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Tuesday 7:30pm - 8:45pm Sunday 9am - 11am

Cleveland Zazen Group

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Cleveland Zazen Group

The Cleveland Zazen Group, has been meeting together for over 30 years. We are located in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

04/15/2026

Zazen, chanting, breaking bread together Sunday, 4/19, 9a-12n Following our two rounds of sitting & kinhin (walking meditation), Susan will give a dharma talk on the chant "Affirming Faith in Mind." then we'll listen & chant with the RZC audio recording. Chanting is a powerful tool in our practice as we involve body/mind/spirit all at once.

Our monthly brunch from 11a - 12n, follows. As usual, there will be bagels and toppings, coffee and tea provided by CZG. Additions are always welcome but definitely not expected or required.

Coming up:
Our next two Intros/Refreshers to Zen Meditation practice will be Tuesday 4/21 at 6 p.m. and Saturday 5/16 at 1:30 p.m. To register, please call or text Susan at 216-630-3583.
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
Take good care,
Susan and Larry
Cleveland Zazen Group

04/13/2026

"Our faith grows every time we choose to place our attention on the practice we're working on. We are nourishing this faith."

"These words are just so simple and brief. But they're just so rich with importance and meaning- faith in yourself... Faith in our true self that which is beyond the diminished images or thoughts we have of ourselves." -
Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede July 23, 2023

"I remember Roshi Kapleau saying more than once that faith in Zen means Faith that when the Buddha said, "All beings are endowed with original enlightenment, he was neither mistaken nor lying." ...Faith in our original enlightenment!"
-Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede
-June 26, 2022

Quotes edited from
Roshi Bodhin Kjohlede
-Sesshins July 23, 2023
& June 26, 2022
Copy right: RZC
https://www.rzc.org/

04/08/2026

Greetings! All Hands on Deck!!! This Sunday, April 12, following two rounds of zazen, starting 10:00 a.m., we'll have Work Practice to clean the Zen house (we alternate monthly housekeeping with the Crooked River Zen community) and outdoor Spring cleanup. Bring work clothes and gloves if you'd like. Hope to see our sangha involved in this important aspect of Zen practice.🙏🏼

*drawing by Giei Satō from the book, Unsui: a Diary of Zen Monastic Life by Eshin Nishamura
- even days of "rest", Buddhist monks never let up their practice🙏🏼

04/02/2026

Buddhism, has as its object the annihilation of the cravings of ego, wiping away the illusion of ego and vitalizing our True-nature. It means putting an end to the nightmare of the domination of the ego, "I" "me" and awakening to our pure Buddha-nature.

In Zen, to kill the illusion of ego is described as "the Slaying Sword," while to revive to our True-nature is called "the Resurrecting Sword." Yet the sword that slays and the sword that resurrects are not two. This sword does not cut in two but in "one" and the cutting sword does not injure but returns us to our perfect, our real Self.
In Buddhism:
*1.The Slaying Sword is synonymous with the command to Avoid Evil,observe the Ten Precepts
*2. The Sword that Brings Alive (Flaming Sword of Wisdom, Resurrecting Sword) cuts through ignorance to reveal true life, is Virtue performing positive acts of goodness.
*3. The third basic commandment, to strive for the salvation of all sentient beings.

"... these three are referred to as the Fundamental Commandments of Purification and are the sum and substance of Buddhism." Living a life of purity.

-excerpts: The Power to Destroy and to Bring Alive Lies Within Our Hands by Zen Master Hakuun Yasutani
-translated by Philip Kapleau and Akira Kubota
Zen Bow publication
Jun/July 1968 Vol 1 no.4
Rochester Zen Center

Hakuun Yasutani 1885–1973 was a Sōtō Zen priest, through his students Philip Kapleau and Taizan Maezumi, Yasutani was one of the principal forces in founding western (lay) Zen-practice.-wikipedia
*photo: Master Hakuun Yasutani and Roshi Philip Kapleau

03/26/2026

"As the mind settles, as thoughts settle, we clear the space for our innate wisdom to reveal itself. Ordinay Mind is the Way."
-Roshi Bodhin Kjohlede.

