This past June, the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community had the great fortune of having one of the teachers from Zen Mountain Monastery, Hojin Sensei, come to Buffalo to lead a weekend retreat.  A major focus during the event was on art practice which is one of the Eight Gates of Zen taught in the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism which is headquartered at Zen Mountain Monastery at Mt. Tremper, New York.   That weekend's Saturday morning started with zazen (meditation) which helped forming the frame of mind needed for the most benefit from the following art practice. &n ..read more

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Starting this month, the monthly, Saturday half-day meditation (zazen) events have restarted.  Before COVID, these events happened with a frequency of about once a month.  Back then, we would meet at the Network of Religious Communities building and would do zazen from 8:30 to 12:30.  Zazen would be done in silence for the whole morning.  There would be periods of walking meditation (kinhin) between the six time periods of zazen.  Participants were requested to stay for the whole four hours if possible. During COVID these more intense in-person zazen events, like all ..read more

Two sangha members of the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community completed their training requirements and took Jukai on April 23rd of this year.  Scott Forster and Deborah Hovland, who are formal training students in the Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism centered at Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY, spent the week prior to taking Jukai at the monastery furthering their training, meeting frequently with the abbot of the monastery, and hand-sewing their rakusus (the black bib-like cloth worn in the picture above).  The rakusu is a symbol of the Buddha's robe and is also the ..read more

It has been a long time coming, but finally the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community is meeting in person again.  Last month our first in-person event was the half-day meditation event at the Network of Religious Communities from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM.  But on September 6th we started meeting again at the Westminster Presbyterian Church for our full program.  It has been about 2.5 years since we were regularly meeting together at Westminster Presbyterian Church.  So, in preparation for our meeting in-person while COVID is still around, our Tuesday night Zoom meetings have ended ..read more

The Buffalo Zen Dharma Community Organizing Council has met recently to discuss in-person gatherings.  Unfortunately, with the rise in COVID cases, and Erie County now being listed by the CDC as being at high risk for getting COVID, the Council has decided to put off considering in-person gathering until after the first of September.   This was quite the disappointment to the Council considering the excitement building for returning to in-person events.  But, the Council thought this would be best.  However, it was also thought that we should move ahead with preparati ..read more

With the sustained improvement in COVID cases and as more and more public places are opening up to our more normal way of interacting, the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community has also been exploring going back to in-person gatherings.  Of the two places we meet (Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Network of Religious Communities building), it appears that the first in-person gatherings will probably be at the Network of Religious Communities building as the COVID precaution goals are easier to meet there.   This does not mean that we will not continue to have an online presence ..read more

With Erie county now being designated as being a low risk area, and the COVID metrics being favorable, the Buffalo Zen Dharma Community Organizing Council has started the process of returning to in-person group events.  The two main areas of review are the Tuesday night programs at Westminster Presbyterian Church and the monthly half-day meditations at the Network of Religious Communities building.  There are a lot of things that need to be considered.  A recent organizing council survey was sent out and this coming Saturday the 26th of March the council will be meeting to addr ..read more

With the Omicron COVID virus numbers dropping, and with no more problems with COVID at the monastery, there are now opportunities to practice at Zen Mountain Monastery.  However, one has to be vaccinated and have a PCR COVID test that is negative within the last three days of arriving at the monastery.  Also a test will be performed when the person arrives which will also need to be negative for the person to enter the monastic community.  For those who are not able to participate in retreats at the monastery, there are online programs available to support our practice.   ..read more

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