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NYZ: Segaki Service

June 20, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

Please join us at New York Zendo as we gather to honor and celebrate our departed loved ones. For our Segaki Service, we will collectively create an altar with photos, ihai (memorial tablets), and mementos of our deceased family and friends.

We will then share a period of silent meditation before beginning our chanting service. Each participant will have the opportunity to offer incense and to include the names of their dearly departed in our dedication. After our chanting service, there will be a short period of nittensoji (temple cleaning) before we gather in the Dharma Hall for an informal lunch.

Doors open at 9:30 a.m. Registration is not required. Contributions in the form of monetary offerings, food, sweets, beverages, or flowers are very welcome. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

This event will also be broadcast online using the regular online zazen link. Please submit the names of any departed you would like honored to office@newyorkzendo.org. 

Tagged With: Special Events

DBZ: Ohashi Touch, Zen Touch

June 8, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

Ohashi and instructors will teach the essence of the OHASHIMethod – offering effective techniques that achieve the joy of giving and receiving. Lessons will include the principles of tonus, cross-patterning for fluidity of movement, the correspondence between mother and messenger hand, and the importance of hara. Comparisons and parallels to Pilates and Yoga will also be explored.

There will be class each morning with Ohashi and a Certified Ohashiatsu® Instructor, and supervised practice sessions in the afternoon. In their free time, participants may hike the grounds, swim and boat in the lake, or simply rest.

The course is open to students at all levels. The course runs from Saturday, August 30th through Monday, September 1st, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You must arrive on Friday, August 29th, by 4:00 p.m. to check in. If you are coming from overseas, we strongly advise you to arrive on Thursday, August 28.

Ohashi and Kazu will arrive on Wednesday, August 27th. All students are encouraged to arrive early and join them at Dai Bosatsu Zendo.

ATTENTION: The cost for this course is in addition to the Room & Board fee. To register and pay for the course please visit OHASHIMethod. See room reservation information below.

All default room reservations include Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night (check in August 29th, check out September 1st). You may also reserve additional nights. Room and Board fee includes 3 meals a day. All room information is available here. To book a standard monastery room, purchase a ticket below. To book a renovated room in the Beecher House, or for any questions, please email juyo@zenstudies.org. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

Tutorials & Sessions: During Ohashi’s visit, he will conduct a special 4-person tutorial for dedicated students and practitioners. This is a one-on-one learning opportunity to “work with” and “work on” Ohashi. Individual sessions will be available from Ohashi and Certified Ohashiatsu® Instructors.

There is an additional cost for Tutorials and Sessions. Please visit OHASHI-Method.biz for the complete schedule and to reserve your place for Ohashi’s Tutorials and Sessions.

Tagged With: Special Events

NYZ: Suizen Intensive

May 5, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

Suizen, or “blowing Zen”, refers to the spiritual practice of playing the shakuhachi flute during zazen. The honkyoku repertoire of the shakuhachi – which was developed specifically for Zen practice – has particular technical and aesthetic features that allow it to resist being heard as “music.” Therefore, it tends not to distract the meditating mind in the way that other music might. Compared to other shakuhachi repertoires, honkyoku pieces feature fewer notes with a focus on ornamentation and timbral effects.

There is a famous saying from the world of suizen: ichion jobutsu, meaning “enlightenment in a single note.” Come join us for an afternoon of immersion in this one mysterious note.

Our program will include six forty-minute periods of suizen, with kinhin (walking meditation) in between. Participants must have completed an Introduction to Zen Meditation class before registering.

Solo shakuhachi will be played by Karaku Marco Burmester, who has been studying shakuhachi in New York City and Kyoto since 2006. Karaku has a long-time connection to Dai Bosatsu Zendo as a student of Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin, who held workshops at DBZ for many years. He has recently been awarded his shakuhachi teaching certificate and is looking forward to sharing his practice of suizen with the Zen Studies Society Sangha.

The fee for this event is $40 for nonmembers and $30 for Zen Studies Society (ZSS) members. Note that the member price is for ZSS members only – please consider becoming a Supporting Member. If you have any questions, please email office@newyorkzendo.org before registering. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

Tagged With: Special Events, Zazen

NYZ: Suizen Intensive

May 5, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

Suizen, or “blowing Zen”, refers to the spiritual practice of playing the shakuhachi flute during zazen. The honkyoku repertoire of the shakuhachi – which was developed specifically for Zen practice – has particular technical and aesthetic features that allow it to resist being heard as “music.” Therefore, it tends not to distract the meditating mind in the way that other music might. Compared to other shakuhachi repertoires, honkyoku pieces feature fewer notes with a focus on ornamentation and timbral effects.