Roshi Kjohlede in his Teisho about Master Foyan analyzing Ordinary Mind, who references Mumokan Case 19 "Everyday Life is the Path"... Ordinary Mind is the Way.
Zhao Zhou Joshu, asking his teacher, Master Nansen, what is the way? And Master Nansen answered, everyday mind is the way.
This is, Ordinary Mind is the way. Ordinary. Everyday, Normal. The Way is not apart from this, our ordinary mind...
He (Foyan) asks, So, what is it that all the enlightened ones have realized? It's that when you pe*****te common sacred enlightenment and delusion, then you clearly see the source.

*Excerpts Teisho: Teachings of Zen Master Foyan
-Sesshin day 1, July 13, 2025 by Roshi Bodhin Kjohlede

*Foyan Qingyuan (1067–1120) was an important master of Chan Buddhism of the Linji School and known as one of the "three Buddhas of East Mountain"

*a study on ordinary mind, delusion/enlightenment- not two
https://www.rzc.org/news/teachings-of-zen-master-foyan-2/

03/20/2026

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
"Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life".

Master Wumen Huikai-
Mumon Ekai (Japanese) 1183–1260

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
This famous poem is from the Gateless Barrier (Mumonkan), 49 Zen koans compiled by Wumen Huikai (Mu-mon). This poem is part of Master Wuman/Muman commentary to Case 19.
The Gateless Barrier also known as The Gateless Gate. Master Wuman received his Dharma transmission in the Linji line/Japanese: Rinzai

Photo credit and more info on Master Wuman Huikai
https://terebess.hu/zen/mumonkan-eng.html

03/16/2026

Palms together-bowing & full prostrations to Buddha in each other and ourself.

Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede shared that "Roshi Kapleau struggled with this when he went to Japan in the early days. He resented going before Harada Roshi and doing the usual prostration. (This is the way that you initiate the one-to-one encounter we call dokusan.) And he must have been terribly disgruntled about having to do that before the teacher because Harada Roshi finally said to him,
"You know, Kapleau-san, when you bow down before me, you're bowing down to yourself, your True-self. I'm not apart from you."🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Excerpts from "Faith" by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede:
Teisho, June 26, 2022
Rochester Zen Center

03/08/2026

"Zen Practice, Mental Health, and the Body–Mind Connection"
Saturday, March 14, 3:30 - 4:30 pm (RZC Online)
Cleveland Zazen Group leader Susan Rakow will offer a talk titled "Zen Practice, Mental Health, and the Body-Mind Connection". This program is part of Rochester Zen Center's DepreshZen series, which explores mental health topics within Zen practice.

Susan has been a member of the Rochester Zen Center since 1969, first as a student of Roshi Philip Kapleau and now of Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. She has led the Cleveland Zazen Group for more than 40 years and is a lay member of the Three Jewels Order.

A licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC), Susan works with children, teens, and adults and has training in CBT, EFT, Gottman Couples Therapy, and the work of Daniel Siegel.

Contact Irizelma (irizelmar@rzc.org) for Zoom access

*announcement & bio info from Louisville Zen Center

03/07/2026

Where will the hour of time go when we start Daylight Savings Time? Master Eihei Dōgen says we are time, time is us, so we-time get up early, put on our robes and when time strikes the bell, zazen is each moment.
Being on time, this Sunday morning🥰🙏🏼
*************************
Uji The Time-Being by
Eihei Dōgen Zenji
1200-2253
excerpts:

"For the time-being" here means time itself is being, and all being is time. See each thing in this entire world as a moment of time.

The Way-seeking mind arises in this moment. A Way-seeking moment arises in this mind. It is the same with practice and with attaining the Way.
These are all equally the Uji, time-being.

Mountains are time. Oceans are time. ...
This being so, the morning star appears, the Tathagata Buddha appears, the eye
appears, and raising a flower appears. Each is time. If it were not time, it could not be thus.
..Thus, to study thoroughly, coming and going, and to study (practice) thoroughly, arriving and not-arriving, is the time-being of this moment!
************************
Uji, the Time-Being is "U" meaning "being" and "Ji" meaning “time".

