Bodhisattva Initiation Ceremony (Zaike Tokudo) – In-Person
Saturday, December 11th @ 3pm
Austin Zen Center will hold an in-person Zaike Tokudo Ceremony (often called Jukai) following Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony…
Welcome to the Austin Zen Center
Austin Zen Center was founded to carry on the teaching of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in the Soto Zen tradition. Suzuki Roshi’s teaching is characterized by its patient and compassionate approach to practice. When the mind of zazen is lovingly extended to everyday life, our awareness of each moment increases and deep wisdom and compassion are born.
The practice of zazen is available to people of every race, religion, nationality, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical ability. At AZC we seek to embody inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility throughout our teachings, practice, organizational culture, policies, and operations as a manifestation of our vow to awaken together with all beings.
May We And All Beings Realize Their True Nature.
**AZC will be open to the public during Rohatsu for morning zazen and service Tuesday through Friday (6am to 7:50am)**
We have reopened the zendo for our morning, noon and evening program.
Current AZC protocols for registered vaccinated individuals to participate in person:
Please do NOT enter the temple if exhibiting any COVID symptoms – fever, fatigue, congestion, sore throat, chest pain, difficulty breathing, loss of smell/taste
Masks will be required in the temple for most events
Soft chanting during services
Frequent hand-washing/sanitizing
We ask that anyone who enters the temple agrees to let us know ASAP if they test positive for COVID
We look forward to reopening more fully to the general public once Travis County reaches COVID risk of Stage One. We request that inquiries about signups, reopening, and similar matters be directed to the Temple Administrator.
In the meantime, we are maintaining our robust schedule of offerings in our Online Zendo.
Upcoming Events
Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony – In-Person/Online
Saturday, December 11th @ 12pm
All are welcome to join us in celebrating Buddha’s Enlightenment! In connection with the approach of winter solstice and the end of Rohatsu sesshin…
Shosan Ceremony – In-Person
Friday, December 10th @ 4:50pm
Join us for this year’s Shosan Ceremony, open to Rohatsu and Fall practice period participants.
2021 Rohatsu Sesshin – Buddha’s Enlightenment Retreat
Friday Dec. 3rd (eve) – Friday Dec. 10th
Join us for this 7-day Rohatsu Sesshin, commemorating the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Bodhisattva Full Moon Ceremony
Wednesday, December 15th @ 6:45 – 7:15 pm
Join us In-Person or Online for this most ancient of Buddhist ceremonies – taking refuge and chanting precepts.
Online Beginners’ Meditation Instruction
Saturdays from 8-9 am
Join us for our online Beginner’s Meditation Instruction
Weekly Chant for Well-Being
Wednesdays @6:15pm
Join us in chanting for the well-being of loved ones and those in need, following Wed evening zazen.
Join the AZC Online Zendo
Join us for our regularly scheduled offerings of zazen, now online! Click on the Zoom links within to enter.
Sundays in the Garden
Sundays 10am to noon
Getting together in-person for caring for our garden & grounds is one of the few ways we can practice together body to body!
AZC News
Zendo Jobs (Doanryo) & Instructions
December 2, 2021
Download Basic Instructions for a variety of Zendo Roles (Doanryo) at AZC.
Sangha Friends at Tassajara – photos & letter from Pat
November 18, 2021
See a few photos from Mako’s recent Tassajara sesshin.
How You Can Support Retreats at AZC
November 2, 2021
There is a great deal of effort and orchestration that goes into holding a meditation retreat at the Austin Zen
Updated: AZC’s COVID Protocols & Reopening
September 30, 2021
People are asking: When will AZC reopen, and may I come sit once I get vaccinated? This is where you can register your proof of vaccination in preparation for re-opening.
Sangha News
September 23, 2021
Have any news you’d like to share? Personal, work-related, milestones, accomplishments, family, activities… We want to hear from you!
Branching Streams Newsletters
September 14, 2021
Read the latest Branching Streams Newsletters here.
As the Ino Goes… departing words from AZC’s Head of the Meditation Hall
September 9, 2021
Read AZC Ino Bruce Smith’s parting words as he prepares for his next big adventure.
