{"id":9675,"date":"2026-10-13T14:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T11:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zencenterathens.com\/?p=9675"},"modified":"2026-10-13T14:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T11:08:08","slug":"shikantaza-resting-in-the-living-field-14-15-11-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zencenterathens.com\/en\/shikantaza-resting-in-the-living-field-14-15-11-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"SHIKANTAZA, RESTING IN THE LIVING FIELD, 14 & 15.11.2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t \n\t
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A two day workshop with Bernd Bender<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2013Sunday, November 14\u201315, 2026<\/strong>
\n11:00 a.m.\u20135:00 p.m. each day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saikenji Zen Temple Athens<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The zazen I speak of is not learning meditation. It is simply the doorway to rest and joy.”<\/em>\u2014Zen master Dogen<\/p>\n

What does it actually mean to \u201cjust sit\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shikantaza (Zazen), often translated as \u201cjust sitting,\u201d is one of the simplest instructions in Zen practice\u2014and at the same time one of the most subtle. If we are not trying to concentrate on a particular object, control our thoughts, or achieve a special meditative state, how do we actually practice? What are we resting in? And how can the instruction \u201cjust sit\u201d become something more than an idea?<\/p>\n

In this two-day workshop, Bernd Bender will explore shikantaza through a three-stage model of zazen. The model is not meant as a rigid sequence or a ladder of attainment, but as a way of noticing different dimensions that may open within the same practice.<\/p>\n

In the first stage<\/strong> we settle into the felt and breathing body. Rather than observing the body from a distance, we allow attention to rest in the immediacy of bodily experience\u2014in breath, sensation, weight, movement, warmth, tension, and release. We begin with what is immediately present and allow ourselves to rest in it.<\/p>\n

In the second stage<\/strong> awareness opens to include what appears around us as well: sounds, space, light, movement, and the presence of the world. Inner and outer experience are no longer treated as separate domains. As both are allowed to appear within awareness at the same time, the boundary between inside and outside, self and other, may become softer and more permeable.<\/p>\n

We begin to notice a distinction between the constantly changing contents of our experience\u2014sensations, thoughts, emotions, sounds\u2014and the open field of awareness in which they appear. Rather than being absorbed in particular experiences or trying to change them, we explore what it means to rest in this openness, allowing everything to arise and pass away. We may discover a sense of steadiness in the midst of the unsteadiness of our immediate experience.<\/p>\n

In the third stage<\/strong> even the sense of \u201cI\u201d that seems to be meditating, observing, thinking, and perceiving can be experienced as something arising within this same field. The meditator is no longer standing outside experience. The feeling of self appears in the same way as breath, sound, thought, or sensation. As the sense of self softens back into the field from which it arises, just sitting reveals itself as a liberating practice.<\/p>\n

The workshop is intended as a practical exploration. Over the two days, we will move between periods of silent zazen and guided meditation, talks and short practice impulses from Bernd, and group discussion in which we can reflect together on what we actually encounter in our sitting.<\/p>\n

The aim is not to master three techniques, but to deepen our understanding of the deceptively simple instruction: just sit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some experience of meditation is helpful, but the workshop is open to anyone interested in exploring shikantaza more deeply.<\/p>\n

Language<\/strong><\/p>\n

English with Greek translation when necessary<\/p>\n

Suggested Donations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regular Rate: \u20ac 80
\nReduced Rate: \u20ac 40
\nSupporter Rate: \u20ac 100
\nBenefactor Rate: \u20ac 200<\/p>\n

The workshop is open to everyone. Limited financial resources should not prevent anyone from participating.<\/p>\n

For further information and to register your participation please send us an email: info@zencenterathens.gr<\/a><\/p>\n

About Bernd Bender<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bernd Bender is the guiding teacher of Akazienzendo Berlin and has been practicing Zen since 1987. He lived at San Francisco Zen Center for 18 years, where he was ordained as a Zen priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He received Dharma transmission in 2017. Since 2012, he has lived in Berlin, where he offers regular Zen meditation, courses, talks, and secular meditation and mindfulness workshops, and accompanies people on their spiritual path.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \t<\/section>\n \n\n\n\t \n\t

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