Shimmering Void

Intro

Welcome. The Shimmering Void Zen Center is a place to sit down, slow down, and wake up. We gather every day for zazen (seated meditation), and throughout the week for other practices and activities you can find on our schedule. Whether you have sat for decades or have never meditated before, you are welcome here exactly as you are.

We don't ask you to believe anything. Meditation, as we practice it, is not an escape from life but an arrival in it — not an effort to control the mind, but a willingness to rest in the open, sky-like awareness that was never apart from us. Come sit with us, share a cup of tea, and see for yourself.

Come not to believe, but to awaken. Let your life become a teaching. Let compassion be your measure.
— Shimmering Void Sutra

Weekly Calendar

Let us know about any changes or additions to the schedule, and we'll update the calendar.

About

Our practice is rooted in Zen and guided by the Shimmering Void Sutra, a short living text that describes how we understand the path:

• Direct seeing, not faith. Words point to reality but can't capture it. We keep the mind as open as a clear blue sky and trust what is discovered in stillness over any doctrine.
• Your true nature is already whole. No savior is needed. The light we seek is like sunlight behind clouds of thought — uncovered, not acquired.
• Science as a way of wonder. The double helix, the hydrogen atom, the curvature of space — we read the Book of the World with reverence. To wonder is to pray.
• The Earth is our root, not our resource. Her forests are our lungs and her oceans our blood. We vow to walk with reverence, creating without destroying.
• Compassion as the measure. When we stop clinging to a separate self, care for others and for all life arises naturally.

Our temples are meditation halls, but also gardens, laboratories, art studios, and the night sky. Our scriptures are unfinished — revised by insight, updated by love. We hope you'll join us.

Read the complete Shimmering Void Sutra with commentary, where each verse is paired with the music video it inspired.

Contact

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• Facebook

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Elements

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