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Zazenkai January 12th, 2025

Every Sunday from 8am to around 9:30am we hold community zazen, or Zazenkai. It is a straightforward service with chanting, zazen, a short talk an opportunity at the end for casual conversation. Join us and meet the local sangha, learn the basics of Rinzai form and engage in the practice. For those unable to attend in person it is also available online via Zoom.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83385606387?pwd=dElXFI0CCaU4BkB23eSgmkh0yxIg7L.1

For more information on online Zazenkai see this post: Virtual Zazenkai

Chanting
Please download our full chant book for our opening chants: Virtual Sutra Book
We typically chant the Heart Sutra, page 1, Hakuin Zenji’s Song of Zazen, page 11 and The Four Bodhisattva Vows., page 16.

Reading
For 2025 we will continue reading from a collection of essay’s written by Mumon Roshi on Hakuin’s zenji’s Song of Zazen. A popular text in Japan since its publication the prolific Hakuin translator Norman Waddell translated it and it was published in Japan a year ago. Now Shambhala is releasing the book worldwide in early February. Publication and purchasing information here:  Zen Master Hakuin’s Song of Zazen

Please note that we have setup a mailing list that will send out the Zoom link every week. Click to Join the Tahoma Events Mailing List

We are only able hold these events thanks your generous support.

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Bodhi Day Ceremony

Bodhi Day Ceremony / Zazenkai
Sunday, December 8th, 2024

Bodhi Day celebrates the awakening of the Buddha. It culminate the week long end of year Rohatsu retreat. The Bodhi Day ceremony this year is open to all, whether you took part in any of the rest of the retreat or not, and at the very reasonable hour of 8am. I would like to encourage all in the community, especially those who haven’t come to Zazenkai in while, to consider coming for this ceremony and connecting (or reconnecting) with the local sangha.
We will follow the usual Zazenkai schedule and hold the ceremony in the second half of the program.   The whole morning will be broadcast via Zoom (details below

Celebration
 We will follow the Bodhi Day ceremony with a casual celebratory gathering in the Tahoma Dining Hall. This is open to everyone, no participation in any of the week, or even days events required. We would like to celebrate with all in our community. We will provide hot and cold drinks and sweet and savory snacks. If you want to bring something to share, by all means please do, but just bringing yourself will suffice. We’ll be in the Dining Hall by 9:45am.

Sunday, December 8th Schedule

Day 8: Morning Schedule
5am; Zazen; Kinhin; Kaimei Han
5:45am: Closing Sutras (p. 3,4,7); Sampai; Closing Remarks
6:25am Breakfast

Zazenkai and Bodhi Day Ceremony Schedule
8am: Chanting (p. 1)
8:10am: Zazen
8:30: Short Break
8:35: Bodhi Day Ceremony
Han;
Chanting (p. 24, 25, 3, 7, 10, 14)
Sampai, Incense Offering, Reading, Closing Remarks

Essential Information for those joining online
• Please tune in 5-10 minutes before the scheduled start time so you can be settled.
• The sutra book we will be using can be downloaded here: Virtual Sutra book
• Read these posts:  Guidelines for Virtual Events and Orientation to Virtual Sesshin.
• To receive the links for Virtual Events by email: Tahoma Events mailing list.

Zoom Link: [event has passed]

Please email us with any questions: Contact Information

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February 2025 OSesshin

Dear One Drop Sangha and Friends,

The February 2025 OSesshin with Harada Roshi at Tahoma Zen Monastery begins with kokuho on the evening of Thursday, February 20th and concludes the evening of Thursday, February 27th. 

OSesshin: Thursday, February 20th – Thursday, February 27th, 2025

  • Kokuho is Thursday evening, February 20th.
  • Full-time participation is required. OSesshin concludes the evening of Thursday, February 27th.
  • The link to the OSesshin application is near the bottom of this email. 
  • The fee is $450. Donations to support financial aid are welcomed.
  • Information about our covid protocol is below.

