Minnesota Zen Meditation Center

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Minnesota Zen Meditation Center

Zen Buddhist temple and meditation center. We welcome all who want to learn more about Zen Buddhist meditation.

Minnesota Zen Meditation Center is a welcoming space for people to awaken wisdom and compassion, to embody Buddhist teachings, to honor our ancestors and descendants, and to joyfully serve our wider communities. Our vibrant community is committed to Zen practice and teachings, and offers daily sitting meditation, weekly classes and lectures, and monthly intensive meditation retreats. Our Center is located on the eastern shore of Lake Calhoun in south Minneapolis. People from all over the region come to here to listen to talks by teachers, attend classes and workshops, participate in retreats, attend services, and, most importantly, to do sitting meditation (zazen).

11/15/2025

Rohatsu Sesshin
with Ben Connelly and Ted O'Toole
Sunday, November 30, 7 p.m. – Sunday December 7, 4 p.m.
Hours for full days are 5:45 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
The hours on Sunday, December 7, are 5:45 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
There are a variety of attendance options for in person and online participation.
Please register by November 25 at 5 p.m.
Register
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p100/Rohatsu_Sesshin.html

Rohatsu (Buddha's Enlightenment) sesshin is arguably the year's most important event for Zen Buddhists. All over the world we sit in meditation, celebrating Buddha's awakening to an intimacy with all life as our own awakening. This formal retreat includes zazen, kinhin (walking meditation), liturgy, dharma talks, meal breaks, dokusan (one-to-one meetings with the teachers), and work practice.

11/12/2025

Beginner's Mind Retreat
with Doshin Mark Turbak
Saturday, November 22, 1 - 4 pm
Register
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p114/Beginner%27s_Mind_Retreat.html
Enter the transformative stillness of Zen retreat practice in this afternoon immersion in meditation, silence, and teachings. This brief retreat includes both guided and silent meditation as well as an introduction to the basics of traditional zen forms, walking meditation, and a short dharma talk.

10/31/2025

One-day Retreat
with Ted O'Toole
Saturday, November 8, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Offered in person and online.
Register
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p120/One-Day_Retreat.html

One-day Retreats are conducted in a contemporary context, without the formal elements involved in sesshin. They include walking and sitting meditation, a dharma talk, one-to-one meetings with the teacher, and work practice. Meditators at all levels of experience are invited. A vegetarian lunch is served for those attending in person.

10/18/2025

October Weekend with Paula Arai

Friday Evening Public Talk
"Stories Liberating Dharma in the Home"
Friday, October 24, 7 pm
Offered in person at MZMC and online.
No registration is needed. Suggested donation $20
If attending online, find the Zoom link here.
https://www.mnzencenter.org/zoom-program-links.html
She will sign copies of her new book, "The Little Book of Zen Healing."

Workshop Saturday, October 25, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
"Women Liberating Dharma"
Offered in person and online.
Suggested donation $80. Vegetarian lunch included.
Some space still available.
Register here.
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p148/Paula_Arai_Workshop.html

We will explore the unheralded contributions women have been making since the beginning of the Buddhist tradition. They laid a deep and strong foundation upon which the tradition depends. Their influence runs deep inside the home and heart. Telling their stories is liberating for them and for us. Applying their wisdom to our lives is healing. We will animate these dimensions through creative activities.

Paula Arai (Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, Harvard University) holds the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies chair at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California.

10/02/2025

Join us for Fall Movie Night! "Perfect Days"
This Saturday, October 4, door opens at 6 pm and movie at 6:30 pm
Refreshments and popcorn will be provided. Please bring a treat to share, if you'd like.
No cost; offered by donation.

This is an evening for the community to enjoy together! Join us for great company and conversation, delicious treats, and a wonderful, award-winning film.

About the film:
Hirayama works as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. He seems content with his simple life. He follows a structured everyday life and dedicates his free time to his passion for music and books. Hirayama also has a fondness for trees and photographs them. More of his past is gradually revealed through a series of unexpected encounters. Written by Wim Wenders and Takuma Takasaki. Directed by Wim Wenders.

This event is sponsored by the MZMC Membership Committee.

10/02/2025

Join us online this Saturday!
Online Half-Day Retreat
with Alan Eustace
Saturdays, October 4, 8 am – 2 pm
This retreat is offered online only.
Register
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p129/Online_Half-Day_Retreat.html

This retreat is an opportunity for people who live at a distance from MZMC, or who find it more convenient to practice at home, to experience intensive meditation practice. Because online retreats are designed specifically for folks practicing at home, they allow us to explore the intersection between meditation practice and daily life.

