Summer Zen Sesshin

We invite you to take a few days’ retreat from your daily routine and come share with us the sacred silence of the beautiful Rose Room at Mercy Center, Burlingame. During this Thursday through Monday sesshin (three full days), you will have the opportunity to sit in silent contemplation within your own space and with like-minded others.

In this silent meditation practice which we call zazen, you will be free to hear the voice that speaks deep within you and that connects you with all that is. The energy that abounds and flows in this shared silence can awaken within you the untold joys of forgetting the self.

During sesshin, we will sit zazen for several hours each day, with time for meals, rest, and communion with nature on the beautiful grounds of Mercy Center. Whether you follow a religious profession or not, you are invited to inhabit for these few days a space that is entirely yours yet is shared with others who gather with us for their own experience of meditative inner-awareness.

We will also enjoy communal readings from Zen Buddhist writings, as well as Dharma talks and individual meetings with the retreat leader, Nona Strong, who is an authorized Zen teacher. These are all offerings of Zen practice and its encouragement and commitment to love, honor, and awaken to our own true nature and that of all our fellow beings.

Sesshin begins on Thursday evening, June 19, and ends at about noon on Monday, June 23. Dinner is provided on Thursday evening, and lunch is available on Monday. The intervening retreat days, including meals and solitary time, are conducted in silence – a very good thing for us all.

So, please join us for this exceptional and unforgettable sesshin experience. We look forward to seeing you in Burlingame!

SCHEDULE

FIRST DAY

Afternoon
3:00pm        Check in until 5:30 PM
Evening
5:30pm        Supper
7:00pm        Welcome, Orientation, and Zazen
8:55pm        Great Vows for All
9:00pm        Retire

INTERVENING DAYS

Morning
5:30am        Rising
6:00am        Zazen
7:30am        Breakfast
9:30am        Zazen
10:00am     Teisho
10:30am     Zazen and dokusan
Afternoon
12:00pm     Lunch
1:00pm        Rest
2:30pm        Zazen and dokusan
4:00pm        Kinhin outdoors
4:30pm        Zazen
5:30pm        Supper
Evening
6:30pm        Rest
7:30pm        Zazen and dokusan
8:55pm        Evening ceremony
9:00pm        Retire

LAST DAY

Morning
5:30am          Rising
6:00am          Zazen, dokusan
7:30am          Breakfast
9:30am          Zazen, dokusan
11:00am        Sesshin closing
Afternoon
12:00pm        Lunch
1:00pm          Departure

TERMINOLOGY

Dokusan: Private interviews with the teacher
Kinhin: Meditating while walking
Sesshin: An intensive Zen retreat
Teisho: Dharma talk by the teacher
Zazen: Meditation done sitting on a meditation cushion, bench or chair
Zendo: Meditation Hall