about DRZ
Desert Rain Zen is part of the Open Source, a lineage characterized by innovative work with koans that aims to foster a deep engagement with awakening and individual transformation and a lively commitment to the Bodhisattva vow, in a welcoming and encouraging practice environment.
Open Source is part of the Pacific Zen School, a lineage that supplements individual koan practice with group koan work, with an eye toward making the wisdom, richness, and transformative power of the koan tradition available to all who practice with us. Our koan conversations are lively, warm, and deep, supported by our continuing commitment to Zen meditation. Desert Rain Zen was started in late 2008 by Jennifer Sellers and Tenney Nathanson, who were authorized as Meditation Instructors in this new Open Source sangha by our holding teacher Joan Sutherland Roshi. In early 2012 Tenney was authorized by Joan to teach as an Open Source Sensei; he received full transmission as an Open Source / Pacific Zen School Roshi in 2023 from Joan Sutherland Roshi and Sarah Bender Roshi. Tenney is our resident teacher. Jen is our Head of Practice. Desert Rain is committed to developing an open, welcoming, and democratic sangha; most of our meetings balance silent meditation and other formal Zen activities with ample opportunity for group exploration of our individual practices, our evolution as a group, and the not always perfectly seamless integration of practice and life. We meet on Zoom as well as in person at the Little Chapel of All Nations on the University of Arizona campus. We hold weekly Zoom sits on Sunday afternoons, a Tuesday Evening Study Group each week on Zoom, and an in-person Thursday evening sit (with a Zoom hybrid component) each week at Little Chapel. We also hold periodic One Day Retreats (All Day Sits) at Little Chapel and an annual spring multi-day residential retreat at the Redemptorist Renewal Center at Picture Rocks (in the Tucson Mountains west of downtown). We also participate in Open Source mahasangha residential retreats, typically in fall. |
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this page last modified May 25, 2024
this page last modified May 25, 2024