Compassionate Ocean Zen Center

08/22/2025

Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up for our Introduction into Zen Practice 2 day course!

Share with friends who may be interested!

08/13/2025

Aug 18th is the last day to register! Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up.

Special Practice Period

Beginning August 25 at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community.

This seven-day practice period
includes weekend only and other options for participation.

Located in the rolling hills of southeastern Minnesota,
Hokyoji offers a beautiful setting for Zen practice and study.
Hokyoji ("Jewel Mirror Temple") was founded by Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1978.

Practice Period at Hokyoji
Practice Period: Monday, Aug. 25–Monday, Sept. 1
Weekend only: Friday, Aug. 29–Monday, Sept. 1

Led by Michael O’Neal, Joen O’Neal, and resident priest Dokai Georgesen

This practice period offers participants an opportunity to practice mindfulness in community for an extended period. It will include:

sitting and walking meditation
Dharma talks
study time
yoga
vegetarian meals
work practice
Dharma discussion
There will be opportunities for individual meetings with teachers.
We will be using the new guest room building and the new dining hall.

Location: Southeastern Minnesota, near New Albin, Iowa
Fee: $80/night (members $70/night)

Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up!

08/06/2025

Even though we are on a break from our Sunday Meditation, join us every week day for morning sittings!

📌Go to www.OceanZen.org for information on up as Sept Classes, Sesshins and Volunteer opportunities!

07/31/2025

Aug 3rd is the date! Still time to register!!

Www.OceanZen.org

07/28/2025

Special Practice Period

Beginning August 25 at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community.

This seven-day practice period
includes weekend only and other options for participation.

Located in the rolling hills of southeastern Minnesota,
Hokyoji offers a beautiful setting for Zen practice and study.
Hokyoji ("Jewel Mirror Temple") was founded by Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1978.

Practice Period at Hokyoji
Practice Period: Monday, Aug. 25–Monday, Sept. 1
Weekend only: Friday, Aug. 29–Monday, Sept. 1

Led by Michael O’Neal, Joen O’Neal, and resident priest Dokai Georgesen

This practice period offers participants an opportunity to practice mindfulness in community for an extended period. It will include:

sitting and walking meditation
Dharma talks
study time
yoga
vegetarian meals
work practice
Dharma discussion
There will be opportunities for individual meetings with teachers.
We will be using the new guest room building and the new dining hall.

Location: Southeastern Minnesota, near New Albin, Iowa
Fee: $80/night (members $70/night)

Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up!

07/19/2025

THIS SUNDAY (Tomorrow the 20th) Don't miss this event!

Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher
will be providing our dharma talk
In-Person at the Center and Via Zoom
Sitting starts at 9am!

Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher will give a talk entitled, "Where Are The Old Women in The Tea Shop?"

Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher has been practicing intensively in the Zen and Vipassana Buddhist traditions, for fifty years. She began Zen practice in 1975 with her root teacher, Dainin Katagiri Roshi, who established the Minnesota Zen Center in 1972 in Minneapolis, MN. In 2000 she was ordained in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition, and she received Dharma Transmission from Rev. Dokai Ron Georgesen, head teacher at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in SE Minnesota, in 2012. She is a mom to her daughter and grandmother to two little boys, 7 and 3 years old.

Myo-O is trained in a number of body-mind practices, including Qi Gong and Body Mind Centering™. She is the originator of VoiceWork™, a body-based voice training, which she offers in private practice and has taught at several colleges and universities. She was a professional modern dancer and choreographer earlier in her life. She was an interfaith staff chaplain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis for fourteen years, retiring in 2021. She recently retired from being an associate teacher at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community, and is affiliated with Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul.

07/17/2025

🌪Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore..."🌪

Join us at the Heights Theater for a special presentation and film screening to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Compassionate Ocean Zen Center. This special event will include:

A presentation by Genpo Michael O'Neal on the themes of Zen practice in the context of The Wizard of Oz
A screening of the classic film in a rare Technicolor print
A catered reception
A limited number of tickets are still available. Please register soon to secure your space at this 25th anniversary community gathering.

📢Sunday, August 3, 1:00 p.m.

📍The Heights Theater, Columbia Heights
3951 Central Ave. NE, Columbia Heights, 55421

Recommended $50 Donation. Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up! Seats are filling up!

07/10/2025

Still time to register and sign up!! Go to www.OceanZen.org for more information.

07/10/2025

We are almost at our goal for our spring appeal! We are at $10,193 of a goal of $14,000!!

Thank you to everyone who has donated!

07/02/2025

We added 730pm-9pm sitting on Thursday evenings for the summer months!

07/01/2025

July Sesshin at Ryumonji

Friday, July 18–Sunday, July 20
This sesshin will include a “Shuso” (head monk) ceremony, which is an important stage in traditional Zen training, and a “Shuso tea” the evening before. Led by Shoken Winecoff.
Location: Northeastern Iowa
Fee: $175 (members $150)
Go to www.OceanZen.org to sign up!

What is a sesshin?

A sesshin (literally, “to gather the mind”) is a time when formal Zen practice is the primary focus of what we do. Sometimes these are informally called “retreats,” but in actuality they involve going forward into the heart of our lives.

Each sesshin offers an extended opportunity to settle the mind and body and open to the deep wisdom of human life. These are excellent opportunities to strengthen and deepen the practice of presence, including supporting and being supported by others.