The London Zazenkai group, led by Patrick Curry (pmcurry@gn.apc.org) and Fabrizio Manco (terragumo@yahoo.co.uk), sits on Fridays from 6-7pm (except for 17 November and 15 December 2017) at the West Hampstead Community Centre in the upstairs room, address: 17 Dornfell St, London NW6 1QN.
At the moment, the evenings consist of 20 minutes of mediation as practised in the Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist tradition (zazen), followed by 5 minutes of walking meditation (kinhin), followed by another 20 minutes of zazen, followed by a brief service. This service usually includes chanting the Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyo) and other short texts. Then, we have informal tea afterwards.
Please note that we are only providing an opportunity to practice this kind of meditation. We ourselves are practitioners, not ordained teachers, so we will not engage in any formal teaching. Please, let us know if you’re coming, wear loose comfortable clothes, and come 15 minutes before 6pm.
****************
To create a peaceful world, the ultimate answer is to sit together. We don’t know who will come to sit next to us, mother or lover or stranger. But sitting together, for a couple of minutes or maybe days, gradually lets us understand. Sitting together lets us see things without argument or fight, because the body is being taught to understand what this body, this life, is, and how other lives are existing.
(Kobun Chino Otogawa)