Resources

Here are resources for learning more about Zen, the Soto School, Ryumonji Zen Monastery and the Iowa City Zen Center. 

Here is the Ryumonji website Look here for the Sesshin (intense meditation) schedule as well as information on this Iowa Zen monastery. 

Here is the Soto Shu website with useful information in English on the Japanese Soto Zen school. In particular this is has good pages on Posture and Breathing in Zazen, as well as Zendo Etiquette and a very complete explanation with pictures of Oriyoki ritual Zen meals. 

Also on the Sotoshu website are complete English translations of the Soto Zen Scriptures For Daily Services And Practice in pdf, including the Daihishin dharani, Heart Sutra, Merging of Difference and Unity, the Marvelously Beneficial Disaster Preventing dharani and many other important daily ritual texts in English.

Here are some videos in Japanese from the Young Soto Zen Priests Association.

• Here is the  Heart Sutra
  
• Here is the Daihishin dharani
  

It’s interesting to compare these videos with approximately 10 monks with the incredible scale of the daily morning ritual at Soji-ji, one of the head monasteries of Soto Zen and then with this video of the Kanzeon done at the New Years’ service at a small temple with just one monk and a lay sangha. 

Here are the Zen Center Bylaws