Where Can I Study Zen, Huh?

I’d like to offer something to help you
But in the Zen school we don't have a single thing.
- Zen Master Ikkyu (1394 – 1481)

Ikkyu is one of my favorite Zen teachers, even though he was part of the Rinzai lineage, the bitter rivals of the Soto lineage in which I studied. After all, Ikkyu is one of the few Zen Masters to write erotic poetry. As the resident Zen columnist for a porn website, this is something I can relate to.

I love this little couplet because it expresses the Zen attitude very precisely. We really would like to help you. But we have nothing to offer. Zen is very much a D.I.Y. philosophy. It’s up to each individual to work out his or her own way. Even so, there are standards and there are training centers. As you’d probably expect, though, each of these centers teaches Zen in its own unique way. I get about 2 or 3 e-mails each week asking me where the writer can go to study Zen, in spite of my having a notice in my F.A.Q. saying I don’t really know. So I figured this month I’d write about the few of the places I do know about and my own subjective impressions of each. But before I go on, I should mention that, whenever someone asked him this question, my main teacher Gudo Nishijima always said, “Everybody should study Zen only with me!”

KENT ZENDO
Kent, Ohio
This is where I first trained in Zen a bazillion years ago. Tim McCarthy, the resident teacher, has been one of my best friends for over 25 years. These days Tim usually teaches at Kent State University rather than at the zendo itself, so it’s best to check the website for the location and schedule. Be sure to stay for the “green stuff” (Indian food) after the sittings.

SAN FRANCISCO ZEN CENTER
San Francisco, California
This is the largest and most well-established Zen Center in the United States, founded in the early Sixties by Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind. The upside of this is that it is a very stable organization. They have a large and thoroughly trained staff of Zen teachers, regular practice periods, retreat centers, big bells and statues, and you can even get a delicious monk-cooked meal for a small donation on Friday nights. The downside is that the bigness of the organization can make a person feel a bit lost. Even so, I would never hesitate to recommend SFZC or any of its affiliate temples or retreat centers to anyone seeking to experience authentic Zen practice and training in the USA. The Berkeley Zen Center is in the same lineage and is also very nice but a lot smaller and more intimate.

TASSAJARA
Carmel Valley, California
Though Tassajara is one of SFZC’s retreat centers I’m giving it its own paragraph because it’s such a unique place. Located deep in the mountains of Northern California, inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t really want to be there, Tassajara is truly a retreat center. You can go there as a full-blown Zen student and live life pretty much as Dogen’s monks did 800 years ago, or as a work practice student in which you work and follow a light Zen practice schedule in exchange for room and board, or even just hang out in the hot springs as a paying guest with the option of doing some Zazen or not. I’ll be spending two weeks up there in early April and another two weeks in July as a work practice student, not to teach or anything, but just cuz I like the place a whole lot.

MILWAUKEE ZEN CENTER
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
If I were just thirty years older I’d probably ask Rev. Tonen O’Connor, who runs this place, to marry me. As it is she is one of my best and most valued friends in the Zen business. Her Zen center is located in a gigantic old house near the shores of Lake Michigan and offers all any cheese-head could ask for in terms of Zen training. I’ve only been there once and it’s still one of my favorite places in the world.

CEDAR RAPIDS ZEN CENTER
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
I’ve never actually been here. But their resident teacher Rev. Zuiko Redding is one of the most truly awesome people in Zen. She gave me the belt I wear on my robes today, she made it herself in fact. I was so touched I almost cried. I helped her chase wasps out of her room at the Great Sky Sesshin (see below) last year.

GREAT SKY SESSHIN
Hokyoji Monastery, Southern Minnesota
This one isn’t a full-time Zen center, but an annual retreat open to anyone who wants to sign up, though the space is limited. Tonen from Milwaukee Zen Center runs this and Zuiko from Cedar Rapids is one of the regular teachers. It’s seven days of late Summer Zazen (Aug. 9-16) from 5 AM to 9 PM in the wilds of Minnesota. There are six, count ‘em 6, teachers so you get a wide range of practice styles. They were even nutty enough to invite me to teach there last year and I’ll be there again this year. Go to Great Sky this year instead of Burning Man if you’d rather experience some real practice instead of just pretending to be all spiritual until the ‘shrooms wear off. (You know I just said that to piss you off, so why are you in such a hurry to post that nasty comment?)

CLOUDS IN WATER ZEN CENTER
St. Paul, Minnesota
This is one of several Zen centers in the Twin Cities area founded by Dainin Katagiri Roshi, author of Returning To Silence and Each Moment Is The Universe, and one of Shunryu Suzuki’s assistants at SFZC back in the day. Although it’s located in a disused warehouse in St. Paul, once you step inside it feels like a real Zen temple. I got invited here a couple years back when they were looking for a new “guiding teacher” after having given their former leader the boot. It was a really nice place.

STILL POINT ZEN BUDDHIST ABBEY
Detroit, Michigan
This is the most punk rock Zen center I’ve ever visited. It’s located in an area of Detroit once so seedy they had to repair bullet holes in the walls when they moved in. The neighborhood has improved since then, but it’s still a little sketchy. Even so, I love this place. They’re part of the Korean Zen tradition, so in addition to zazen practice these guys do a massive 108 full prostrations every single morning. These are optional to newcomers. But if you choose to join in, you’ll get a cardio work-out along with your zazen. Ask Koho Vince Anila, who runs the joint, about Johnny Sokko’s Flying Robot and you’ll have a friend for life. They also have an affiliated center in Ann Arbor, home of Iggy and the MC5!

SITTING FROG ZEN SANGHA
Phoenix, Arizona
I’ve never been here either, but Rev. Dogo Barry Graham, its founder, has been a penpal (e-mail pal?) for several years and we hung out when I visited the Arizona Zen Buddhist Society a while back. Barry maintains a very cool blog too. He tells really good dirty jokes.

ATLANTA SOTO ZEN CENTER
Atlanta, Georgia
This place is soooo cute you could just die! They’re located in a down-on-its-luck industrial park on the edge of Atlanta where you’d never imagine a Zen center could possibly exist. But it’s there! They offer regular sittings as well as monk training in the tradition of Soyu Matsuoka Roshi, one of the lesser-known pioneers of Soto style Zen Buddhism in America. When I visited, Taiun Michael Elliston, who runs the place, also took me out to Soul Vegetarian, to eat the best vegetarian soul food in the world, so the center gets extra points for that!

NASHVILLE ZEN CENTER
Nashville, Tennessee
When I led a retreat at their retreat center way out in the backwoods of Tennessee I was sure somebody was gonna take a shot a the "feller in the dress" (me in robes) or at least try and make me squeal like a pig. But I made it through just fine. In reality they're lovely and sincere people and the countryside around Nashville only looks like the woods in Deliverance. I'm just full of big city Northern prejudice and so are you if you think real Zen practice can't be found pretty much everywhere if you just look for it.

Also last, but not least, if you’re in Southern California you can come sit with me just about every Saturday morning at the Hill Street Center. All the links are contained in the little italicized statement below.

Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up!. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff and a MySpace page too. If you're in Southern California and you want to try some Zazen for yourself, he has a group that meets every Saturday in Santa Monica.

web address: http://suicidegirls.com/news/culture/23057/