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Monday 6pm - 7:30pm Thursday 7:45am - 8:45am

Pamsula Zen Center

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Pamsula Zen Center

Twice weekly Meditation experience — Open to All.

In-Person/On-line

Monday Evening

6:00 p — 7:15 p

Friday Morning

7:30 a — 8:30 a
(Online)

We have 2 Affiliates — Youngstown Zen Center & Pamsula Zen Westchester Sitting Group

Also, Roshi Daiken is the Guiding Teacher for the Iowa City Zen Center Virtual (Zoom & Facebook Live)

Monday Evening

6:00 — Beginning Instruction/Informal Gathering*
(If You are new to Meditation/Zen style or want a

refresher)
6:10 — 6:35 Zazen/Seated Meditation*
6:35 Check-in/Dharma Talk/Discussion*

Friday Morning

7:30 — Informal Gathering*
7:35 — 8:00 Zazen/Seated Meditation*
8:00 — 8:05 Walking Meditation / Kinhin
8:05 — 8:30 Zazen/Seated Meditation*
8:30 — Four Bodhisattva Vows Chant

(*) — Possible to join or leave at any time. Donations suggested

Also: One-on-One session with Roshi Daiken available by request

Questions about Practice / Spiritual Guidance / Pastoral Counseling /
Rites of Passage: Taking Refuge (Jukai) / Novice Priest Ordination (Tokudo)

Baby Blessings / Weddings / Funerals / Memorial Services / Multi-Faith Celebrations / Public Talks

Reiki Sessions Available

We have an affiliate in Youngstown, OH: Youngstown Zen Center. There are monthly in-person & hybrid Meditations plus quarterly Zazenkai / Half-Day Meditation Session with Roshi Daiken in attendance.

05/03/2026

Meditation & Discussion Tomorrow Evening — 6:00 EDT, In-Person & Online

STARTLEMENT
It is a forgotten pleasure, the pleasure
of the unexpected blue-bellied lizard

skittering off his sun spot rock, the flicker
of an unknown bird by the bus stop.

To think, perhaps, we are not distinguishable
and therefore no loneliness can exist here.

Species to species in the same blue air, smoke-
wing flutter buzzing, a car horn coming.

So many unknown languages, to think we have
only honored this strange human tongue.

If you sit by the riverside, you see a culmination
of all things upstream.

We know now, we were never at the circle's center, instead
all around us something is living or trying to live.

The world says, What we are becoming, we are
becoming together.

The world says, One type of dream has ended
and another has just begun.

The world says, Once we were separate,
and now we must move in unison.
— Ada Limón

The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me,
apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is Love.
— Nisargadatta Maharaj

Greetings Sangha,

We will meet tomorrow Evening/Afternoon, 4 May at 6:00 p.m. EDT— In-Person & Online — for our weekly Evening/Afternoon Meditation. (5:00 CDT / 3:00 PDT).

Small Chapel at Union Theological Seminary
(Main Entrance: 3041 Broadway between W. 120th & W. 122nd
— 1 Train to W. 116th or W. 125th)

Everyone attending in person must check in at the Security Desk.

Fill out a brief form or show CUID then follow PZC signs to the Small Chapel.

PM for Zoom link

Please join us as we realize that the consciousness in You and the consciousness in me, is really one, seeking unity and that is Love; Once we were separate, and now we must move in unison….

May You all be well & healthy.

Take good care.

Blessings,
Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo https://www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

05/01/2026

The great affair, the love affair with life,
is to live as variously as possible,
to groom one's curiosity like a high spirited thoroughbred,
climb aboard, and gallop over the thick,
sun-struck hills every day.
Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding,
and despite all its dimensions, valleys, pinnacles, and detours,
Life will seem to have none of its magnificent geography,
only a length.
It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery,
but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.
— Diane Ackerman A Natural History of The Senses

The dreamers and thinkers of the world are of race apart
and, for the most part, a lonely and misunderstood people,
whose interests and visions separate them
from the petty concerns with which the masses busy themselves.
— Manly P. Hall

Greetings Friends,

April 30th was Youngstown Zen Center’s 4th Birthday! Woo hoo!

