What is Zen?

Zazen creates an opportunity for students to see through the fog of dualism and directly experience the “one-ness” of all things. By learning to calm the endless ripples of our mind, we can see things just as they are. Throw a rock in a lake, and the moon will not be reflected clearly; allow the waters to calm, and the reflection becomes crystal clear.

‘Zen is a psycho-physical discipline to transcend life and death (all dualism), to truly realize that the entire universe is the “true human body,” through the discipline of “mind and body in oneness.” Beside what Miyamoto Musashi called Iwo no Mi (body of a huge boulder—going through life rolling and turning like a huge boulder) and what Yagyu Tajima called Marubashi no Michi (a bridge round like a ball—according with the myriad changes of life), there is nothing else. Zen, without the realization of the body, is nothing but empty discussion. Martial Ways, without the realization of the Mind, is nothing but beastly fighting.

Our Zen training lies within the lineage of The White Plum Asanga.