Tag: Rohatsu Sesshin

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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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Rohatsu Sesshin 2021

12.08.21 – Thanks to all who took part in our Rohatsu Sesshin, I dearly hope it was a fruitful experience. My apologize for being unable to broadcast the very final session, the Bodhi Day Ceremony. As I had feared the strong winds brought down trees all over the Island and we were without power for nearly 12 hours.

“Every sit builds toward sesshin; every sesshin builds toward Rohatsu.”

Tahoma will hold Rohatsu Sesshin on the traditional days, December 1st through 8th. This will be offered as an online retreat but there also be limited opportunities for those in the local area to attend in-person and our evening session will remain open to drop-in attendance (vaccination and masks required)  As the culmination of the Autumn Kessei as well as the training year, we can all dedicate ourselves to an extended week of zazen. OSesshin is always an opportunity to go deep and push ourselves beyond our limits, Rohatsu even more-so as we are asked to leave it all on the table. A virtual sesshin does demand more from us in order to deeply take advantage of the opportunity. The broadcast provides a structure, just as attending a sesshin in-person does, but the commitment is up to the individual.  If one is able commit to doing the entire sesshin, prepare yourself a space where you can minimize distractions. Have your meals planned out and the shopping completed. Work out a way to do kinhin and physical practice. Then just flow along with the schedule. During the Dharma talks 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.

Online Retreat Information

We will begin with a period of zazen and kokuho on November 30th. Kokuho will include any orientation information needed for online participants.  During the week of retreat Zoom broadcast throughout the day will be in four blocks with the evening broadcast becoming longer and longer as as the week goes on.  

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