Santa Monica Zen Center

American Zen Teacher Bill Yoshin Jordan Sensei (above), founder and abbot of the Santa Monica Zen Center, knots his priest’s robe in preparation for sitting zazen, a form of meditation. Jordan hangs an American flag in the center to emphasize that the tradition forming here is an expressly American Buddhism.

A recent study by PEW Research found that 88% of Buddhists are left leaning when it comes to social politics. The statistics confirm what our teacher, Yoshin Sensei, has expressed and challenged for the last 15 years. As a community, engaging in this dialogue has come at great cost - we have made as many errors in pushing the issue as there have been people who’ve left the Center out of disagreement or downright refusal to learn. 

We are not a conservative center as many have accused us of being, nor are we a refuge for liberals.  SMZC is a stand for a much larger cross section of people experiencing the Buddha’s wisdom and living the values.  We are also a stand for the men and woman of our armed services, our police officers and firefighters having a community that they call home.

The Buddha taught the Middle Way, yet we don’t see that stand being reflected in the statistics about the larger Zen community. Given this, we encourage Zen Buddhists everywhere to ask the question, “Does maintaining the status-quo make sense? How is it that a world religion that prides itself on being inclusive, be so exclusive?”

Come visit us in person and know for yourself.  Enjoy the video….

Join us for our first Sesshin of 2010 - (Feb 17th thru 21th)

Explore the Dharma of the Hungry Ghosts, and train around the Gate of Sweet Nectar - a powerful ceremony wherein we feed the Hungry Ghosts in all of us, and throughout the Dharma world.

For more information: More About Sesshin