Soto Zen Buddhist Meditation in Chicago
Ancient Dragon Zen Gate is a community of practitioners committed to Soto Zen Buddhist meditation practice in Chicago, and now online to many distant practitioners. Our guiding teacher is Taigen Dan Leighton, author, scholar, and Dharma teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. We invite you to read his teachings or listen to audio recordings of Dharma talks by Taigen and many others. Sunday mornings we welcome brand new visitors to attend our Lincoln Square Zendo in person, or in our Online Zendo via Zoom to learn meditation before our regular program. Click our “New to Zen?” button above for more information. Click here to read our updated COVID policy for attending in-person events.
Click the Online Zendo button above to enter our online zendo via ZOOM. Please bow to the camera when entering or becoming visible on Zoom, but then do not face the screen directly during zazen.
Please refer to our calendar for a complete schedule of services and events in our online zendo. As well, please refer to our Online Zendo page for instructions on accessing the room.
Featured Podcasts: Buddhism in Kamakura Japan
Click here to learn more about some recent dharma talks given by our guiding teacher, Taigen Dan Leighton, about key buddhist figures in Kamakura-era Japan.
Latest Dharma Podcast Episodes
Hongzhi and Wansong Soto Lineage Contexts
ADZG 1178 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Steven Heine – see podcast page to access speaker’s PDF
Featured Events
PRACTICE COMMITMENT PERIOD DISCUSSION GROUP – Sunday, April 21, 2024 @ 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Discussion group for the 2024 Spring Practice Period, led by Taigen. This group discussion will be online-only in our Online Zendo for registered PCP participants.
BODHISATTVA PRECEPT REMEMBERANCE CEREMONY – Wednesday, April 24, 2024 @ 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM
Monthly Bodhisattva Precept Remembrance Ceremony. This month’s offering will be in-person only in our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend.
TEMPLE SPRING CLEANING – Sunday, April 28, 2024 @ 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Annual spring cleaning for our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend, regardless of participation in our Spring Practice Period.
Featured News
ANCIENT DRAGON SPRING PRACTICE COMMITMENT PERIOD
As winter continues on, we start to look forward and anticipate spring. Here at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, a big part of our spring includes our yearly Spring Practice Commitment Period. This year’s PCP will take place from March 24 through May 19, beginning with a one-day sitting on March 24 followed by a three-day sesshin from May 17-19 to end the period. During this year’s PCP, led by our guiding teacher Taigen Dan Leighton, we will explore the illuminating, evocative practice instructions from the Chinese Soto master Hongzhi from the book Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, translated with introduction by Taigen. Hongzhi was the primary Soto teacher in China in the century before Japanese Soto founder Dogen, and strongly influenced Dogen. All practitioners are welcome to register; participants in the practice commitment period are required to make a commitment to meditation, study, and community. Our non-residential Practice Commitment Period (PCP) is an opportunity to integrate and develop sustainable practice in our everyday lives in intentional community practice. In our post-pandemic, non-residential situation, all are welcome to join in-person or online, or in some combination. Please see our Spring Practice Period page to learn more, as well as for information on how to register.
ARCHIVAL TALKS
Florence Caplow (11/4/2019) – Ferocious Grandmothers
Hakusho Ostlund (7/18/2016) – I Sit Therefore I Sit
Click the Online Zendo button above to enter our online zendo via ZOOM. Please bow to the camera when entering or becoming visible on Zoom, but then do not face the screen directly during zazen.
Please refer to our calendar for a complete schedule of services and events in our online zendo. As well, please refer to our Online Zendo page for instructions on accessing the room.
Latest Dharma Podcast Episodes
Hongzhi and Wansong Soto Lineage Contexts
ADZG 1178 ADZG Sunday Morning Dharma Talk by Steven Heine – see podcast page to access speaker’s PDF
Featured Podcasts: Buddhism in Kamakura Japan
Click here to learn more about some recent dharma talks given by our guiding teacher, Taigen Dan Leighton, about key buddhist figures in Kamakura-era Japan.
Featured Events
PRACTICE COMMITMENT PERIOD DISCUSSION GROUP – Sunday, April 21, 2024 @ 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Discussion group for the 2024 Spring Practice Period, led by Taigen. This group discussion will be online-only in our Online Zendo for registered PCP participants.
BODHISATTVA PRECEPT REMEMBERANCE CEREMONY – Wednesday, April 24, 2024 @ 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM
Monthly Bodhisattva Precept Remembrance Ceremony. This month’s offering will be in-person only in our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend.
TEMPLE SPRING CLEANING – Sunday, April 28, 2024 @ 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Annual spring cleaning for our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend, regardless of participation in our Spring Practice Period.
Featured News
ANCIENT DRAGON SPRING PRACTICE COMMITMENT PERIOD
As winter continues on, we start to look forward and anticipate spring. Here at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate, a big part of our spring includes our yearly Spring Practice Commitment Period. This year’s PCP will take place from March 24 through May 19, beginning with a one-day sitting on March 24 followed by a three-day sesshin from May 17-19 to end the period. During this year’s PCP, led by our guiding teacher Taigen Dan Leighton, we will explore the illuminating, evocative practice instructions from the Chinese Soto master Hongzhi from the book Cultivating the Empty Field: The Silent Illumination of Zen Master Hongzhi, translated with introduction by Taigen. Hongzhi was the primary Soto teacher in China in the century before Japanese Soto founder Dogen, and strongly influenced Dogen. All practitioners are welcome to register; participants in the practice commitment period are required to make a commitment to meditation, study, and community. Our non-residential Practice Commitment Period (PCP) is an opportunity to integrate and develop sustainable practice in our everyday lives in intentional community practice. In our post-pandemic, non-residential situation, all are welcome to join in-person or online, or in some combination. Please see our Spring Practice Period page to learn more, as well as for information on how to register.
ARCHIVAL TALKS
Florence Caplow (11/4/2019) – Ferocious Grandmothers
Hakusho Ostlund (7/18/2016) – I Sit Therefore I Sit
