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Zen Buddhist community in Wellington City

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Welcome to Green Mountain Zen!

We are a Zen Buddhist practice community based in Wellington, New Zealand. We offer a regular programme of classes in sitting meditation, half- and full-day Zen retreats and Sesshin (extended retreats). 

The community is under the guidance of Philip Shinko Squire, Roshi, and affiliated to Yokoji Zen Mountain Center in Southern California.

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Schedule of events

PLEASE NOTE: If you have never done any Zen Meditation before, please sign up for our intro session on the first Thursday of the month at 6:45pm

TIME & DAY

EVENT

Every Thursday at 7:30pm

Quaker Centre

Chanting, two 25 minute rounds of zazen, talk/discussion

Fourth Sunday of the month

9am – midday

Mar 29, Apr 26, May 24, Jun 28

Breaker Bay Hall 

Chanting, four 25 minute rounds of zazen, talk/discussion and lunch

Sesshin

28 April - 3 May 2026

27 Oct - 1 Nov 2026


Strathean Retreat

Otaki: 5-day silent retreat

Sign up for an introduction
to Zen Buddhism

If you have never sat Zen meditation before, please use the contact form below to sign up to one of our monthly introductory sessions!



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    About us

    Green Mountain Zen is a Zen Buddhist practice community based in Wellington. We are led by Philip Shinko Squire, Roshi an authorised Zen teacher in the White Plum tradition. He is a successor to Charles Tenshin Fletcher, Roshi – abbot of Yokoji Zen Mountain Center in California.

    We are a warm welcoming community of practitioners committed to training in the Soto Zen Way. Our sangha (community) meets weekly at the Quaker House in Central Wellington, and bi annually for sesshin (retreat) at Riverslea Retreat near Otaki.
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    GMZ Community

    Set words and phrases are not the words of
    liberation. There is something free from all of these understandings: "Green mountains are
    always walking," and "Eastern mountains travel on water." You should study this in detail.

    - Dogen Zenji

    What is Zen Buddhism?

    Zen is a school of Buddhism with its roots in China and Japan and was brought to the West by Asian teachers in the middle of last century. The word Zen simply means meditation or concentration and it is this sitting practice that forms the core of the tradition.
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    Zafu with Sunlight

    Meditation retreats with Green Mountain Zen

    The practice of sesshin (formal retreat) brings about insight and a deep knowing of the true nature of mind and your place in the world. Sitting together, and practicing coming back to the present moment again and again over a period of several days, you will begin to see the sometimes subtle ways you have bound and limited yourself. 
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    Get in touch




      Quaker Meeting House
      7 Moncrieff Street
      Mount Victoria

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