News

We are hosting a day of meditation , both in person and online. All are welcome. Please contact for more information.

We are hosting a day of meditation , both in person and online. Open to all . Please contact for more information.

We are hosting a day of meditation practice both in person and online . Open to all . Please contact for more information.

“Make space in your life to recognise the richness of your basic nature, to see the purity of your being and let its innate qualities of love, compassion and wisdom naturally emerge.” Mingyur Rinpoche

The Zendo reopens on Tuesday 7^th January and we look forward to sharing practice with you in 2020. Regular practice enables one to integrate and maintain practice in everyday life.

We continue to have weekly meditation sessions on Tuesday evenings from 7.30-9 pm and the Study group remains on the last Tuesday of each month.

Upcoming days of Practice ( Zazenkais ) and retreats in 2020:

9^th February and  18^th October– from 10-5pm. On these days we sit periods of silent meditation with walking meditation in between. Private Interview is available with Tania. At times there is a short talk /guided meditation and discussion where we explore the practice of Zen. We also have a practice of a Talking circle.

January 23 – 26 in Paris, France (Thursday 6.30pm – Sunday 3pm) Retreat led by João Rodrigues Sensei, Scott William and Tania Gent (without Genno Roshi) – if you have been considering attending a weekend retreat then this is a good opportunity to come! Please register in advance –
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 49 88 91 65  Email: info@danasangha.fr

April 18 – 25 in Doncaster, England (Saturday 6.30pm – Saturday 3pm), This week sesshin in the UK is led by Genno Roshi and is for Scott Williams’s Transmission. Please register in advance –
Telephone: +33 (0) 1 49 88 91 65  Email: info@danasangha.fr

In 2019 we received generous donations from you all for both Spear and Foodbank charities. In 2020 we would like to continue to support a charitable organisation.  Is there a charity that is close to your heart that you would like to nominate?

Email us: zenmeditationrichmond.org

Looking at art is a spiritual practice.

The age-old and intimate engagement of Zen Buddhism with the arts invites us specifically to envision ‘contemplating art’ as a Zen practice par excellence.

Just like Zen, art appreciation engenders an awareness in which the hard separation between subject and object softens. We outgrow a dualistic “illustration reading”.

True seeing implies an opening up to ‘groundlessness’. As a meditation, we are empowered to disidentify with preconceived ideas, habitual judgments or inherited standards.

In contemplating art we also trust our innate ability to resonate with truthfulness. We refrain for instance from hiding behind art historical knowledge or behind a supposed lack thereof.

As in Zen spirituality, seeing art calls us to reappraise language as a tool to own and integrate our inner experience.

Ultimately, art contemplation opens us up to a total body-mind experience. As we engage with all our senses and physicality, we remember our embodied relation to lived space. As in Zen.

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SEEING THROUGH ZEN – Richmond, London November 24-25th
A workshop in contemplative art appreciation with Frank De Waele Roshi

In this inspirational workshop, we explore together the differences between looking, observing and seeing. Through instructions and exercises, we will train a new, non-dual way of perceiving. We will then go to the Tate Modern for an interactive visit and apply the ‘devotional seeing’ we’ve learned.

Please email to register. Cost £25 for the Sunday

illustration: Henri Matisse, The Snail, collage, 1953, Tate Modern