Austin Zen Center 2021 Annual Membership Campaign
August 5, 2021
The Board of Directors of the Austin Zen Center has reorganized our center’s approach to membership.
AZC Online Zendo Forms & Etiquette
April 19, 2021
All are welcome to join the AZC Sangha in our online zendo. Please observe the following guidelines to help create a warm and harmonious space.
Meditation Supplies For Sale
July 15, 2020
AZC now offers new meditation cushions for sale for your at-home zendo needs! Pop-up, bug-free Meditation Tents are also available.
Join the AZC Chat Room (on Discord)
May 13, 2020
Austin Zen Center now has a live chat server for Sangha members. Sign up here!
Learn About Oryoki
October 17, 2018
Oryoki (roughly meaning “just enough”) is a formal way of serving and eating meals in Zen monasteries. Literally a “vessel” (ki
Recent Dharma Talk
The Paramita of Dana (Generosity)
Rev. Mako Voelkel
November 20th, 2021
Community Spotlight: Do you have a home altar?
"Here is my current, simplified altar: a traveling, folding altar I got in Tokyo at Soto Zen Headquarters; an incensor (rather too large) made by a Zen priest friend who is also a master potter; a portable inkin, and small mokugyo and bell; and a few figures (Jizo, Daruma) and token objects which will rotate. This is where I sit with you in the mornings at home."
“The Bodhidharma scroll above my home altar is a rubbing on paper of a stele, which is a carved stone slab. It’s one of the two oldest representations of Bodhidharma, from the Stele Forest (Bei Lin) in Xi’an, China. In ancient times they would preserve calligraphy and artwork by carving it in stone. People would then make rubbings of it, kind of an ancient Chinese Xerox machine.”
“Here is a picture of my home altar. This table is just the right height so when I sit Zazen in front of the altar, my hands are level with the sculpture of the hands.
“I’ve had my home altar for many years. The table is from a thrift store. The Buddha came from Thailand, bought from a young man who had been there. Kosho suggested a photo of myself as a baby as a way to practice loving kindness. I went to a landscaping yard and was looking for just the right piece of limestone. When the owner asked what I was doing I told him I was looking for a stone for an altar. He gave it to me. The seashell is from India given to me by my father. One of the small stones is from Plum Village.”
“It’s just to the right of my desk where I spend most of my days. In addition to the Buddha holding a stone from the Canyon Loop in Tucson, there are many pictures that speak to me of interconnectedness (waves, the wheel of existence, the cave painting, others). The poem is my own “capping verse” to my study of the Mu koan. The pieces of the tea cup in front of it are from the demonstration offering I did to my teacher. I don’t meditate in front of the altar. I like to think of it as the physicist John Wheeler’s conception of “the participatory universe.” It’s just there, perceiving itself."
“This is my altar. It has a candle, a cup for holding incense with ash from my fireplace, incense, Buddha, some seashells (which are great for holding spent matches), and pictures of my parents and my brother who have dies. I bought the ‘altar’ at World Market. It is actually a CD holder. Someone joked that since it is an altar it would be only appropriate to hold spiritual CDs so I have great zen master Beethoven and devoted monk Tom Petty inside."
“The alarm rings at 5:40. I press it once for a ten minute snooze. It takes only five to slip out of bed, dress in something dark and arrived at my cushion logged into the zoom zendo. I light a candle and illuminate the gentle glow of a multi-colored lamp across the room. On my screen I appear as barely a shadow against the wall."
"My meditation spot is a convenient corner of my home office. It started simply with a comfy cushion and folded quilt for a zabuton, set up in front of a cabinet. Then came an oversized wood carving of a Buddha head. At that point, I didn’t think of the set up as an altar. Just a convenient cabinet and meditation spot. Shortly after the new AZC online zendo format started, out came the incense burner, candle holders and bell. Passing the altar as I go in and out of the office has started to feel like entering and leaving the zendo, inspiring a sense of care as i move around the rest of the house."
"Here is my home altar. The Buddha used to live on my porch at my cabin in California. The porch was above a basement, and then the Thomas Fire in 2017 burned the house, the Buddha fell straight down onto the debris in the basement, landing sitting straight up, but with his head burned. He reminds me of Dogen: “Fearing the swift passage of the sunlight, practice the way as though saving your head from fire.” The vase on the altar is an antique Rookwood ceramic vase that belonged to my stepmother’s family for several generations. The vase survived the Sycamore Canyon Fire in Santa Barbara in 1977. I had stored it at my mother’s apartment in 2017, so it was spared the Thomas Fire."
