The Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment as he gazed at the morning star after 45 days of meditation under the Bo tree.
Great Wave Zen Sangha is please to announce its 2018 RohatsuZazenkai retreat. This will be an extended zazenkai, beginning at 7:00 PM, Friday, November 30, and ending at 9:00 AM, Sunday, December 2. Rohatsu is the traditional anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment. Practitioners of all levels of experience are encouraged to attend this retreat. It will be rich with opportunities for meditation, scripture recitation, Teisho, and dokusan with Gendo Roshi. Vegetarian meals are included.
To participate, please complete our Event Registration Form as soon as possible. Your timely registration and payment ($80 for members; $120 for non-members) allow us to plan a menu and make other arrangements. Limited overnight accommodations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Great Wave Zen Sangha will host an extended zazenkai from 7:00 PM, Friday, October 19 to 9:00 AM, Sunday, October 21. This retreat is perfect for those who are new to Zen—but practitioners of all levels of experience are encouraged to attend this day that will be rich with opportunities for meditation, scripture recitation, Teisho, and dokusan with Gendo Roshi. Vegetarian meals are included are included.
To participate, please complete our Event Registration Form as soon as possible. Your timely registration and payment ($80 for members; $120 for non-members;) allow us to plan a menu and make other arrangements. Limited overnight accommodations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Great Wave Zen Sangha is pleased to invite you to its 2018 Gate of Sweet Nectar Sesshin. This retreat will be held from Friday, August 3, at 6:30 PM, to Thursday, August 9, at approximately 9:30 AM.
This retreat will offer you an opportunity to deepen your practice of zazen; hear talks by, and receive private instruction from, Gendo Roshi; go on a mindful nature walk in one of the many parks along the west shore of Lake Michigan; and participate in service ceremonies. This particular sesshin will conclude with our annual Kanroman (the Gate of Sweet Nectar ceremony), one of the most beautiful and stirring ceremonies that we perform. The Kanroman is associated with the Japanese festival Obon.
Obon laterns floating in a Japanese waterway.
As always, everyone who has received an orientation, regardless of experience, is welcome to attend this retreat. We ask that you complete the Event Registration Form as soon as possible as seating and accommodations are limited. (Both full- and part-time participation .poptions are available, depending on space limitations.) Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details about this retreat.
Please feel free to share this message to interested others.
Great Wave Zen Sangha is pleased to announce the July 2018 Weekend Sesshin. This retreat will begin on Thursday, July 12, at 6:30 PM, and end on Sunday, July 15, at approximately 9:30 AM.
Participants will have an opportunity to deepen their practice of zazen, hear a teisho, receive private instruction from Gendo Roshi, and participate in service ceremonies. Vegetarian meals are included. As always, everyone who has received an orientation, regardless of experience, is welcome to attend this retreat.
We ask that you complete the Event Registration Form as soon as possible as seating and accommodations are limited. Once you are registered, you will receive further details about this retreat.
“By the water, deep within the forest, you find the traces.” –The Oxherding Pictures
Great Wave Zen Sangha will host a Beginner’s Mind Zazenkaion June 9, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. This retreat will be dedicated to introducing the fundamentals of Zen practice to those who are new to Zen—but practitioners of all levels of experience are encouraged to attend this day that will be rich with opportunities for meditation, scripture recitation, Teisho, and dokusan with Gendo Roshi. Lunch will be included.
The retreat will take place at Great Wave’s new practice center. (See our Location page for directions.)
To register for this event, please complete our Event Registration Form as soon as possible. Your timely registration and payment ($30) allow us to plan a menu and make other arrangements.
As some of you know, Great Wave Zen Sangha vacated its former location a few years ago. For some time after that, we practiced at a temporary location at the local community college. That too could not be continued, and while we did go on holding summer retreats, and while I have maintained video chat dokusan with some of my students, the Sangha has been mostly on a long hiatus.
The New GWZS Practice Center
I am very pleased to announce, however, that during the past two months, postulant priest Kevin Muzo Holohan; my wife, Hoen Sturgeon-Wolff; and I have prepared a small space attached to my home that will at last allow Great Wave to resume its former (rather vigorous!) weekly sitting schedule and to hold shorter sesshin. The new space is located at 315 N. Rath, in Ludington. (For details about how to access the new space, please see our Location page.)
I think the reopening of our practice center is the perfect occasion for a day-long “beginner’s mind” retreat, or zazenkai, and I have scheduled this for Saturday, June 9, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. (Please see our Events Calendar for details about this retreat/workshop and to register.)
After the 2018 Beginner’s Mind Zazenkai, Great Wave’s doors will also be open for biweekly sittings on most Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. (Again, please see our Events Calendar for details.)
And, finally, in addition to the practice opportunities above, a short sesshin is tentatively scheduled for July 12 – 15; and our usual week-long sesshin is confirmed for August 3 -10. I encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to make sure you subscribe to Great Wave’s blog so that you receive announcements of the details concerning these upcoming retreats.
I sincerely hope to see you at both weekly sittings and/or upcoming zazenkai and sesshin. If you have any questions, please send a message via the Contact page of the GWZS website.
Great Wave Zen Sangha is pleased to announce an extended weekend retreat that will take place from Thursday, August 10, at 6:30 PM to Sunday, August 13. at 10:30 AM. (Those needing an oryoki refresher should arrive on Thursday, at 4:30 PM.)
This retreat will provide a perfect opportuny to cultivate the practice of zazen, hear a Dharma talk, receive private instruction from Gendo Sensei, and participate in service ceremonies. As always, everyone who has received an orientation, regardless of experience, is welcome to participate.
To access driving directions, as well as other details of these retreats, please complete our Event Registration Form. Seating and accommodations are limited, so we recommend registering as soon as possible.
June 21st is the date that marks the summer solstice, that time of year when the number of hours of daylight are at their greatest. In acknowledgement of this astronomical event, the Great Wave Zen Sangha is pleased to announce the 2017 Sun Buddha Sesshin. This retreat will take place from Wednesday, June 21, at 7:00 PM through Sunday, June 25, at 9:00 AM, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
In traditional Buddhist cosmology, Vairochana Buddha, AKA the “Sun Buddha,” resides at the center of the universe of the Five Buddha Families. He dispels the darkness of ignorance and radiates the brilliant, white light of awakening.
This sesshin will provide participants a perfect opportunity to deepen their practice through extended periods of meditation, Dharma talks, private instruction with GendoSensei, oryoki meals, and scripture recitation. In addition, Ango-Entering and Fusatsu ceremonies will be conducted. The cost of sesshin also includes all meals.
Driving directions to our retreat location, as well as other details of the retreat, are available for all participants—simply login at https://greatwave.org/, complete our Event Registration Form, and pay the sesshin fee.
Please note that seating and on-site accommodations are limited. You are therefore advised to register early.
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