We start on time, promptly at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning, see the schedule for more details. The Han, a wooden percussion instrument, is played, signaling that it is time to find a place to sit. Next three rings of a small bell is heard, signaling that it is time to seat yourself and get comfortable for the coming round of meditation. After the third ring, we hold our posture (as best we can) without moving for the next 35 minutes. It is acceptable to move a bit; just do your best. Zen masters say: When the body is moving, the mind is moving.

After 35 minutes, the small bell rings again and everyone stands up and faces outward, away from the wall, on the floor in front of the cushion, bench, or mat. At the second ring of the bell and we perform a simple bow to one another. On the third ring we begin a clockwise walk around the zendo. This is kinhin, or walking mediation. Simply turn to the left and follow the person in front of you. We walk in single file for five or six minutes, after which the bell rings again. Continue walking until you get back to your place and face outward. When everyone has arrived at their place, the bell rings again and everyone is seated. The cycle then repeats itself. We sit for three rounds of meditation of 35 minutes each.

The second round may sometimes be replaced in whole or in part with a live or recorded dharma talk, or by a chanting session.

We recommend that you attend a number of Sunday sittings before attending an intensive meditation retreat (sesshin).

We welcome any comments or questions that you may have! Feel free to email us at info@clearwaterzencenter.org or call us at (727) 537-0869. 

We look forward to seeing you at the Clear Water Zen Center!

This was how we first saw our Zendo when we started working to get it into shape.  Over the years, many people have helped us.

SIXTEEN YEARS ! ! ! 

The Clear Water Zen Center, based on the teachings of Roshi Philip Kapleau and his book The Three Pillars of Zen, started at this location behind the Unitarian Universalist Church sixteen years ago this month (January 2009).    This is our sixteenth anniversary here, and for those who have been attending meetings during this time, you have had a chance to see the changes manifest all over this building in increments.   Though we were not officially open when we first came here, some of us still sat in zazen on the dusty concrete floor in what would eventually be our carpeted Zendo.    

We had been looking for a suitable place for years, and some of our members would go out on jaunts around Pinellas County, checking out houses and buildings for sale or rent, learning, as we went along, that we needed specific zoning requirements for what we had in mind.   We were introduced to our present location by our friends, Frank Tedesco, Rev. Abhi, and Dotti Doyle.  This building was previously a daycare Montessori school, designed with smaller-than-normal sinks and toilets and painted like an old funhouse gone to seed.   Walking through the building, it looked like the kids wore out the rooms and walls.  There was a lot of cleaning to do, painting, and repairing.    It didn’t look like much when we first arrived.  And yet, what we saw, more than anything else, were the possibilities.  Despite the dust, stains, and decrepit appearance of the interior, none of us ever said, “No, this won’t do.”    If we could get this place, we knew, it would eventually be perfect.

We held our first open house on March 15, 2009, inviting the board and members of the U.U. congregation, our neighbors, and landlords to see what we had done so far.   In truth, the U.U. church had been helping us with painting the walls and replacing the stovetop, among other things, so part of the celebration was due to their efforts, too.   By then, the Clear Water Zen Center was looking like a real center, with clean rooms, rugs, blinds, and zafus and zabutons in place and ready in the Zendo room.   Not just members but friends, neighbors, and visitors brought objects of worship and art, and the building looked good.

Since that time, we have gotten a sign at the road to let people know we are here, as well as a Zen Gate at the side of the building and a new shoe stand and bench at the entrance so members and guests could take their shoes off and put them up before they entered, all of these thanks to Donn Meyers, one of our hardest working members.  Donn has also been responsible for the fire doors installed, as well as the patio in the back yard.  Bill Brown has worked with the help of his wife on landscaping and gardening over the years, assisted by various members who attended when he put the word out.  

None of this would have happened if not for Ken Rosen, the head of our group, who kept the group together for decades when we had no place to call our own.   It was a sad day for all of us when Ken passed, but he set the foundation of our Zen Center, and we continue to honor him by keeping the Center going.  Jeff George has picked up the reins after Ken’s passing and has helped guide us and the center forward while working on his own training.   Roshi Lawson Sachter, our Dharma Teacher, has helped us as well, and has led us in many Sesshins and day sits (Zazenkai) over the years.   Other members and friends have added their efforts to the changes in the last sixteen years, and if you are one of them and you are not mentioned here, rest assured, we are grateful for your efforts, too.  Our building continues to grow better at the hands of many people who have given their time freely and with love and compassion.    

This has been our sixteenth year. The Zen Center looks beautiful, but there is still plenty of work yet to be done and many decisions yet to be made.  After all this time, for the last couple of years, we have been operating in the black, our income equaling our bills and rent.  For years, we had been using our depleting savings to keep the Center afloat, but the center has always been an act of faith, and we are now finally stable financially and hopefully will be for years to come. 

In Zen, one sits in meditation and focuses on the present moment.  In running this center, we have had to look way ahead into the future and figure out our next best course of action, worry about bills, and think about everything except the present moment.    Our Board gets together once a month and discusses plans, decisions, our budget, and our dreams for the Center.  When we approve a decision, we are never a hundred percent sure it will work, but we have faith in what we are doing.  The decision-making process of a Zen Center is not a very spiritual event, yet Zen tells us we take everything we learn on the cushion and carry it with us all day when we eat, do the dishes or laundry, and meet as a Board.

Members of the Clear Water Zen Center get to work during the first months, cleaning up our new home.  The Center took shape with the help of members of our group and members of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

In truth, none of us know if the Zen Center will be here in ten or a hundred years, but we go forward as though it will be here forever.   We move on with a lot of faith and a lot of love, love for this building, love for what the building means for us and all the visitors who come to join us and sit.   This place is not just a gift we have given ourselves but a gift to our community, to anybody who needs to come in and sit and find their spiritual path, anybody who needs a little rest or spiritual rejuvenation.   And we will keep it going for as long as we can.   This has been our sixteenth year at the Zen Center.   It has been a great sixteen years, and we are looking forward to many more.