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2024 New Year Message from Chigan Roshi

January 1, 2024 by Devyani Sadh

By Chigan Roland Jaeckel Roshi

Happy New Year 2024!

The year of the dragon signifies favorable conditions for growth, change, and progress. With the dragon’s energy and the grounding influence of the wood element, 2024 promises to be a creative and productive year ahead for our Sangha. With all of us contributing as we can, let us foster new ideas and actualize initiatives that can open countless gates into this transformative practice!

As we ring in the New Year, we reflect, recognize, and mark time and transitions. One common recognition of the experience of the passing of time is becoming aware of the effects of aging. Sometimes, I hear that our Sangha is aging and that accommodations are needed for our elders to continue practicing with us. This is undoubtedly true! But it is encouraging to be able to say that overall, the age spectrum of our Sangha is broadening. The Zen Studies Society continues to attract many new and younger practitioners. As we move forward, I hope you will join me in embracing and supporting the richness of our sangha with events, facilities, and opportunities for everyone in this broadening age spectrum.

About ten years ago, I had an interesting conversation with Sōgen Victor Hori, a professor at McGill University (now retired) and author of Zen Sand, the beautiful collection of capping phrases for koan practice. Sōgen Zenji spent many years in the Japanese monastery system and has published scholarly articles on Japanese Rinzai Zen monastic training. One important insight I gained from our conversation was that formal Rinzai Zen training is fundamentally based on a multi-layered group of practitioners who mutually “polish” one another. Sōgen further clarified that traditional Rinzai training is challenging to achieve unless such a layered group exists. The expansion into a multi-generational Sangha deeply enriches everyone within the group. The longer we practice, the more we realize that everyone and everything can be our teachers. We mutually benefit from each other’s presence, embodiment, and aspirations — the polishing works.

For 2024, practice opportunities have also expanded: there will now be four Intro to Zen Weekends at Dai Bosatsu Zendo and two Intro to Zen Days at New York Zendo. Our traditional six sesshin at the monastery and five weekend sesshin in the city will continue. With the turn of the year, it is also time to reap the benefits of efforts that began in 2023. Last year, we started a Dharma Teacher Training program. With the conclusion of Rohatsu Sesshin at Dai Bosatsu Zendo, nine newly acknowledged Junior Dharma Teachers are ready to enter into service to the Sangha.

Let us welcome the new year with open hearts and minds, energized by the aspects of creativity, change, and growth represented by the dragon. May we take this opportunity to renew our commitment and vows as we walk this path of the Great Bodhisattva together.

NYZ: Zazenkai with Matsubara Osho

December 27, 2023 by koge louise bayer

Imagine sitting quietly in meditation. Pause, reset, and recharge yourself. You are in complete control of your emotions and the stress from your busy lifestyle. You are experiencing a state of quiet, relaxing, body-mind equilibrium. This is a time to calmly face yourself.

Zazenkai is a monthly meeting that offers a talk, Zen meditation, tea (hoji-cha) and sweets, and a Q&A. 30 seats are available. The fee is $30 per person. No experience is required. The instructor is Rev. Dr. Masaki Matsubara, Rinzai Zen priest and Visiting Lecturer of Contemplative Studies, Brown University. Please email mmatsubara@outlook.com to register. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

NYZ: Call Me By My True Names

November 2, 2023 by Devyani Sadh

Exploring Identities, Complexes and Compassion with Jifu Devyani Sadh.

Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up and the door of my heart could be left open, the door of compassion. — Thich Nhat Hanh

This transformative workshop is an introspective exploration of the profound impact of our various identities on our experiences and our journey toward transcending all identities.

We will begin with a brief period of Zazen followed by an investigation of the superiority complex, a formidable barrier to authentic human connection. Together, we will aim to unveil the origins of this complex and discern effective strategies for disentangling its grip. Our exploration will continue as we navigate the terrain of insecurities and self-doubts, addressing the pervasive inferiority complex. We will illuminate ways in which this complex shapes our lives and facilitate the discovery of methods to unburden ourselves. At the core of our workshop, we confront the equality complex. We will examine this through the lens of Thich Nhat Hanh and Rinzai Zen, contemplating the delusion of the separate self and exploring ways to unlock the door of compassion.

Facilitating this transformative experience is Jifu, a psychologist and dedicated Zen practitioner of over 25 years, deeply immersed in both the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition and Rinzai Zen. Her unique blend of insights, grounded in her reception of the precepts in both traditions, will help guide our collective dialogue, unraveling the complexities of our human experience. Join us on this illuminating journey as we navigate the intricacies of our identities and nurture the seeds of compassion within.

A $10 donation is encouraged, but not mandatory. The workshop is designed for a small group of people and space is limited, so please register early! ZSS Health Protocols apply.

Online: Zen Poetics: Poetry in Zen, Zen in Poetry – Registration is closed

September 12, 2023 by koge louise bayer

Eight-week course starting Sunday, Oct. 15

The interplay of poetry and Zen is inevitable: Poetry is a way of expressing the inexpressible; Zen is a way of exploring the inconceivable. In this eight-week online course, Hokuto Daniel Diffin Osho will explore the ways in which poetry and the Zen sensibility nourish and inform one another.

Topics will include the nature of poetry — why it predates written language and why it has so many forms and function; the challenges and rewards of poetry in translation; the use of poetry in religious traditions, especially in Buddhist sutras, gathas, and texts such as “Faith in Mind”; poetry and anti-poetry in koans; the use of “capping phrases” (jakugo) in koan study; traditional Zen-influenced poetic forms such as haiku and tanka, as well as the influence of Zen on Western poetry, especially modern American poetry.

We will explore the words of Zen masters Joshu and Ummon, the Chinese poets Wang Wei, Tu Fu and Han Shan, haiku and tanka of well-known poets such as Basho and Ryokan as well as lesser-known poets such as Hitomaro, classical Persian poets such as Rumi and Kabir, and Western poets such as Antonio Machado, Wallace Stevens, Jane Hirshfield, Rita Dove and Billy Collins.

Students will be encouraged (not required) to write and share their own poetry and to view poetry not as a solitary means of escape, but as a lens to examine experience, the mind, and the world.

The course will be held online each Sunday at 4 p.m., beginning on Sunday, October 15 except during sesshin on October 29, November 12, and December 3. Each class will last approximately 90 minutes. The fee for the course is $100 for Zen Studies Society members, $200 for nonmembers, and $50 for ordained. No one will be turned away for lack of funds; please contact the office for support. A suggested reading list will be provided upon registration. The deadline for registration is October 14. Registgration is closed for this event – we hope to see you in the future at New York Zendo or Dai Bosatsu Zendo or online.

NYZ: Temple Committee Meeting

July 19, 2023 by Giun Stefan Streit

The Shoboji Temple Committee will meet this afternoon in the Dharma Hall.

For this particular meeting, we welcome sangha members who are not formally part of the Committee.

DBZ: Fall Kessei Opening Day 2026

July 15, 2023 by WordPress Administrator (Stage)

Join us as we enter into this intensive training period with Chigan Roshi and the residents and monastics of Dai Bosatsu Zendo. Kessei offers Zen students a unique opportunity to engage in residential Rinzai Zen practice. In our tradition, kessei refers to a designated period during which daily activities are guided by strict rules and a demanding schedule.

Learn more about the kessei experience as described by kessei practitioners in this in-depth video. To read more in-depth about kessei, click here. The 2026 Fall Kessei will begin on September 16th and end on December 9th. If you are unable to attend for the full three-month period, shorter stays are possible.

To apply for Fall Kessei, email us here. ZSS Health Protocols apply.