Zendo:

"a hall or room used for Zen meditation, often found within a Buddhist monastery, where practitioners engage in seated meditation (zazen) and other Zen practices."

Zendo at LCTKD:

a serene space dedicated to the practice and teaching of Zen and other East Asian philosophies, understandings and practices."

The Zendo side of our Enso group is the study of East Asian philosophies by workshops and direct tuition, both in person and on line.

Led by Neil R. Hall, a scholar of East Asian philosophy, and a student of Zen for half a century, in our Zendo we shed light on philosophies like Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism (particularly Zen), and Shinto. We also share practices like meditation, and illuminate concepts with practical applications like Li (I) and Qi (Ki).

This work links to Neil's video reflections on the Martial Way, in his The Quiet Dojo series, which often references these East Asian philosophies, and his upcoming books on Neo-Confucianism and Qi.

A New Goose Lake Gathering?

In 1175 there was a gathering of scholars at a place called the Goose Lake, which marked a pivotal point in Neo-Confucianism. We had our own gathering of scholars, also discussing Neo-Confucianism, this time considering its impact on martial arts with this fine group of philosophers. Gatherings like these are part of our Zendo work.

The Tao Te Ching

A fascinating evening for everyone when Neil R. Hall offered an on line "Zendo" workshop picking out lessons from famous Chinese classic, the Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing), with special guest Paul Read. Paul's own work with Cherry Jeffs on the classic is available now. It's called Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go. You can skim through it in the video below, and find out more by clicking the image above.

Wu Wei

During the workshop, Neil talked about the often cited Chinese philosophical concept of Wu Wei, which features repeatedly in the Dao De Jing. Neil created a short website explanation to make this accessible to people who aren't experts in Chinese philosophies, and you can see it by clicking on the picture above.

Keep an eye on our events page to see when the next Zendo workshop is coming up by clicking on the link below.