Bo Kwang Zen Center is a Buddhist community dedicated to cultivating compassion and wisdom through Buddhist/Zen teachings. Our effort is directed toward reducing suffering, both our own and that of others. We train ourselves with emphasis in Buddhist meditation practices of mindfulness, stillness, and of loving-kindness, making an effort to bring these qualities into our everyday lives.
Our experience is that we suffer less if we can learn to notice our thoughts, reactions, and emotions as quickly as possible. Such mindful awareness expands our freedom, allowing us to make more skillful choices that create less suffering for ourselves and others. By cultivating stillness, we can begin to erode our negative habits, and respond more openly in our everyday lives. And developing a sense of universal friendliness helps us to recognize and act upon our infinite  connections within our world.

Do not believe in anything simply because you heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books...
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

But after observation and analysis when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all then accept it and live to it.                -Buddha