A socially distanced Sunday evening meditation at Blue Cliff Zen Center in Eugene.
Photos by: Matt Shinkai Kane

From the challenges of the coronavirus, Blue Cliff Zen Center has developed a hybrid of Zoom and in-person Sangha gatherings that is working well and will likely be our way ahead.

Like many Sanghas, our Eugene, Oregon Zen center has undergone abundant change this past year due to COVID-19. The circumstances have pushed us into completely new technology territory, and have created opportunities for people who did not before have access to our activities.

Danni Seiko Frans leading socially distanced Zen yoga during an August, 2020, Zen retreat at Saraha in Eugene.

We’ve found that offering our weekly meditation gatherings simultaneously  in-person and  via Zoom has nourished us, and has helped us ride through the pandemic. By always offering both options we can include virtually those who are cautious about gathering with others, while also offering safe, in-person connections for others.

Our meditation community is on a residential street in the middle of Eugene. We share the 40-by-25-foot space with a yoga studio called Everyday People Yoga. Several beloved massage therapists practice quietly in the rooms leading to the meditation hall, which is the space’s inner sanctum.

Our zendo is hidden behind several nearby photography and multi-media studios. An arrangement of dark green plants brings color to our plain white walls. Seven large skylights are our only windows to the outside world. 

Matt Shinkai Kane demonstrating a Zen yoga shape which opens into the liver energy channels.

Our Zen center belongs to the Japanese Rinzai Zen lineage and the Zenways branch (Zendo Kyodan) of our teacher, Zen Master Shinzan Miyamae. A wise, compassionate and  colorful figure who lives in Japan, Miyamae turned 85 this year. He’s always been a firm believer in what he calls “lay Buddhism” (zaikei bukkyo).

A wide array of meditators make up our Sangha: college students from the University of Oregon and Lane Community College, eclectic spiritual seekers, people passing through, yoga teachers, and retired folks. We try to make meditation practice accessible to all of them, and include only a small to medium amount of bowing, chanting and Zen ceremonies.

In addition to sustaining our weekly Zen meditation gatherings, the in-person/Zoom hybrid model has supported other activities we offer.

Zen Yoga

Participants work on their spiritual question (koan) at a pre-covid spring Breakthrough to Zen Retreat.

We offer Zen yoga classes through the yoga studio that we share space with. Zen yoga practice weaves together the elements of correct alignment, energy flow, and awareness. Zen Master Hakuin wrote that Buddhas are like water, and ordinary beings are like ice.

Zen yoga practice is a wonderful way of softening and releasing into areas of tension and holding in the body. A melting takes place. It complements seated meditation practice well, which can become closed off if the body is overlooked.

We’ve found that teaching Zen yoga through the hybrid model is ideal. The computer is positioned off to the teacher’s side and elevated on a high table, which gives the Zoomers a clear, bird’s-eye view. Using a bluetooth headset works very well, because students can hear clearly and feel almost like they’re in the room.

Charles Matoon and Aviva Suchow working together at a pre-covid Zen Jin Shin workshop.

Initially we tried a standing microphone but received feedback that the echoes were distracting and the volume inconsistent. The bluetooth headset, on the other hand, lets each instructor demonstrate postures while speaking normally, without worrying about which direction they’re projecting their voice.

Admittedly, simultaneously teaching students in-person and virtually while wearing a mask and headset is a lot to keep in mind! Feedback has been helpful, as we’ve sorted through the multiple modalities.

Zen Jin Shin Workshops

Thomas Walker and Heather Peterson, during a pre-covid Breakthrough to Zen retreat.

Offering Zen Jin Shin workshops via the hybrid model has helped expand our reach internationally. We’ve been able to offer these to fellow Zenways members including our sister Sangha in the United Kindom, which includes people scattered across Europe. Another convenient aspect of Zoom is that we can easily record the workshops and upload them to YouTube, making them immediately available for people to watch later or return to.

Presentation-wise we’ve had a heck of a time demonstrating to people via camera where are the precise points on the body; it’s surprisingly easy to mix up your “lefts” and “rights” when you’re in the shape of a human pretzel! I’ve learned the importance of rehearsing beforehand.

Zen Jin Shin is a practice I learned while training in Japan and the U.K. It works by releasing tension and blockages in the energy channels of the body, harmonizing their flow.

Many energy lines run through the body and each supplies its area with the necessary energy and vitality. These energy lines are also linked to the organs, and facilitate transfering energy among them. It’s not uncommon during meditation for a variety of conditions (sensations, emotions, memories) to shake loose.

Zen Jin Shin is a deliberate way of bringing these dimensions into conscious awareness so they can be faced, felt, and let go fully. It’s another excellent complement to formal seated meditation practice, targeting particularly charged, reoccurring phenomena.

Breakthrough to Zen Retreats

Another activity that has been interesting to navigate during COVID-19 is our “Breakthrough to Zen Retreats,” which we call BZRs. These retreats involve sitting face-to-face with a partner while working on a koan. One person is in the role of a listening partner, one in the role of a contemplating partner. Each round consists of five-minute periods during which the question is posed by the listening partner and then contemplated upon by the other.

A Zen yoga period during a pre-covid summer Zen retreat at Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Institute in Eugene.

The roles are then switched and this process is repeated four times (40 minutes in total) to complete one “group sanzen period.” It’s a powerful way to help people get that initial shift into the world of enlightenment.

Technology-wise we’ve found that breakthroughs to Zen cannot be run effectively using the in-person/Zoom hybrid model. Due to the necessity of sitting face-to-face with a partner, impossible now with physical distancing, we offer these exclusively over Zoom.

The “breakout room” function on Zoom has been particularly helpful with pairing people up and giving them space to practice. The virtual version of this retreat remains quite powerful and transformational.

Zen Master Mumon talks about arriving at a village after dark when the gate is locked. You pick up a piece of brick from the ground and knock and listen, knock and listen… Working with a koan in this way, strengthened and expedited by your partner’s presence, allows layers of identification to fall away quite quickly.

Often this process doesn’t happen in solo seated meditation, because of a tendency to stay stuck in things. Communicating to your partner what arises allows this stuff to be let go cleanly, and for you to get a clear look at who and what you really are.

The BZRs were designed by my elder Dharma brother Daizan Roshi, of Zenways Sangha in London. They were influenced by Shinzan Roshi (who emphasizes the power of group practice and energy work in awakening), Charles and Eva Berner (pioneers of “Enlightenment Intensives”), and modern neuroscience (breakthrough psychology, i.e., the study of what causes breakthrough experiences or shifts in consciousness).

In summary, we’ve found that the pandemic has had many silver linings! It’s pushed us out of our comfort zone to a hybrid model, which has brought our Sangha more connection and enabled us to expand our range.

We’re still learning and trying things as we go. For example, as we move into 2021 we’re hoping to increase the quality of the video streaming in different ways (finding a less-grainy webcam and better lighting). So it’s been an exciting year! – “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf…”