Newcomers
are always welcome at any event of the Sangha.
The first Wednesday of every month is set aside for those who have not had
instruction in sitting meditation. This is a wonderful opportunity
to learn the basics of good posture to support your meditation practice and
the techniques of mindfulness and attention.
For those who have been sitting regularly, the Wednesday evening
instructions in sitting meditation are beneficial to one’s practice. One
can never hear the instructions too many times! This was called "beginner’s
mind" by Zen master Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi.
If your schedule does not allow you to come to a first-Wednesday meditation
class, you can make arrangements for personal instruction at a time convenient
to you and an instructor.
The following downloadable pdf files are intended for newcomers. Adobe
Acrobat Reader is necessary to view pdf files. Reader is
available free from Adobe.
Welcome.pdf
Who we are.pdf
Sutras and Chants.pdf
Etiquette.pdf
These links
provide additional information for those new to Zen:
Meditation
Instructions from the Mountains & Rivers Order at Zen
Mountain Monastery.
Dogen-Zenji's meditation instructions called Zazen
gi,
from the Stanford
University Soto Zen Text Project.
Dogen-Zenji's meditation instructions called Fukan
zazen gi,
from the Zen Center on
Main Street.