July Zazenkai

Open to all, the next zazenkai takes place online Saturday, July 11, 2026. Take a look at the Zazenkai Schedule (pdf) below, and register to join us here.

What is Zazenkai?

For millenia, Buddhist monks and home dwellers have practiced periods of silent meditation under the guidance of a teacher. Ocean Mind Sangha welcomes practitioners to gather online monthly for a longer meditation retreat led by Guiding Teacher Zuisei Goddard. Zazenkai (座禅会; “gathering together for zazen or seated meditation”) is a daylong retreat devoted to silent meditation in the Zen tradition. OMS holds an online several times per year. The full day of silence includes zazen, optional kinhin (walking meditation), daisan or private teaching, liturgy, and a dharma teaching by Zuisei. As the Zen student’s practice develops, even longer periods of silent meditation in this spirit are encouraged.

Cultivating Samadhi

Zazenkai offers us the opportunity to dedicate ourselves to the cultivation of samadhi—one-pointed awareness—within the container of zazen (seated meditation). As the mind settles, the object of our meditation fills our awareness to such an extent that we, as the subject, disappear. From this place of unified awareness, insight occurs, revealing to us the direct experience of things as they are.

It can take time for the mind to begin to settle, and this is why longer periods of meditation are helpful. The distracted mind takes many forms: we can lose ourselves in thoughts or hide behind numbness and aversion. But as we return to our cushion, our concentration becomes stronger and these barriers to enlightenment soften, letting gentle awareness on and off the cushion grow.

If you’re not sure whether you’re ready for one of these longer retreats, contact Zuisei to discuss your current zazen practice and the ways that you might be able to deepen and strengthen it.

Zazenkai Schedule (EDT)

8–10 am Opening Words and Zazen
Four Immeasurables (Long) and Verse of the Kesa
10–11 am Dharma Talk
11–12 pm Zazen and Face-to-face teaching, short break
12–1:30 pm Oryoki Lunch (Meal Gatha) and break
1:30–3 pm Zazen and Face-to-face teaching
3–3:15 pm Liturgy: Karaniya Metta Sutta and Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo
3:15–4 pm Zazen and Face-to-face teaching, Four Bodhisattva Vows
4 pm Closing

Register here or scroll above to learn the date and save your place in our next virtual Zazenkai.

If you are new to sitting meditation you can always begin with a video of Beginning Instruction (How to Meditate), or join the sangha on a Wednesday Evening via Zoom for instruction with Zuisei and a short orientation to Ocean Mind Sangha. We look forward to practicing with you.

*Banner photo by Christian Holzinger