ZCNYC Retreats

Upcoming Retreats at Zen Center of New York City

Explore Zen Center of New York City through one of our upcoming retreats. Please don’t let financial issues prevent you from attending a program at the ZCNYC. All programs are offered on a sliding scale. If you are unable to pay the full amount, please offer what you can. You will be given an option on the registration page.
If you are looking for retreats at the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper NY, click here.

Upcoming ZCNYC Retreats

Zazenkai – September

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

September 21, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Zazenkai presents us with an opportunity to return to the well of introspection and committed Zen practice. Each day includes an extended schedule of zazen, liturgy, face-to-face interview with a teacher or dharma holder, a formal talk and oryoki lunch (formal meal served in the zendo). Zazenkai is an important way for experienced students to […]

Essentials of Zen – Entering the Path

with Mn. Shoan Ankele

September 26, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
The desire to seek the Buddhist path arises from a deep internal impulse to find a deeper sense of truth in one’s life. This may be experienced in many ways, and can be both exciting and unsettling. In this seminar we’ll explore the spiritual journey, particularly […]

Half-Day Sit – September

September 28, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
These short zazen intensives are popular with those new to Zen practice or meditation, as well as more experienced students. The morning offers a time of silence and stillness and provides an excellent way to explore and deepen one’s zazen. The retreat will be introduced and concluded with dharma words of encouragement. […]

Lawrence Shainberg Book Reading

with Lawrence Shainberg

October 5, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
“Inexplicably good karma”—to this, author Lawrence Shainberg attributes a life filled with relationships with legendary writers and renowned Buddhist teachers. In Four Men Shaking he weaves together the narratives of three of those relationships: his literary friendships with Samuel Beckett and Norman Mailer, and his teacher-student relationship with the Japanese Zen master Kyudo Nakagawa Roshi[…]

Zazenkai – October

with Ron Hogen Green, Sensei

October 12, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Zazenkai presents us with an opportunity to return to the well of introspection and committed Zen practice. Each day includes an extended schedule of zazen, liturgy, face-to-face interview with a teacher or dharma holder, a formal talk and oryoki lunch (formal meal served in the zendo). Zazenkai is an important way for experienced students to […]

Staying Present: A Creative Process Retreat

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei, André Daughtry and Kat Rogers

October 19, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Buddhism teaches that “you and I are the same thing, but I am not you and you are not me.” While it can sound esoteric or abstract, this teaching is pointing to a basic fact of our moment-to-moment experience: that sameness (you and I are the same thing) and difference (but I am not you and you are not me) arise together at the same time. How do you actually experience this? What is this like in your body and mind? How do you realize the truth of it?

Zen Essentials — Attachments and the Path to Liberation

with Mn. Gokan Bonebakker

October 24, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
In this session we will explore the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha’s first teaching following his own enlightenment. These describe the cycle of human-created suffering, its basis in our attachment to desires, and how to […]

Half-Day Sit – October

October 26, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
These short zazen intensives are popular with those new to Zen practice or meditation, as well as more experienced students. The morning offers a time of silence and stillness and provides an excellent way to explore and deepen one’s zazen. The retreat will be introduced and concluded with dharma words of encouragement. […]

Zazenkai – November

with Ron Hogen Green, Sensei

November 2, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Zazenkai presents us with an opportunity to return to the well of introspection and committed Zen practice. Each day includes an extended schedule of zazen, liturgy, face-to-face interview with a teacher or dharma holder, a formal talk and oryoki lunch (formal meal served in the zendo). Zazenkai is an important way for experienced students to […]

Open and Light: Creating Space in Body and Mind with Iyengar Yoga

with Matt Angaku Dreyfus

November 16, 2019
ZCNYC
Yogic postures and breathing practices have a powerful effect on the state of body and mind, and are wonderful tools for meditators. Flexible, strong muscles, open, balanced joints, spaciousness and freedom in the breath […]

Roundtable Discussion on Ecodharma

with David Loy

November 23, 2019
ZCNYC
David Loy, author of Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crises, will lead a roundtable discussion exploring how Buddhism can address our global ecological crises, climate change and increasing degradation of the natural world. Participants will be encouraged to read suggested excerpts from David's writings in Ecodharma and related articles to allow discussion to reach deeply into these all-important topics. Limited to a maximum of 20. Please register by November 15th.  Participants will be sent links to the readings on Nov 16th.

Half-Day Sit – November

November 23, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
These short zazen intensives are popular with those new to Zen practice or meditation, as well as more experienced students. The morning offers a time of silence and stillness and provides an excellent way to explore and deepen one’s zazen. The retreat will be introduced and concluded with dharma words of encouragement. […]

Buddha’s Enlightenment Vigil

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

December 6, 2019
At ZCNYC, we celebrate the Buddha’s enlightenment with a vigil dedicated to the simple yet profound practice of zazen. We’ll begin Friday evening with an informal potluck supper, followed by a teaching in the zendo. Then, we’ll mark the Buddha’s enlightenment by sitting together through the night with...

Butoh: The Crucible of Body and Mind

with Vangeline

December 14, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Butoh is a performance form characterized by deep investigation of impermanence, authentic expression, and letting go. Butoh as a body practice is about "revealing" rather than "showing". In the same way that we reveal the mind […]

Zazenkai – December

with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

December 21, 2019
Zen Center of New York City
Zazenkai presents us with an opportunity to return to the well of introspection and committed Zen practice. Each day includes an extended schedule of zazen, liturgy, face-to-face interview with a teacher or dharma holder, a formal talk and oryoki lunch (formal meal served in the zendo). Zazenkai is an important way for experienced students to […]