Auckland Zen Centre — Onehunga, New Zealand

An urban Zen community in Onehunga, Auckland, in the Rochester lineage

Auckland Zen Centre sits at 52 Princes Street in Onehunga, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. It is an urban Buddhist community led by its co-founders, Ven. Amala Wrightson, Roshi and Richard von Sturmer, Sensei, who also give the talks that anchor the Centre's weekly life. Its premise is that Zen practice is not confined to the meditation hall: ideally it is one with daily life and the everyday environment. The Centre belongs to the Rochester, or Kapleau, lineage, founded by Roshi Philip Kapleau, author of The Three Pillars of Zen. Kapleau left a career as a court reporter in 1953 for thirteen years of training in Japan, and returned to the United States in 1966 to teach. His Dharma heir Roshi Bodhin Kjolhede leads the Cloud-Water Sangha, the inner circle of centres to which Auckland belongs, alongside groups in Germany, Mexico, Scandinavia and the United States. The weekly rhythm is built around formal sittings in the Zendo. Tuesday and Thursday mornings begin at 6 am, Thursday has a lunchtime informal sit and an evening sitting, and Sunday morning runs from 8.30 to 10.30. Dokusan, the one-to-one meeting with a teacher, is offered at several of these, and Tuesday evenings include a fortnightly teisho followed by tea. Scheduled sits are live streamed audio-only on Mixlr, and talks have been recorded as a podcast series going back to 2016. For longer practice there are one-day sits and non-residential urban retreats of one to three days, where participants bring lunch or buy coffee at Onehunga cafes between rounds of zazen and kinhin. Twice a year the Centre holds a seven-day silent sesshin, in January and September, with dokusan three times a day and prior zazen experience required. The 2027 summer sesshin is set for Bella Rakha Retreat Centre in Oratia. Introductory meditation workshops cover Zen Buddhism, sitting and walking meditation, and home practice, and members recommit to the 16 Precepts in a Jukai Ceremony at Matariki and New Year's Eve. No meat, fish, eggs or dairy are served at the Centre.

Traditions: Zen Buddhism, Rochester (Kapleau) lineage, Cloud-Water Sangha, Zazen, Kinhin, Dokusan and teisho

Programs: Meditation workshops, Weekly formal sittings, Sesshin (seven-day silent retreat), Urban retreats, One-day sits, Jukai Ceremony, Term Intensives, AZC Weekly talks podcast