Welcome to Confluence Zen Center STL. We are a group of friendly Soto Zen practitioners practicing in a house on the edge of Maplewood.
If you are not an experienced sitter in the Soto Zen tradition, we encourage your first visit to occur on Beginners Night, the first Monday of each month, at 6:30 p.m. If that does not work for you, just give us a call at (314) 669-4465, and we will make arrangements to meet you in advance of the sitting you are planning to attend, to give you some instruction.
If you are new to us, but not to sitting in a Soto Zen setting, please arrive about 10 minutes early so you can learn how we do things.
Once you know what to do, we encourage all sitters to be on the cushion five minutes before meditation is scheduled to begin.
In addition to sitting, we have a short service after most sits. On Sundays we have two sits, a longer service, we practice walking meditation (kinhin), and we either listen to our teacher give a talk, called a dharma talk and followed by tea, or we do work practice followed by a simple lunch. You can attend just one of the Sunday sits but please try to enter and leave in the times between sits, rather than when we are meditating.
Most months we host a one-day sit, typically taking place on the second Sunday of the month (with occasional exceptions – please refer to our calendar page). You do not need to practice the entire schedule to participate. There is an oryoki meal associated with these longer sits. If you wish to participate in the meal, please notify us in advance. If you do not know how to eat oryoki style, please ask for instruction in advance, as well.
Modest, loose, dark clothing works well for meditation. We ask for no shorts. We do have AC and heat but we use it sparingly so please dress accordingly.
Our site is Near the end of St. James Square (next to last house on the right). Our Contact Us page has our exact address. As a courtesy to our neighbors, we ask that you park up from the house some and walk down. In addition, do not park opposite of the last house on the right. If you do that, they will be unable to get out. We work to become good neighbors to all.
Whether you come while visiting from out of town, to learn how to meditate at home, or you wish to try out becoming part of our community, we welcome you to Confluence Zen Center STL.