About Appamada

A contemporary Zen center

Appamada’s focus is on bringing the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha's teachings to contemporary lives, through silent meditation, study, inquiry, and relational practicesWhat began as a small sitting group in 1995 has grown into a center where people come together every day — to sit, to study, to inquire, and to practice being present with one another. .We offer daily meditation, weekly dharma talks, intensives, classes, and a variety of other programs.

Our practice follows the tradition of the American Zen teachers Joko Beck and Shunryu Suzuki. In our teaching we draw on the Zen teachings and tradition, as well as other Buddhist teachings and contemporary work in psychology, interpersonal neurobiology, language, the sciences of complexity and ecosystems, the arts, community, and philosophy.

Appamada is a member of an international family of Zen communities called the MahaSangha.

Learn more about THE MAHASANGHA→

Our name

Our name comes from the Pali word appamāda. It was the Buddha's last word — his final instruction to those gathered around him as he was dying. Fare forward with care.

Translators have struggled with it for centuries. Heedfulness, diligence, vigilance — none quite captures it. Stephen Batchelor translates it simply as care: not a single state of mind, but an orientation, a commitment to being fully present and fully engaged with what is good. The Indian philosopher Asanga described it as 'energetically cherishing the good and guarding the mind against what gives rise to affliction.' It is at once a watchfulness and a warmth.

The Buddha compared appamāda to an elephant's footprint — so large it can contain the footprints of all other animals. In the same way, he said, care contains all of his other teachings. It holds the whole thing together.

We chose this name in 2009, after fourteen years of practicing together. It reflects not only our aspiration as teachers, but our sense of the community as a whole — a community committed to showing up with clarity, energy, and genuine care for one another and for the world.