July Sesshin

Great Vow Zen Monastery's July sesshin follows the traditional Soto Zen format: structured days built around zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation between sits), communal meals, and dokusan (private meetings with a teacher). The retreat is silent except for chanting and the teacher's brief instructions. Six days is long enough to settle into the rhythm but short enough for most people to attend without extended time off.

Soto Zen emphasizes zazen itself as the whole of practice — not a means to an end, but the expression of Buddha Nature directly. You won't be working with koans or chanting sutras for hours. The schedule is steady, demanding but not punishing, and designed to let the mind settle into its own clarity.

Great Vow is located in the Oregon countryside, which shapes the retreat environment: quiet land, simple facilities, a small community of practitioners. Residential means you stay on-site, eat in the zendo (meditation hall), and live under the retreat schedule for the full six days. Bring warm layers; July mountain mornings are cool.