The Blue Plum Zendo is the central meditation hall at Studio Hum, where our Blue Plum Zen Group meets weekly to practice within the 8 Gates of Zen - the basis of training in the Mountains & Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism. The Eight Gates offer us a tangible way to take up the whole of our lives as a path of spiritual practice, revealing that even as we are engaged in our busy lives in the world, all aspects of our being are vital to our study and practice of the path.
These include zazen (meditation), liturgy, art practice, body practice, work practice, right action, Buddhist study, and we also offer access to study with Zen Teachers in our Order. See below for our programs, and for information about the Mountains & Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism and our Tea Ceremony instructor.
The Blue Plum Zen Group has a particular focus on the arts, as we are nestled within a creative studio environment and are fostering connection between traditional zen arts and local mountain arts. Our traditional zen arts classes include chado (tea ceremony), calligraphy, and ikebana (flower arranging). We also have a focus on the environment, with forest land in Unicoi County that we visit regularly for forest immersion practices, and with our ongoing environmental action opportunities.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Tea Ceremony Lesson with Atsumi Matsuda
Saturday June 6 11am - 1pm
Please join Atsumi Soatsu Matsuda in a Chado lesson for beginners with a special ceremony in the Urasenke tradition. For those who are new to meditation practice, tea ceremony can be a path to entering the larger universe of Zen and its arts. For those who practice zazen, tea ceremony offers an incisive opportunity for expressing the mind of Zen in everyday activity. Matcha green tea will be served along with tea sweets.
Suggested donation $20
Shakyo - Sutra Copying with Junko Arnold
A Calligraphy Workshop
Saturday July 11, 10am - noon
Join Junko in the practice of tracing sacred scriptures with the whole body and mind. Explore using ink and brush to copy the characters of the Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra. Ground yourself in this simple yet profound activity. No experience required! Papers, brush, ink, and pens provided.
Registration required. Suggested donation: $20
RECURRING PROGRAMS
Sunday Morning Program
9:00am - Noon
Join for a traditional liturgy service and 2 periods of zazen (meditation), followed by a dharma talk streamed live from Zen Mountain Monastery.
Those attending for the first time will be given beginning instruction in zazen and a brief orientation to zen practice.
8:55am doors open and tea offered
9:15am Liturgy followed by (2) 35 minute periods of zazen with kinhin (walking meditation) in between
11:00am Dharma Talk streamed in from ZMM
$5 suggested donation
Registration is not required. Please double check out studio calendar link above to confirm there is no change to to the usual schedule.
Weekday Zazen
THURSDAYS 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Join for evening zazen and Buddhist study session with group reflection period where we will be taking up various themes.
If you have not had beginning instruction to Zazen, please come on Sunday to receive instruction. If this is not possible for your schedule, please reach out to info@studiohum.org.
Half Day Sit
June 27 9:00am -12:00pm
A 3 hour practice intensive welcome to those new to Zen practice or meditation, as well as more experienced practitioners. Join for a morning of silence and stillness with several 35 minute periods of zazen (seated meditation) and kinhin (walking meditation) in between, and opening and closing with some chanting. Half day sits are a wonderful way to deepen your practice with the support of the sangha.
Please arrive by 9:25 and be seated in the zendo to start at 9:30am. Beginning instruction is offered at 9am if you are new to the zendo.
Suggested donation $20
drop ins welcome.
Art Practice
Fridays, 10:30am -12pm June 12 / July 3, 10, 31 / Aug 7
Summer Art Practice Series with Hojin Sensei - “When the World Becomes Colorful”
Online - Register via Zen Mountain Monastery website in the link below.
Program is by donation.
This summer we’ll explore color as a living presence—working from our home spaces, indoors and out. Through collage and simple, improvisational practices, color becomes form, sound, movement, and feeling—drawn from the textures of our own lives.
What is the sound of red? How does purple move? Where does color live in the body? What color is this moment, this mood, this encounter?
Letting go of the need to understand, we open to something immediate and responsive—alive through the senses. We’ll also work with natural colorants, as Hojin introduces the practice of “juicing.” Come to experiment, to not know, and to be surprised!
If you’re a newcomer, welcome to this online art practice collaboration. You can start where you are, we all have the experience necessary. Participants can work in any medium (s) in your home studio and on ZOOM with inspiring Dharma words and prompts offered by Hojin Sensei to spark the fire of our innate creativity.
Tea Practice
Next date to be announced…
Informal Tea Ceremony practice with Kiho in the Urasenke style.
Matcha green tea will be served along with tea sweets.
Suggested donation $10 -15
Drop-ins welcome
Body Practice
Lotus Room Offerings at Studio Hum
See the Lotus Room calendar for a full schedule of body practice offerings including yoga, dance, and more.
Practicing in the tradition of
The Mountains and Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism
The Blue Plum Zen Group is an informal affiliate of the Mountains & Rivers Order. Zen practice is facilitated by Polly Kiho Horne & Dan Burney, under the guidance of their teachers and sangha. Kiho is a jukai student in the Mountains and Rivers Order with 15 years of lay Zen practice at Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn, NY, Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY, and now Johnson City, TN. Originally from Unicoi County, Kiho is a Zen student of ZMM’s Abbot, Shugen Roshi - and a tea student of Atsumi Matsuda Sensei. Her husband, Dan Burney is in the process of becoming a formal student of Shoan Sensei, and is the Studio Hum manager.
Images from our January 2026 Eye Opening Ceremony with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi, Abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery and Head of the Mountains & Rivers Order
Learn More About The Mountains & Rivers Order of Zen Buddhism
Learn More About Uraskenke Chanoyu
Tea Ceremony teachings are guided by Atsumi Soatsu Matsuda Sensei in the Unrasenke Tradition of Japanese Tea Ceremony (Chado). Atsumi Matsuda has studied tea ceremony in Japan for over 30 years and holds a Certified Tea Instructor license. She is also a member of the Urasenke U.S. & Canada Tea Ceremony Association, and the Knoxville Asian Cultural Center.
Atsumi Sensei visits the center quarterly and Chado practice session are held in between her visits.
