Tucson, Arizona
"What is Zen?"
"The heart of the one who asks is Zen."
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Some Upcoming Events

Sunday, March 28, we'll meet from 3:30-5:00  via Zoom

Monday, March 29, 12:30-1:30
Monday Meditation on Zoom

Tuesday, March 30, 6:30-7:30: Tuesday evening study group
We meet each week, for either Study Group or informal Practice Conversations

for more upcoming events please visit our program page
Desert Rain Zen has shifted to an online format for our upcoming events because of the coronavirus pandemic. If you'd like to join us but haven't received email instructions from us, please email us at desertrainzen@gmail.com or nathanso@arizona.edu. We can send you individual event information or add you to our regular email list.

All are welcome!

Here's an outline of our current program of events:
  • Sunday Sit: We sit each Sunday on Zoom from 3:30-5:00 (one sitting period, then conversation about a koan, then a short sitting period, then closing activities)
  • Monday Meditation: Each Monday we have a silent meditation hour on Zoom from 12-1
  • Tuesday Evening Study Group: meets on Zoom from 6:30-7:30 on the first, third, and fifth Tuesdays of each month. And on second and fourth Tuesdays, also 6:30-7:30, we hold informal Practice Conversations.
  • All Day Sits: pre-pandemic, we held (more or less) monthly All Day Sits at Little Chapel. Now, we are holding occasional All Day Sits on Zoom, usually together with the other Open Source teachers and groups

Desert Rain Zen is part of the Open Source Zen network, with groups in Oakland, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo (Colorado) as well as Tucson. All Open Source groups and teachers are holding Zoom events open to everyone. For contact information and some scheduling information, see our Open Source page.


& here's a description of our usual in-person program, suspended during the pandemic:

Desert Rain Zen is a Koan-based Zen group in the Open Source tradition. We hold weekly sits on Sunday afternoons from 3:30-5:00 at the Little Chapel of All Nations on the University of Arizona Campus (see map below). Our sits are free and open to the public. We welcome new and experienced meditators. Our practice aims to bring traditional forms inherited from China and Japan into touch with our contemporary world and our actual lives.

Our Tuesday Evening Study Group meets the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Tuesdays of each month.

Monday Meditation: Just Sitting (no frills) takes place each week from 12-1.

Our Resident Teacher is Tenney Nathanson Sensei. Our Head of Practice is Jennifer Sellers.We're part of the Open Source Zen network founded by Joan Sutherland Roshi. You can access her talks and writings at Cloud Dragon : The Joan Sutherland Dharma Works. Joan is also featured in a round-table discussion about koans in Lion's Roar.

Dharma talks from our March retreat are available here on our Talks page; there are also two talks from our June 2016 Mahasangha retreat on that page.

You can find all the talks from the Open Source Mahasangha June 2016 retreat--by Open Source Senseis Sarah Bender, Andrew Palmer, Megan Rundel, and Tenney Nathanson--here on Andrew Palmer's Bow & Roar website.

& don't  miss our page on Working with Koans.

Desert Rain Zen is sustained entirely by individual contributions. Please consider donating to DRZ.

Where to find us

The Little Chapel is located at 1401 East First Street, on the University of Arizona campus:
For our weekend and evening events, you can park in any of the spaces in the Little Chapel parking lot (including the reserved spaces).  For parking for our Monday Meditation, please see details at Monday Meditation, Questions? text or phone 520-235-1267 or 520-977-3983, or email desertrainzen@gmail.com.
photo: Lynda Zwinger
this page last  modified March 22, 2021
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