Staying with the practice, moment by moment, fully engaged throughout the ninety day training period we will build on our momentum with a daylong retreat in November. The last event before Rohatsu it is a perfect way to work out the kinks and acclimate to online practice. As with the rest of the Autumn Kessei we will continue to investigate the Letters of Dahui and his teachings for lay practitioners without ready access to a teacher. Truly valuable teachings for these times and for lay practice in general. This retreat is offered virtually with limited in-person attendance, restricted to those in the local area, contact us if interested.
Keeping ones practice solid, energetic and ever deepening is why we push hard during the training period. Keeping up the momentum in October we offer a long weekend retreat. Two full days followed by a half day on Sunday to deepen or renew your commitment. We will continue our investigation of the Letters of Dahui and his teachings for lay practitioners without ready access to a teacher. Truly valuable teachings for these times and for lay practice in general. This retreat is offered virtually with limited in-person attendance, restricted to those in the local area, contact us if interested.
Our October Virtual KoSesshin for 2020 begins October 16th at 5am and runs through Sunday October 18th. Friday and Saturday will utilize our standard virtual KoSesshin schedule (see below) and Sunday will incorporate Zazenkai and conclude at noon with an open Q&A.
For the Dharma Talks we will be reading from Torei Enji’s Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp of the Zen School translated by Yoko Okuda from Tuttle Publishing. Download a PDF of it here (note: links to a 43MB pdf). This has been the reading material for our Autumn Kessei and you can find notes and recordings of the previous discussions here: Discourse on the Inexhaustible Lamp.
You can download the sutra book that we will be using here: Virtual Sutra Book
The opening day of the sesshin is Friday October 16th at 5am. We request that everyone join all of our events a few minutes early so that you have time to start up the connection and settle in before things begin.
Zoom Meeting: [event has passed]
Schedule
Friday, Oct. 16th – Saturday, Oct. 17th
5:00am
Choka (sutras p.3-13); sampai
5:40am
Zazen(short period); Kinhin
6:00am
Zazen; Zazen;
7:00am
Breakfast / Samu / Break
10:00am
UninterruptedZazen; Kinhin
11:00am
Zazen; Zazen
12:00pm
Lunch / Break
2:00pm
Dharma Talk; Kinhin
3:00pm
Zazen; Zazen
4:00pm
Physical/Outside Practice / Dinner / Break
6:00pm
Uninterrupted Zazen; Kinhin;
7:00pm
Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin
8:00pm
Zazen; Zazen
8:45pm
Kaichin
All times Pacific Time. Please tune in five minutes before scheduled events Events in Bold will be streamed, events in Italics are self-directed.
Sunday, Oct. 18th
5:00am
Choka (abbreviated sutras); sampai
5:25
Zazen (short period); Kinhin
5:45am
Zazen
6:30am
Breakfast / Break
8:00am
Zazenkai(sutras p.3, 10, 13)
10:00am
Zazen; Zazen; [short break]
11:00am
Q&A/Discussion
All times Pacific Time. Please tune in five minutes before scheduled events Events in Bold will be streamed, events in Italics are self-directed.
Continuing our regularly scheduled day of practice we will devote Saturday October 20th to zazen. As Autumn deepens and the nature of impermanence is visible all around we should take some time to go deep into our practice. As always one is welcome to come before evening zazen on Friday and stay through Zazenkai on Sunday for a full 36 hours of practice. Further details on practice at Tahoma over this weekend can be found at the end of this post.
The Schedule for this day will be:
October 20th Practice Day Schedule
4:50
Seated in Zendo; Gosei
5:00
Choka (Sutras)
5:40
Zazen
5:55
Kinhin
6:00
Han; Zazen; Zazen
6:55
Breakfast
Breakfast Cleanup
8:15
Samu (Clappers; meet at deck)
9:30
Samu ends (Clappers)
9:50
Seated in Zendo; Gosei
10:00
Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin; Zazen; Zazen
11:55
Lunch
Kitchen Cleanup
1:50
Seated in Zendo; Gosei
2:00
Reading; Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin; Zazen; Zazen
4:00
Supper (optional, free-style)
5:20
Seated in Zendo; Gosei
5:30
Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin;
6:30
Zazen; Zazen; Kinhin; Zazen; Zazen
8:30
Kaichin in kitchen
Yaza
The Monastery’s regularly scheduled periods of zazen from 5 am to 7 am and 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm will still be observed and anyone can drop in for either of these or any of the other zazen periods. You are also welcome to arrive on Friday before the Practice Day and/or stay though Zazenkai on Sunday, if you’d like to extend your practice. In all cases it is expected that the monasteries schedule will be followed.
Please email us If you’d like to attend, especially if you will be coming early or staying later or if you have any questions: tahoma@whidbey.com
