A Zen Buddhist Community in Shelburne, Vermont

A Program for New Members and Trial Members of the Zen Center

Finding Your Seat is a program designed especially for new members and trial members of the Center. We meet at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of the month.

We hope the program will help newcomers acclimate themselves to practice so that they can become more easily involved in Zen Center activities. The monthly meetings are an informal opportunity for new and trial members to ask questions about the practice and procedures of Zen. For example:

  • What is the importance of ceremonies?
  • How and why do we do prostrations?
  • How does one become a student of Roshi?
  • How and why do we keep our attention in our hara?

Other aspects of the program include informal question and answer periods, as well as:

  • Talks by members about how and why they began spiritual practice
  • Panel discussions of various practice themes
  • Demonstrations of zendo protocols, such as getting on and off the sitting platforms (tans)
  • How to do walking meditation

The program sessions are responsive to the needs of participants, so please do not hesitate to tell any of us—Heather Kelman, Josh Kelman, or Kelly Story—what you would like to know about or practice doing. You may come to one session or as many as you like.

We hope to see you at the Center!