Tomorrow, Saturday May 2nd, I will lead the Youngstown Zen Center via Zoom — we will meet for our twice monthly hybrid Meditation — 09:00am – 10:00am EDT (08:00-09:00 CDT; 06:00-07:00 PDT).

Zazen
Kinhin
Q & A / Discussion

It is possible to come & go as You need.

Local folks will meet in person at the First Unitarian/Universalist Church
1105 Elm Street Youngstown, OH 44505: upstairs in the Youth Room (follow signs).

PM for Zoom Link

Please join us as we realize Life began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, and we live in the savage and beautiful country that lies in between.….

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation:
Venmo: www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/27/2026

Strong or soft, wild or serene—
Wherever breath flows there is song.
Hear its whisper touching behind the face,
Singing in the throat,
Dancing spirals in the sanctuary of your heart.
In this practice of listening,
A moment may come when you just want to lie down.
This is a doorway—surrender.
Fall into the wide-open embrace of life.
You are the instrument breath is playing.
All the meditations you have ever loved
Are vibrating in this luxurious hum,
Continuing even in sleep and dreams.
This is your school. Just you and Infinity.
The texture of the Self is untamed freedom.
—Yukti Verses from the 'Radiance Sutras, a translation of the Vijanana Bhairava Ta**ra by Lorin Loche

You're a ghost
driving a meat-coated skeleton
made from stardust,
riding a rock,
hurtling through space.
Fear Nothing.
— Anon

Your body
is woven
from the light
of heaven.
— Rumi

Greetings Sangha,

We will meet tomorrow Evening/Afternoon, 27 April at 6:00 p.m. EDT— In-Person & Online — for our weekly Evening/Afternoon Meditation. (5:00 CDT / 3:00 PDT).

Small Chapel at Union Theological Seminary
(Main Entrance: 3041 Broadway between W. 120th & W. 122nd
— 1 Train to W. 116th or W. 125th)

Everyone attending in person must check in at the Security Desk.

Fill out a brief form or show CUID then follow PZC signs to the Small Chapel.

PM for Zoom link

Please join us as we come to understand that our bodies are woven from the light of heaven and the texture of the Self is untamed freedom. Fear Nothing….

May You all be well & healthy.

Take good care.

Blessings,
Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo https://www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/26/2026

The ultimate hidden truth of the world is
that it is something we make
and could just as easily make differently.
— David Graeber

Old age is implicit in the generation of a child:
the child's old age is there waiting.
Similarly, the older you get, the more you realize
that you are still a kid,
and your early experiences are the ones
that are now just opening out.
It is one system all the time.
— Joseph Campbell

Greetings Friends,

Tomorrow Morning, Sunday 26 April, I will be in Iowa City to lead the Iowa City Zen Center for our Sunday Morning Program plus via Zoom.

In-Person at ICZC: 1025 Fairchild Street, Iowa City

Zazen begins at 10:00 EDT (09:00 CDT; 07:00 PDT).

Zazen (25”)
Kinhin (5”)
Zazen (25”)
then a brief service.

Open Sozan (Q & A with the Teacher): ≈11:10 EST (≈10:10 CST; ≈08:10 PST).

PM for Zoom Link

Join us as we realize it, our Life and our Understanding, is one system all the time and that we can easily make it differently….

Have a great Sunday.

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo. www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/24/2026

Zazenkai in Iowa City / Zoom Tomorrow — Saturday, 25 April

Something else, too, came from my illness.
I might formulate it as an affirmation of things as they are:
an unconditional "yes" to that which is,
without subjective protests—
acceptance of the conditions of existence as I see them,
acceptance of my own nature, as I happen to be.
— Carl Jung

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
— Thomas Merton

Greetings Sangha,

Hope all are well & healthy.

