Rochester Zen Center is one of the oldest Zen centers in North America, founded in 1966 by Philip Kapleau Roshi after his eight years of training in Japan with Hakuun Yasutani Roshi and other teachers in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition. Kapleau Roshi's 1965 book The Three Pillars of Zen had introduced a generation of Western readers to Zen in a vivid form, drawing on transcripts of his Japanese teachers' talks and yogi interviews. The center grew from a small house in Rochester, New York into a substantial urban campus. The Rochester campus today occupies several adjacent buildings in the city's Park Avenue neighborhood: a main zendo, dharma hall, residential building for staff and long-term students, library, kitchen, and offices. There is also a country house, Chapin Mill Retreat Center, on a 135-acre property in nearby Batavia, where multi-day sesshin and longer training programs are held. The combination gives the sangha both an urban daily-practice home and a country retreat house, an unusual configuration in US Zen. Kapleau Roshi led the center until 1986, when he stepped back from active teaching. He gave Dharma transmission to Bodhin Kjolhede, who has served as abbot since. The teaching line is the Sanbo Kyodan synthesis of Soto and Rinzai Zen brought to the West by Yasutani Roshi: shikantaza practice and koan introspection both, with sanzen interviews as a central feature. Kapleau Roshi's translation of the daily liturgy into English was an early and influential decision; sutras and chants in Rochester are largely English-language, in contrast to the Japanese-language chanting at many US Zen centers. The center has produced a wider Affiliate sangha network across North America and Europe. Affiliated groups in Mexico City, Madison, Chicago, Toronto, and elsewhere train within the same lineage, with resident teachers in many cases who have done their formal training in Rochester. The Affiliate model is one of the more developed in US Zen and gives practitioners outside Rochester a structured way to train within the lineage from a distance.
Daily zazen runs morning and evening at the urban campus. Public weekly programs include zazen, kinhin, service, and a dharma talk. Monthly zazenkai daylongs offer extended sitting. Sesshin are typically held at Chapin Mill, the country house, and run five to seven days following traditional form: early-morning wake-up, alternating zazen and kinhin in 30 to 50-minute periods, oryoki meals, daily teisho, sanzen interviews with the teacher, and silence held for the duration. Newer students sit shorter periods; experienced students sit longer. Posture follows traditional Zen forms.
The teaching line is the Sanbo Kyodan synthesis carried by Hakuun Yasutani Roshi to Philip Kapleau Roshi, who founded the center in 1966. The lineage holds shikantaza and koan introspection together. Bodhin Kjolhede received Dharma transmission from Kapleau Roshi and has served as abbot since 1986. Other senior teachers trained through the center carry programs at Rochester and at the Affiliate centers across North America and Europe.
Practitioners drawn to the synthesis of Soto and Rinzai forms held by the Yasutani-Kapleau lineage, with English-language liturgy.
Sitters in Rochester, Buffalo, and the surrounding region who want a long-established urban Zen home with daily zazen.
Practitioners in cities with Rochester Zen Center Affiliate groups who want sustained training in the lineage with travel to Rochester for sesshin.
For a first visit, attend an introductory workshop, which the center offers regularly to teach the basic forms of zazen, kinhin, and zendo etiquette. After the workshop, public weekly sittings are open. Sesshin require prior workshop attendance and demonstrated commitment to regular practice. Phones are stored at registration. Cold-weather clothing is needed at Chapin Mill in winter. Departure follows the program close.
The Rochester urban campus includes the zendo, dharma hall, residential building, library, kitchen, and offices, all in adjacent buildings on Arnold Park. Chapin Mill, the country retreat property in Batavia, has a meditation hall, dining hall, and shared lodging on 135 acres of forest and field. Lodging is shared rooms with shared bathrooms. Meals are vegetarian, oryoki-style during sesshin. Walking grounds are extensive at Chapin Mill.
Public weekly sittings are donation-based. Introductory workshops have a set fee. Sesshin and longer programs at Chapin Mill carry fees typically in the $150 to $1,500 range depending on length, covering lodging and meals. Teacher dana is separate. The center publishes a clear scholarship and work-exchange policy. Affiliate centers in other cities have their own fee structures, typically modeled on Rochester's.
The Yasutani-Kapleau line in Rochester, with English liturgy and a country sesshin house.
Philip Kapleau Roshi wrote The Three Pillars of Zen in 1965 from transcripts of his Japanese training. The book introduced a generation of Western readers to Zen and drew many of the center's early students. Kapleau Roshi founded Rochester Zen Center the following year and led it until 1986.
Chapin Mill is the center's country retreat property on 135 acres in Batavia, New York, about 35 miles west of Rochester. Multi-day sesshin and longer programs are held there. The Rochester urban campus is the daily-practice home; Chapin Mill is the retreat house.
For public weekly sittings, attend the introductory workshop first. The workshop teaches basic Zen forms and zendo etiquette. After the workshop, public sittings are open. Sesshin require prior workshop attendance and a regular practice.
Rochester Zen Center has Affiliate groups in cities across North America and Europe, including Toronto, Madison, Chicago, and Mexico City. The Affiliates train in the same lineage with resident teachers who have done their formal training in Rochester. Practitioners at Affiliates travel to Rochester for sesshin.
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