SATI - ZEN - SANGHA 

Faithful to life and to everyday concerns, the „Zen Community of Mindfulness“ represents a further development of traditional Asian monastic practice, adapted to the times and realities of Western culture. It forms a new branch on the tree of the teaching lineage of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhât Hanh, and thus of the Buddhist Rinzai Zen tradition.

The „Zen Community of Mindfulness“ arose from the insight and commitment of a practice seeking to give form and expression – practical, everyday and institutional expression – to the natural law (Dharma) of „non-duality“. Throughout the ages, the formation of a concrete school within Buddhism has always been an attempt to preserve continuity in the transmission of the teachings across the generations amid the ever-shifting realities of life.

Sati is Pali and means mindfulness. The practice of the „Zen Community for Mindfulness“ (Sangha) joins traditional mindfulness meditation with the non-dualistic perspective of Zen and its emphasis on practice in everyday life.

The eightfold path encompasses the way we lead our lives (sila), the meditative practice of mindfulness (samadhi) and the development of wisdom and love (prajna). Sangha is the community of all practitioners. The integration of the 2,600-year-old teaching of Buddha with the social and humanitarian achievements of the West in our time brings us both challenges and possibilities. These concern not so much the central truths articulated in the teaching – the law of life (dharma) retains its validity after all – but rather various aspects affecting the form of practice, how people relate with one another and the institutions that emerge.