Tomorrow, Saturday April 25th, we will have our Zazenkai / Half-Day Meditation Retreat, In-person in Iowa City, IA plus via Zoom.

Possible to join at any time; come and go as needed. See schedule below.

In-Person at:
Iowa City Zen Center
1025 Fairchild Street
Iowa City, 52240

PM for Zoom Link

Join us as we experience a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings then find acceptance of the conditions of existence as we see them, plus acceptance of our own nature, as we happen to be....

May You all be well & healthy.

Take good care.

Blessings,
Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo. www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

Zazenkai Schedule
CDT —
(+1 hour for EDT; -2 hours for PDT)

07:25 – Be in Seats
7:30-7:55 Meditation
7:55-8:00 Kinhin (Walking Meditation)
8:00-8:25 Meditation
8:25 — Verse of the Kesa

8:30 – 8:55 Breakfast Break - Silent

9:00-9:25 Meditation
9:25-9:30 Kinhin
9:30-10:00 Dharma Talk

10:00 – 10:15 Break

10:20 – 10:45 Zazen
10:45 – 10:50 Kinhin
10:50 – 11:15 Zazen
11:15 – 11:20 Kinhin
11:20 – 11:45 Zazen

11:45 – 12:30 Lunch Break

≈12:30 – 12:40 Clean Up/Short Break

12:45 – 1:10 Zazen
1:10 – 1:15 Kinhin
1:15 – 1:40 Zazen
1:40 – 1:45 Kinhin
1:45 – 2:15 Zazen
≈2:15 — 4 Bodhisattva Vows
(or when Roshi returns to Zendo after dokusan)

Possible to join at any time; come and go as needed
___________________

Eastern Time
08:25 – Be in Seats
8:30-8:55 Meditation
8:55-9:00 Kinhin (Walking Meditation)
9:00-9:25 Meditation
9:25 — Verse of the Kesa

9:30 – 9:55 Breakfast Break - Silent

10:00-10:25 Meditation
10:25-10:30 Kinhin
10:30-11:00 Dharma Talk

11:00-11:15 — Break

11:20 – 11:45 Zazen
11:45 – 11:50 Kinhin
11:50 – 12:15 Zazen
12:15 – 12:20 Kinhin
12:20 – 12:45 Zazen

12:45 – ≈1:30 Lunch Break – Silent

≈1:30 – 1:40 Clean Up/Short Break

1:45 – 2:10 Zazen
2:10 – 2:15 Kinhin
2:15 – 2:40 Zazen
2:40 – 2:45 Kinhin
2:45– 3:15 Zazen
≈3:15 — 4 Bodhisattva Vows
(or when Roshi returns to Zendo after dokusan

___________________

PDT (from 09:00 CDT session)

7:00–7:25 Meditation
7:25–7:30 Kinhin
7:30–8:00 Dharma Talk

8:00–8:15 Break

08:20 – 08:45 Zazen
08:45 – 08:50 Kinhin
08:50 – 09:15 Zazen
09:15 – 09:20 Kinhin
09:20 – 09:45 Zazen

09:45 – 10:30 “Lunch”

≈10:30 – 10:40 Clean Up/Short Break

10:45 – 11:10 Zazen
11:10 – 11:15 Kinhin
11:15 – 11:40 Zazen
11:40 – 11:45 Kinhin
11:45 – 12:15 Zazen
≈12:15 — 4 Bodhisattva Vows
(or when Roshi returns to Zendo after dokusan)

04/23/2026

Workshop Tonight: The Four Noble Truths: The Guide To Practice
7:00p–8:30p CDT / 8:00p–9:30p EDT / 5:00p–6:30p PDT

For a seed to achieve its greatest expression
it must come completely undone.
The shell cracks, its insides come out, and everything changes.
— Cynthia Occelli

Greetings Friends,

This Evening, Thursday 23 April, I will be in Iowa City to offer a Workshop In-Person at ICZC plus via Zoom.

