ETIQUETTE
The temple etiquette gives a framework to consciously carry out and process your own words and actions. They intend to make human coexistence smooth and pleasant and show, that you have yourself under control.
Basic
We are happy to share the temple life with you. If you cannot adjust to it, leave the temple immediately.
- Adapt yourself to the temple life, not the other way round!
- Be quiet and pay attention!
- Do not waste your own and other peoples time!
- Reduce talking and personal needs to the minimum!
- Choose your words and actions deliberately and consistently!
- Respect the hierarchy of the temple!
- Respect age!
- Do not be a burden to others and yourself!
- Leave any place clean and neat!
- Do not hang around!
- Be on time!
- Do not talk to much about personal stuff!
- Protect yourself and others by being a good role model.
- No fire!
Zen Diet
- We eat what is served and are grateful.
- The kitchen crew decides on what meal to prepare. Hence the diet can include everything: vegetables, meat, fish, etc.
- If you have allergies or have to take medication, please inform us prior to your stay.
Personal Needs
Holidays, free time and breaks are the time for personal needs. Living in the Zen temple offers space to reexamine life and death. Personal needs are reduced to a minimum in the Zen temple!
Templestay
The head monk / headnun has the right to cancel your templestay anytime.
Liability
The head monk and the temple take no liability for injury or property damage. Participation in the templestay / retreat is at your own risk. Practitioners in the Zen temple are responsible for insurance cover (health insurance, liability insurance, etc.). If you have any allergies or are taking medication, please inform the temple in advance of your stay.
Eating Etiquette
Even for the poorest meal we show deep thanks.
- Eat what will be served
- No leftovers
- Quietly and quickly, meal time is formal practice
Cook in the templekitchen
Besides the abbot, the chef is the most important person in the Zen Temple and responsible for the physical well-being and the health of the Zen students and guests. The temple chef prepares all meals wholeheartedly and makes sure that nothing is wasted. He is very appreciated and respected.
Misfortune does not enter the gate of the cautious.
Daily Cleaning & Work
A very important etiquette for the practitioner. Everyone concentrates the consciousness on the given task while working. Whispering and chattering while working is unthinkable. "Exercise in motion" and "exercise in silence" are equally valued. To work is to cleanse the mind. Work is a opportunity to meditate and become awakened to the real self. A small event in daily life can become an important moment of awareness for one who is in great darkness.
A day without work is a day without food.
LIFE AT THE ZEN TEMPLE
Practitioner
We have no place to lay our heads on, like drifting clouds and flowing waters. Our purpose is to awaken everyones true nature and offer a refuge for meditation and a place to reexamine the wisdom of the Holy and Wise Ones.
Meditation in movement has a thousand times more value than meditation in stillness.
Going to the temple
To block his view of the outer world and to concentrate his consciousness within his own being.
When there is no seed, it has already sprouted.
Arriving at the temple
But the seeker who wants to enter through this gate must have the key of the strong spirit and as a qualification for admission is checked whether he is fully equipped with: "Great Doubt", "Great Spirit" and "Great Faith".
Gateless Gate.
Permission to enter
A new practitioner will be pushed back instead of invited, because in zen it is believed, that the truth must begin with one`s own decision and that it is achieved through one`s own efforts.
Look beneath your feet.
Guest
To be in silence is a difficult experience. The mind filled with fond images of past life and the walls appear to have a thousand eyes. If the practitioner is lazy he will be rejected by the zen temple and must begin all over again. Greeting the head monk and thanking him for the hospitality is a good way to start.
Guest and host are clearly distinguished.
The Meditation Hall
To bow when entering the meditation hall means to give whatever effort is needed to realise wisdom which cuts down ignorance and duality.
In bare feet he climbs the mountain of blades.
Meeting with the Abbot
The abbot will ask the practitioner about his purpose in coming to the zen temple and promises to do all he can to help for the hoped-for awareness.
Thank you!
Daily Routine
The daily rules are purposely very strict to put the practitioners life in good order so that his inner being may attain right awareness. For this reason the beginners life is filled with admonitions from the elder.
A tiny gap a thousand miles away.
Donation
The practice of giving and accepting is at the heart of early Buddhist teachings.
To find out more, see our donation page.
Holiday
The practitioner goes about his private needs and tasks.
A day without work, but a day with food.
Interview
The abbot calls the practitioner individually for consultation at the battlefield of wisdom.
From heart to heart.
Compassion
"Compassion" is not "Pity".
Great Death.
Resourcefulness
Each moment of life is seen as an opportunity to attain enlightenment. Even the small and trivial tasks are not looked down upon.
Do not waste time!
Teacher & Student
In Zen, true awareness is not teachable in the usual sense. It can only be experienced beyond words and traditional teachings, because the core of Dharma can not be grasped in an intellectual way. The teacher needs to be an example and incentive for the student; he can show him techniques and ways to enlightenment, though in the end, the student has to attain it through his own effort.
Something special passes between them.
Meditation at Night
After the lights are turned off, the practitioner is always welcome to look for a place to meditate alone and quiet for himself until midnight.
Nothing is free.
Experience Awareness
Each person must experience this for himself, at least once in his life!
No further comment is needed.
Temple Etiquette