Zen Center Dusseldorf
Previous
The History
Beginning in 1987, German students of the American Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel, Roshi, met regularly in Dresden and Düsseldorf, in Krefeld, Cologne, Mainz, and Meissen to sit zazen. These “sitting groups” joined together to form the informal “Kanzeon Zen Circle” and from their midst Kanzeon Sangha Deutschland e.V. was founded in 1996 as an umbrella for their activities.
The Düsseldorf sitting group of the Kanzeon Zen Circle had begun in 1989 in a private apartment as a weekly meeting place. Soon they moved to the old dance house in Börnestraße (“Werkstatt”) to accommodate the growing crowd of meditators. From here it went in 1994 for some years to the Prinz-Georg-Straße 100 and from 1997 in sublease for four years to the Aikido school Frank Ostoff (today Aikido center Düsseldorf) on the Helmholtzstraße.
As we organized more and more events and now offered several zazen sessions in the mornings and evenings each week, the number of participants grew and with it the desire to have a meeting place that was always accessible in its own place: a center. We started looking for real estate and in early 2001 we found the space we called “Zen Zentrum Düsseldorf” on Bastionstraße 31 in Düsseldorf’s Carlstadt district, on the second floor of a quiet backyard.
In 2010 we moved our center to Franklinstraße 39 – the increasing operating costs in the beautiful Carlstadt could no longer be met safely. Since then, the Zen Center Düsseldorf has been based in Derendorf, both physically and online with its program.
![Kanzeon Zen Center Bastion Street](https://kanzeon.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Kanzeon-Zen-Zentrum-Bastionstrasse.png)
Nowadays
The present
Our regular meditation evenings are held at the following address:
Practice Bettina Kelm / Zen Center Düsseldorf
Franklinstr. 39
40479 Düsseldorf
(Pempelfort / Zoo Quarter)
The present, unfortunately, has forced us to move our activities to the Internet. We hope to return to Franklin Street in the spring or summer. For the time being we invite to our online Zendo:
Meditation evening
The procedure
The sequence of the evening Zen meditation includes three periods of zazen (sitting meditation) of about 30 minutes, in between kinhin (walking meditation) and at the end a short recitation (“Four Vows”) and three full bows. We ask for a donation of 5 euros per participant per evening. This amount does not apply to club members.
Please contact us before your first visit. By arrangement we are happy to offer you an introduction of about one hour, or alternatively a short instruction if you already have experience in Zen meditation in a group.
Seat cushions, benches, sitting and meditation pads are available. Covered and comfortable clothes are requested, possibility to change clothes is available.
Directions
The way
The Zen Center Düsseldorf can be easily reached by public transport with the S-Bahn (stop Düsseldorf-Zoo) and with the streetcar lines 704 (stop Stockkampstraße) and 706 (stop Tußmannstraße). Please allow some time for parking when arriving by car.
Map / City map:
- Google Maps
- what3words: ///frieden.locke.feiern
Information
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