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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

Journey of Practice

ADZG 1169 ADZG Monday Night Dharma Talk by Chris Cadman


Featured Events

NAGARJUNA READING GROUP – Thursday, March 21, 2024 @ 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

This reading group is open to all. Monthly meetings in the online zendo begin with thirty minutes of zazen, followed by reading aloud together and discussing Nāgarjuna’s The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Participants are not expected to purchase this text and are welcome to drop in for any reading group gathering. We’ll be reading from the translation and commentary by Jay Garfield. There is no registration or fee to attend, but donations are welcome.

ONE-DAY SITTING LED BY TAIGEN DAN LEIGHTON: BEGINNING OF SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD – Sunday, March 24, 2024 @ 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM

One-day sitting, held in-person at our Lincoln Square Zendo, and online in our Online Zendo, to kickoff our Spring Practice Period. The normal Sunday morning zazen and dharma talk is open to the public regardless of registration. Please see more information about registering for our Spring Practice Period here. You do not need to be registered for the Practice Period to attend this sitting. Please register by Monday, March 18 using the form on the event page. Suggested donation is $75, but sliding scale is always available; please donate what you can.

BODHISATTVA PRECEPT REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY – Wednesday, March 27, 2024 @ 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM

Our monthly bodhisattva precept remembrance ceremony, held monthly near the occasion of the full moon. This month’s offering will be in-person only in our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend. 


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.

BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS AVAILABLE

Highlights from our recent board meetings in October, December, and January are now available for viewing on our Board Meeting Highlights Page.

ARCHIVAL TALKS

As Ancient Dragon Zen Gate is now hybrid with in-person events along with an active online sangha, we will be providing selections of podcasts to all on a periodic basis to provide dharma steadily. Please refer to our Archival Talks page for past collections and commentary on the collections of talks, including the current collection which highlights upcoming guest speakers over the next few months.
Peter Coyote (11/9/2014) – Is Our Spiritual Practice Only Personal?
Florence Caplow (11/4/2019) – Ferocious Grandmothers
Hakusho Ostlund (7/18/2016) – I Sit Therefore I Sit
Taigen Leighton (9/28/2014) – Inner Dynamics of Zazen and the Home Village
Hogetsu Laurie Belzer (3/27/2022) – The Hands and Eyes of Shikan Taza

Upcoming 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.

Latest Dharma Podcast Episodes

Journey of Practice

ADZG 1169 ADZG Monday Night Dharma Talk by Chris Cadman

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

NAGARJUNA READING GROUP – Thursday, March 21, 2024 @ 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

This reading group is open to all. Monthly meetings in the online zendo begin with thirty minutes of zazen, followed by reading aloud together and discussing Nāgarjuna’s The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Participants are not expected to purchase this text and are welcome to drop in for any reading group gathering. We’ll be reading from the translation and commentary by Jay Garfield. There is no registration or fee to attend, but donations are welcome.

ONE-DAY SITTING LED BY TAIGEN DAN LEIGHTON: BEGINNING OF SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD – Sunday, March 24, 2024 @ 7:30 AM – 5:30 PM

One-day sitting, held in-person at our Lincoln Square Zendo, and online in our Online Zendo, to kickoff our Spring Practice Period. The normal Sunday morning zazen and dharma talk is open to the public regardless of registration. Please see more information about registering for our Spring Practice Period here. You do not need to be registered for the Practice Period to attend this sitting. Please register by Monday, March 18 using the form on the event page. Suggested donation is $75, but sliding scale is always available; please donate what you can.

BODHISATTVA PRECEPT REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY – Wednesday, March 27, 2024 @ 7:15 PM – 8:30 PM

Our monthly bodhisattva precept remembrance ceremony, held monthly near the occasion of the full moon. This month’s offering will be in-person only in our Lincoln Square Zendo. All are welcome to attend. 


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.

BOARD MEETING HIGHLIGHTS AVAILABLE

Highlights from our recent board meetings in October, December, and January are now available for viewing on our Board Meeting Highlights Page.

Upcoming Events

ARCHIVAL TALKS

As Ancient Dragon Zen Gate is now hybrid with in-person events along with an active online sangha, we will be providing selections of podcasts to all on a periodic basis to provide dharma steadily. Please refer to our Archival Talks page for past collections and commentary on the collections of talks, including the current collection which highlights upcoming guest speakers over the next few months.
 
Peter Coyote (11/9/2014) – Is Our Spiritual Practice Only Personal?
Florence Caplow (11/4/2019) – Ferocious Grandmothers
Hakusho Ostlund (7/18/2016) – I Sit Therefore I Sit
Taigen Leighton (9/28/2014) – Inner Dynamics of Zazen and the Home Village
Hogetsu Laurie Belzer (3/27/2022) – The Hands and Eyes of Shikan Taza