Welcome to Hakubai

 
 

You are warmly invited to sit with us.

If you’re new to Zazen, we look forward to meeting you and invite you to reach out anytime, and to to join us in the zendo for any of our public events or daily meditation.

Getting to the zendo

Hakubai is located at 1275 Cherryvale Rd, Boulder, CO 80303 where the temple gate is always open. As you arrive, follow the long driveway until you see the temple gates and the gray gravel parking area.

 

Getting to your cushion

Since zen is an embodied practice, it is helpful to sit in silence and a few directions can help you enter mediation without disturbing your silence. While we are always available to answer your questions, we do have a few tips to get you started without disturbing your silence.

  1. Everything you need is in the zendo. Dark loose clothing is perfect for mediation and allows you freedom of movement and keeps you warm or cool and comfortable.

  2. Arriving at the temple, we begin our meditation in the car by relaxing and moving quietly through the gate and the zendo door which you will find a few yards ahead and to the left of the expansive Hakubai gardens.

  3. As we enter the temple, we bow at the door to help remind ourselves that we are entering into the mediation of others. Naturally, we move quietly along the edge of the room to any cushion along the wall.

  4. As we arrive at the cushion, which we call a zafu, we move it a few inches back to sit a comfortable distance from the wall. To help center ourselves, we make a small bow to our zafu which supports our meditation and then turn and bow also to the people in the room since their sitting helps to deepen our meditation. Then we sit down on the cushion, turn ourselves to face the wall and settle into the silence of the room.

  5. Some bells will ring. Three bells will indicate the beginning of the mediation period. Two bells means that we are about to do 10 minutes of walking meditation, and one bell means the sitting has come to an end.

  6. While it may appear that everyone is doing something, it helps to remember that we are actually learning zen together. In silence we are learning to communicate beyond words so feel free to just move with the community and to say hello once we leave the zendo.

  7. We look forward to meeting you.