Practicing Zen Buddhism

In Northeast Alabama

To practice Zen is to sit down and be still and stop chasing the things you desire and stop running away from the things you wish to avoid. It is simply to be with things as they are, and requires a genuine effort to attend to the present moment, just as it is.

Welcome to Little River Zen

Torii gate with sunrise over Shinbone Valley

“Zen is very simple and at the same time hard to understand. It is a matter of effort and repetition — like life. Sitting there with nothing to do, with no object or desire for profit, if your posture, breathing, and attitude of mind are in harmony, you can understand true Zen, you can perceive the nature of Buddha.”

Questions to a Zen Master, Taisen Deshimaru

Hands in cosmic mudra during zazen

Little River Zen and Shorinji Zen Association

Zen monks at Shorinji in Cumberland, Mississippi

Little River Zen is affiliated with Shorinji Zen Association, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization dedicated to the practice and teaching of Zen Buddhism. Established under the guidance of Zen monk, teacher, and Dharma heir Tony Bland, Shorinji Zen Association maintains practice groups in Cumberland and Jackson, Mississippi, as well as Mentone, Alabama.

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