Upcoming Events
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Sunday Schedule
Every Sunday (please call to check during holidays and bad weather)
Come and join us for our regular Sunday schedule. Coffee and tea are available from 8:30am onwards, and we start at 9:30am with a service, followed by zazen until 11:00am. A short break is followed by a dharma talk by Tenshin Roshi or one of his senior students, and then we share a delicious vegetarian lunch.
For first-timers, we run a Zen Meditation Instruction class which also starts at 9:30am. This is a great time to come along for your first time and learn the basics of zen practice and how you can do it. The class joins the regular schedule at 11:20am for the dharma talk and then lunch. There is a recommended donation of $15.00 for those who wish to take the class.
We have a number of instructional videos that you may find helpful either before or after visiting Yokoji for the first time. If you would like to know more about how we do things here, please refer to our videos on meditation, or zazen, and the basic forms we use.
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September
Fall Training Period
Sunday September 9th - Sunday November 18th
The Fall Training Period at Yokoji is a time of intensified practice for the whole community. It is a perfect time to spend a few days, weeks or months in residence at the Center to deepen your appreciation of life through zazen, service and communal living. Non-residents can participate both at home and at the Center.
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October
Day of Reflection
Saturday October 20th, 5:30am - 8:20pm
Take this opportunity to examine your life through the lens of the precepts. During dawn zazen, the precepts are recited in a short service and each of us chooses a precept to work with during the day. The day then follows the regular schedule, of either interim or training period, depending on the time of year. Work, meals, zazen and other activities provide the ground on which to experiment with, and reflect upon, the chosen precept. We finish the day with Fusatsu, or renewal of vows, an ancient ceremony of atonement and renewal followed by a council where each participant has the chance to share their experience.
If you can’t make it for dawn zazen, you can come for work practice at 9am in the office and join the day then. The 10 grave precepts are listed as part of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, which you will need to look at if you are not present for dawn zazen.
There is no cost for the Day of Reflection, but if you would like to join us for any meals, we ask for a donation of approximately $10.00 per meal. Registration is not required if you do not plan on staying overnight, but please inform the office if you plan on attending.
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Beginner's Mind Sesshin
Friday October 26th, 3:30pm - Sunday October 28th, 12:30pm
Led by Arthur WaYu Kennedy
Sesshin literally means “to unify the mind.” Sesshin is at the heart of Zen Practice - a chance to give full attention to one’s life without distraction.
This sesshin is designed for those who are new to Zen practice. There will be orientation given regarding the basic formal procedures that will be used over the weekend, so no prior experience is required. The schedule will be lighter than the regular sesshin that we run at Yokoji. We all have the ‘beginner’s mind’, that which sees the world afresh in each moment. Sesshin is the perfect vehicle to realize this. This sesshin is also open to experienced practitioners. Please look over the schedule for sesshin before signing up.
Members: $120
Non-members: $180Registration required. Part-time rates are listed on the sesshin page.
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Halloween (Obon)
Sunday October 28th, 9:30am - 12:30pm
Led by Arthur WaYu Kennedy
The annual Buddhist festival where we honor our ancestral dead and give offerings. The festival is aligned with Halloween to bring Buddhism to our own western traditions. Open for all. Please bring food offerings for your ancestors to place on the altar.
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November
Day of Reflection
Saturday November 10th, 5:30am - 8:20pm
Take this opportunity to examine your life through the lens of the precepts. During dawn zazen, the precepts are recited in a short service and each of us chooses a precept to work with during the day. The day then follows the regular schedule, of either interim or training period, depending on the time of year. Work, meals, zazen and other activities provide the ground on which to experiment with, and reflect upon, the chosen precept. We finish the day with Fusatsu, or renewal of vows, an ancient ceremony of atonement and renewal followed by a council where each participant has the chance to share their experience.
If you can’t make it for dawn zazen, you can come for work practice at 9am in the office and join the day then. The 10 grave precepts are listed as part of the 16 Bodhisattva precepts, which you will need to look at if you are not present for dawn zazen.
There is no cost for the Day of Reflection, but if you would like to join us for any meals, we ask for a donation of approximately $10.00 per meal. Registration is not required if you do not plan on staying overnight, but please inform the office if you plan on attending.
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Dharma Combat Ceremony
Sunday November 11th, 9:30am - 12:30pm
The head trainee for the Fall Training Period, Terry Kinyo Braund, will face questions from the assembly in dharma combat. Come along to support Kinyo and please sign up on the day to ask a question!
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Sesshin (Rohatsu)
Sunday November 11th, 3:30pm - Sunday November 18th, 12:30pm
The final sesshin of the Fall Training Period. Rohatsu means ‘December 8th’ in Japanese, the date of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, but we bring the sesshin forward to tie it in to the end of training period. If Shakyamuni did it, you can too.
Sesshin literally means “to unify the mind.” Sesshin is at the heart of Zen Practice—a chance to give full attention to one’s life without distraction. Participants live at the Center for the duration, following a simple yet challenging schedule of zazen, chanting services, formal meals, work practice and rest periods. Dharma talks are given daily and Tenshin Roshi, if present, offers face-to face interview (dokusan) to all students. There are sometimes visiting teachers who will also give dharma talks and interviews. Please visit the sesshin page for more information about sesshin.
If you would like to participate in a 7-day sesshin for the first time, we recommend that you attend a Day of Zen Practice class or a weekend sesshin first. If you cannot attend either of these first, you must at least be present for the first evening of sesshin to receive instruction.
For those with prior sesshin experience, part-time participation is acceptable if you cannot make the whole event.
Members: $350.00
Non-members: $500.00Registration required. Part-time rates are listed on the sesshin page. Please look over the schedule for sesshin before signing up.
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December
New Year's Sesshin
Friday December 28th, 3:30pm - Tuesday January 1st, 10:00am
The annual end of year sesshin. A regular sesshin schedule builds up to new year’s eve, when we join together for different ceremonies and periods of zazen up until midnight. The ceremonies include a fire ritual, where we gather around a small fire and burn slips of paper with our hindrances from the past year written on them. In the morning on January 1st, we gather again around the fire and burn papers with our resolutions for the new year, acknowledging the transition between the old and new year by letting go of the past and embracing the future.
Sesshin literally means “to unify the mind.” Sesshin is at the heart of Zen Practice—a chance to give full attention to one’s life without distraction. Participants live at the Center for the duration, following a simple yet challenging schedule of zazen, chanting services, formal meals, work practice and rest periods. Dharma talks are given daily and Tenshin Roshi, if present, offers face-to face interview (dokusan) to all students. There are sometimes visiting teachers who will also give dharma talks and interviews. Please visit the sesshin page for more information about sesshin.
Members: $200
Non-members: $310Registration required. Part-time rates are listed on the sesshin page. Please look over the schedule for sesshin before signing up.
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January
Beginner's Mind Sesshin
Friday January 25th, 3:30pm - Sunday January 27th, 12:30pm
Led by Tom Chigen Bartholomew, Sensei
Sesshin literally means “to unify the mind.” Sesshin is at the heart of Zen Practice - a chance to give full attention to one’s life without distraction.
This sesshin is designed for those who are new to Zen practice. There will be orientation given regarding the basic formal procedures that will be used over the weekend, so no prior experience is required. The schedule will be lighter than the regular sesshin that we run at Yokoji. We all have the ‘beginner’s mind’, that which sees the world afresh in each moment. Sesshin is the perfect vehicle to realize this. This sesshin is also open to experienced practitioners. Please look over the schedule for sesshin before signing up.
Members: $120
Non-members: $180Registration required. Part-time rates are listed on the sesshin page.