Mokurai — "silent thunder" — is a focused meditation timer designed in the Sanbo Zen tradition. It does one thing: helps you sit, with the bells that mark the rhythm of practice.
Plan a session in seconds. Choose the number of rounds, your zazen length, and kinhin (walking meditation) — between rounds as usual, or opening and closing the sitting. Pick from six authentic bell sounds — keisu, rin, inkin, meditation, temple, and Tibetan — and two wooden han clappers used to time kinhin.
Then make it match how your sangha actually practises. Set how many strikes open zazen, how many close it before kinhin, and how many end the sitting. Set every pause in between — standing after the closing gongs, walking back to your seat, settling before the next round — down to the second. Mokurai ships with the Sanbo Zen pattern and will return to it whenever you want.
Sitting where someone else rings the real bell? Switch the signal to vibration. The phone stays silent and the timekeeper feels each cue — three pulses for a bell, one for the han — so nothing but the real keisu is heard in the room.
A lights-out mode dims the screen for sitting in a dark zendo — a single tap, and the only thing left is the bell. The timer runs quietly in the background, so you can lock your phone or place it face-down and just sit. Your setup is remembered, so the next sit starts where the last one left off.
Your session history is recorded locally so you can see the consistency of your practice over weeks and months.
No accounts, no logins, no ads, no trackers, no analytics. Nothing leaves your device. Just a timer, bells, and your sit.
Features: • Rounds, zazen length, and kinhin — between rounds, or opening and closing the sitting • Set the bell counts to your lineage: opening zazen, closing before kinhin, ending the sitting • Every pause adjustable, down to the second — with the Sanbo Zen defaults one tap away • Six bell sounds and two han clappers rooted in real practice traditions • Vibration-only mode for retreats, when someone else rings the real bell • Lights-out mode for sitting in a dark zendo • Local session history — see your practice over time • Background audio so bells play even when the screen is locked • Your setup remembered between sits • Dark, distraction-free interface • No tracking, no accounts, no data collection
For sitters at any level — beginning, returning, or longstanding.
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