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May 2023 Sesshin

Dear One Drop Sangha and Friends,

The May 2023 Osesshin at Tahoma Zen Monastery begins with kokuho on the evening of May 5th and concludes the evening of May 12th.  Please note that we will consider only applicants who are fully vaccinated, including with the latest bivalent booster. The latest booster is the one that became available in September 2022. 

Osesshin: Friday, May 5th – Friday, May 12th, 2023

  • Kokuho is Friday evening, May 5th.
  • Osesshin, led by Harada Roshi, concludes the evening of Friday, May 12th.
  • Full time participation is required.
  • The cost of Osesshin is $415.  

The application deadline for Osesshin is Friday, March 31st.  You will receive an email regarding your acceptance or waitlist status soon after the deadline date of March 31st.  Please send your sesshin fee once you have been notified of your acceptance.  Payment information will be included in the acceptance email. 

Apply here: [signups are closed. Please contact the registrar for late consideration]

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March 18th Zazen Intensive

As we move into spring we are going reformulate our monthly intensive.  Instead of being modeled on a retreat day we will simply offer a full day of Zazen. This will run from 9am to ~9pm in three, three hour 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. 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 

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February 11th Samu Day

Event has passed. Thanks to everyone who came out!

February 11th Samu Day
We encourage everyone to come join us in samu (work practice) toward the maintenance and upkeep of our monastery. Samu is a an opportunity to engage in practice in the midst of regular activities, engaging the One Mind in the actions we are engaged with. One of the primary activities we engage in during the February months is the pruning of the trees in our orchard and shrubs in the garden. Over the last few years that has been undertaken by the monastery staff and it is a task that we could use help with. Please join us Saturday, February 11th for a morning of work practice. We will have indoor tasks as well that need doing for those not up for outside work. We meet at the kitchen deck (coffee and tea provided) at a bit before 8:30am. We will work until noon and then share in a simple meal at 12:30pm.

Samu Day, February 11th, 2023
8:15-8:30am Meeting on the Kitchen deck
8:30am – Inside and outside cleaning
12 noon – Cleanup
12:30pm – Vegetarian meal

Contact information: Contact Us

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February 2023 Daylong Retreat

February 18th, 2023, 4:50am to 9pm (PST)

Please join us for a full day of practice as we begin the Winter Training Period this February 18th. During this retreat we will be continuing our study of Torei Enji’s Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp of the Zen School wrapping up the chapter on Faith and Practice and continuing on to the next chapter on The Realm of Delusions. Information and previous talks on this text can be found here.

All of the events of this retreat are open for in-person and drop-in attendance if you are fully vaccinated.  We 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. 

Essential Information for those joining online
• Please tune in 5-10 minutes before the scheduled start time so you can be settled.
• Download the monastery schedule: Daylong Retreat Schedule
• The sutra book we will be using can be downloaded here: Virtual Sutra book
• Information and talks on the Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp can be found here.
• 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.

Broadcast Schedule

Saturday, February 18th
5am to 7am: Choka; Zazen
10:30am to Noon: Zazen
2pm to 4:00pm: Dharma Talk; Zazen
6:00pm to 8:45pm: Zazen 

Zoom Link: [Event has passed]

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Happy New Year!

We wish you all the best in the Year of the Rabbit and that your practice remains strong. We hope to see you here at Tahoma Zen Monastery in 2023!

Please enjoy this gallery of photos from the recent snowstorm at Tahoma:

Tahoma Winter 2022
December 2022 at Tahoma
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New Years Celebration 2023

Please come and join us at Tahoma Zen Monastery for our annual New Years Celebration. We will sit zazen from 8:30pm until approximately 11:15pm followed by a chant ceremony and the traditional 108 strikes on the temple Kansho Bell at midnight..

