START WITH ZEN

Many people begin by exploring free resources that are openly available.

• Orientation to Zen — Zenwest's self-directed introduction to the forms of practice with us: sitting and walking meditation, bells, bowing, chanting — the full arc of a regular session of Zen practice. Work through it at your own pace.

• Tuesday evening sit at UVic — come to the UVic Multifaith Centre and practise with the community. Open to everyone.

• The Living Zen podcast — hundreds of Dharma talks and teachings, available wherever you get your podcasts.

There's no pressure and no timeline. Start from where you are.

START WITH A CONVERSATION

When you want to go further — to discern a path of practice that's right for you, or to begin training with me — the next step is a conversation. There are no obligations, commitments, or decisions expected or required.

IF YOU ARE NEW TO ZEN

Orientation to Zen is where everyone new begins — it introduces the forms of practice. Once you've spent time with it, there are two ways to go further: on your own, or guided.

• On your own — work through the Orientation material, then book the Practice Assessment, the checkpoint that confirms you can hold the practice in form.

• Guided — join Entering the Gate of Zen, a four-week live cohort with me that walks you into the forms together, in real time. $397 + GST.

Either way opens the same options: eligibility for Zenwest membership, for formal apprenticeship, both, or neither. Nothing is assumed.

Zen PRACTICE ASSESSMENT

The Practice Assessment is the checkpoint for anyone who has come to the forms on their own — whether you are a beginner who has worked through the Orientation material, or a practitioner arriving with an established sitting practice from another teacher, centre, or tradition. The assessment gate establishes whether you can sustain practice in the context of the form here — not where or with whom you have trained before.

Before booking, review the Orientation to Zen instruction materials — not as a course, but as a way of meeting this sangha's forms. Knowing how to sit is not the same as knowing how we sit.

The assessment itself is a two-hour session with me: three periods of zazen with kinhin. $200 + GST.

Upon successful completion, you are eligible to apply for Zenwest membership without completing the guided cohort.

BECOMING A ZENWEST MEMBER

Once you're established in the form and practice of Zen — through the guided cohort, or on your own and confirmed by the Zen Practice Assessment — you can apply for Zenwest membership. Members enter the community through Sandō, the zendo-entering ceremony.

Kōsen Eshū, Oshō — Abbot, Zenwest Buddhist Society

Image: "Sunny two-track — trail at Chippewa Nature Center" by Christian Collins, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — cropped.