Zendo Etiquette

Zendo Etiquette & Rituals

Each Zen Center has slightly or largely different protocol for functioning in the meditation hall. If you are new to Zen or from a different Zen Center, please read the following list of guidelines so that you are familiar with GMZC’s protocol, but PLEASE do not take it too seriously; if you continue to come to the abbey, you will learn it all over time without having to try too hard.

Be in your seat 5 minutes before zazen begins.
If late, please sit in the couch area until the next kinhin begins.
Avoid wearing strong scents, distracting clothing, or clothes that will make distracting noises during kinhin. Typically pants/skirts that cover the knees when sitting, dull colors, and clothes without crude or distracting or emotionally triggering emblems are appropriate.
Leave water bottles and any other personal items in the shoe rack area.
Bow to the altar when entering and exiting the zendo.
When exiting the zendo and if others are behind you, bow as you continue walking out of the zendo without turning to bow to the altar.
When walking in the zendo, and in the abbey in general, walk with hands in shasshu (hands clasped over the solar plexus).
When approaching your seat, place your zafu (cushion) where you want it on the zabutan (large mat), stand and bow to your mat, turn so that your chest turns toward the altar, bow to the person or zabutan across from you, and step back and sit.
Before a period of zazen begins: if you are directly to the side or directly across from a person who is bowing to their zabutan or bowing to the zabutan across from them, bow at the same time with them.
If you need a chair or other sitting apparatus, ask priests and senior students for assistance. You may change your apparatus before zazen or during kinhin if needed.
Sit still. If you must move, move quickly and with intention, and find another position of stillness. Try to find a position that you can hold for an entire period of zazen.
Sneeze into your elbow. Wipe your nose into a tissue if necessary; do not blow your nose or sniff repeatedly in the zendo. Crying is absolutely okay; if it becomes uncontrollable and loud, please exit the zendo and find some space for yourself.
Kinhin begins with 2-3 minutes of slow walking meditation. After the walking becomes quicker, you may exit the zendo for a bathroom, stretching, or water break. Once you have finished taking care of your needs, continue with kinhin. Enter back in the line where you were, between the same people, or where those people would be.
At the end of the periods of zazen, fluff your zafu and wipe you zabutan before exiting.