The application deadline for OSesshin is Thursday, January 9th, 2025. You will receive an email regarding your acceptance or wait list status soon after the deadline date of January 9th. If you are accepted, we’ll send you a link to a page where you’ll confirm your attendance and agree to the sesshin regulations. Payment information will be included in the acceptance email. Please send your sesshin fee as soon as possible.


IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THIS OSESSHIN  

  • Covid protocol: We’ll ask that you take a covid test before you come to Tahoma, upon arrival, and on day 3. Please wear a mask during your trip to Tahoma. We’ll also require masking during chanting. So please bring a supply of N95/KN95 masks and any extra covid tests you have.
  • We are not requiring a covid vaccination for this sesshin, but you are encouraged to get one. It’s best to get it about six weeks before the sesshin, which is about when we’ll send the acceptance emails.

Covid protocols are subject to change. If you are accepted into the sesshin, please read the most current information provided on the Policies Agreement that you will receive.

  • If you would like to arrive a day or two before sesshin and/or stay a day or two after sesshin please give us your arrival and departure dates when you complete the Policies Agreement. Any help with set up before or clean up following OSesshin would be greatly appreciated. You must contact us to make arrangements for the extra days. 
  • We hope that we will be able to conduct our February 2025 OSesshin but please recognize that our plans, as well as the dates, may need to change suddenly and without notice. If you are purchasing airline tickets please be prepared to cancel your reservations.
  • There may be a wait list for this OSesshin. Those on the wait list will be contacted immediately as spaces become available.

Apply here: OSesshin Application
 

Thank you,
ZenE Tami Settergren
OSesshin registrar
Tahoma Zen Monastery
tahomaapplication@gmail.com

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Rohatsu Retreat and Bodhi Day Ceremony

Rohatsu Retreat and Bodhi Day Ceremony
December 1st-8th, 2024

The autumn training period culminates with the Rohtasu sesshin commemorating the Buddha’s awakening.  This is always the most intense training period of the year in which one brings a years worth of training to bear.   This year Rohatsu at Tahoma will run from December 1st through the 8th with extended practice during our regular schedule leading up to a stretch of full-time, practice and culminating in the Bodhi Day Ceremony during regular Sunday Zazenkai.

The Bodhi Day ceremony is open to all and at the very reasonable time of 8am. I would like to encourage all in the community, especially those who haven’t come to zazenkai in while, to consider coming for this ceremony and connecting with the local sangha.  We will follow the Bodhi Day ceremony with a casual holiday gathering in the Tahoma kitchen.

This follows the pattern we have utilized in the past for Rohatsu at Tahoma where our days get longer and more intense as we go through the week as well as acknowledging the realities of practice here at this time. Likewise as is our tradition each evening of the retreat in the first period after golden hour we will read from Hakuin Zenji’s Rohatsu Exhortations (available here). 

The Rohatsu Exhortations talks will consider practice as Hakuin exhorted his monks to engage in, but will also consider practice from several angles including what we in this retreat are doing right now. Further information on this, as well as recordings of each days talks will be posted on the Drafty Mountain Hut practice blog.. I particularly encourage those taking part in the retreat to listen to the first nights talk as in it both the retreat is introduced as well as a parallel text that we will consider along with the Rohatsu Exhortations.
Rohatsu Exhortations Talks: A Pluralistic Approach, Part 2, Part 3

All of the practice periods during this week are open to drop-in attendance and during the full-time intensive period, residential practice. Additionally the entire retreat will be broadcast via zoom. The Zoom link will be posted on the website in the days prior and sent out in the Tahoma Events weekly mailing.  

Residential Retreat Options
The full time intensive training will take place December 5th-8th, with residency available. Please note that one can stay overnight from Saturday to the Bodhi Day Ceremony on Sunday for a full day intensive option. We need to know at least a few days in advance if you wish to stay here overnight. Please contact us if you would like to register for residential practice or if you have any additional questions.

Continue reading “Rohatsu Retreat and Bodhi Day Ceremony”
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November Zazen Intensive

November Zazen Intensive
November 9th, 2024


As we deepen our practice during the Autumn Training period please join us for a full day of Zazen. The day will run from 9:50am to 8:30pm in three blocks. One can come for as much or as little as one wishes. The schedule is such that people can easily travel here for the event and thus there is no residency option. There will not be meals served, but one is of course free to bring food or have meals off campus.

