Agency, Interdependence and Compassion: Exploring Themes to Inform Our Most Senior Years

This retreat takes up a theme often absent from mainstream Zen practice: what it means to age with agency and interdependence. Rather than treating aging as incidental to practice, the retreat centers it directly, using zazen and contemplative work to examine how our sense of self, choice, and connection shift over time.

The format mixes formal sitting practice with discussion and experiential exercises—a departure from silent sesshin. This suggests a less austere structure, one that makes space for dialogue and reflection rather than relying solely on zazen and dokusan. If you're drawn to Buddhist practice but hesitant about a full silent retreat, or if the aging experience is central to what brought you here, this format may feel more accessible.

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where this retreat is held, is SFZC's residential practice center in the Los Padres National Forest near Big Sur—a substantial commitment to attend, but the setting and retreat length (five days) suggest immersion without the intensity of a full sesshin. Expect daily zazen, meals together, and time built into the schedule for the exercises and discussions that shape this retreat's work.