March Sesshin – Deep Listening

This is a ten-day residential sesshin at Great Vow Zen Monastery, running March 12–21, 2027. A sesshin is an extended, concentrated period of group meditation practice in Zen. The theme here is deep listening — the description frames awareness meeting sound as a gate into the heart-mind — and concretely that means the meditation object is what is audible during the retreat: the zendo, the forest, bells, breath, and recorded music.

The practice

Shamatha-vipasyana is the named method: a pairing used across Buddhist traditions in which shamatha stabilizes attention and vipasyana turns that stability toward insight. Applied here, the object of attention is sound rather than breath. One detail in the description stands out — recorded music is explicitly listed among the sounds practitioners attend to. The listing doesn't explain how music is used, so if that is either a draw or a concern, ask the monastery directly.

What the listing doesn't say

The listing is spare on specifics:

• No teacher is named.
• No daily schedule has been published.
• It doesn't state whether the retreat is held in silence.
• The $350 price doesn't specify what it covers — lodging and meals are unaddressed.

For a ten-day residential commitment, those are the practical questions to settle with the monastery before registering.