09/25/2025

Women Liberating Dharma: Workshop with Paula Arai
Saturday, October 25, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Offered in-person and online.
Vegetarian lunch included.
Suggested donation: $80
Limited to 35 in-person participants.
Register
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p148/Paula_Arai_Workshop.html

We will explore the unheralded contributions women have been making since the beginning of the Buddhist tradition. They laid a deep and strong foundation upon which the tradition depends. Their influence runs deep inside the home and heart. Telling their stories is liberating for them and for us. Applying their wisdom to our lives is healing. We will animate these dimensions through creative activities.

Friday Evening Public Talk on October 24
Paula will also be giving a Friday Evening Public Talk at MZMC (also online). The title of the talk is "Stories of Women Liberating Dharma in the Home." You are invited to attend, and no registration is necessary. The suggested donation for the talk is $20.

More about Paula Arai
Paula Arai (Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies, Harvard University) holds the Eshinni & Kakushinni Professor of Women and Buddhist Studies chair at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. She is author of "Women Living Zen;" "Bringing Zen Home;" "Painting Enlightenment;" and "The Little Book of Zen Healing." She also co-edited "The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice." Her forthcoming book is "Of Mud & Lotuses: Dreaming the Lives of Buddhist Women." Under the tutelage of Aoyama Shundō Rōshi, she did Zen training at the Aichi Senmon Nisōdō nunnery in Nagoya, Japan. Steeped in ethnographic research, she takes an embodied approach to her work and finds poetic immersive storytelling a potent medium for conveying the experiences of transformative healing she researches. An active public speaker, Arai also leads workshops on healing rituals. Website: Zenhealing.org

09/23/2025

Fall Practice Period: The First Buddhist Women
with Keidō Thotland
Wednesday evenings, October 1 – November 19,
7:15 – 8:45 pm (or Thursday mornings October 2 – November 20, 7:30 – 9:00 am)
Offered online and in person.
Please register five days in advance.
https://www.mnzencenter.org/store/p127/Fall_Practice_Period.html

We will be learning about the first Buddhist women beginning with Mahapajapati, the Buddha's aunt and first nun. We will also explore how the lives, poems, and practice of these women can inform our practice today. We will be using the book First Buddhist Women by Susan Murcott.

This 8-week period of increased intensity of practice reflects when the Buddha and his followers would concentrate their practice during the rainy season, spending more time in close quarters meditating, teaching and spending time together. Activities include weekly class meetings Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, reading through assigned material, meeting with a practice partner, small and large group discussions, among others.

09/18/2025

Guest Teacher Shodo Spring
Book Launch Talk and Celebration
"Falling Apart, Coming Together, The Practice of Open Reality"
Sunday, September 21, 10:00 - 11:30 am
Dharma talk and book signing, followed by a reception.
In person and online. Zoom link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87103057402?pwd=bnZQYlNJZWk1eHNmZjFvekNBUHlRQT09

Nature is alive and intelligent. In this time of polycrisis—with our knowledge and technologies failing us—we can open to other understandings.

When Dharma eye looks at modern existence, things open up and despair falls away. This talk draws on Shodo’s new book, "Open Reality: Meeting the Polycrisis Together With All Beings," a deep dive into that opening with invitation toward both connection and empowerment as part of the whole world. We’ll look at questions of human nature, relationship with all sentient beings, and ways to open up our lives to allow the whole world to flourish.

Pre-orders are available at https://shodospring.com. Signed copies will be available after the talk.

09/17/2025

Cutting through the Noise
An Offering of MZMC’s Race and Climate Justice Action
with Rev. Ben Connelly and Rev. Dr. Jia Starr Brown
Sunday, September 21, 2:30 - 4pm followed by informal social time at Bichota Coffee
George Floyd Square, 38th and Chicago

In a world rife with systemic injustice, “cutting through the noise” has never been more critical. Let us come together with a commitment to justice to embody peace and bear witness in shared public places. With a hope for deepening wellness, we will practice “retreat” in real time and space…right where we are!

Attendees will be invited to reflect, pray, or simply rest in the sights, sounds, and feelings of the present moment. Facilitators will provide brief instructions for finding mindful quiet.

To support this offering, we suggest a donation of $10. No one will be turned away.

09/10/2025

Oryoki Server and Soku Training
with Ben Connelly
Saturday, September 20, 11 am-noon
All are welcome

Join this open opportunity to develop understanding of how to embody the roles of server and head server (soku) for oryoki meals. If you are new to service or have served before and would like to deepen your practice and learn the role of soku this is a great fit for you. For those of you who plan to attend sesshin in future, or those who would just like to learn this deep and beautiful art of serving food, this is a rare opportunity! Attending is a great way to serve the community by expanding our community of folks who can uphold the wondrous art of oryoki.
Registration is not required, but it will be very helpful if you let us know you plan to come by sending an email to: info@mnzencenter.org

Address

3343 E Bde Mka Ska Pkwy
Minneapolis, MN
55408

Website

http://www.mnzencenter.org/

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