Weekend Retreats

March 20, 2024

You are cordially invited to do nothing and be yourself for 48 hours…. 

We have two types of weekend Retreat Offerings: Weekend Sesshin & Intro Retreats.

  • Intro Retreats 
    • These weekend retreats explore what zen retreats are all about – What can they do for our practice? How do they work? What happens when we give silence and stillness time to work on us?
    • Friday Evening – Sunday Midday, these retreats include an orientation, two talks, two Q&As, extended sitting, and opportunities for 1-1 support or “dokusan”. 
    • Dates:
      • May 10-12 – IN PERSON ONLY led by Scott Thornton
      • September 6-8 – HYBRID led by Shana Smith
      • October 19-21 – IN PERSON ONLY led by Scott Thornton 
  • Weekend Sesshin Retreat led by Valerie Forstman 
    • These weekend retreats provide an opportunity for us to taste deep silence and stillness between the workweek. These are like a short sesshin; a slice of diving in deep for people who have an established practice, but haven’t yet done sesshin or those who just want to taste deep practice between work weeks!  
    • Friday Evening – Sunday Midday, these retreats include an orientation, two talks, extended sitting, and opportunities for 1-1 support/dokusan. 
    • Onsite and Online, meals included, scholarships available.
      • April 12-14 – Living Peace 
      • July 12-14 –  Practice Realization
      • November 18-20 – Heart of Compassion 

Why Do a Weekend Retreat? 

Zen has deep roots in the practice of pilgrimage. From the teachings of the Buddha to the tradition of “wandering with the wind,” pilgrimage is a way of engaging, exploring, and embodying the dharma — the reality of who and what we truly are. So what does it mean for lay practitioners like us to pilgrimage?

What if this pilgrimage is not a geographical trek but a homecoming — a refuge from our everyday way of being, and a chance to realize, we’ve already arrived. With the world in the throes of war, we have the opportunity to set aside two days for a pilgrimage of peace — a pilgrimage into peace. Might it matter to the wellbeing of the world for us to arrive, even for a moment, in the indivisible peace that is our native ground?

Please join us for this Spring Weekend Retreat at Mountain Cloud. Practitioners of all experience levels are invited to this weekend of extended practice. We gather, locally and globally, to sit for the peace of the whole world – and to be that peace. The design of this retreat is to maximize time spent in deep practice — there is no afternoon Q&A, and more periods of zazen.

 

 

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