Zazenkai: All-Day Sit

For centuries, Buddhist monks and home dwellers have practiced long periods of silent meditation under the guidance of a teacher, beginning with Shakyamuni Buddha. Ocean Mind Sangha continues this tradition for lay practitioners around the world. The sangha gathers online monthly for longer retreats—either a half-day sit, zazenkai, or weekend sesshin (in-person May 2025)—with Guiding Teacher Zuisei Goddard. If you’d like to join us for one of these all-day sits, register for the next online zazenkai here.

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 zazenkai four times per year. The full day of silence includes zazen, oryoki (a silent meal practice), optional kinhin (walking meditation), daisan or private teaching, liturgy, and a dharma talk by Zuisei. You can check the zazenkai schedule and register to join us here.

If you’d like to take a focused look at the practice of oryoki, you are welcome to listen to the dharma talk below, “Oryoki (The Wild, Insistent Hunger),” offered by Zuisei during the first OMS Zazenkai.

Excerpt: ". . . All of this work is to be nobody-but-ourselves, so we can be who we are unimpeded, so we can just be ourselves. In Zen, we do this primarily through zazen. Zazen is one way to get to know who you are, and in my very limited experience, it is the most powerful, most effective, most direct way of doing this.

In this talk Zuisei delves into the power of zazen and highlights the sacred act and liturgy of oryoki. Oryoki (応量器: “just enough”) is the meal ceremony that takes place during a zazenkai and other longer, formal, silent retreats. It is a vast and thorough practice that, like zazen, can teach us to be just ourselves. Watch, listen to, or read the talk here. Below is the liturgy chanted before meals.

Meal Gatha
First, seventy-two labors brought us this food; we should know how it comes to us.
Second, as we receive this offering, we should consider whether our virtue and practice deserve it.
Third, as we desire the natural order of mind to be free from clinging we must be free from greed.
Fourth, to support our life we take this food.
Fifth, to attain our way we take this food.

First, this food is for the Three Treasures.
Second, it is for our teachers, parents, nations, and all sentient beings.
Third, it is for all beings in the six worlds.
Thus, we eat this food with everyone.
We eat to stop all evil, to practice good,
to save all sentient beings, and to accomplish our Buddha Way.

As the Zen student’s practice develops, even longer periods of silent meditation in the spirit of zazenkai are encouraged, from weekend to week-long sesshins. Guiding Teacher Zuisei Goddard can help you to prepare and discern whether you are ready for these longer retreats.

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.

View our calendar or visit Calendly to learn the date and save your place in our next virtual Zazenkai. OMS holds a meditation intensive (Half-Day Sit, Zazenkai or Sesshin) once a month.

To stay informed about our events, sign up for Zuisei’s newsletter Living Dharma on Substack.

*Banner photo by Christian Holzinger

Virtual Zazenkai

Cost: $59
2024: 12/7
2025: 3/8, 6/14

Your generous dana supports the operations of the Ocean Mind Sangha and makes it possible for us to offer event scholarships to those who need them.