Calendar

2025 BZC Calendar of Events

Weekly Schedule

Events in April 2025

  • Buddha’s Birthday Celebration

    Buddha’s Birthday Celebration


    Sat, Apr 5, 2025

    Buddha’s Birthday Celebration
    On Saturday, April 5, 10:15‒11:15 a.m., BZC will join Buddhist centers around the world in celebrating the birth of the baby Buddha (traditionally considered to have been in early
    April).

    Following a short service and an introductory talk in the zendo, we will proceed to the courtyard for a kid-friendly ceremony.
    After the doshi makes an initial offering of flowers and bathes the baby Buddha with sweet tea, we will chant the Heart Sutra and all
    adults and children will have a chance to use a ladle to bathe the baby Buddha. Children will also be offered small containers of bubble solution. We welcome children and others to
    come for work period at 7:35 a.m. to help
    decorate the baby Buddha’s bower stands.

    Dharma Talk: Ryushin Andrea Thach

    Dharma Talk: Ryushin Andrea Thach


    Sat, Apr 5, 2025

    Full Saturday Program Schedule
    • 6:00-6:40 Zazen
    • 6:40-6:50 Kinhin
    • 6:50-7:20 Zazen
    • 7:20-7:40 Service
    • 7:40-8:30 Breakfast
    • 8:30-8:50 Break
    • 8:50-9:30 Work Practice
    • 9:30-10:05 Zazen
    • 10:05-10:15 Kinhin
    • 10:15-11:15 Dharma Talk
    • Followed By Informal Tea
  • Open Discussion

    Open Discussion


    Mon, Apr 7, 2025

    .... in the online zendo.

  • Dharma Talk: Ellen Webb

    Dharma Talk: Ellen Webb


    Sat, Apr 12, 2025

    Full Saturday Program Schedule
    • 6:00-6:40 Zazen
    • 6:40-6:50 Kinhin
    • 6:50-7:20 Zazen
    • 7:20-7:40 Service
    • 7:40-8:30 Breakfast
    • 8:30-8:50 Break
    • 8:50-9:30 Work Practice
    • 9:30-10:05 Zazen
    • 10:05-10:15 Kinhin
    • 10:15-11:15 Dharma Talk
    • Followed By Informal Tea
  • Board Meeting

    Board Meeting


    Sun, Apr 13, 2025

    Board Meeting
    Sunday, 4/27, 9:00‒11:00am

  • Way Seeking Mind Talk: Helen Cheng

    Way Seeking Mind Talk: Helen Cheng


    Mon, Apr 14, 2025

    There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:

    7:30 am: zazen
    8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk

    What is a "way-seeking mind" talk?  See below.

    Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center

    “Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.

    The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.

  • Dharma Talk: Susan Marvin

    Dharma Talk: Susan Marvin


    Sat, Apr 19, 2025

    Full Saturday Program Schedule
    • 6:00-6:40 Zazen
    • 6:40-6:50 Kinhin
    • 6:50-7:20 Zazen
    • 7:20-7:40 Service
    • 7:40-8:30 Breakfast
    • 8:30-8:50 Break
    • 8:50-9:30 Work Practice
    • 9:30-10:05 Zazen
    • 10:05-10:15 Kinhin
    • 10:15-11:15 Dharma Talk
    • Followed By Informal Tea
  • Way Seeking Mind Talk: Raghav Bandla

    Way Seeking Mind Talk: Raghav Bandla


    Mon, Apr 21, 2025

    There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:

    7:30 am: zazen
    8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk

    What is a "way-seeking mind" talk?  See below.

    Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center

    “Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.

    The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.

  • Dharma Talk: Karen Sundheim

    Dharma Talk: Karen Sundheim


    Sat, Apr 26, 2025

    Full Saturday Program Schedule
    • 6:00-6:40 Zazen
    • 6:40-6:50 Kinhin
    • 6:50-7:20 Zazen
    • 7:20-7:40 Service
    • 7:40-8:30 Breakfast
    • 8:30-8:50 Break
    • 8:50-9:30 Work Practice
    • 9:30-10:05 Zazen
    • 10:05-10:15 Kinhin
    • 10:15-11:15 Dharma Talk
    • Followed By Informal Tea
  • All-Sangha Budget Meeting

    All-Sangha Budget Meeting


    Sun, Apr 27, 2025

    We will have an All-Sangha meeting on
    Sunday, April 27, at 7:00pm on Zoom. There
    will be an update on the Abbot search process
    and a presentation of the 2025 Proposed
    Budget up for Sangha approval. The Board will
    also present some proposed changes to the
    BZC bylaws, which we will ask the Sangha to
    vote on. If you have any questions, please
    contact the BZC Board President, Karen
    Sundheim (ksundheim@gmail.com).

  • Way Seeking Mind Talk: Kurt Kowalski

    Way Seeking Mind Talk: Kurt Kowalski


    Mon, Apr 28, 2025

    There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:

    7:30 am: zazen
    8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk

    What is a "way-seeking mind" talk?  See below.

    Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center

    “Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.

    The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.