Zen Buddhist Temple-Toronto

Nice staff, beautiful place. Just sit...

They have a great " Introduction to Meditation" course! Check the website!

I've visited a few times, I really like the energy here. Looking forward to my return. Amit is a blessing.

Great place to be. Very friendly sangha. Regular meditation classes offered for all levels.

I love this place. Sanha is very inspiring, she leads the meditation with pure presence and embodies all the qualities I am trying to develop with my meditation practice.

Very warm and welcoming place. Not yet a full member but have found the Sunday services (both at 10:00 and 4:00; the latter is best for beginners) straightforward, helpful and well-organised. There's no pressure and you can meditate however you'd like, but they also offer training programmes for Korean Son (Zen/Chan) sitting practice. By far the best place to begin with this in Toronto, with plenty of events to encourage participation.

I am not sure how to accurately convey my experience here with a simple review. But hopefully, someone will hear what they need to hear in reading what I write here. I started here in 2011, coming my first time simply to learn how to meditate. I had no intention of getting into Buddhism, as the idea seemed foreign to me, and to be honest I was/am skeptical of religions as a whole to begin with. But meditation is a thing that has nothing to do with religions. So, for certain reasons that I won't get into, I wanted to learn. Or shall I say rather, that I felt obligated to learn. Wanting had really nothing to do with it... ...at first. I came once a week to meditate, and slowly at first, I became exposed to little things about Buddhism here and there. Quite honestly, I was expecting the hard sell, or at least a soft one from the Sunim (monk), and the Abbess. But what I got was neither. What I got were things that no matter how much I tried, and threw all of my experience and knowledge (and this was considerable, I believe) against I could not find any fault with. So this was enough to open the door wider for me to get a bigger step inside. The rest (as far as my story goes) is history. Buddhism (of the Korean Zen variety, as is the tradition here) gave me the tools to change my life from that of an abused and neglected child who grew up angry, disfunctional, emotionally scarred, traumatized, and - my major problem at the time, for which I was desperately seeking a solution to - ADDICTED TO FENTANYL (as well as just about everything else), to that of one who is at peace, and who sees the world completely different than I used to. Not so terribly deluded as I was, able to help others, able to find joy in my connection with others, and with all living beings. Able to be fully compassionate, fully empathetic, fully loving as an individual. I have this place to thank for all of that. I'd been to AA, NA, CA, rehab (8 times), detox (15 times), committed (twice), arrested (once, charged but not convicted), Kundalini Yoga for addiction program ($3000), retreats ( too many), seminars (too many), and odd ball programs here and there. Not saying that it all didn't work. It's all part of my story, and every bit of it has contributed to my betterment in some way or another. But any truth to be found in all of the aforementioned, is truth that the Buddha dharma is about specifically, almost as though all of these programs were attempts to convey a truth that Buddhism states without any cloud cover, or misunderstanding. I would not suggest simply showing up will solve all your problems in life, but you may just find what your looking for. If you come, you will be most welcome. Who knows, maybe even by me, lol.

A great place to spend your Sunday if you're into Zen meditation