Auckland Zen Centre

Brief Description:

The purpose of the Auckland Zen Centre is to foster authentic Zen Buddhist practice, and a vibrant Sangha of committed practitioners, by means of regular formal sittings, live Dharma talks and teishos, dokusan (private interview with the teacher), a full range of ceremonies to mark important days on the Buddhist calendar, community service, social events, activities for families, sesshin (silent retreat) and eventually residential training.

Zen takes commitment, discipline, and, most important of all, the will to integrate the fruits of sitting practice into one’s everyday life. Zazen, practiced with devotion, begins to uncover our mind of clear awareness. We must then endeavor to engage this mind in every aspect of our lives. Sooner or later, when the mind is brought to a state of complete absorption and self-forgetfulness, one sees into one’s True Nature. One experiences the indivisibility of all things, and the interpenetration of form and emptiness. This is kensho, or an initial awakening. Kensho marks a new beginning in one’s practice, rather than an end-point. Enlightenment is the heart of Zen practice and yet it is negated if it is turned into something fixed; it has no meaning outside of its realization in this moment, and in the next, and the next. And so our task as Zen practitioners is endless, as Zen Master Dogen said:

There is no beginning to practice and end to enlightenment. There is no beginning to enlightenment and end to practice.

It is in this spirit that practice is undertaken at the Auckland Zen Centre: Zen practice as a way of realizing our innate wisdom, compassion and virtue, moment by moment, for the sake of all sentient and insentient beings. There are no enlightened people, only enlightened actions.

Meditation Centre:
100 Pah Road, Royal Oak (see website for directions)

Sitting Schedule:
Note: Unless you have prior experience of zen meditation, participation in an introductory workshop is required before attending sittings -- please see our website.

Tuesday 7:00-8:45 p.m.
Three 25-minute rounds of zazen with kinhin (walking meditation) and group instruction, followed by a chanting service and tea.

Wednesday 6:00-7:15 a.m. Two 30-minute periods of zazen with dokusan (private interview with the teacher), followed by a chanting service.

Thursday 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Three 35-minute rounds of zazen with kinhin and dokusan.

Sunday 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Two 25-minute rounds of zazen followed by a teisho (talk by the teacher) or Dharma talk (talk by a senior student). Refreshments.

Please call before you attend your first sitting following the workshop.

The Centre operates on dana (the generosity of participants)

Upcoming Events:
See our website for the dates of half-day introductory workshops and residential retreats.

For more information:
Text: 027 314 9440 or email

Related websites
Auckland Zen Centre