Coming for an Introduction
Introductions to our zazen practice are held weekly at all locations for the london zen groups.
Everybody is welcome to attend
please be on time as introductions start promptly at 7pm,
5pm at Warren Street
The introduction is not meant to be a 'course' on buddhism, on meditation, or even on zen. It is simply an introduction to our practice of zazen, and to the various forms and etiquette we use. Once you have attended an introduction, you are welcome to come and practice with us, or indeed with any affiliated group, whenever you like.
Introductions take aproximately 20 minutes and afterwards there will be our normally scheduled period of zazen
Coming to Zazen
Zazen is about an hour long, with a 5 to 10 minute interval of Kinhin (slow, concentrated walking) in the middle.
Zazen is quiet, attentive, wholehearted sitting - it is a formless meditation; without mantras, counting, levels, or visualisation. We sit still, in the correct posture, letting our thoughts pass, without grasping or rejecting.
After zazen, we will chant a few short sutras, you will be given a sheet with the words so you can join in. We chant our sutras in sino-japanese - you can see a copy of our regular chants and a translation here.
There is no need to book a space, or contact us to attend an introduction.
Zazen and introductions are entirely drop-in.
If for some reason we need to cancel introductions or zazen at a scheduled time, a notice will likely be posted on this website, on the front page under "announcements", but will most certainly be announced via our mailing list - which you can join here.
The South London group does not meet on bank holiday mondays.
What to wear
As you will be sitting on a cushion (called a zafu) on the floor, please wear loose fitting clothing. Also, it is customary for us to wear dark or subdued colours and to dress modestly to avoid distracting other practitioners.
Cost
To help us pay for the cost of room hire (and other expenses), we ask a small fee for attending introductions and zazen as follows:
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Per sitting:
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Monthly - (allowing you to attend as often as you like, at any of our London sitting groups):
If you would like to pay monthly by standing order, please ask the person in charge of zazen for the bank details |
We never want lack of money to be a barrier to practice. If it's an issue for you, please speak to the person in charge.
Note about cost: we are entirely self-funded, we ask all participants - including the facilitators - to contribute. Ordained participants are asked to pay more, and all facilitators give their time freely to support practice - if you have any questions feel free to contact us.