Is this your first visit to Boundless Way? Are you new to Zen? Welcome! People of all experience levels and walks of life are welcome to come to any of our practice periods on Zoom or in person, as applicable. In either case, please arrive 15 minutes early to be greeted and familiarized with how to participate in in-person meditation practice. All are welcome at in-person practice sessions, but please join us on Zoom if you are not feeling well or have recently had contact with someone who is positive for COVID.
Quick Start for Zoom Practice
Join any Boundless Way Zen Temple Zoom Zendo 15 minutes early to be greeted and familiarized with how to participate in meditation practice with us on Zoom. The orange “Join Temple Zoom Zendo” button below opens the Temple Zoom app on your device and takes you to the Temple Zoom Zendo.
Get comfortable
Be gentle with yourself. Zen practice is not about right or wrong, but about learning the true meaning of being human. Please ask for help before or after practice. You will always be treated with kindness and care as a member of this practice community.
- It’s recommended to wear loose, comfortable clothing. Anything that’s too restrictive could become uncomfortable or distracting to you.
- For Zoom practice periods, find a place where you can sit quietly with your computer or phone for an hour.
- It is fine to do zazen (sitting meditation) on a chair — in fact, that is a good way to begin. Some people use a seiza (a Japanese word that means “to sit down”) meditation bench, which allows you to kneel in comfort. You may also use a zafu (a word that literally means “cattail seat” in Japanese — a round stuffed cushion) and zabuton (“seat-cloth-sphere” in Japanese — a flat padded cushion).
- When we practice in the Temple Zendo, we bow at the entrance to the room, towards the altar, with hands in gassho (palm-to-palm, often known as “prayer position”). We simulate that during online practice. Before taking a seat, bow in gassho towards your seat, turn around and bow to the community before sitting down.
- Sit upright without moving during zazen practice. We will help you to find a position that allows for this, and we will also instruct you in walking meditation.
The liturgy book
Our liturgy can be found in our sutra book (2018 edition). The sutra book contains a collection of sutras*, dharanis**, and other readings carefully selected by the Guiding Teachers of Boundless Way Zen Temple. We use this book at the start and end of every sitting period in Boundless Way, and also during our sesshin.
Listen to a full sutra service from Coming and Going Sesshin 2020.
*In Buddhism, sutras (also “suttas”) are canonical scriptures believed to be records of the oral teachings of (in the case of Zen, Shakyamuni) Buddha.
**A dharani is a Buddhist chant transliterated from the original Pali or Sanskrit, often into Sino-Japanese sounds. The belief is that the sounds of the words, rather than the words themselves, hold the energy of the chant, and so are not translated into other languages.
Our liturgy book can be found here:
More information on practice
If you are interested in learning more, visit our Guidelines for Practice Forms page. You can also learn from what the teachers and more experienced practitioners do by participating and observing.
