Every day during the OSesshin there will be Teisho (dharma talk) from Shodo Harada Roshi. Talks are in Japanese with translations by Daichi Zenni. The talks begin at 1pm and it is requested that attendees arrive 10-15 minutes early to allow time to walk to the zendo and get settled. There will be staff to assist with parking and making your way to zendo. There will be chairs and cushions available for seating and staff on hand to facilitate finding your seat.
Roshi will be speaking on public cases (koans) from the Blue Cliff Record. Please do come for this unique opportunity to hear a living Zen Master speak on the words of our Zen ancestors.
PLEASE NOTE The monastery will otherwise be closed to the public during the sesshin. Please see our calendar for the resumption of our regular schedule.
January 31st Community Samu Day We encourage everyone in the general vicinity of the monastery to come join us in samu (work practice) toward the maintenance and upkeep of our monastery. Samu is a an opportunity to take part in practice in the midst of regular activities, engaging the One Mind in the actions we are engaged with. There are indoor tasks and outside tasks that need doing as we ready the monastery for the February OSesshin.
Please join us Saturday, January 31st for a morning of work practice. We meet at the kitchen deck (coffee and tea provided) at a bit before 8:30am. We will work until a little after noon and then share in a simple meal at 12:30pm.
CommunitySamu, January 31st, 2026 8:15-8:30am – Meet on the Kitchen deck 8:30am – Inside and outside cleaning 12:15pm – Cleanup 12:30pm – Vegetarian lunch
Please contact us if you have any questions. As always we are deeply appreciative for the support of the sangha; we couldn’t exist without your continuing support.
The New Year is a time for renewal–a time to renew our vows to liberate all beings, to rededicate ourselves to investigation into this great matter and to engage in Serious Practice. To best take advantage of the sesshin we engage in, we must practice seriously throughout the year. Week long retreats should be devoted to awakening and thus we must sustain our practice in between. Daily practice, deeper monthly practice, this is what nourishes us, keeps our condition strong, the practice simmering along.
Daylong retreats are an opportunity for sustained practice, to delve into this great matter in a more concentrated way. In order to facilitate sustained practice for the myriad situations that we moderns find ourselves in we offer several options to facilitate taking advantage of this daylong retreat.
Option 1 – Drop in Attendance You are welcome to come for any of the four blocks of practice offered throughout the day. You should arrive ten minutes early and be seated in the zendo before the outside bell is rung (gosei). Alternatively you can arrive during the midpoint of the period during kinhin (walking meditation). and join the line. If you arrive while a period is still in progress please wait in the entrance (the gaitan) until kinhin. After the block concludes, you should depart in a timely manner.
Option 2 – Part Time attendance You can join in for part of the day across multiple periods, or arrive at a point during the day and stay until the next day, or whatever works with your schedule. Arrivals and departures should take place in-between the practice blocks so as to seamlessly integrate into the sesshin. To arrange for part time attendance it is essential to contact us with your plans some days in advance.
Option 3 – Full Time attendance To take part in the entire retreat you need to contact us at least several days in advance to register. For full time attendance you can arrange to stay at the monastery Friday and/or Saturday night as needed.
Please Note We offer these events without a set cost, but please be aware that there are costs associated with putting them on and donations are very welcome.
In 2026 we will continue to utilize Tendo’s practice book Dewdrops on Stinging Nettles, along with various supplementary material, for the various talks. This book is oriented around practice in our times and thus provides guidance for how we approach and engage in our practice in every circumstance. Additional information can be found here: Dewdrops on Stinging Nettles.
The Dharma talk will by on the practice of Gazing, a body of techniques for utilizing our senses and surroundings as a site of practice. There will also be an instructional talk mid-morning considering Non-Dwelling. Previous dharma talks, Instructional Talks and Guided meditations are archived on this page: Dream Mountain Teachings.
Join us Online
We will continue to broadcast these retreats via Zoom for those unable to join us in person. We will begin the online broadcast during regular Friday evening zazen and conclude after Sunday’s Zazenkai allowing for one to be able to extend ones practice beyond the full day.
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: [Event Has Passed]
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.
The February 2026 OSesshin with Harada Roshi at Tahoma Zen Monastery begins with kokuho on the evening of Wednesday, February 4th and concludes the evening of Wednesday, February 11th.
OSesshin: Wednesday, February 4th – Wednesday, February 11th, 2026
Kokuho is Wednesday evening, February 4th.
Participation all seven days is required. A reduced schedule is available for those over 70. This may also be available for those whose physical needs require an abbreviated schedule. Those following the reduced schedule will need to find accommodations outside of the monastery. Unfortunately, Enso House is no longer available for this.
OSesshin concludes the evening of Wednesday, February 11th.
The link to the OSesshin application is near the bottom of this email.
The application deadline is Monday, December 15th. We will send out acceptance emails on December 17th. If you are accepted, we’ll send you a link to a page where you’ll confirm your attendance and agree to the sesshin policies. Payment information will be included in the acceptance email. Please pay your sesshin fee as soon as possible.
You must confirm your attendance by December 23rd or you might be placed on the wait list and your place given to someone already on the list. You will be able to change your arrival/departure dates later if necessary.
The fee is $450. Donations to support financial aid are welcome. Details on financial aid are in the application form.
Information about our covid protocol is below.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THIS OSESSHIN
Covid protocol: Please take a covid test before you come to Tahoma and wear a mask during your trip. We’ll also require masking during chanting, so please bring a supply of N95/KN95 masks.
We are not requiring a covid vaccination, but you are encouraged to get one. You are also encouraged to get a flu shot. It’s best to get vaccinations at least six weeks before the sesshin.
