Zen Center of Pittsburgh

05/20/2026

There’s still time to join us for Saturday’s One-Day Sesshin at Deep Spring Temple.

Sesshin—“to gather or touch the heart-mind”—is a cornerstone of Zen practice, offering an opportunity to step more fully into stillness, discipline, and shared practice.

This one-day sitting is designed for both newer and experienced practitioners, with a full day of zazen, kinhin (walking meditation), work practice, formal oryoki lunch, and periods of rest.

📅 Saturday, May 23
🕣 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM
📍 Deep Spring Temple / Zen Center of Pittsburgh

A few seats are still available, but registration will close Thursday (tomorrow) at noon.

Prerequisite: Orientation class + attendance at least one Sunday or Wednesday practice.

If you’ve been considering taking the next step in practice, this may be a meaningful opportunity.

Please visit our website for full details and to register.

05/20/2026

A meaningful Vesak gesture from the Vatican.

Interreligious dialogue can be imperfect, complex, and sometimes messy—but moments like this still matter.

This year’s official Vesak message from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue offers greetings to Buddhist communities around the world and calls Buddhists and Christians alike toward peace, compassion, reconciliation, and shared human responsibility in a time marked by violence and division.

For those of us committed to contemplative practice, peacemaking, and genuine encounter across traditions, this feels worth noting.

Mutual respect does not require sameness. Dialogue does not require dilution. But sincere goodwill across traditions remains a meaningful force in the world.

Full statement below:
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2026/05/11/260511e.html #

05/15/2026

🏵 A reminder to our sangha and friends: this Sunday, May 17, we’ll be joining the wider Pittsburgh Buddhist community to celebrate Vesak.

🧘‍♀️ Deep Spring Temple’s Sunday morning program will begin at 9:25 AM this week, with a modified service afterwards. Please visit our website for full details.

🚶‍♀️ The 18th Annual Vesak Celebration & Peace Walk begins at 3:00 PM on Pittsburgh’s North Side, offering a beautiful opportunity to gather in the spirit of peace, community, and shared practice as we commemorate the Buddha’s birth, awakening, and parinirvana.

🤍 Community members are encouraged to wear white as a symbol of peace.

05/13/2026

⚠️ Road Closure Advisory for Sangha Members & Visitors

If you’ll be traveling to Deep Spring Temple / Zen Center of Pittsburgh in the coming weeks, please be aware that a portion of Fern Hollow Road is now closed to through traffic 24/7 between Audubon Road and Camp Meeting Road due to emergency slide repair work. The closure is expected to remain in place through mid-June.

Local access will be maintained, but if your usual route brings you through that section, please allow extra travel time and plan accordingly.

Detour (south of the closure):
➡️ Fern Hollow Road → Audubon Road
➡️ Left on Little Sewickley Creek Road
➡️ Left on Henry Road
➡️ Left on Camp Meeting Road
➡️ Continue straight onto Fern Hollow Road

Traveling north? Same detour in reverse.

Please help us spread the word so no one arrives unexpectedly delayed for service, classes, or practice. 🙏

For full details from PennDOT: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/penndot/news-and-media/newsroom/district-11/2026/route-4032-fern-hollow-road-emergency-slide-repair-begins-tuesda

05/07/2026

Please join us on May 17th for the Buddhist Society of Pittsburgh’s 18th Annual Vesak Celebration & Peace Walk.

This year’s gathering, “Watering Seeds of Peace,” will begin at the Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side, where local sanghas will come together in celebration of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.

Following the opening program, the assembly will participate in a Peace Walk through the North Side and conclude at the riverside with a Dharma talk offered by Reverend Kotoku Crivello.

All are welcome.
We hope you will walk with us.

May 17, 2026
3:00–5:00 PM

04/19/2026

Happy Birthday Buddha

02/23/2026

Saturday Morning at ZCP
https://conta.cc/4aRQsAH

Email from zen center of pittsburgh Class announcement Image: Dōgen's kechimyaku (lineage document), from: Dōgen zenji zenshū 道元禪師全集 [Collected works of Zen master Dōgen], vol. 2, ed. Ōkubo Dōshū 大久保道

01/24/2026

Weather Closure Notice

Due to extreme weather conditions forecast for this weekend, the Zen Center of Pittsburgh will be closed on Sunday the 25th. The regular Sunday Zoom service will also be cancelled.

For those who planned to attend visiting teacher Kokyo Henkel’s dharma talk, it will still take place and will be streamed in lieu of service via our regular Zoom link at 10:45 a.m.

Please stay safe and warm.

12/26/2025

This might be the first digitally printed Rakusu ring ever created.

12/14/2025

The annual Rohatsu sesshin, Dec. 1-8, was especially magical this year thanks to all who attended and everyone who supports Deep Spring Temple.

12/14/2025

📢 Weather Closure Notice

Due to inclement weather and poor road conditions, Zen Center of Pittsburgh and Deep Spring Temple will be closed today.

🖥️ Sunday Service will still be held on Zoom, as usual, beginning at 8:55 AM.

Please stay safe and take good care. We look forward to practicing together online.