Our Practice
New York Zen Community for Dōgen Study
offers daily, weekly, monthly, and special programs.
Participation in Zazen programs is open to all.
Study Programs are recorded and added to the Dōgen Study Library and YouTube Channel as they become available .
To participate in Study Programs and Special Events in real time, please contact us by email at: info@nyzcfordogenstudy.org
All Our Programs are Offered Free of Charge
Ango (Intensive Practice Period)
Summer Ango:
April 15th - July 15th
Winter Ango: October 15-January 15
The tradition of intensifying practice and study during three spring and summer months dates back to the days of Gōtama Buddha when India’s rainy season made travel hazardous, and monks gathered together in one place to practice. In Japan this tradition was extended to include the snowy, cold winter months.
Our Ango period of intensifying practice and study features many opportunities and programs for practice and study in addition to the continuation of ongoing lecture series and sangha events.
ZAZEN
Morning Zazen
Monday - Friday
7:00 am: Everyone is seated on zafu or chair. Kentan Gyōkō begins.
7:10 am: Opening bells.
8:00 am: Chanting of Takkesage M, W, F and Verse of the Robe on T, Th
After Zazen, we gather for a brief reading from Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki.
On days ending in 4 or 9, we come together for an abreviated morning service, Ryaku-Chōka.
Takkesa ge - Robe Chant
Monthly
Zazenkai
Each month, we dedicate a day to deepening our shikantaza practice, alternating between periods of Zazen and Kinhin. Participants are encouraged to join for the entire day or any part of it.
We gather at 5:00 pm for Open Sōzan, when we share our experience of the day.
Saturday from 8:00 am – 5:30 pm EST (14:00 - 23:00 CET)
October 3, 2026
Sesshin in
the City
Every Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter we pause to enjoy 3-days of sustained shikantaza practice. "Sesshin in the City" begins with 2 periods of zazen on Friday evening. Saturday we sit from 8:00 am - until 8:30 pm and Sunday sit from 8:50 am - 10:20 am. There are breaks for meals and personal time and everyone is encouraged to participate in only as many periods of Zazen as they would like.
Fall 2026: TBA
STUDY
Special Study Opportunities for Sangha Members
Rev. Koyama will be available on zoom 30 minutes prior to the start of every class to answer questions or chat.
All lectures will be recorded and promptly added to the Dōgen Study Library and YouTube Channel.
Throughout the month of September, Rev. Koyama will continue to offer six small informal classes each week on Mondays, Wednesday and Thursday from 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm (EST) and from 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm.
Lectures will alternate with translation sessions. Announcements regarding the topic of evening classes will be made after morning zazen.
In preparation for the "Who's afraid of Kōans?" lecture series planned for Spring 2027, we will take an in-depth look at the kōan's in the Book of Serenity (Shōyō-roku) and prepare all-new translations.
We will also continue working to translate Dōgen’s Personal Journal (Hōkyō-ki) into English and French with Rev. Shūzan Leclercq of Daishin-ji.
We will also be preparing a new Lecture Series on Zuimonki, Ejō's journal of Dōgen's oral teachings.
Anyone wishing to participate in these classes in real time, please send all inquires via email to: info@nyzcfordogenstudy.org
Monthly Study Intensive:
The Flower Adornment Sūtra
Avatamsaka
Sūtra
This sūtra is vast and exuberant, ushering readers into an awe-inspiring cosmic celebration of Dharma. It is about our path as bodhisattvas and it is as inspiring today as it was for Way Seekers centuries ago.
Based on the new three-volume translation of “The Avatamsaka Sūtra: An Annotated Translation of The Avatamsaka Sūtra” translated by Bhikshu Dharmamitra, published by Kalavinka Press.
Saturdays from 9:00 AM - 3:00 pm (EST) (15:00 - 21:00 CET)
October 17, 2026
Introducing
Other Voices
While Rev. Koyama is traveling in Japan during Winter Ango this year, three of his senior students will each offer a series of four lectures on essential Buddhist scriptures and the major elements of bodhisattva practice.
These will take place Wednesday afternoons from 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM on zoom.
Catherine Jishin Amendolara October 14, 21, 28, and Nov. 4
Relying on Prajñā Parāmita in Turbulent Times: Turning to the Heart Sutra for Direction When World News Stirs Compassion and Kicks up Questions about Practice.
