Tosei Shinabe

After eight years of training at a Zen temple in Kyoto, Tosei Shinabe now works to share Zen meditation as a practice that can be entered anytime, anywhere, by anyone.

As Ochill’s Chakō master, he leads tea smoking ceremonies and zazen meditation sessions, creating spaces for stillness, self-return and transformation. His practice is rooted in the idea of “Well-down”: a state of being in which one can step away from social expectation without burden, and feel naturally satisfied within oneself.

Through Chakō, a meditative practice of tea smoking using only nicotine-free tea leaves, and Saen gatherings that combine tea ceremony with Zen meditation, Shinabe expands traditional forms of contemplation into contemporary experience. His work also includes ambient installations using stone, smoke and other elemental materials, opening prayer-like states through art, ritual and atmosphere.