Weekly Zazen Schedule – All events in Eastern Standard Time
Monday, Wednesday, & Friday 6:30am Morning Zazen – 40 minute period of zazen followed by a short service. In person and online see www.allbeingszen.org home page to sign in
Monthly Full Moon Ceremony following Monday morning practice on September 8, 2025. 6:30am Zazen 7:10am Full Moon Service. in person and online. In person and online – visit www.allbeingszen.org home page to sign in.
Thursday August 21 , 2025 7- 8:15pm Evening Zazen – Short service followed by one period of zazen with an interval of kinhin (slow walking) and our monthly Wellbeing Ceremony. We will close with Chanting the Refuges in Pali. In person and online – visit www.allbeingszen.org home page to sign in.
This week and beyond
August Saturday 2, 2025 – 9:30-11:30am Morning Samu (Work Practice) followed by potluck lunch in the Dragons Leap/ABZS Library. Samu: Work Practice. This is work, usually physical, done in a mindful and aware manner. Tasks should be carried out in silence, though speaking in hushed tones is permitted when clarification or further instructions are needed. Periods of samu are often part of a sesshin(q.v.), though it can be performed at any time. Samu can also be understood as a form of meditation done while working.
August Sunday 3, 2025 – Zazenkai in person and online Oryoki Vegan Lunch provided. 10am-4:30pm. Let us know you are planning to attend so that the Zendo can be set up and the Tenzo will know how many to cook for.
August Monday 4, 2025 – Morning Sangha Coastal Nature Walk – at the Terrapin Nature Park Loop located in Stevenson, MD 21666. Join ABZS at 10:15am for a 2.8 mile (approx 50 minute) walk. Bring a bag lunch. Carpooling available from various DMV locations (driving time approx 1hr 10 minutes from the urban zendo) . We will plan for a 30 period of outdoor zazen either during or after the walk (if conditions allow). This is a family friendly event. Dogs welcome on leash. Terrapin Park Website. RSVP to let us know you are attending.
August Tuesday 5, 2025 – Shenandoah National Park hike led by Myoshin Carlos. This medium-effort hike is an appx 6 mile loop in the Keyser Run Area. It will use parts of Appalachian Trail, Piney Branch Upper Trail, and the Pole Bridge Link Trail. We will meet at 10:15am at Dickey Ridge Visitors Center (mile 4.6 from park Front Royal North Entrance) and proceed together to the Keyser Run Parking Lot (near mile marker 19) where the hike begins. Bring a bag lunch and water for hydration. We will make a few stops throughout the trail to practice outdoor zazen. Carpooling from urban zendo available at 8:15am. We would be departing the mountain at approximately 5pm. Hike will be dependent on reasonable weather so check in beforehand.
August Thursday 21, 2025 – Zen Sewing in our urban zendo with . 10am-Noon. RSVP with Inryu
September 15-18, 2025 – Suzuki Roshi Branching Streams Conference, Loyola University’s Retreat and Ecology Center, Woodstock, IL. Inryū Sensei and 3 Sangha members are signed up to attend.
October 23-26, 2025 – Annual U.S. Soto Zen Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii. Inryū Sensei and 2 Sangha members are signed up to attend
***ABZS Affinity Groups ***
Sundays 5-6pm Healing Circle – every Sunday . Contact Shinren markstone1924@gmail.com to be sent the zoom link. Online only
Tuesdays – 1st and 3rd monthly 6-7pm Baikaryu Eisanka – Japanese Plum Blossom Style Hymns with bells. in person only – Contact Zen’etsu @ zenjoyclay@gmail.com for more information. In person only
Monthly Dharma Film Night – contact Seido @ dakusaso@gmail.com In person only.
Our Next Film
TBA
Monthly Dharma Book Club – contact Shoku @ cristinamariabenavides@gmail.com Online only
Our Next Book
Monday September 22, 2025 6pm — The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson **please note this is a fairly complex book which is why we are taking two months for it.
The Years of Rice and Salt is an Alternate History novel by writer Kim Stanley Robinson. The story spans hundreds of years, from the army of the Muslim conqueror Timur to the 21st century. The novel depicts world history in an alternate timeline where the Black Plague epidemic that ravaged Europe in the 14th century was even more destructive, killing 90% of the European population. The story includes Europe being re-populated by Muslim pioneers, the indigenous peoples of the Americas forming a league to resist Chinese and Muslim invaders, and a 67-year-long world war being fought primarily between Muslim states and the Chinese and their allies
