The London Zen Centre: Ja An Sa
The London Zen Centre is the home of the Kwan Um School of Zen in London and the head temple of the school in Great Britain.
Practice takes place daily every morning, with longer practices each week on Wednesdays evening and Sundays at 11am. Retreats, often with a visiting teacher are held regularly once a month.
We have also started evenings for beginners on Fridays every fortnight. This includes: Zen techniques; 20 min zazen; two sutras, and lecture on how to keep everyday practice and how to use Zen in everyday life.
Members and visitors are welcome to attend any of the meditation practice at the centre. Please contact the Abbot in advance if you wish to attend practice or retreats.
Our guiding teacher is Zen Master Bon Yo, who lives at the Paris Zen Centre. She received transmission from Zen Master Dae Kwang in Paris on 9th April 2005, the 80th generation in her line of Zen transmission.
Our abbot is Ja An JDPSN (Bogumila Malinowska JDPSN) who received inka, the seal of teaching authority in Zen, from Zen Master Wu Bong at the Warsaw Zen Centre on 19th September 2009.
Coming Retreat
The next YMJJ will be with Zen Master Wu Bong and Dharma Master Ja An from Saturday 17 April at 9:00 to Sunday 18 April at 15:00, 2010. The retreat wil take place at the London Zen Centre.
For more information about Zen Master Wu Bong:
http://www.kwanumeurope.org/page.php?s=1&p=34
Payment
We are now running a policy of advance payment for weekend sessions. Please understand this necessity — we weren't able to cover the cost of the last YMJJ and the Zen Centre was left with a deficit. The actual cost of session with Zen Master = £500 (teaching cost, travel ticket, hotel, food, etc.) If we cannot cover the cost of YMJJ in we will have to cancel the event.
Please also remember that the London Zen Centre is the only Kwan Um School in the UK. Attending a YMJJ in Paris or Berlin is a much more expensive way to meet with Zen Masters. So please understand our frankness on this subject, and support this new policy for keeping our Zen Centre strong.
Please contact the Zen Centre by the 1st October if you want to attend this session.
The cost for the weekend session( 2 days JMJN) is as follows:
£100 (non-members)
£85 (associate members)
£60 (full members)
Our account:
Kwan Um School of Zen,
Lloyds TSB
Sort code 30-14-00
Account number 00486892.
More detalis which you may need to send money from aboard
Kwan Um School of Zen LZC
Sort code:30-14-00
Account number- 00486892
Customer BIC /SWIFT
LOYDGBB21345—
GB25 LOYD 3014 0000 486892—
Bank Address
Lloyds TSB
Highate VILLAGE Branch
51 Highate High Street
London
N6 5LA
Charity number:
Our charity's unique code for receiving donation through self assessment return: DAT99UG
Our charity reference number for tax purposes:
XT16733
Every two weeks on a Friday at 7.00 p.m. there is a Beginners Evening. These are designed to provide beginners with basic meditation techniques and an introduction to Zen philosophy. The sessions are free and all are welcome. Please contact the Abbot in advance to book in for a beginner's evening; the phone numbers are below.
Our Location and Contact Details
Address: Crouch Hill, Holly Park, London N4 4BY.
Phone: Please always contact the abbot before your visit in London Zen Centre on 07742 979 050 for directions
International: +44 7742 979 050.
Email: Please contact the centre through jaansah@gmail.com, or the abbot through bogumila108@yahoo.co.uk
Directions: Take the Victoria or Piccadilly line to Finsbury Park, then walk up Stroud Green Road (15 minutes) or take the W7 bus to the lower end of Crouch Hill (3 stops)near to Crouch Hill train Station. The Zen Centre is on the right hand side of Crouch Hill.
By bus: Take bus 24 from from Victoria, change in Camden Town, take bus 29 to Finsbury Park and change bus, take bus W7 (3 stops to Crouch Hill).
Residence
The London Zen Centre can accommodate one resident Zen student (at most) in the centre in the Dharma Room for short periods. Residents should speak English fluently. Resident Zen students attend morning practice and monthly weekend retreats while living in the centre.
If you are interested in this opportunity please email the abbot: bogumila108@yahoo.co.uk or jaansah@gmail.com, or call +44 20 7263 5579 / +44 7742 979050
Invitation
You have had the great fortune to discover the London Zen Centre, a unique place where we hope everyone will experience the guiding Buddhist principles of wisdom and compassion. Regular meditation takes place here every day and our collective practice becomes stronger with every individual who takes part. We warmly invite you to participate. Any questions you may have about Buddhism, Zen or meditation practices will be happily answered by the Abbot (a dharma teacher of 25 years experience) or the other Zen students.
We also offer the opportunity to meet with our school's Zen Masters, who we invite every 3 months to lead a weekend long meditation retreat, engage in the ancient practice of the kong-an interview and provide guidance using their many years of experience with the dharma.
This centre is the first of its kind in Britain and stands as a remarkable achievement of the hard work, patience and commitment of the community who run and use this space as a dharma home for all Londoners. We exist to give anyone who wants to listen the gift of the dharma, the purpose of this, as set forth by the Kwan Um school's founder Seung Sahn Soen Sanim, is to free us from the unconstructive views that drive people apart and close us off to experience. Through practice, with an open mind and true heart, these barriers weaken and a spontaneous compassion for that which we had previously disregarded is certain to follow. Thus wisdom and compassion feed each other.
Our purpose is to offer all the necessary tools to help students on the spiritual path, though we must be clear that this is not a process where one can be passive: wise and compassionate ideas create little positive karma unless they motivate us to act. Specifically we ask that students make small contributions to maintain the presence of our dharma home in London as we cannot rely upon the charity of the wider community as Asian centres can. We never turn away sincere people and if a student cannot afford to contribute like this then please speak to the Abbot or committee members and something else can be arranged. Generosity is one of the most important of the paramitas for beginning Western students as it prevents us from seeing the ownership of wealth and objects as an important part of who we are, expanding our understanding to beyond the anxiety-enducing view of life as a competition for resources. Wealth and possessions are neither good nor bad. We simply ask students to consider that using a fraction of one's resources to maintain a functioning dharma home for all Londoners is a more wise and compassionate use of those resources than not doing so. We thank you kindly for your generosity.
Kwan Um School of Zen -London Zen Centre is a charity for tax purposes under HM Revenue&Custom reference XT16733.
Yours in the Dharma,
James Gordon (KUSZ London member)
Picture Galleries and Videos
Dharma Talk: Zen Master Dae Jin, October 2008 (video)
Dharma Talk and Retreat: with Zen Master Bon Shim, June 2008
Retreat with Chong An Sunim JDPS: April 2008.
Dharma Talk: Zen Master Bon Yo, November 2007 (video)
Workshop: Zen Master Bon Yo, November 2007 (video)
Retreat & Precepts Ceremony: with Zen Master Bon Yo, November 2007.
Dharma Talk and Retreat: with Zen Master Wu Bong, August 2007.
Zen Master Bon Yo visits the London Zen Centre, 2006
