Upcoming events
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.