Practice Schedule
- Thursdays, 7:30 PM CT – In-Person Only (This may be changed to hybrid in the future.)
- Saturdays, 9:00 AM CT – Online Only
Check the Upcoming Events for special events.
In-Person sessions are held at:
Unity Center Milwaukee
1717 N 73rd Street
Wauwatosa, WI 53213
Parking is available in the lot on the north side of the building. Please enter through the door from the parking lot located on the northwest side of the building. We also ask that you wear masks and have received the COVID vaccine. Also, if you are not feeling well, please refrain from attending.
Online session Zoom links are posted each week to our Google group and on our Facebook page. If you have any questions, contact us at info@glzc.org. You can also get updates and contact us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/greatlakezen/
Also note that the Kwan Um School of Zen has online practice opportunities (https://www.kwanumzenonline.org/events).
New to online practice sessions? See:
The Great Lake Zen Center, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is affiliated with the Kwan Um School of Zen, which has its headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Kwan Um School of Zen is a network of spiritual centers founded by Zen Master Seung Sahn and under the guidance of senior teachers.
What is Zen?
Zen is very simple . . . What are you? In this whole world, everyone searches for happiness outside, but nobody understands their true self inside. Everybody says, ‘I.’ ‘I want this, I am like that . . .’ But nobody understands this ‘I.’
Before you were born, where did your ‘I’ come from? When you die, where will your ‘I’ go? If you sincerely ask, ‘What am I?’, sooner or later you will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. We call this ‘Don’t know.’
Zen is keeping this ‘Don’t know’ mind always and everywhere.
When walking, standing, sitting,
lying down, speaking, moving,
being still.
At all times, in all places, without
interruption — What is this?
One mind is infinite kalpas!
Meditation in Zen means keeping don’t know mind when bowing, chanting, and sitting Zen. This is formal Zen practice. And when doing something, just do it! When driving, just drive; when eating, just eat; when working, just work!
Finally, your don’t know mind will become clear . . . There is no desire for myself, only all beings . . . It’s very simple!
Zen Master Seung Sahn