A four-week course in the shimuryo zammai – the four boundless meditations of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.

Tuesday evenings 19:30-21:00, starting 21st March, led by Daizan Roshi. Book using the eventbrite booking below.

After four years with Zenways, two years in addiction recovery and very difficult times in psychiatric services as a result of so much unraveling, these beautiful practices have delivered as promised: the gradual establishing of a sound psychological base… and much, much more! The most generous transmission from master Torei down the line to our teacher Daizan… many, many thanksDoran

Yes, meditation and mindfulness can help us to deal with our issues and penetrate right to the source of our suffering to find a truer basis for living. But a huge number of people find this work difficult because of the weight of negative thoughts feelings and experiences they are carrying. To counter this, the tradition shows there is a deep value in establishing a positive basis within our being.

The Japanese Zen master Torei (1721-1792) drew out a suite of four profound and simple meditation practices called shimuryo zammai – four boundless meditations – which create an all-encompassing rebalancing of the negative tilt within the human system. These four practices are powerful, pleasurable and time-tested with hundreds of years of practical application behind them. They’re designed to counter unkindness, jealousy, callousness, hatred, agitation and other states which if unchecked can be extraordinarily harmful to body and mind as well as poisoning our relationships with ourselves, others and the world.

It is certainly possible to go a long way without these practices, but when you create this positive inner foundation the path of progress becomes smoother and more rapid.

We’ve called the course Zen Compassion Plus because most compassion courses only include one practice (loving kindness or metta). Here we have a broader spread of offerings.