"Here's my home altar. I believe it’s Quan Yin, the Buddha of Compassion. My husband George bought it many years ago while visiting Palo Alto, in an antique shop. He was told it was from a monastery that had closed. We’ve enjoyed it for many years, even before I came to Buddhism. Its always been in our bedroom, and it’s now the centerpiece of my home altar. Its serene beauty radiates all around. And behind it is a Tibetan thangka a friend brought from her travels a long time ago. I don’t know the symbolism behind it, but its intricate drawings are also awe-inspiring."
"Here’s my home altar. It sits on my desk. My sister, Michelle A., gave me the Buddha statue for Christmas. I’m reminded of her when I see it. She’s recovering from cancer. I send out loving kindness to her. My routine is to go out and get flowers before zazen. These are Evening Primrose. They’re all over town right now. In a book I read that Evening Primrose symbolize hope and happiness. I really want to contemplate of offer these thoughts and wishes. I’m struggling to have either right now. Somewhere else I read that primroses represent desperation. Perhaps my wish for hope and happiness is desperate in such difficult times. I am trying to let go of wanting things to be otherwise. Zazen helps with that sometimes. When I sit zazen I turn to the door next to my desk."
"If you walk down the narrow hallway my bedroom, you will dead-end at a small, quiet, light-filled space for meditation. The large Bodhisattva statue traveled with me from Austin to Whidbey Island. On the shelves I keep photographs of my Tibetan and Zen teachers to bless and inspire my practice. There is a large of Guru Rinpoche, as well as statues of the Buddha, Tara and, all important figures in my Nyingma Tibetan lineage. I have a card with the question, “What is my heart’s inmost request right now?” that was a gift from Kosho. On the wall beside the daybed is a calligraphy from the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, one of my teachers. As I sit in this place of beauty and peace, I am reminded that we do not practice by or for ourselves. We awaken together."
"In the master bedroom, on a bookshelf given me by my wife, sits my official spartan altar, which has had an incense bowl and flowers, but presently only has my rakusu, lineage document in the purple cloth wrap from Eiheiji, an electric candle, and the cherished Shakyamuni statue given me by Kokyo. He performed an eye-opening ceremony with invisible (just to people with only 2 eyes open) ink on the Buddha. She/he was originally a gift from Kokyo’s mother Jane to Kokyo that he thinks she bought for him from the Tassajara bookstore, and is maybe from Shasta Abbey. I sit every day, wherever it is quiet, which in our small home is a corner of one or the other of my two daughters’ bedrooms. Between sessions, I try to rest in that same still space."
"Traveling through Nepal near the Buddha’s birthplace, I had this wood carving of the Buddha made for me. I placed the carving in one of those ubiquitous tin transport-boxes of the Himalayas, strapped it to my back and hiked back down…Two weeks later I was still hiking with it strapped to my back when I finally was able to ship it home. For 30+ years I have only trusted myself to handle it with the right care. I have spent a lot of time in front of this Buddha wondering if we’re going to be stuck sheltering together. Or if we will have a short reprieve so I can once again feel the comforting weight strapped to my back; but this time I don a face mask and make a run for it!"
"My altar, like my mind, is busy. The cat was sewn by my niece; the radrarushka mala was a gift from my wife’s family, the chips in front are sobriety chips from AA, and the Tibetan bell and vajra relate to my father’s recent passing. The Buddha was from an AZC mailing 5 or 6 years ago."
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The Austin Zen Center depends on your generosity & support to help cultivate & maintain the temple and its heart of practice. Please consider giving back in these ways:
Volunteer at AZC
There are many ways to participate in the AZC community, from ceremonial roles to helping in the communal garden.
General Program Payment
Pay for AZC programs by clicking on the image above when the registration form that is specific to the program is not available.
Donate to AZC
AZC is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Any amount you wish to donate will be deeply appreciated.
AZC Membership
Make a commitment to Zen practice by making a payment towards your membership or becoming a member of the AZC community.