We will explore the Four Noble Truths:
Existence is marked by unsatisfactoriness: Seeing that conditioned things are unstable.
The Source of that feeling is desire: Seeing that craving in a world of instability is the source of suffering.
There is a way out of this process of “suffering”: Seeing that liberation is possible.
The Eight-fold Path: Seeing the path that weakens the links.

In-Person at ICZC: 1025 Fairchild Street, Iowa City

PM for Zoom Link

Hope You can join us as we study & discuss, then see how we might understand our Life then move to liberate ourself from our feelings of unsatisfactoriness; our shell cracks and everything changes….

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo. www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/19/2026

The soul does not use words.
It surrounds words with space,
and that is what I mean by silence.
Silence is a kind of wholeness.
It can absorb contraries, paradoxes, and contradictions.
Maybe that is why we do not like silence.
There is nothing to argue about in true inner silence,
and the mind likes to argue.
It gives us something to do.
The ego loves something it can take sides on.
Yet true interior silence does not allow you to take sides.
That is one reason contemplation is so liberating and calming.
There are no sides to take and only a wholeness to rest in—which frees us to act on behalf of Love.
— Richard Rohr

Friendship doesn't depend on fame, money or physical strength.
It's based on trust and trust depends on Love and affection.
-— His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Greetings Sangha,

We will meet tomorrow Evening/Afternoon, 20 April at 6:00 p.m. EDT— In-Person & Online — for our weekly Evening/Afternoon Meditation. (5:00 CDT / 3:00 PDT).

In-Person at Iowa City Zen Center
1025 Fairchild Street

PM for Zoom link

Please join us as we come to understand that true interior silence does not allow one to take sides.
There are no sides to take and only a wholeness to rest in—which frees us to act on behalf of Love.
And that Friendship is based on trust and trust depends on Love and affection….

May You all be well & healthy.

Take good care.

Blessings,
Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo https://www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/18/2026

In the progressive process of seeing,
one should first learn certain difficult things:
not to interfere, not to prefer one aspect to another…
As one begins to realize that the fundamental aim
is to become aware of the whole of oneself,
then the sacred quality of "seeing"
becomes as important as what is seen,
and a balance begins to appear...
An attitude of seeing begins to prevail …
One is no longer taken by forces interacting in oneself.
We are speaking of a long, patient work—staying present to oneself and feeling the need to come back …
In the Gurdjieff teaching
this is sometimes called 'self-observation',
finding a sensitive place where one can receive impressions,
and letting things be as they are.
— Michel de Salzmann, 'Seeing: The Endless Source of Inner Freedom' in 'Material for Thought

You always own the option of having no opinion.
There is never any need to get worked up
or to trouble your soul about things you can't control.
These things are not asking to be judged by you.
Leave them alone.
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Greetings Friends,

Tomorrow Morning, Sunday 19 April, I will be in Iowa City to lead the Iowa City Zen Center for our Sunday Morning Program plus via Zoom.

In-Person at ICZC: 1025 Fairchild Street, Iowa City

Zazen begins at 10:00 EDT (09:00 CDT; 07:00 PDT).

Zazen (25”)
Kinhin (5”)
Zazen (25”)
then a brief service, chanting the Heart Sutra.

Dharma Talk: ≈11:10 EDT (≈10:10 CDT; ≈08:10 PDT).

PM for Zoom Link

Join us as we realize there is never any need to get worked up or to trouble our soul about things we can't control; then practice 'self-observation', to find a sensitive place where we can receive impressions, and let things be as they are….

Have a great Sunday.

