One Heart Sangha

Category: Zen Practice

Articles about formal practice

  • Fall Events

    Fall Events

    We are having a busy fall at One Heart Sangha.

    On October 3, we will be bearing witness to the WWII Holocaust by visiting the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Washington DC. Bearing witness is an important step in the Zen Peacemakers Three Tenets of Engaged Buddhism. By not knowing, setting aside our fixed notions and ideas about the Holocaust, we can bear witness to what arises in our hearts and minds as we tour the museum. The event is free, but you must register in advance. Visit the event page to learn more.

    On October 10, we will be holding a Jukai ceremony after a shortened morning Zazenkai. We are delighted to have our biggest Jukai class yet this year. Our students who are taking vows have been studying, sewing rakusus, and working on their lineage charts all year. Please join us for the morning Zazenkai, Jukai ceremony, or both. Register here.

    Finally, on Sunday, November 10 Sensei Bob will be offering a Zen Brush Art workshop. Brush art is a Japanese art form typically featuring natural subjects, Japanese characters, or traditional shapes like the circular enso. Zen brush art emphasizes spontaneity and minimalism, contrasting black ink and white paper. Learn more and sign up on the event page.

  • Upcoming Local Sesshins

    Upcoming Local Sesshins

    Two Zen sesshins are coming up this fall and winter at the beautiful Wellspring Conference Center in Gaithersburg. Sesshin is an opportunity

    Joyful Mind Zen Community will be holding their fall sesshin on October 29 to November 1. Bruce Shiho Lindsay, Sensei from One Heart Sangha is co-organizing and teaching. The sesshin is 3 nights, with an option to attend 2 nights. There are a limited number of private rooms onsite, opportunities to commute daily, and an option to attend remotely on Saturday. General registration is currently open through JMZC. Lean More here.

    One Heart Sangha will be holding our winter sesshin on January 7-10, 2027. The sesshin is 3 nights, starting Thursday evening and ending the middle of the day Sunday. We have a few spaces for sitters to join us on Saturday at Wellspring for a zazenkai. We will have a preregistration for regular sitters at One Heart Sangha starting October 15. General registration will open November 1 and links will be posted to the event pages.

  • Summer Mini Ango

    Summer Mini Ango

    It’s that time again! Sensei Bruce will be leading a Mini Ango from June 23 to July 21. During the Ango period, there will be weekly online Way of Council meetings for participants to share their experiences and receive encouragement.

    Ango periods provide a supportive structure to commit to an additional level of practice for a set period of time. The primary purpose is to deepen your practice, renew your commitment to the Dharma, and if you like, make a commitment to other aspects that can help make positive changes in your life.

    Learn more and sign up

    Read more about Zen intensives

  • Invitation to Shukke Tokudo – May 10th

    Invitation to Shukke Tokudo – May 10th

    Sensei Museidō is “Leaving (and Not Leaving) Home”

    You are cordially invited to attend the Shukke Tokudo of Sensei Rebecca Museidō on May 10, 2026. This is the Zen Buddhist ceremony of Leaving Home. This is the first step on the path of a monk (or in our White Plum Asanga tradition, a “priest”).

    For more details and directions see the Event Page

    The Significance of Shukke Tokudo

    In our Sōtō Zen tradition, Shukke Tokudo marks the moment of “leaving home,” not necessarily in a literal sense, but as a profound turning of one’s life toward the Buddha Way. It is the formal entry into priest training, grounded in the vows to awaken for the benefit of all beings.

    This ceremony is not merely symbolic; it is a living transmission of intention, discipline, and lineage. It is a vocation. Through shaving the head, receiving robes, and taking vows, the ordinand embodies a commitment to practice that is at once deeply personal and inseparable from the wider sangha. It is both a beginning and a continuation—an entry into a stream that has flowed uninterrupted for centuries.

    This year, Roshi Ed Sullivan Sangetsu of Red Rose Sangha and Sensei Jon Seichō Kenzen McCollum are honored to present the following candidates for Shukke Tokudo:

    • Sensei Rebecca Museidō Hawes

    • Dharma Holder Mike Dōshin Shanahan

    • Allison Shōkyo Ehrman

    • Davi Shōrei Hayes

    • Len Sōkai Sitnick

  • Jukai class for fall 2026

    Jukai class for fall 2026

    Sensei Rebecca is starting classes to lead regular students through precept study and preparation for Jukai. Jukai, giving and receiving the precepts, is how Zen practitioners make a commitment to upholding and maintaining the Bodhisattva Precepts and to entering the stream of the lineage of the Buddha Way.

    Over the spring and summer participants will sew their Rakusus, or Buddha’s Robe, incorporating their deep desire to practice with each stitch. They will also copy the ancestral lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha down to themselves, to indicate their place in the continuation of the Dharma stream. In our tradition students prepare a personal lineage of the people in their lives who brought them to Zen as well.

    If you are a regular attendee of either our Wednesday night sits or our Zazenkai, speak to Sensei Rebecca to learn more about jukai.

  • Mini Ango

    Mini Ango

    One Heart Sangha is in the midst of a 4-week Mini Ango, which runs February 10 to March 10. The Mini Ango provides a supportive structure to commit to an additional level of practice for a short and specific period of time. The primary purpose is to deepen your zazen practice, renew your commitment to the Dharma, and if you like, make a commitment to other practices that can help make positive changes in your life. 

    While registration is closed now, you can still silently join other members of the zendo in making a personal commitment to additional practice for the coming weeks.

    How it Works

    Participants typically commit to increased zazen during the Ango. For example, participants can pledge to sit one extra day per week or increase their sitting time. In addition, participants may commit to other beneficial activities such as a mindfulness practice, volunteer work, yoga/stretching, or starting a Zen 108. Alternatively, participants can commit to cutting back on activities like doomscrolling social media, gossiping, or eating unhealthy foods.