Sunday Zazen at Tofukuji (Daizendo Hall)

Before you go

Tofukuji's zazen session meets in the early morning in the Daizendo meditation hall, and is often followed by an open-air dharma talk.

Participants must arrive ten minutes early to assemble and take their seats before sitting in the Daizendo. The temple asks for loose clothing: short skirts, tight trousers and hooded tops are unsuitable, and the temple notes that hooded tops get in the way when the keisaku, the warning stick, is used.

After the sitting there is often a Joraku Seppo, a dharma talk given by a Tofukuji priest at the spot in the grounds marked by a signboard — by the Hatto and the Tsutenkyo bridge in fine weather, and indoors in the Shoin or the Daieden when it rains. The day's location is shown on the signboard and at reception.