Beginner's Mind Zen Center - Northridge, CA

Welcome to the Beginner's Mind Zen Center Meetup!
During this challenging time with new COVID variants BMZC meetings are being held through Zoom and in-person provided attendees abide by masking and vaccination protocols.

Current Schedule: log in at at these times

M/W 40-min zazen and service from 6:30 am
T/Th 40-min zazen and discussion from 7 pm
Fri 30-min zazen and zen book discussion from 7:30 pm
(Download the pdf here)
Sat 30-min zazen, kinhin, dharma talk, and service from 10:30 am

VISIT OUR WEB SITE for complete information, tips on meditating, and audio files of dharma talks
.
If you’d like to message the teachers directly, you can email them at [email protected] or call (747) 206–5012

Zoom Login Instruction:
Click on this link 
https://zoom.us/j/3956174507
Password 481189

From the Phone App:
Tap the Join a Meeting button and enter the Meeting ID 395 617 4507 Password 481189

Beginner's Mind Zen Center is an established community of Zen meditators practicing in a quiet residential area near California State University at Northridge. It was established in 2003, and offers lay practitioners and interested individuals a daily program of meditation in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition as transmitted by Shunryu Suzuki-roshi. All are welcome to practice zen meditation at Beginner's Mind. No membership is required to participate. Activities include daily zazen and services, reading and discussion of key Buddhist texts, intensive pactice periods (sesshins) led by experienced teachers of Soto Zen Buddhism. The center also offers public talks by visiting Buddhist scholars and teachers from other Soto Zen centers.

Teachers at Beginner's Mind

Peter and Jane Schneider were early students of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in the sixties. Both served as Suzuki-roshi's jisha (personal attendant) in the early years of the Tassajara Zen Mounain Center. Peter and Jane also assisted in transcription of his dharma talks for later publication. Following Suzuki-roshi's death, they accepted scholarships from the San Francisco Zen Center to study Buddhism in Japan. Peter and Jane lived and studied in Japan from 1973 to 1995. They founded the Beginner's Mind Zen Center (originally the Northridge Zen Center) in 2003. Peter and Jane are members of the American Zen Teacher's Association and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association.

Yozen Peter Schneider first studied with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi in 1962 and returned to continue in 1967. He served as the second director of Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, as well as president of the San Francisco Zen Center. Peter received priest ordination from Suzuki-roshi in 1970. In 2002 he received dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman-roshi of the Berkeley Zen Center.
Myokaku Jane Schneider studied with Shunryu Suzuki-roshi from 1967 until his death in 1971. She served as secretary for the San Francisco Zen Center. In 1973 Jane received priest ordination from Zentatsu Richard Baker-roshi. In September, 2008, she received dharma transmission from Myoan Grace Schireson, abbess of Empty Nest Zendo, a dharma heir in the Suzuki-roshi tradition. Jane's writing has appeared in Seeds of Virtue, Seeds of Change: A Collection of Zen Teachings (Temple Ground Press, 2014) and The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women (Wisdom Publications, 2013).