Members of the Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Temple, or Chobo-Ji, would like to invite Beacon Hill friends and neighbors to classes and an open house celebration this month to see their grounds, learn about Zen Buddhism, and celebrate the group’s one-year anniversary in their space on South Horton Street.

The classes in the Introduction to Zen series will run each of the next three Tuesdays from 7:30-8:30, followed by a Sunday retreat. Here is the schedule of the remaining classes (the first class was this week):

• Tuesday, October 9: Meditation in Action: chanting, bowing, walking, working
• Tuesday, October 16: Zen Meals: preparing and eating food mindfully
• Tuesday, October 23: Roots of Rinzai Zen: koans and the Zen Master with Rev. Genjo Marinello Osho
• Sunday, October 28: 5:00-11:30 a.m. Half-day Zen retreat, or sesshin

Neighbors are welcome to attend all or part of the series. There is a suggested donation of $20 for the Tuesday night series, and $40 including the half-day retreat. If you have questions, contact Muken Rick Proctor at 206-817-4410.

On Sunday, October 14, the group will host a One-Year Anniversary Celebration and Open House from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Here’s the invitation from Chobo-Ji:

Beacon Hill friends and neighbors are invited to come celebrate one full year at Chobo-Ji’s new Zen Temple and Residential Zen Practice Center. We will chant the Heart Sutra and Four Great Vows at 10:30 and will serve refreshments and have an open-house afterward.

The temple is located at 1733 S. Horton St. in North Beacon Hill, about three blocks north of Spokane Street and one block west of Beacon Avenue.

A new Zen Buddhist residential practice center, Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji, has opened on South Horton Street in the Golf Court apartment building. To mark the center’s arrival in the neighborhood, the group is holding an Open House this Saturday, October 8, from 1-3:30 p.m. at the center, 1733 S. Horton St. All neighbors are invited.

Genjo Marinello, the group’s abbot, sent us a bit about the history of the the Chobo-Ji group:

“We are a Zen Meditation group that got started with the Seattle Zen Center in the early 70’s sponsored by the then UW Art History Professor Dr. Glenn Webb. Our founding abbot, Genki Takabayashi Roshi, was invited by Dr. Webb to become the resident teacher from Japan in 1979. The group that formed around his teaching in 1983 became the current temple called DaiBaiZan ChoBoZen Temple or Chobo-Ji for short. It means ‘The Listening to the Dharma Zen Temple on Great Plum Mountain.’ Genki Roshi retired in 1997 and in 1999, Genjo Marinello Osho became the second abbot. In 2008 Genjo Osho became one of only a handful of American’s to receive full Dharma transmission in a Japanese line of Rinzai Zen Buddhism.

“For the last dozen years the group has held meditation in a triplex on Capitol Hill. Two years ago the apartment building called ‘Golf Court’ between Lafayette Ave. S. and Alamo Pl. S. was purchased by the group to be the site of its new Residential Practice Center, where people will be able to live in a city setting and strongly practice Zen Buddhism. The new Meditation Hall has been completed and the house on Capital Hill sold. There are meditation periods open to the public daily at this new site. Anyone is welcome to attend—doors open 30 minutes before each scheduled meditation period. There is a $5 introduction to our practice each Thursday from 7:30-8:30 p.m.”