From: 'The Moon in a Dewdrop; Writings of Zen Master Dogen'
Translated by Dan Welch and Kazuaki Tanahashi

03/04/2026

"You too are perfectly protected. It just isn’t obvious to you. You are receiving all the care, protection and guidance and love of all the universe. You just haven’t been able to see it yet, but you will."🙏🏼

"I cannot stress enough to you the absolute importance of sticking to your practice no matter what. No adjustment is required; no calculation is needed. I went through the same thing that you are going through now, so I can tell you from personal experience what you must do. You must give your life to this, and refuse to let anything — any thoughts, ideas, attitudes — get in your way. Your ‘yes’ must be open. Your resolve must be like steel."
-Harada Tangen Roshi
"The Depth of Truth is Bottomless"

On-line publication Buddhism Now
23 March 2018 https://buddhismnow.com/2018/03/23/the-depth-of-truth-is-bottomless-by-harada-tangen-roshi/

02/26/2026

Zazen is Awakening: Awakening is Zazen, as Master Huineng taught:

"Good friends, my teaching of the Dharma takes meditation and wisdom as its basis. Never under any circumstances
mistakenly say that meditation and wisdom are different; they are a unity, not two things. Meditation itself is the substance of wisdom; wisdom itself is the function of meditation. At the very moment when there is wisdom, then meditation exists in wisdom; at the very moment when there is meditation, then wisdom exists in meditation. Good friends, this means that meditation and wisdom are alike. Students, be
careful not to say that meditation gives rise to wisdom, or that wisdom gives rise to meditation, or that meditation and wisdom are different from each other. To hold this view implies that things have duality."- Huineng

Excerpt from The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, trans. Philip B. Yampolsky
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1967)

Dajian Huineng or Hui-neng 638-713 CE, known as the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism,Bodhidharmaknown as First Chinese Patriarch and the 28th in direct line from Gautama Buddha.
According to tradition Huineng was an uneducated layman who suddenly attained awakening upon hearing the Diamond Sutra. Despite his lack of formal training, he demonstrated his understanding to the Fifth Patriarch, Damon Hongren, who then acknowledged Huineng as his true successor. -
Extracts: wikipedia

Huineng's Platform Sutra, 8th century text that teaches Zen, from the Mahayana Buddhism branch, has been heavily studied by zen practitioners.

02/20/2026

When doing Zazen,"not throwing away our shot" is noticing when our mind/focus wanders.

"Focused attention, sometimes called ‘orienting,’ refers to holding our attention on one object at a time. This is the aspect of awareness known in some Buddhist schools as "samatha"—one-pointed absorption in the object of meditation. In doing breath or koan practice during zazen, we want to keep our focus on that alone.
Step One of living in the present, then, is noticing when the mind has wandered. But now here’s the tricky thing: we can’t notice until we notice. Fortunately, though, noticing is also something we do get better at over time.The 12th-century Korean Zen master Chinul, one of the seminal ancestors of our tradition, offered advice that is valuable for any stage of practice: ‘Do not fear the arising of thoughts, only be concerned that your awareness of them not be tardy.’ The key thing is to notice them without getting involved in them. That little space right there, between the noticing that there are thoughts, before getting involved in the thoughts, is where we have our best shot at bringing ourselves back to our practice—that is, back to the present."

"The word ‘Buddha’ means enlightened awareness, and we are all equally endowed with this Buddha-nature. It just takes daily practice—and lots of perseverance—to actualize it."

Edited transcription of teisho,
Focuser, Noticer, Juggler, Spy
By Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede, printed in
Zen Bow: Attention vol ###II no. 4, 2009-10 RCZpublication

Address

Cleveland Heights, OH
44118

Opening Hours

Tuesday	7:30pm - 8:45pm
Sunday	9am - 11am

Telephone

+12166303583

Website

http://www.zencleveland.com/

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About us

The Cleveland Zazen Group has been meeting together for over 30 years. We are located in Cleveland Heights and follow traditions established at the Rochester Zen Center by Roshi Phillip Kapleau and his Dharma-successor, Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede. Regular sittings (meditation) are every Tuesday evening from 7:30-8:45 p.m.

We also meet every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for zazen (sitting meditation) followed by a recorded teisho (sermon or dharma talk) by Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede of the Rochester Zen Center or other teachers in similar lineages. Twice a month on Sundays, from 11 to noon, we have brunch together.

Periodically there are all-day sittings and Introductory Workshops. Introduction to Zen meditation practice can be arranged for interested individuals and groups.

There are no accidents! If you have come to this website, you have questions about your life, about pain and suffering, about meaning, peace, or your own personhood. You may have done some reading on Zen, on Buddhism, or on meditation. But, as the old masters have said, "Painted cakes do not satisfy hunger."