Introduction to Zen (video)

(by Madoka)

This way of teaching Zen is rare in terms of accuracy and clarity. We hope you enjoy it!

On 27 December 2020, Jisho Matsumoto gave an introduction to zazen at the invitation of Astanka Yoga Mandir, a lovely yoga school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was part of their one-month "Dhayana Discourse" program. English interpretation by yours truly (Madoka).

Jisho conducts zazenkai regularly in Japanese, but this is the first time for him to address a primarily English-speaking audience. This event inspired us to conduct zazenkai in English more regularly (first on Feb 21, 17:00 Japan time!). In all of my study and practice of various schools of yoga, meditation, and Zen over the past 25 years, I have never encountered these teachings of real Zen by a living teacher in English, so I am very happy to help make this accessible outside of Japan.

The first 11 minutes of the video is music.

11:48 Introduction to Astanga Yoga Mandir

14:00 Introduction to Jisho Matsumoto

16:50 Jisho's introduction to zazen

Thank you Astanga Yoga Mandir for this opportunity!