In this series, I will introduce passages from the Heart Sutra (Mahāprajňāpāramita Hrdaya Sūtra), Dōgen’s commentary about this sūtra in Shōbōgenzō Maka-Hannya-Haramitsu, and other Mahāyāna sūtras to explore impermanence and emptiness, not as something scary, but as the reality that expands the definition, and dissolves barriers between self/world, and samsara/nirvana, allowing our practice of compassion to be supported by wisdom.
1. What’s happening when “I” observe the “world”?
2. Exploring dichotomies that we take for granted as “existing” and how concepts of life, are not life.
3. Cause and effect in dependent origination -- a one-way street, versus the interdependent co-arising of a multiverse.
4. With nothing to attain and without hindrance, relying on each moment of prajñā paramita for my next action.
Rev. Shūzan Leclercq November 18, 25 and December 2, 9
Living by Vow: Shantideva and the Practice of the Bodhisattva in Everyday Life
(*In French with English subtitles)
In this series, I will explore a selection of passages from Shantideva’s the Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyāvatāra), placing them in dialogue with a small selection of other Buddhist texts drawn from the Pali Canon, Mahāyāna Buddhism, and the Zen traditions. I will also suggest how these teachings can, in my view, resonate with our everyday lives and support our practice.
1. Orienting One’s Life: From Personal Desire to the Bodhisattva Vow
2. Transforming Difficulties: Anger, Conflict, and Compassion
3. The Discipline That Liberates: Practicing in Every Action
4. Living Without Clinging: Emptiness, Interdependence, and Right Action
Text: Shantideva, La Marche vers l’Éveil, éd. Padmakara (2008)
Vivre par vœu : Shantideva et la pratique du bodhisattva dans la vie quotidienne
Au cours de cette série, je me propose d’explorer quelques extraits choisis de l’ouvrage de Shantideva, « La Marche vers l’éveil » (Bodhicharyâvatâra), de les mettre en dialogue avec une petite sélection d’autres textes bouddhistes issus du Canon Pali, du Mahāyāna et du Zen, et de montrer comment ils peuvent, selon moi, entrer en résonance avec notre vie quotidienne et nous soutenir dans notre pratique.
1. Orienter sa vie : du désir personnel au vœu du bodhisattva
2. Transformer les difficultés : colère, conflits et compassion
3. La discipline qui libère : pratiquer dans chaque geste
4. Vivre sans s’accrocher : vacuité, interdépendance et action juste
Michèle Seizan Sevik December 16, 30 and January 6, 13
Verses from the Dhammapada: How Essential Buddhist Teachings Developed and Expanded while Remaining True to Buddha’s Original Principles.
One of the things I enjoy most about studying Buddhism is discovering the same teachings in texts written centuries apart. As Buddhism spread and evolved, the teachings found in the Dhammapada – one of the oldest surviving collections of the Buddha’s teachings -- were developed, expanded, and expressed in fresh new ways while remaining reassuringly consistent at their core.
I will examine four essential Buddhist themes found in the Dhammapada and trace how they are developed in a variety of Buddhist texts, many of which are already familiar to us from Rev. Koyama’s lectures. These include other texts from the Pāli Canon, such as the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta; Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra and the Avatamsaka Sūtra; and the writings of Dōgen Zenji. The four themes I will explore are:
1. What am I?
2. What’s going on around here?
3. What should we not do?
4. What should we do?
Text: The Dhammapada: The Path of Perfection, translated by Juan Mascaró, Penguin Books (1974).
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Monthly Q & A
Informal Mondō
Open Mondō is an opportunity to ask questions and engage in dialogues with a teacher about real life situations and immediate concerns rather than academic issues. Our style of mondō is relaxed and informal.
Questions can be asked in real time when we meet on zoom or in person, or they can be sent to Rev. Koyama in advance by email.
Saturdays from 10:00 am - 11:30 am US EST (16:00 - 17:30 CET)
October 24, 2026
Nyohō-e Sewing Circle
Fukuden-kai
Rev. Issan Koyama’s Travel Schedule
October 6 - 9, 2026 Los Angeles, CA (dates tab)
October 28, 2026 - January 11, 2027 Japan
March 1 – 7, 2027 Rome, Italy
March 8 -15, 2027 Saint-Agrève, France and Mons, Belgium