Covid protocols are subject to change. If you are accepted into the sesshin, please read any updated information that may be provided on the Policies Agreement 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. We will contact you to regarding arrangements for the extra days.
We hope that we will be able to conduct this OSesshin, but please be aware 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. Those on the wait list will be contacted immediately as spaces become available.
Bodhi Day Ceremony / Zazenkai Sunday, December 7th, 2025
Bodhi Day celebrates the awakening of the Buddha. It culminates the our end of the autumn training period Rohatsu retreat. The Bodhi Day ceremony 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.
Rohatsu Retreat and Bodhi Day Ceremony November 30th-December 7th, 2025
Update 12.05.25 We have added to the schedule an Instructional Talk on the investigative method of Interrogation (huatou, koan). This will be 10am on Saturday, Dec. 6th. These techniques, of working skillfully with words, are so often approached in an ineffective manner. We will try to clearly present the technique with this talk.
Update 12.01.25 The opening talk from this retreat, given on Sunday Nov. 30th, is now available for download. This talk discussed how we approach retreat and the necessity and level of commitment we should bring to intensive practice. It concludes with the first entry from Haukin Zenji’s Rohatsu Exhortations. Download here: Approaching Retreat–Rohatsu 2025
The autumn training period culminates with the Rohatsu 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 November 30th-December 7th with extended practice during our regular schedule leading up to a stretch of full-time, practice and culminating with 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.
The retreat will follow 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).
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 4th-7th, with residency available. Please note that one can stay overnight any of these days, so you could, for instance, be resident from Saturday through the Bodhi Day Ceremony on Sunday for more of a weekend retreat. 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.
Drop in and part time options are available as usual, please contact uswith any questions. We need to be notified in advance if you wish to stay through any meals to aid in our food preparation.
Rohatsu Daily Schedule
Day 1: Sunday, November 30th 8am – 9:30am: Zazenkai and Rohatsu opening with reading from Rohatsu Exhortations.
Day 2: Monday, December 1st 6pm: Uninterrupted Zazen; Kinhin 7pm: Rohatsu Exhortationsreading; Zazen; Kinhin 8pm: Zazen
Days 3 & 4: Tuesday December 2nd and Wednesday December 3rd 5am: Choka; Zazen; Kinhin 6am: Zazen 6pm: Uninterrupted Zazen; Kinhin 7pm: Rohatsu Exhortationsreading; Zazen; Kinhin 8pm: Zazen
Days 5-7 Thursday, December 4th – Saturday, December 6th 5am: Choka; Zazen; Kinhin 6am: Zazen 10am: Instructional Talk [Day 7] / Zazen [Day 5, 6 11am: Zazen 2pm: Dharma Talk; Kinhin; 3pm: Zazen 6pm: Uninterrupted Zazen; Kinhin 7pm: Rohatsu Exhortationsreading; Zazen; Kinhin 8pm: Zazen; kinhin 9pm: Zazen [Each day runs longer; please download the Schedule for complete details.]
Day 8: Sunday, December 7th 5am: Zazen; Kinhin 5:45am: Closing Sutras; Closing Remarks 8am: Zazenkai and Bodhi Day Ceremony 9:45am: Bodhi Day Celebration (in-person only)
This retreat is offered without charge, however there are costs to putting it on, so please consider making a donation online or in person with this in mind.
As it turns cold, rainy and dark this is the best time to renew our dedication to practice. Practice is a muscle that must be exercised to maintain its conditioning and to increase its strength and endurance These daylong retreats are an opportunity for sustained practice, to delve into this great matter in a more concentrated way. In order to facilitate sustained practice for the myriad situations that we moderns find ourselves in we offer several options to facilitate taking advantage of this daylong retreat.
Option 1 – Drop in Attendance You are welcome to come for any of the four blocks of practice offered throughout the day. You should arrive ten minutes early and be seated in the zendo before the outside bell is rung (gosei). Alternatively you can arrive during the midpoint of the period during kinhin (walking meditation). and join the line. If you arrive while a period is still in progress please wait in the entrance (the gaitan) until kinhin. After the block concludes, you should depart in a timely manner.
Option 2 – Part Time attendance You can join in for part of the day across multiple periods, or arrive at a point during the day and stay until the next day, or whatever works with your schedule. Arrivals and departures should take place in-between the practice blocks so as seamlessly integrate into the sesshin. To arrange for part time attendance it is essential to contact us with your plans some days in advance.
Option 3 – Full Time attendance To take part in the entire retreat you need to contact us at least several days in advance to register. For full time attendance you can arrange to stay at the monastery Friday and/or Saturday night as needed.
Please Note We offer these events without a set cost, but please be aware that there are costs associated with putting them on and donations are very welcome.
The talks during this retreat will be from the recently released second edition of Tendo’s practice book Dewdrops on Stinging Nettles. This completely revised and expanded edition of the book is available everywhere including as an eBook on all major platforms, for last minute acquisition. Additional information can be found here: Dewdrops on Stinging Nettles.
The Dharma talk will continue with the Introduction to the Dream Mountain Way began at the Summer retreats. The earlier parts are all archived and can be dowloaded from the Teachings page on the Dream Mountain site.. This fourth and final part will be on Right Orientation for Practice. There will also be an instructional talk mid-morning considering Investigating Thoughts. All of the previous instructional and dharma talks are archived on this page: Dream Mountain Teachings.
Join us Online
We will continue to broadcast these retreats via Zoom for those unable to join us in person. We will begin the online broadcast during regular Friday evening zazen and conclude after Sunday’s Zazenkai allowing for one to be able to extend ones practice beyond the full day.
