Berkeley Zen Center

Free meditation classes on Saturdays 8:45AM;
Formal Zazen (sitting zen meditation) periods six days per week, some with a brief optional «service» that encourages gratitude and humility, by bowing, and listening and harmonizing, by chanting.
The supporting members here cultivate kindness, being open minded, and being courageous while behaving appropriately, with clarity of thought.
Please know that this clean and well lighted place does not engage in worship, but provides the space and encouragements to listen, observe, and make decisions for yourself, honing your own instincts, perhaps to deepen your own «religion» or «spirituality» or become more free from hindrances.
When you visit, please bring your curiosity, courtesy, and patience.

It’s really a shame. Quite an unfriendly place. Also the teaching is dry, seems to be more intellectually focused than truly spiritually focused. Lots of people in robes, but I don’t get the sense that there is much enlightenment or awakening going on there. Make sure you are holding your hands correctly or someone with OCD will interrupt the whole ritual to tell you what you’re doing wrong.

It feels a bit strange leaving a Unilocal review for a space that advocates nonjudgment. However… Berkeley Zen Center is the real deal.
The center itself is lovely, and the energy has a humbling and disarming effect as you walk in.
The first time I visited, I got a bit lost, and got there about a half hour into the lecture.
When I asked the instructor at the front of the center if it was too late to
enter the zendo for the dharma talk, her response was, «never.»
When I entered the zendo, the room was full of students and teachers listening to Mel speak. Mel is the founding teacher there and the trend that I’ve noticed everywhere is that the founder of a space will effect everything… well, Mel is so approachable, gentle, and light-​hearted, it sort of creates just that kind of atmosphere. What a relief and what a gift!
They normally list who their speaker will be that day/​evening and you can get a feel for all of the teachers there by visiting their website and searching through their recordings before you visit.

Not amenable to outsides.
Really only welcoming people who will turn their lives upside down to spend a lot of time here. Visitors can come to the Saturday a.m. lecture, but don’t expect anyone to pay you any attention, however regularly you come, if you can’t show up most mornings at 5:40 am. Skip it.

Normally I wouldn’t add what is basically a church into Unilocal,but looky– they have «beginner’s class» for Zen meditation.
This is the real stuff kids; old-​school Soto Zen imported directly from Japan. Some of the Center’s (mostly Caucasian!) practitioners actually knew Suzuki Roshi. If you don’t know who that is… go read about him. This review will still be here when you get back…
…
…okay? Okay great. So what you do is you go on Saturday morning when they are prepared to deal with culture tourists. In a brief how-​to, they’ll show you the very basics of «zazen,» the practice of just sitting and attempting to center and quiet yourself. After the review, you’ll join the others in the the main space (the «zendo») and listen to a brief lecture. Be sure to be a nice culture tourist and leave them a little donation; everyone is a volunteer.
The free zazen instruction and orientation for beginners is on Saturday mornings from 9:20 — 10:00 am in the «Community Room,» but just go in and mill around and at some point you’ll be recognized and be shown where to go. The Saturday morning talk lasts until around 11am.
The place is tricky to find from the street; it’s half a block from the infamous «Thai Temple» in Berkeley where people go for brunch on Sundays, near the Ashby BART. Look for the street number on the gate (on a closed-​off street!) and just go through the gate.