All periods are open for drop in attendance. Each hour will include zazen followed by kinhin, with the zazen periods following the schedule below. One can stay for as many periods as one is able. Please arrive/depart during the kinhin (walking meditation) periods which begin 10 minutes prior to the next period.

Broadcast Schedule
10am – noon: Zazen/Kinhin
2pm – 4:00pm: Zazen/Kinhin
6pm – 8:30pm: Zazen/Kinhin

We will continue to broadcast the sitting periods via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. The Zoom link will be posted in the days before the event. For those attending online please read this posts:  Guidelines for Virtual Events .

Zoom Link: [Event has Passed]

Continue reading “November Zazen Intensive”
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2025 Calendars Now Available

TO ORDER TAHOMA ONE DROP ZEN CALENDAR
We ask $20 for each calendar picked up in person at Tahoma monastery or at any of the local One Drop Zendos.

One calendar sent to a US address is $30, including postage & packaging. 2 calendars sent to a single address costs $55.

10 calendars are available for $150 plus postage, usually $25-$30, depending on where the calendars are to be sent. 

Postage rates to Canada are quite high, a minimum of around $25. That makes it necessary to ask $50 for a single calendar posted to Canada. We suggest that if you have an easy option for using a U.S. address, you use it. Mailing calendars elsewhere out of country is prohibitively expensive. 

For more questions or to place a mail order,  email Myosho at: boronart@centurylink.net

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Dahui’s Letters

Friend of Tahoma, Zen Priest, Scholar and Translator, Thomas Yuho, Kirchner has recently published his translations of Dahui’s Letters. One of the most important texts in the Linji (Rinzai) tradition, it has not been easily accessible to the Western audience. Dahui (DaiE) wrote letters to primarily lay practitioners of a professional class address struggles with practice amidst ordinary life. The practice instructions, advice, admonitions and diagnoses of the various afflictions that beset those engage in practice, are presented in an informal, but learned colloquial manner that resonate with contemporary practitioners.

Yuho’s translation is oriented around practitioners, around daily practices and maintains the flavor, as well as the depth of Dahui’s teachings. While there have been very well done academic translations, Yuho’s is approachable, yet rigorous and most importantly affordable and easily available. The above link will take you to a very affordable digital version of the book but a paperback edition is also available.

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October Zazen Intensive

October Zazen Intensive
October 19th, 2024


As we ramp up our practice during the Autumn Training period please join us for a full day of Zazen. The day will run from 9:50am to 8:45pm in three blocks. One can come for as much or as little as one wishes. The schedule is such that people can easily travel here for the event and thus there is no residency option. There will not be meals served, but one is of course free to bring food or have meals off campus.

All periods are open for drop in attendance. Each hour will include zazen followed by kinhin, with the zazen periods following the schedule below. One can stay for as many periods as one is able. Please arrive/depart during the kinhin (walking meditation) periods which begin 10 minutes prior to the next period.

Broadcast Schedule
10am – noon: Zazen/Kinhin
2pm – 4:00pm: Zazen/Kinhin
6pm – 8:45pm: Zazen/Kinhin

We will continue to broadcast the sitting periods via Zoom for those unable to attend in person. The Zoom link will be posted in the days before the event. For those attending online please read this posts:  Guidelines for Virtual Events .

Zoom Link: [Event has passed]

Continue reading “October Zazen Intensive”
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Tahoma Ceremony Recordings

On September 14th, 2024 Tahoma-san Sogen-ji Zen Monastery held a Ceremony for the Transmission of Daichi Zenni and Sozui Zenni; and a Shinkanshiki Ceremony in which Daichi and Sozui will take on new roles at Tahoma.

These events were held in-person at the Monastery but also broadcast via Zoom. They were recorded and while there were some technical and production issues, they have been edited and uploaded to YouTube. They can be viewed here:

Part 1 of the Transmission and Shinzanshiki Ceremony
Part 2 of the Transmission and Shinzanshiki Ceremony