insight into our habits of mind. We awaken to our life.
In this workshop, you’ll get an introduction to Zen teachings, learn about sitting posture and concentration, practice walking meditation and get guidance about starting a daily practice.
This workshop will be held at Santosha Yoga in Madison, NJ. It is open to practitioners at all levels.
Village Zendo Winter Sesshin
This is the Village Zendo’s annual winter retreat at the Garrison Institute in Garrison, NY. Details to follow.
Bodhidharma’s Path of Awakening: Zen and QiGong Practice
About two thousand years ago, an enigmatic monk named Bodhidharma taught students the path to awakening. His teachings are even more relevant today. Let go of your day-to-day concerns at this powerful weekend retreat. Walk with us on Bodhidharma’s path of awakening.
This workshop unifies body, mind and spirit through Zen and QiGong practices. We will learn and practice zazen, or seated meditation, and kinhin or walking meditation; we’ll engage in dharma study of Bodhidharma’s teachings, and we’ll learn the QiGong practices of Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing.
When we are not engaged in something that requires concentration, our “monkey mind” busies itself with all sorts of thinking. Zazen is a practice in which we “drop body and mind” and are fully present to our moment by moment experience. We let go of any expectation of improving or getting anything from our practice: we just sit. Somehow, this simple practice is transformative. Our mind slows down. We develop insight into our habits of mind. We become intimate with our life and the life of the world.
Qigong is an ancient practice for health and longevity. Through this practice we develop and nurture our Qi, which in turn improves its ability to keep our organs healthy and functioning optimally. While the primary Daoist goal was longevity, the Buddhist goal was enlightenment. With the arrival of Boddhidharma in China in the 6th century, the teachings evolved and the two end goals became intertwined.
In this workshop you will be introduced to two routines developed by Bodhidharma at the Shaolin Temple. These routines were secret until the 1980s. Yi Jin Jing, tendon changing classic, changes and strengthens ligaments, tendons and muscles, and increases the Qi flow to the 12 organs. Xi Sui Jing, bone marrow cleansing classic, is an internal practice that cleanses and purifies the bone marrow and the brain.
Together these practices provide a strong mind-body foundation to help transform daily living.
When not in class, relax in the Center’s beautiful environment. Enjoy the view from the patio or a nearby hike, curl up with a book in the library or contemplate the stars while sitting by the fire pit.
The workshop is open to practitioners at all levels of experience. It is offered at the Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing in Cragsmoor, NY.
Summer Ango Retreat
Explore the heart of wisdom and compassion with the Village Zendo at two back-to back summer sesshins—July 19 through August 3—at Wisdom House in Litchfield, Connecticut.
Return to Silence Sesshin: July 19-25
Voice of Wisdom Sesshin: July 26-August 3
For more information, click here. If this is your first time attending a Village Zendo retreat, please speak with Ryoshin or another of the Village Zendo teachers before registering.
Monday evening zazen - July
Please join us from 5:00-6:30 pm on Monday evenings in April at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
NOTE: Class is cancelled on Monday, July 21.
Workshop on The Heart Sutra
Form is emptiness
Emptiness is form
Form is exactly emptiness
Emptiness exactly form
These four lines from the Heart Sutra have been chanted for centuries. What are they saying? The Heart Sutra - the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra - is about the wisdom that brings beings to the other shore, to a place where there is no separation between “I” and “other.” The teachings of emptiness are the essence of our practice. All things are the result of infinite causes and conditions; everything in our experience is impermanent and empty. The Heart Sutra explains something that can’t be explained: the words are like a finger pointing at the moon. What is it to completely let go of all of our attachments, about ourselves and others and everything else? What is it to function in our lives from a place of emptiness? To be free of concerns about who we are or what others think, and to simply respond, moment by moment, to the suffering in this world.
The workshop will begin with chanting the Heart Sutra. We will then explore its teachings and how they function in our lives.
Please register for the workshop at Shakti Yoga.
Monday evening zazen - June
Please join us from 5:00-6:30 pm on Monday evenings in April at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
On May 5, Anna Winkler will join the first 30 minutes and show us hip opening exercises. For anyone who sits in a cross-legged position, this kind of exercise can help you establish a comfortable sitting position.
Monday evening zazen - May
Please join us from 5:00-6:30 pm on Monday evenings in April at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
On May 5, Anna Winkler will join the first 30 minutes and show us hip opening exercises. For anyone who sits in a cross-legged position, this kind of exercise can help you establish a comfortable sitting position.
Living by Vow: The Four Bodhisattva Vows
Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible; I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless; I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unattainable; I vow to attain it.
The fundamental teaching of Mahayana Buddhism is that all beings inherently possess Buddha-nature, the seed of awakening, and can awaken in this lifetime. The spiritual ideal is that of a Bodhisattva, someone who has aroused bodhicitta, the compassionate wish to help all beings attain Buddhahood.
The Four Bodhisattva Vows are a concrete expression of this wish. They are chanted at the end of services at Mahayana Buddhist centers around the world. They express our profound vows as Bodhisattvas – to save beings from suffering, to let go of delusion, to master the Buddha’s teachings, and to awaken in each moment of our lives.
But the language used to express these Great Vows is paradoxical and mysterious. How can we possibly save all sentient beings? Do we really want to end all desire? The Four Vows are seemingly impossible. It’s their impossibility that gives them their power.
This two and half hour experiential workshop explores the history and meaning of the Bodhisattva Vows, and allows us to explore how they manifest in our lives.
The workshop is being offered at Shakti Yoga in Maplewood NJ. Please register here.
Monday evening zazen - April
Please join us from 5:00-6:30 pm on Monday evenings in April at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
Monday evening zazen
Please join us at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
Monday evening zazen
Please join us at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
Monday evening zazen
Please join us at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.
Introduction to Zen Meditation (Five week class)
Zen is a practice of awakening to our life, to who we really are, with all of its joys and hardship. The heart of our practice is zazen, or seated meditation, through which we learn how to live mindfully, in each moment. This class will cover posture, breathing, concentration, and shikantaza or “just sitting.” In this five week class, we will explore how to get started, and what to do about obstacles to practice.
The class is on Tuesday evening from February 25 - March 25, 2025, from 7:00 pm - 8:15pm. Register at Santosha Yoga.
Monday evening zazen
Please join us at Shakti Yoga for silent Zen meditation (zazen). There are two meditation periods, each 25 minutes long, with a short break in between, followed by a brief Dharma teaching or discussion. If you are new to Zen meditation, please arrive 15 minutes early for beginning instruction. Experienced practitioners are also welcome. If you have been on a Zen retreat, practiced at another Zen center, or done meditation in another tradition, you are very welcome to join us.