ZenYU - why you?
/by Naomi Steinberg with Roshin Carmen, Jizan Sara Ross, Shintō Travis Clyne & Myoshin Kate McCandless
Young Urban Zen (ZenYU) is an informal drop-in practice group for people curious about meditation, and how it relates to daily life. ZenYU is facilitated by a dedicated group of Mountain Rain members who follow simple guidelines, and who maintain regular contact with the guiding teachers. All experience levels, ages, and kinds of people are welcome.
Myoshin Kate, reflecting on ZenYU, says, “When Michael and I attend national Soto Zen conferences, the topic of attracting younger members frequently comes up. We tell how when we moved to our new location on Wall St. almost fifteen years ago, we were in danger of becoming a grey-haired Zen club. A young person would show up, keen to learn about Zen practice, and the next week, a different young person would appear, and so on. We’d spoken with the young priest who led San Francisco’s Young Urban Zen (YUZ) program, and thought this might be a good model to adapt for Mountain Rain Zen. So we talked with three of the (relatively) young people, Roshin Carmen Mills, Jizan Sara Ross and Shintō Travis Clyne, who had begun to attend regularly and they were eager to get involved. We collaborated with them in creating a simple format, inspired in part by DIY dharma and by Young Urban Zen (YUZ), and launched weekly Monday sits. The name quickly morphed into ZenYU, pronounced Zen-you.
The evening includes sitting and walking meditation, a reading selected by the facilitator for that evening, a talking circle, tea and excellent snacks. Informal talks are occasionally offered by Mountain Rain Guiding Teachers. This format has served well for more than twelve years, through many intakes of new facilitators. Facilitators meet about three times a year, along with the Guiding Teachers, to check-in, support each other and compare notes. Facilitators are responsible for opening and closing the zendo, ringing the bell, selecting a reading, and other hosting and welcoming duties. We are now heading towards our seventh annual ZenYU day-retreat.
For Carmen, it’s a personal and aesthetic choice. Traditional forms can be grounding for younger people who are born into a culture that is changing so rapidly as to be alienating. For folks who are caught up in the whirl, to have something to grab onto that has not changed for thousands of years is somehow reassuring and soothing.
Sara reminisces about conversations they’d had about whether or not to include bowing at the beginning. “We deliberately set up the form to be minimal. Bowing was not strict, you might or might not. This way form can be a container that holds us up and allows us to relax into the work of what we are doing: this walking, this sitting, now this pouring tea. Even though it is minimal, the form is always the same. For some people this simple ritual adds a resonant rhythm or continuity of presence to life.”
Travis remembers discussions about needing just enough form that those engaged in ZenYU could integrate into other MRZC events if they wanted to.
Before every sit at ZenYU the facilitator offers a brief explanation of how to sit and how to stretch. This helps people get into their bodies by talking people into an upright posture. The form of “just sitting” can lead each person to their own deeper understandings of life. So participants know what to expect.
Talking circles bring everyone's voice into the room. It’s moving to pour tea for each other, and share reflections with honesty and lack of pretension. By offering a balance of personal practice and sharing on a topic/issue, the circle enables authenticity and un-shielding (though of course you are not required to speak and can always pass). As Sara assured: “The simple form of ZenYU will hold you in your struggles and hold you in community. We can be our true selves in a group. You become bigger than yourself in this shared openhearted space.”
While explicitly for young people, ZenYU is inclusive - sometimes you can see older folks be humbled by the intelligence of the group, be transformed and then keep coming, rejuvenated by the young people in the room.
Commenting on the process of writing this blog post, Travis shared that he had once thought of ZenYU as a diminutive form of zen but has seen that it serves an important, almost revolutionary function in our community, and has had a positive effect in diversifying our community in more ways than age: “it is beautiful to see the ripples over the years.”
As ZenYU was emerging from the pandemic years, a question arose at a facilitators meeting: now that the Mountain Rain sangha is so much more diverse at regular practice times, does ZenYU still serve a purpose? The answer was, YES! Not only does it continue to provide an accessible, informal and non-intimidating gateway to Zen practice, it offers a way for younger members to take their place as facilitators in supporting the practice for others.
The guiding teachers and the three founding facilitators are grateful for the ongoing life and energy of ZenYU, and for the many facilitators who have supported ZenYU over the years. May all find their place and be welcome just as they are.