Simply SITTING…

• Loose clothing for sitting

• I have zafu’s, but you can bring your own

• No fee, just sitting and tea

• Please arrive 15 minutes before.

• Send me a message if you want to come along.

  
  

My name is Luke Teikō Cunningham and I am an ordained Zen monk in the Sōtō Zen tradition training under the continued guidance of my master Simone Jikō Wolf at her temple, Kōsetsu-ji in Switzerland.

Kōsetsu-ji is a formally recognised branch of Sōji-ji in Japan, and actively encourages an ongoing, open exchange between Sotoshu/Japanese Sōtō Zen and AZI/European Sōtō Zen, in the hope that each country and organisation may share and learn from one and others strengths and weaknesses.

Simone Jikō Wolf was ordained by Taisen Deshimaru Rōshi in the late 1970’s, and subsequently received shihō (dharma transmission) from Yuko Okamoto Rōshi in 2004.

Sensi Deshimaru founded the Association Zen Internationale and La Gendronnière Temple in France. This was the first zen temple in Europe and serves as the collective headquarters for European Sōtō Zen.

The dōjō is simply at my home and I carry out weekly zazen sittings on Wednesday and Sunday mornings. I am a passionate student of zen who is more than happy to share in the core of the practice with like minded people. I will provide zafu's, tea and an hour of meditation broken up into 25 minutes of zazen (seated meditation), 5 minutes of kinhin (walking meditation) and another 25 minutes of zazen. There is no charge for these sessions just let me know anytime if you are interested in coming along just send me an email and I’ll have a zafu here waiting for you!

Mushin-dō (無心道)

The two characters seen in the beautiful calligraphy painting below 無心 (pronouced mushin in japanese or wuxin in chinese), can be difficult to put into words but they encapsulate the entire spirit of zen practice and so I have named the dojo Mushin-dō. Mu (無) meaning without, no, non. Shin (心) meaning heart, mind, consciousness. Dō or Tao (道) meaning the Way, the path to awakening. Mushin-Dō then means the Way of non-mind, the path to awakening lies in non-mind. What is the way of non-mind? The practice of zazen, of simply sitting beyond grasping, beyond gaining. 

“They want the startling view, the horrid pinnacle - sips of beer and tea instead of milk. Yet often the mountain gives itself most completely when I have no destination, when I reach nowhere in particular, but have gone out merely to be with the mountain as one visits a friend with no intention but to be with him.” - Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain

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