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo. www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/17/2026

Whatever you do, you should do it in a way
that can’t be repeated a second time.
What can be repeated is best left to the robots.
Life doesn’t run on tracks.
Birds don’t sing in major or minor.
Bodhidharma’s teaching doesn’t fit on lined paper.
The buddha-dharma is wide and unlimited.
When you try to hold it still, you’ve missed it.
It isn’t dried cod, but a live fish. Living fish have no fixed form.
— Kōdō Sawaki

A person is a fluid process, not a fixed and static entity;
a flowing river of change, not a block of solid material,
a continually changing constellation of potentialities,
not a fixed quantity of traits.
— Carl Rogers

Greetings Friends,

Tomorrow, Saturday April 18th, I will lead the Youngstown Zen Center via Zoom — we will meet for our twice monthly hybrid Meditation — 09:00am – 10:00am EDT (08:00-09:00 CDT; 06:00-07:00 PDT).

Zazen
Kinhin
Zazen

It is possible to come & go as You need.

Local folks will meet in person at the First Unitarian/Universalist Church
1105 Elm Street Youngstown, OH 44505:
upstairs in the Youth Room (follow signs).

PM for Zoom Link

Please join us as we realize the buddha-dharma is wide and unlimited, a fluid process, a flowing river of change, a continually changing constellation of potentialities….

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation:
Venmo: www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/12/2026

PZC Gathering Tomorrow — Iowa City Spring Intensive Begins

And you can’t hold anymore.
You can’t hold anywhere.
I think that the assignment for us is very clear in terms of the game on earth.
I think it is to be instruments that allow the whole process to move and change in a way that ends up celebrating life
rather than ultimately destroying it, and it has to come out of non-attachment.
— Ram Dass

Growth is measured by the gentleness and awareness
with which we once again pick ourselves up,
the lightness with which we dust ourselves off,
the openness with which we continue and take the next unknown step, beyond our edge, beyond our holding,
into the remarkable mystery of being.
— Stephen Levine

Greetings Sangha,

We will meet tomorrow Evening/Afternoon, 13 April at 6:00 p.m. EDT— In-Person & Online — for our weekly Evening/Afternoon Meditation. (5:00 CDT / 3:00 PDT).

In-Person at Iowa City Zen Center
1025 Fairchild Street

PM for Zoom link

Please join us as we live out of non-attachment to change in a way that ends up celebrating life, into the remarkable mystery of being….

May You all be well & healthy.

Take good care.

Blessings,
Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo https://www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

04/11/2026

Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me.
At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called 'the love of your fate.' Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, 'This is what I need.'
It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge.
If you bring love to that moment—not discouragement—you will find the strength is there.
Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life.
What a privilege!
This is when the spontaneity of your own nature
will have a chance to flow.
— Joseph Campbell

What will save humanity?
Acceptance.
Acceptance of the impermanence of being.
Acceptance of the imperfect nature of being,
or possibly the perfect nature of being, depending on how one looks at it.
Acceptance that this is not a rehearsal
That this is it.
— William Gibson

Right now, its exactly like this
— Ajahn Sumedho

Greetings Friends,

Tomorrow Morning, Sunday 12 April, I will lead the Iowa City Zen Center for our Sunday Morning Program via Zoom.

In-Person at ICZC: 1025 Fairchild Street, Iowa City

Zazen begins at 10:00 EST (09:00 CST; 07:00 PST).

Zazen (25”)
Kinhin (5”)
Zazen (25”)
then a brief service.

Dharma Talk: ≈11:10 EST (≈10:10 CST; ≈08:10 PST).

PM for Zoom Link

Join us as we live acceptance, love our “fate” then say, ‘this is what I need’ / Right now, its exactly like this….

Have a great Sunday.

Be well.

Blessings,

Roshi Daiken

Begging Bowl: Please support our continued offerings—make a donation: Venmo. www.venmo.com/Daiken-Nelson

Join Our Mailing List:
https://tinyurl.com/PZCMailListSignUp

Address

3041 Broadway (Small Chapel @ Union Theological Seminary)
New York, NY
10025

Opening Hours

Monday	6pm - 7:30pm
Thursday	7:45am - 8:45am

Website

http://www.pamsulazen.org/

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