Santa Fe Zen Group of the Sanbo Kyodan

 


 

 


 

WHO WE ARE

We are a local zen group who meet at Mountain Cloud Zen Center twice weekly to sit zazen together. Our sitting times are Monday mornings 6.30 to 8 AM, and Thursday evenings 6 to 8.30 PM. In addition, we also meet for a Zazenkai, an all-day sit (9 AM to 4 PM), on the fourth Sunday of most months.

Our teacher is Zen Teacher Henry Shukman, who trained in the Sanbo Kyodan Zen lineage, an influential zen school in which several prominent American teachers also trained (such as Robert Aitken Roshi and Philip Kapleau Roshi, author of the Three Pillars of Zen). Henry has been authorized as a teacher by the abbot of the lineage, Yamada Ryoun Roshi.

Newcomers are always welcome, and instruction for beginners is available every time we meet.

 


 

THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW OF ZEN

 


 

WHAT IS ZEN?

Zen is neither a religion nor a philosophy, though it encompasses elements of both. It is a practice of meditation and action designed to free us to live compassionate, healthy and energized lives.

Zen involves the practice of zazen - or sitting meditation. Although it includes elements of Taoism, it is fundamentally a form of Buddhism that evolved in China around 600 C.E., and then moved to Japan in the thirteenth century, where its Chinese name of Chan was translated as Zen. It emphasizes awakening to our actual experience, and to the true nature of this existence.

We are primarily a lay line rather than a monastic one, and students tend to lead active lives in the community. We have a firm belief that it is entirely possible to practice Zen in a profound and helpful way within the context of an “ordinary” daily life.

 


 

WHY ZEN?

Although there are many different reasons people come to zen practice, and various benefits we may derive from it, its deepest purpose is to offer us an opportunity for profound existential enquiry into who we are, and what life and death are - and following from our insights into these questions, to lead lives of compassion and deeper helpfulness.

Zen is compatible with any religious faith, as well as with atheism. It asks us to believe nothing. In fact, part of zen training involves examining deeply held beliefs we may not even be aware of holding, and giving them up.

Through the process of training, a student may come to find a radical resolution to the great existential quandaries that face us all: who am I, why am I here, what is life, what is death, and how should I live? Ultimately, the purpose of Zen is nothing less than to help us find our own true nature, and to live in accordance with it.

In addition, Zen has well-documented health benefits: greater physical and mental health, increased powers of concentration, and much more experience of love in our lives, as our hearts naturally open in the course of training.

 


 

THE HOW OF ZEN

Three elements have long been considered helpful if not indispensible for zen training - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. These equate more or less to: our sitting practice; our exposure to the teachings of the Zen masters; and our sitting together as a group, and in the process discovering our common identity with all living beings.

Firstly, it was Shakyamuni Buddha himself who originally used zazen ("sitting meditation") to resolve the "great matter" of human life, accomplishing the task with his great awakening at the age of thirty-five. The word "Buddha" refers not only to the historical man, but also to what he realized - the absolute fact of our existence. Through discovering what this existence truly is, in pulling away the layers of delusion that obscure it, Zen has found that we can all become more wakeful, loving and content people.

Secondly, the Dharma refers to the teachings of Buddha and the Zen masters. In our lineage, we generally begin our meditation by learning to follow our own breath, then move on either to the open awareness practice of shikantaza ("just sitting"), or to koan study. Koans - anecdotes about the sayings and doings of the Zen masters - are an exceptional teaching method for clarifying and deepening our insight into our own true nature. As a vibrant, living international Zen line that is still based in Kamakura, Japan, we use koans in a vital, traditional way.

Thirdly, the Sangha is our community of fellow-sitters. But since we are all embarked on this journey through our world together, we consider our sangha not merely to be our fellow zen-trainees, but all human beings, and ultimately, all beings of all kinds, including animals ,plants, rivers and mountains, and even the great earth itself.

 


 

INTRODUCTION TO ZEN TRAINING

Anyone can join us for sitting at any time, and we offer basic sitting instruction each time we meet. In addition, we periodically hold introductory courses in Zen training, which are helpful in orienting a student in their practice, and giving them more of a chance to see if Zen is right for them.

 


 

RETREATS

Aside from the weekly and monthly schedule, we also hold several retreats each year, here at Mountain Cloud, known as Sesshin ("gathering the heart"). Please check the "Retreats/Events" section of the website for more details.

 


 

OUR TEACHER

Our teacher is Henry Shukman, who has been confirmed and authorized as a full, independent Zen Teacher of the Sanbo Kyodan lineage by its current abbot, Yamada Ryoun Roshi. His teaching name is Ryu'un-Ken (Dragon Cloud). He sat with various Zen teachers before formally entering the Sanbo Kyodan lineage, and completed his training under Joan Rieck Roshi and Zen Teacher John Gaynor, as well as under Yamada Ryoun Roshi. His teaching is primarily in koan study, but also includes extensive work with both shikantaza and the breath.


The lineage in which Henry is a teacher extends all the way back to Shakyamuni Buddha, but Harada Roshi, Yasutani Roshi and Yamada Roshi are more recent, twentieth-century predecessors, and Henry is committed to maintaining the teaching that he has received, in all forms. Each year he attends the annual retreat for Sanbo Kyodan teachers, led by the current abbot, and he practices a traditional form of koan training, requiring students who embark on koan study to begin with the “great barrier of the zen-sect,” the koan Mu, which comes to us from master Joshu (778 to 897). He is a member of the American Zen Teachers’ Association


Henry is a writer and poet of British-Jewish origin, who first moved to New Mexico in 1991. He has published seven books to date, along with many poems, essays and stories in publications such as the New York Times, Traveler Magazine and Tricycle. He lives in Santa Fe with his wife Clare and their two sons, Stevie and Saul. Henry currently teaches at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe every Monday morning from 6.30 to 8 am (for zazen and dokusan), and Thursday nights from 6 to 8.30 pm (zazen, dharma talk, dokusan), and occasionally at Sandia Zendo in Albuquerque (www.sandiazendo.com).

 

 


 

   


 

CONTACTS

If you'd like more information, please contact:

Will Brennan on 474 4281 or rohatsu@hotmail.com, or:

Henry Shukman on 577 5929 or henryshukman@gmail.com.

 


 

some zen guidelines from Henry

mountain cloud calendar of events

mountain cloud weekly schedule