Zazen (silent Zen meditation)

 

The group has met regularly for the past four years in Greensboro. Throughout the four years many students and Greensboro Triad residents have come to practice. Denise was encouraged and given support by Taihaku Priest and Josho Pat Phelan to lead such a group upon arrival to the Triad area.

Denise began Meditation and Sensory Awareness practice in 1983, in the lineage Soto Zen  Her formal practice has been in many places Boulder Co., Barre Mass., Chapel Hill Zen Center, Shao Shan Temple, Green Gulch Farm and Tassajara Zen Center.

In 2008 Taihaku Priest (Denise's Teacher) invited Denise to practice at Hokyoji Monastery in Japan with her teacher Tanaka Shinkai Abbott and also travel the Temple Pilgrimage in Kyoto, Japan. In 2009 Denise sewed her Rakusu in the lineage of Sawaki Kodo Roshi/ Shunryu Suzuki and returned to Hokyoji Monastery to participate in Jukai the formal ceremony receiving the Buddist Vows. She received Sensory Awareness Leadership Recognition in 2011.

During the summer of 2013, Reiko Denise Gabriel was invited and practiced with four Japanese Monks from Hokyoji ( visiting the United States) for a portion of an Ango Work Practice at Shao Shan Temple which led into participating in the Shinzanshiki Ceremony (Mountain Seat) an International Consortium in which her teacher received Abbot Installation.