Washington retreat

From the 9th to the 14 of august, many of us will just sit and practice in Washington.

This retreat is designed with priests in training in mind as well as to provide our lay community with some intensive yet not too strict group practice. Don't expect sticks or shouts or anything drastic but a rather calm, paced and deep experience in our gentle Soto way. The retreat will end with Tokudo for three guys, Dokan, Daido and Taikyo, with a meeting with Jundo and a celebration. Sewing will be a big part of the journey so bring along material needles and thread to join or start a sewing project ( as I am doing these days with 10 hours of sewing every day :D [confused]...well not as many hours during the retreat...). The whole of the retreat will be in silence apart from sharing and instruction on rituals and ceremonies, teisho and mondo ( questions and answers), dokusan ( private meeting with the teacher, only if you wish) and free time ( always available at the end of the day for a bit of socializing). We will basically refrain from talking our daily nonsense. Food will be cooked by our talented chefs 9:encouragement:gassho20) and it will be vegetarian. I will ask people to make as little use as possible of mobile phones and computers. No alcohol during the retreat. We ll have a smoking corner if needed.

I suggest you bring:

A zafu ( as none will be provided).
Three bowls with a napkin or an oryoki set
Your robes, rakusu or kesa ( please take them with you in the plane cabin)
Everything else needed
and your joy, a big smile and great enthusiasm


Please read before the retreat the following chapters of Shobogenzo :

Valley sounds, Mountain colors, Keisei Sanshiki
Mountains and Waters sutra, Sansuigyo
Awesome presence of Active Buddhas, Gyobutsu yuigi
Undivided activity, Zenki

The Teisho will explore aspects of these chapters.

The whole retreat will be available online but not dokusan of course.

If you haven't registered, if you are willing to come even for a couple of days, please get in touch with Yugen.

take great care of yourself

gassho

Taigu

Hi Taigu,

I have a question. Should we also take a zabuton with us?

Thanks.

Gassho,

Kyonin

Will the whole thing be recorded so I could take the first weekend off to participate when I can? This is the exact time I go back to college and as an RA I will have to do a lot of check in and registration for students. I won't have time until maybe a week or two after.


Thank you, Gassho,


James


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kyonin,
Dokan and his family have made zabutons for the retreat! Do please bring a zafu.

Deep bows
Yugen

Understood!

Thank you, Yugen... and thanks to Dokan's family too!

Gassho,

Kyonin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yugen

Kyonin,
Dokan and his family have made zabutons for the retreat! Do please bring a zafu.

Deep bows
Yugen

---

James,
As the retreat will be available online, yes, sessions will be recorded for later viewing.

Deep bows
Yugen

I would just love to be part of this. Unfortunately, it is just not possible for me to be there. I do wish you all a lovely time. :)

Gassho,
Joyo

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yugen

Kyonin,
Dokan and his family have made zabutons for the retreat! Do please bring a zafu.

Deep bows
Yugen

---

Due to "life", Amazon Prime made the zabutons... Truth be told.

Also we do have about 7 zafus but I would suggest we reserve them for our international travellers (and, well, one for myself).



Gassho

Dokan

I have a porta-Zafu that I will be bringing, in case you are short. But other than that, Leon and I are coming with little more than our toothbrushes and a change of clothes. I hope that is okay. We are happy to sleep on the floor, backpacks for pillows.

I will be staying in that hotel (Best Western, Sterling) from late the night before. When you guys get the schedule set enough when you know a good time on the 14th to come (any time early or late is fine which is a good break in the schedule), I would appreciate if someone who hop over to give us a ride. Just let us know the time to meet there. I should have a working cell number by then too.

Gassho, J

So that made me think... Would it be possible to take the outer shell of a zafu - remove all the stuffing, whatever kind it is - and stick an inflatable beach ball inside it that you blow up when you want to sit? That would be great for traveling.

Gassho,

Kirk


(Posted from my iPhone; please excuse any typos or brevity.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kirkmc

So that made me think... Would it be possible to take the outer shell of a zafu - remove all the stuffing, whatever kind it is - and stick an inflatable beach ball inside it that you blow up when you want to sit? That would be great for traveling.

Gassho,

Kirk

---

Yes, that's exactly what I have for travelling. It is a little less stable, but awesome for weight and volume!

Would you mind if I started a separate "inflatable zafu" thread for this?
Vincent posted something about it in my zafu thread, and I'm very interested, but my question is not related to the retreat (which is a bit far away for me).
So would you please keep an eye open for my new thread and post your experiences there?

Thanks!!!
Gassho,
Danny