There is a famous saying from the world of suizen: ichion jobutsu, meaning “enlightenment in a single note.” Come join us for an afternoon of immersion in this one mysterious note.

Our program will include six forty-minute periods of suizen, with kinhin (walking meditation) in between. Participants must have completed an Introduction to Zen Meditation class before registering.

Solo shakuhachi will be played by Karaku Marco Burmester, who has been studying shakuhachi in New York City and Kyoto since 2006. Karaku has a long-time connection to Dai Bosatsu Zendo as a student of Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin, who held workshops at DBZ for many years. He has recently been awarded his shakuhachi teaching certificate and is looking forward to sharing his practice of suizen with the Zen Studies Society Sangha.

The fee for this event is $40 for nonmembers and $30 for Zen Studies Society (ZSS) members. Note that the member price is for ZSS members only – please consider becoming a Supporting Member. If you have any questions, please email office@newyorkzendo.org before registering. ZSS Health Protocols apply. Note that there will be a second Suizen Intensive offered on July 20, 2025.

Tagged With: Special Events, Zazen

DBZ: Entering the Zen Kitchen // Waiting List Only

March 7, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

Registration is now closed. Please email office@daibosatsu.org to be placed on the waiting list. Sign up for the ZSS Newsletter to receive information on upcoming events.


The Water Is Your Own Life: Entering the Zen Kitchen

A single grain of rice contains limitless possibilities. How will you illuminate them?

Join Muken Sensei, daitenzo (head cook) at Dai Bosatsu Zendo, for a three-day exploration of Zen practice in the monastery kitchen. The tradition of Zen monastic cooking, established in the earliest Chinese Buddhist temples, unites sharp attention with a nurturing heart to bring elegant meals from simple, seasonal ingredients to life. In the Zen kitchen, nothing is wasted – every movement becomes meditation, a reverential offering.

This workshop will begin with an introduction to Buddhist temple cooking and formal Zen meals, using jihatsu (nested bowls). Participants will practice preparing and serving nutritious vegetarian meals for the monastic community, working intuitively with few recipes. While carefully attending to the subtleties of flavor and the harmony of ingredients, participants will learn essential kitchen skills including knife techniques, dish presentation, and the art of no-waste. Drawing from a variety of culinary traditions, this course will invite participants to discover how to bring the practice of Zen cooking into their own kitchens.

The weekend includes regular zazen (seated meditation) with the monastery residents, as well as a group discussion around Dogen Zenji’s Instructions to the Cook, the foundational text for the Zen kitchen. Participants will also have the opportunity to forage for edible plants on the monastery grounds. No prior cooking experience is necessary, all that is needed is a curious mind and a sense of adventure.

Muken Mark Barber Sensei has served as daitenzo of Dai Bosatsu Zendo since 2020. Currently a teacher-in-residence at New York Zendo Shobo-ji, he began tenzo work at the Zen Center of Syracuse and has worked as a bread baker in Manhattan.

This workshop will be limited to six participants. The fee for this course is $175 for nonmembers and $150 for Zen Studies Society (ZSS) members. Note that the member price is for ZSS members only – please consider becoming a Supporting Member. If you have any questions, please email office@daibosatsu.org before registering. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

If you are able to support students in financial difficulty, please consider making an additional donation. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, you may apply for a reduced rate here.

Tagged With: Special Events

DBZ: Healing and Wellness Weekend

March 5, 2025 by Sabrina Plum

This weekend retreat offers encouragement and support for people who are living with chronic illness or who are looking for a place of community and healing. Originally created by DBZ resident monk Donge John Haber as a retreat to offer a caring and inspiring space for those living with HIV/AIDS, its intention has expanded over the past 30 years.

The weekend includes an O-Bon ceremony to celebrate the lives of our deceased loved ones. Daily zazen, yoga, and a writing workshop will be offered. Additionally, each participant will receive one bodywork session from practitioners who volunteer their time and expertise.

The fee for this weekend is $350 for nonmembers and $300 for Zen Studies Society (ZSS) members. Note that the member price is for ZSS members only – please consider becoming a Supporting Member. If you have any questions, please email office@daibosatsu.org before registering. ZSS Health Protocols apply.

If you are able to support students in financial difficulty, please consider making an additional donation. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, you may apply for a reduced rate here.

Tagged With: Special Events

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