Rohatsu Sesshin
with Peggy Metta Sheehan
Eight-day Rohatsu sesshin at Zen Center of Denver, led by Peggy Metta Sheehan and Karin Ryuku Kempe. Intensive silent practice with zazen, dokusan, teisho, chanting, and oryoki meals. Details pending.
Rohatsu marks the Buddha's enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. This eight-day sesshin at Zen Center of Denver centers on that commemoration—a traditional timing for intensive practice in Zen centers across lineages. The retreat is led by two teachers, Peggy Metta Sheehan and Karin Ryuku Kempe, both resident teachers at the center.
The schedule follows a standard sesshin format: zazen (sitting meditation), dokusan (private meetings with the teacher), teisho (formal teaching talks), group chanting, and oryoki meals eaten in silence in the meditation hall. This structure—sitting periods alternating with walking meditation, punctuated by teaching and individual teacher meetings—creates the intensity that defines sesshin practice.
Zen Center of Denver is located in a residential neighborhood in south Denver. The center maintains daily practice open to the public, so this sesshin happens within an established sangha. Arrival details and specific lodging arrangements have not yet been posted; contact the center at 303-455-1500 or [email protected] for registration and housing information when details are finalized.
Full details from Zen Mountain Monastery
Rohatsu sesshin celebrates the Buddha's enlightenment and is the most intensive and challenging sesshin of the year. Days begin at 3:45 am with nine to eleven hours of zazen, chanting services, formal meals, work practice, teacher talks, and private interviews. Participants experience deep stillness through continuous meditation while sitting, walking, standing and lying down.
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