Zen and Now
With Paramananda
September 18 - October 2, 2026
Often when we begin meditating, we have a good practice, but after a few years, we struggle not to be caught up in our habitual thinking and find that our meditation seems to become more superficial. In the Zen tradition, it is said that we should always keep a “beginner’s mind.” On this silent meditation retreat, we will be looking at ways to recapture our natural curiosity and openness, understanding that it is this state of beginner’s mind that is meditation—rather than simply a method of meditating.
Through periods of stillness, simple teachings, and spacious practice, we will explore how to let go of striving and reconnect with the heart of meditation itself: a direct, open awareness of each moment, just as it is. In this way, meditation becomes less about achieving something and more about resting in the natural clarity, warmth, and ease that are already here.
Leader
Paramananda was born in 1955 in London. He took up meditation first in his late adolescence, Transcendental Meditation , which he did for a number of years, finding the organization behind the TM unattractive. In his 20s he was a psychiatric social worker and was deeply influenced by the anti-psychiatry movement, by people like R.D. Laing. He had an interest in sufism and taoism when he came across Triratna in 1982. He was ordained in 1985, worked in a Gardening Right Livelihood and after a few years after his ordination became chair of the West London Buddhist Centre. He later…
Learn more about Paramananda