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UNIVERSITY UNITARIAN CHURCH
Zen Meditation and Study
A Practice of Awakening
UUC provides a convenient and supportive environment to meditate and learn about Zen Buddhism with others. You’ll encounter regular participants who have an established practice in Zen or another contemplative tradition, and you’ll also meet first-time or occasional attendees, some of whom are just beginning a meditation practice. Most attendees are UU, some are not. All are welcome.
Zen practice at UUC is offered several times throughout the week:
- Tuesdays and Fridays, 10 am – noon (on-site & online) – Zazen, dokusan, check-in, study & discussions
- Early Morning Zen Tuesday through Sunday, 6:30 -7:00 am (online only) – Zazen, Verse of the Kesa, Four Vows
- Beginning again on September 8, an additional option for Morning Zen practice on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 7:30-8:00 am
- Sunday evenings, 6:30-7:45 pm (online only) – Zazen, recorded Dharma Talk, check-in & discussion
- Every other Thursday, 7-8:30 pm (online only) - Living the Precepts, for meditation and discussion around Precepts Study. (See the UUC Calendar for dates.)
- We also have access to regular practice periods with the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas, led by teachers in James Ford's lineage of UU friendly Zen, including Monday evening Recovery Sangha, Tuesday Evening Zen, Saturday Morning Zen, plus monthly Zazenkai.
Drop-in attendance is welcome for all regular practice periods. Come when you can! You do not have to be a Zen practitioner, a Buddhist, an experienced meditator, or a Unitarian Universalist (UU) to attend. There is no charge to participate.
Special gatherings and multi-day practice opportunities are also offered from time to time, usually in concert with Empty Moon Zen - the larger, UU friendly sangha with which we are affiliated. These events will be announced through the group's email list and the UUC News Blog and Calendar.
** Registration will open soon for Awakening with the World: Silent Forest Retreat, December 11-14, 2025, in North Bend, WA **
We use the Empty Moon Zen liturgy book for chants during all practice periods - it is available here for online viewing or downloading to print. Chant books are provided for use at all on-site practice periods.
Join our Zen Meditation & Study group in UUC Connect (login required) to find Zoom links, or contact Janine Larsen or the Church Office for connection info.
Our current Dharma Text:
Zen at the End of Religion: An Introduction for the Curious, the Skeptical, and the Spiritual but Not Religious
by James Myoun Ford, Roshi
This book, published in 2025, provides a brief introduction to Zen as a practical expression of Zen's why and how, focusing on the essential teaching and the foundations of the Zen way. We have found it to be an excellent prompt for our shared reflections on our practice, along with questions about Zen, Buddhism, the role of religion in spirituality and human life, and our understanding of meaning and purpose, calling, and community.
James Ishmael Ford is a retired UU Minister and is the Founding Teacher of Empty Moon Zen Sanghas, our dharma family.
General Information about our UUC Zen meditation group:
The UUC Zen Group sits as Bright Cloud Zen, an affiliate of the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas and a member sangha of the UU Buddhist Fellowship. Bright Cloud Zen practice groups are supported by the Rev. Janine Seitetsu Larsen, a UUC Covenanted Community Minister recently retired as Director of Ministries at UUC. She is a long-time UU and a former regional staff member of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Ordained by James Ford, Roshi, she was installed by Empty Moon Zen in 2019 as Bright Cloud's Resident Zen Priest in Seattle. Janine has received initial transmission (Denkai) as a Zen Teacher in the Empty Moon lineage.
Our two-hour meditation & study group on Tuesdays & Fridays are the most widely attended of our various practice periods. It includes simple opening and closing chants, two periods of silent sitting, walking meditation, refreshment, and teaching. Most often, our teaching of the day is a shared reading from a selected Dharma Text; sometimes there may be a dharma talk or other discussion.
Dress comfortably. Most participants sit on chairs, which are provided. Floor sitting supplies are also available, or bring your own cushions or meditation bench – just remove a chair and replace it with your supplies. A variety of sitting supports and light blankets are also available for your comfort.
Arrive 5-10 minutes early if possible. We do our best to greet visitors, ask about meditation experience, and help you find your seat and settle into your posture. If you arrive after the sitting period has begun, please enter quietly and take any available seat. The practice leader may lead a guided meditation for all; if there's need, we may offer instruction in a separate room for those who wish assistance. Otherwise, simply follow this general advice for meditation practice:
Sitting still, just pay attention to what is going on around you and within you. Notice your breathing or other sensations in the body. Allow curiosity to arise in its own time. Be gentle with yourself. Just start again when the mind wanders.
Rev. Janine Seitetsu Larsen, Osho
Bright Cloud Zen Resident Priest
Empty Moon Zen Teacher
UUC Covenanted Community Minister
Deepening Zen Practice
Precepts Study: The Bright Cloud Zen practice groups regularly offer precept study for those who wish to receive the first five precepts (sewing the Wagessa and vowing to live ethically), or Jukai (sewing the Rakusu and committing to the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts and the Empty Moon Zen lineage). Talk to Janine or one of the other Empty Moon Zen Teachers to learn more about receiving the precepts.
Koan Introspection: Empty Moon Zen offers the Harada-Yasutani Koan Curriculum as an option for students who are ready to engage a direct and intimate experience of opening to the boundless. This practice is recommended for those who are solidly grounded in meditation practice and have some familiarity with foundational Zen teachings.
Talk to Janine, a Bright Cloud Practice Leader, or one of the other Empty Moon Zen Teachers to learn more about receiving the precepts or exploring Koan Introspection.
Over and over again, Zen is not about having the answer but about moving in the darkness of
what is unknown and uncertain and trusting both your moves and the darkness that opens as you enter it.
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John Tarrant (James Ford's Koan Teacher), commenting on Koan Study
Opportunities to sit with Bright Cloud Zen Sangha (virtually or in-person)
- See top of page for weekly practice periods with Bright Cloud Zen at UUC and on Zoom.
- Sign up for Bright Cloud Zen's weekly newsletter, which includes links to all Empty Moon practice opportunities, including in-person meetings at UUC and upcoming events of note.
- Saturday Zazenkai: We join the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas for monthly Zazenkai via Zoom on the first Saturday of each month. On occasion, we meet at UUC to sit together in person for this; individuals may always join from their locations. Participation for the full morning is encouraged; drop-in attendance is allowed.
- Multi-day retreats (Sesshin): Two or three times a year, we engage multi-day retreat with the Empty Moon Zen Sanghas. May be residential (locations vary), or “commuter” (daytime attendance only; usually at UUC). Zoom attendance is usually an option as well.
Click the links below for additional information about Bright Cloud and Empty Moon Zen and other recommended practice opportunities.:
Information on James Myoun Ford, Roshi
James Ford’s blog, Monkey Mind: Easily Distracted... and his Substack, Unanswered Question
Empty Moon Zen website. Join the mailing list there to receive emails with news and updates from our larger Sangha family.
Opportunities for Retreats & Events with other Pacific Northwest Zen groups our members have attended:
Seattle Soto Zen – Sunday mornings in person and several opportunities on Zoom
Chobo-Ji – Rinzai Zen, meeting several times during the week, in person and on Zoom
Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, OR. See their schedule here. The “Beginner’s Mind” introductory retreat is offered monthly, as are longer residential retreats. Practitioners over age 60 may wish to inquire about “Silver Dragons” retreat options.
