For new and advanced participants alike, Commit to Sit is a guided 90-day practice period designed to empower you on your Zen meditation journey through a structured and supportive community and environment led by renowned teachers in the US and Japan.
Short video reflections from NYZC’s Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei will be sent to you via email, highlighting key learnings from the guiding text and expounding upon it in support of your journey.
Acclaimed Zen teachers from across the US and Japan will join us for a weekly talk and interactive Q&A—live-streamed Monday evenings at 7pm ET and available afterwards via recording.
Learn and practice in our Online & In-Person Zendo (the “One-do”) with participants from around the world. Foster a sense of community wherever you are.
Engage in reflective discussions with fellow Commit to Sit practitioners through a private online forum.
The guiding text for this Winter's Commit to Sit will be Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life, a new compilation of teachings from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. We share more on this book below.
Commit to Sit starts January 14th, 2026!
The standard cost of this program is $108 — all payment levels offer the same access to the program.
Please choose a payment level that works for your financial situation. Supporter level and above pricing is available for those who wish to increase their support of NYZC and our work to make the dharma accessible to all.
13 esteemed Sōtō Zen teachers from the US and Japan support you in your journey to connection.
Click on any image to read the teacher's bio.
Becoming Yourself: Teachings on the Zen Way of Life brings together newly available teachings from Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, one of the most influential figures in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West.
For decades, the San Francisco Zen Center has preserved an archive of Suzuki's talks, many of which have never been edited or published until now.
Rather than presenting a set of techniques or philosophical concepts, Suzuki points to a fundamental way of being. He continually invites us to discover what it means to “become yourself”, not through striving or self-improvement, but through the simple practice of zazen, or “just sitting” as the expression of a fulfilling life and grounded ethical orientation.
In a time of profound uncertainty and upheaval, Suzuki Roshi's warm, humor-filled teachings offer a way back to the sanity and connection that people crave and need.
We are also honored to host Jiryu Rutschman-Byler, editor of this book along with the late Sojun Mel Weitsman, for one of the guest teacher dharma talks.
You do not need to purchase the book in order to participate in the program.
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