Feel free to join the zazen at any point, coming in during kinhin (walking meditation) or a stretch break. During the evening one can always “sit out” a period of zazen, leaving during a stretch break or kinhin and taking a break, having a snack, or what-have-you, returning during another kinhin or stretch break.

Please note that full vaccination including with the latest boosters continues to be required for all in-person events. Newcomers to our events should email us with a photo of their vaccination card.

Directions to the Monastery can be found here: Directions to Tahoma.
If you have any questions do contact us: Contact Information.

December 31st New Years Eve Celebration Schedule
8:30pm-11pm: Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin
11:00pm: break/setup;
11:30pm: New Years Chanting
12:00am: Bell Ringing

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February 2023 OSesshin

This sesshin was canceled. Look for our next sesshin in May.

Dear One Drop Sangha and Friends,

The February 2023 Osesshin at Tahoma Zen Monastery begins with kokuho on the evening of February 5th and concludes the evening of February 12th.  Please note that we will consider only applicants who are fully vaccinated, including with the latest bivalent booster. 

Osesshin: Sunday, February 5th – Sunday, September 12th, 2022
Kokuho is Sunday evening, February 5th.  Osesshin, led by Harada Roshi, concludes the evening of Sunday, February 12th.  Full time participation is required.  The cost of Osesshin is $400.  

The application deadline for Osesshin is Monday, January 2nd.  You will receive an email regarding your acceptance or waitlist status soon after the deadline date of January 2nd.  Please send your sesshin fee once you have been notified of your acceptance.  Payment information will be included in the acceptance email. 

Apply here: [Signup Period has ended]

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Rohatsu 2022

Rohatsu Sesshin 2022

December 4th-11th, 2022


The autumn training period culminates with the Rohtasu sesshin commemorating the Buddha’s awakening.  This is always the most intense retreat of the year in which one brings the years worth of training to bear.  This year Rohatsu at Tahoma will run from December 4th through the 11th.  As has been the case with all Rohatsu’s at Tahoma the days get longer and more intense as we go through the week. For this year, the first three days of this retreat will be drop in only with periods in the morning and evening. The remaining days will be our regular full time Rohatsu schedule with drop in and residency options. All in-person attendance requires you to be fully vaccinated with the booster. 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 

Each evening of the retreat in the first period after golden hour we will read from Hakuin Zenji’s Rohatsu Exhortations (available here). During the full days of retreat the dharma talks will be from Torei Zenji’s Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp of the Zen School continuing with the chapter on Faith and Practice. Previous talks on this text can be found here. Day 6 and 7 will feature 10am instructional talks continuing the Autumn Training period theme of Calming and Contemplation. The previous talks can be found here.

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Tahoma Autumn/Winter 2022 Schedule

December 3rd
No Events in preparation for Rohatsu

December 4th
Zazenkai – in person and online. Start of Rohatsu Sesshin.

December 4th-11th
Rohatsu Sesshin. In person and online. Details: Rohatsu 2022

December 24th
Mumon Roshi Memorial. 5am, in-person only.

December 25th-31th
Winter closure: no online or in-person events

December 31st
New Years Ceremony. See here for details.

January 1st, 2023 – New Years Day
No Events

January 2nd, 2023
Regular Schedule resumes

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Power Out at Tahoma

November 9th Update: Power has now been restored at Tahoma and all activities are proceeding as normal.

The evening of the 4th there was a massive wind and rain storm that brought down many, many trees on the island. The power has been out since the early morning and the current estimate for its restoration is November 7th. That it should be noted is two days from the time of this post. The lack of power will affect some of the events here this week.

In general we will continue to follow the schedule here. There is no heat in the zendo and it is now expected to turn very cold. In the main I would encourage people to wait until the power is restored before attending any events. We will update here on the blog as well as on the Events Mailing List once power is firmly restored.

Zazenkai: There will be no Zazenkai online or in person on November 6th.

Morning Practice with Seattle One Drop Water Moon: We are going to postpone this to the following Tuesday: November 15th.