Leeds Zen Group

Leeds Zen Group If you have any questions or wish to arrange an introduction please contact John on 07946 476471.

Leeds Zen Group meets three times a week at Woodhouse Community Centre to practice zazen - simply sitting, neither grasping at the thoughts and emotions that arise within us, nor rejecting them, but allowing them to pass by. Central to Zen Practice is the practice of zazen – simply sitting, not grasping at the thoughts and emotions that arise within us, nor rejecting them, but allowing them to pas

s by. Through this, naturally, unconsciously and automatically, we become aware that many of our everyday preoccupations are not so important, and that clinging tightly to them brings suffering to us and to others.

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing; Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”- Matsuo Bashō(Image is “Cherry Blossoms i...
22/04/2026

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing;
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.”
- Matsuo Bashō

(Image is “Cherry Blossoms in the Grove of Sujin Temple” by Utagawa Hiroshige II)

08/04/2026

“Suffering originates from various causes and conditions. But the root cause of our pain and suffering lies in our own ignorant and undisciplined state of mind. The happiness we seek can be attained only through the purification of our minds.”
– The Dalai Lama

02/04/2026

“Every child is born in the garden of humanity as a flower. Each flower differs from every other flower. There are many messages in our society that tell us, even when we’re young people, that there’s something wrong with us and that if we just buy the right product, or look a certain way, or have the right partner, that will fix it. As grown-ups, we can remind young people that they’re already beautiful as they are; they don’t have to be someone else.”
– Thich Nhat Hahn

27/03/2026

The first documented evidence of tea in Japan dates to the 9th century, when it was taken by the Buddhist monk Eichū (永忠) on his return from China. The entry in the Nihon Kōki states that Eichū personally prepared and served unground green tea to Emperor Saga in the year 815.

Like Zen, the "way of tea" aims at simplification. It consists simply of boiling water, preparing tea and drinking it, paying attention to every detail of its creation and consumption. The ceremony itself is practiced in a simple thatched hut - “the abode of vacancy”. The utensils are few and unpretentious, and there is nothing else in the room except perhaps an arrangement of flowers and a hanging calligraphy scroll. Through the meticulous attention to every detail of preparing and drinking tea, the participants enter into a shared, intimate experience, each moment fully experienced and appreciated.

There will be a Sesshin directed by Taiun Jean-Pierre Faure from Kanshoji Monastery in France, which will run from Frida...
12/03/2026

There will be a Sesshin directed by Taiun Jean-Pierre Faure from Kanshoji Monastery in France, which will run from Friday 24th April until Sunday 26th April. If you are interested, please make sure you book your place as soon as possible. For more information, please go to the website:

https://www.zenleeds.co.uk/spring-sesshin-2026/

“Let go of all your previous imaginings, opinions, interpretations, worldly knowledge, intellectualism, egotism, and com...
29/01/2026

“Let go of all your previous imaginings, opinions, interpretations, worldly knowledge, intellectualism, egotism, and competitiveness; become like a dead tree, like cold ashes. When you reach the point where views are gone, and your mind is clean and naked, you open up to Zen realization.

“Cut through resolutely, and then your state will be peaceful. When you cannot be included in any stage, whether of sages or of ordinary people, then you are like a bird freed from its cage.”

- Yuanwu Keqin (圓悟克勤)

21/01/2026

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen Buddhism to China, and regarded as its First Patriarch. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma exists, and subsequent accounts have become layered with legend, but it is thought that he came from the Indian subcontinent and travelled to China by boat.

While it is impossible to reconstruct an accurate biography of Bodhidharma, one of many legends describes his meeting Emperor Wu of Liang, who assailed him with accounts of good Buddhist deeds and asked what merit he had gained. “No merit,” Bodhidharma replied. “Then what is the first principle of the Holy Teaching?” “Vast emptiness, nothing holy.” “Who is confronting me?” the Emperor demanded. Bodhidharma said “I don’t know.”

Failing to make a favourable impression in Southern China, legend has it that Bodhidharma travelled north and lived in a cave, where he faced a wall for nine years, not speaking for the entire time. In one version of the story, he is said to have fallen asleep seven years into his nine years of wall-gazing. Becoming angry with himself, he cut off his eyelids to prevent it from happening again. According to the legend, as the eyelids fell to the ground, they sprouted into China's first green tea plants.

Before returning to India (or prior to dying in China by poisoning – accounts differ), Bodhidharma installed his student Dazu Huike as the Second Patriarch, and so the Zen lineage began.

“… flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them.” – Dōgen Zenji
29/11/2025

“… flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them.” – Dōgen Zenji

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their is...
21/11/2025

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” - Henry David Thoreau

“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt a...
13/11/2025

“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is. We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions and ideas.” – Alan Watts

Address

197 Woodhouse Street
Leeds
LS62NY

Opening Hours

Monday 7pm - 8:30pm
Thursday 6:30pm - 8pm
Saturday 9am - 10:30am

Telephone

07946 476471

Website

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