Our weekly e-newsletter will temporarily be sent with a longer interval. Weekly meditation schedule remains the same as listed below with specific Sunday dates/services.
Becoming a Member
Lincoln Zen Center is supported entirely by donations. By becoming a member with a monthly recurring donation, you are investing in the Lincoln Zen Center's long-term sustainability, supporting our capacity to offer zazen, book studies, retreats, and other events free or at low cost, while covering our basic expenses.
Members are able to vote in the election of board members and officers
as well as receive a discount on tuition for book studies and other events.
We are studying the Platform Sutra, recorded teachings by the sixth ancestor in the Chinese Chan lineage (Zen is a Japanese descendant of Chinese Chan).
One day, when addressing those gathered to hear him teach, the Sixth Patriarch focused on the nature of meditation and wisdom, explaining, “Meditation is the essence of wisdom, and wisdom is the function of meditation.” Meditation and wisdom are not two separate things.
Finding Our Essence of Mind, a commentary by the contemporary Japanese teacher Shodo Harada on the fourth chapter of the Platform Sutra, from the Tricycle magazine.
"Nonabiding or nonattachment is the characteristic of our essence of mind. With nonattachment we have no time to get caught on things; we are always flowing. When we stop flowing, our mind becomes foul like stagnant water or fixed like water frozen into ice. If we are distracted by extraneous thinking while doing zazen, it is not dangerous. But if we are driving a car and get lost in our extraneous thoughts, it is dangerous. The nonabiding mind of zazen is not just for being in the zendo. Whether we are sitting, moving, working, silent, or speaking, all of it is zazen. The cultivation of flowing mind is zazen. Then we can become the flower, become the moon, become the stars—absorbed into them, we become everything we encounter completely and totally. That is our correct state of mind."
The Chinese Chan Sixth Ancestor Hui-Neng
In-person + Zoom Practice
The center has re-opened for in-person group practice (masks are optional). Zoom access will continue to be provided for most sessions (see below). All sessions are donation based; your generosity keeps our door open.
Monday:
5:30 PM Beginner's Instruction (no need to register, just show up by 5:30 PM)
6 PM zazen (sit) and kinhin (walk). Zoom Link Here
As a reminder, please note that meditation at the Zen Center will now involve reciting the Verse Of Atonement before the first seated meditation:
Verse of Atonement Before the first meditation session
(recited three times, hands in Gassho)
ALL MY ANCIENT TWISTED KARMA
FROM BEGININNGLESS GREED, HATE AND DELUSION
BORN OF BODY, SPEECH, AND MIND,
I NOW FULLY ATONE.
Verse Before The Dharma Talk Following meditation and before the Dharma reading
(recited three times, hands in Gassho)
THE DHARMA IS VAST AND SUBTLE
WE NOW HAVE A CHANCE TO HEAR IT,
STUDY IT, AND PRACTICE IT.
WE VOW TO REALIZE ITS TRUE MEANING.
The Four Bodhisattva Vows After meditations and the Dharma reading
(recited three times, hands in Gassho)
CREATIONS ARE NUMBERLESS,
I VOW TO FREE THEM.
DELUSIONS ARE INEXHAUSTIBLE,
I VOW TO TRANSFORM THEM.
REALITY IS BOUNDLESS,
I VOW TO PERCEIVE IT.
THE AWAKENED WAY IS UNSURPASSABLE,
I VOW TO EMBODY IT.
The Evening Verse (recited once only by the doan)
LET ME RESPECTFULLY REMIND YOU:
LIFE AND DEATH ARE OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE.
TIME PASSES SWIFTLY BY AND OPPORTUNITY IS LOST
LET US AWAKEN, AWAKEN - TAKE HEED
DO NOT SQUANDER YOUR LIFE
Your donation of $5~$10 each time keeps the Zen Center open. We appreciate your donation. You can make a donation here.
