Deming Zen Group

If you are interested in learning about Zen meditation, send us a message and we will arrange for you to come to one of our practice sessions early for meditation instruction.  The basic technique is simple; anyone can do it.  Zen meditation is a method of enquiry, and as such you are not going to be told what to believe.  Zen teaching is presented via short readings after sitting, occasional dharma talks, or by answering questions.  Soon enough, with some formal practice every day and by paying closer attention to each moment of your life, you may notice that every moment and every situation is teaching you. 

How about this: come and sit.  See what happens.

Our regular practice location is a garage at a private residence, with an altar for ceremonies and the meditation cushions we use for sitting.  Chairs are available for meditation as well.  The clothing you wear should be loose-fitting and comfortable, with minimal graphics or distracting images.  Shoes are left by the entrance to the garage, and it is customary to bow as we enter or leave, as one would do at a karate studio.  It shows respect for the space where we do our practice.

We start our regular practice with chanting meditation.  MuMun lights the oil lamps on the altar and offers incense.  The chants are traditional Korean Buddhist chants, which we use to practice meditation together by breathing, following along in a chanting book, hearing the sound of our own voice and the voices of others in the room.  Korean chanting is lively and fun, setting the tone for our sitting.

We then sit for half an hour.  It is all right to arrive after chanting and join us in time for sitting.  Once a sitting period has begun, we do not enter or leave the room.  After sitting, there is a short reading or talk, and time for questions and answers or announcements.

Why is there a Buddha in the room?  Is he a god?  What's with the bowing and the incense?

The Buddha was a man who lived five hundred years before the birth of Jesus.  We respect the Buddha very highly as the root teacher of this tradition, and our respect and gratitude is expressed in the chanting, but we do not "worship" him or attribute supernatural abilities to him.  The Buddha on our altar is an icon, an image of a quality that is within us.  When we bow to our seat before sitting, or bow together at the end of practice, or bow during chanting, it is an expression of gratitude and appreciation for one another and for the "buddha nature" that is part of our true self.  

Our altar contains representations of the elements of fire, water, earth, and wind.  These are present when we light the lamps for chanting, offering rice, water, and incense.

Once you are shown the basics of meditation, you are encouraged to try it for a few minutes every day.  A consistent individual practice is very important, yet it can be challenging to maintain over time.  Practicing alone at home, it is really easy to skip the sitting and turn on the TV.  This is where a sitting group helps. 

You may notice the same people coming regularly on Wednesday night or Sunday morning, chanting and sitting together.  Newcomers practice side by side with the more experienced.  By coming together we strengthen our own practice and that of others.  The word sangha points to this sense of a practice community. 

Once a season, we will hold a short meditation retreat.  Our next one-day retreat will be on October 17, from 9:00 to 4:00.  On January 16-17, 2010, we will hold our first two-day "Yong Maeng Jong Jin" retreat.  Judy Roitman, JDPSN of the Kansas Zen Center will lead the January retreat. 

When the Buddha lay dying, he told visitors, "Life is very short.  Please investigate it closely."  A retreat is an opportunity to look closely at one's life over a period of hours, days, or weeks.  We practice sitting and walking meditation, and keep silence while walking, sitting, eating together, taking a break, sweeping or cleaning, every moment. 

At times a retreat may seem like a very pleasant experience; at others, like a challenging or an overwhelming experience.  The retreat is an opportunity to strengthen one's daily practice and clarify the purpose of all this effort.