Weekend Sesshin

A weekend sesshin is the standard entry point for intensive Zen practice—three days of concentrated sitting in the company of a practicing community. This one runs the full traditional schedule: early morning zazen, chanting services (sutras and verses central to Soto practice), silent oryoki meals, work practice (samu), and teacher talks that anchor the practice in Zen teaching.

Seven to ten hours of zazen daily is substantial but structured with breaks, kinhin (walking meditation), and the rhythm of communal life. Silence is maintained throughout—not as isolation but as a container for attention. Dokusan (private meetings with a teacher) are typically offered during sesshin, though the signup page will specify whether this particular weekend includes them.

Fire Lotus Temple is part of the Zen Studies Society lineage. If you've never sat sesshin before, a weekend is manageable in length while still giving you the texture of how intensive practice actually feels—the boredom, the clarity, the discomfort, the unexpected ease that can emerge across three days.