ZMM Retreats

Upcoming Retreats at Zen Mountain Monastery

Explore Zen Mountain Monastery through one of our upcoming retreats. Please don’t let financial issues prevent you from attending a program at the Monastery. If you can’t afford the program fee, there are options. If you are looking for retreats at the Zen Center of New York City, click here.

Click here to read about our response to the coronavirus outbreak and the online programming we’re offering while our centers are temporarily closed.
intro To Zen

INTRO TO ZEN WEEKEND

Experience Zen training for yourself. Our most popular retreat and a great place to start.

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Coming To The Monastery

COMING TO THE MONASTERY

How to enter the schedule and life of the Monastery for the first time. Come visit us on Mount Tremper.

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ONE-MONTH RETREAT

Each month we’re joined by individuals seeking an immersive experience of Monastery life.

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RETREAT CATEGORIES

– Arts

– Buddhist Studies

– Introductory

– Meditation Intensives

– Women’s Retreats

Upcoming Retreats at Zen Mountain Monastery

It’s Alive: Continuing Weekly Art Practice Sessions

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

June 5 - 19, 2020
Art practice sessions were offered the first week we went into this viral quarantine and isolation as a way of staying connected to each other, to the creative process and expression, and to meet the reality directly in front of us. Art practice here refers to all of our life activities […]

Expressing the Sacred at Home: Invocation, Vow and Liturgy for Home Practitioners (via Zoom)

with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

June 6, 2020
An all-day retreat which combines talks, discussions, and practical training to consider different facets of Zen liturgy. We’ll examine the elements, function, and teaching of the altar; the underlying structure of a service; invocation and the practice of chanting with the whole body and mind; liturgy as an expression of gratitude; and the role of liturgy in the wider context of Zen spiritual practice...

Beginning Instruction

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

June 7, 2020
Zen Mountain Monastery
A chance to receive beginning instruction in Zen meditation and an orientation to the Sunday program, which you will join following this brief class. You will have a chance to try out different meditation postures and set-ups, so plan to wear loose, comfortable clothing. Please plan to sign on promptly at 9:45, and in order to experience the full service…

Joy & Delight: Reading, Writing, Poetry & Meditation

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei and Christian McEwen

June 10, 2020
“The movement is from delight to wisdom and not vice versa,” wrote the poet, Seamus Heaney. At this strange fraught time, whether you are still sheltering at home, or have begun to venture out into a rapidly changing world, “delight" can seem both precious and elusive. Join Hojin & Christian for a brief workshop…

Remembering to Practice Even When It’s Difficult

with Ron Hogen Green, Sensei

June 12, 2020
  In facing difficult moments we may find ourselves trying to avoid our true feelings and thereby protect ourselves from pain. But often this kind of avoidance causes deeper pain and doesn’t help alleviate the difficulty for anyone at all. And while it seems that we should hold on to what privileges we have, often trying to hold on to our ownership or status hastens their loss and often deeply harm others…

Beginning Instruction

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

June 14, 2020
Zen Mountain Monastery
A chance to receive beginning instruction in Zen meditation and an orientation to the Sunday program, which you will join following this brief class. You will have a chance to try out different meditation postures and set-ups, so plan to wear loose, comfortable clothing. Please plan to sign on promptly at 9:45, and in order to experience the full service…

Natural Bravery and Communities of Courage: Awakening from the Culture of Fear

with Gaylon Ferguson

June 18, 2020
  We live in a time of increasingly pervasive fear: fear of others, fear of ourselves, fear of loneliness, fear of fear itself. How do we create communities of courage given the steady rise of hate crimes, domestic violence, climate crisis, and a barrage of brutality towards minorities and immigrants?...

Chado: The Way of Tea (via Zoom)

with Andrew Hobai Pekarik

June 20, 2020
The Japanese tea ceremony merges the sophisticated aesthetic of the Zen arts and careful attention to detail with the ordinary act of making a cup of tea. Tea ceremony developed in close association with Zen, and it emphasizes awareness, tranquility, and the interrelationship of host and guest. For those who are new to meditation practice.....

Beginning Instruction

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

June 21, 2020
Zen Mountain Monastery
A chance to receive beginning instruction in Zen meditation and an orientation to the Sunday program, which you will join following this brief class. You will have a chance to try out different meditation postures and set-ups, so plan to wear loose, comfortable clothing. Please plan to sign on promptly at 9:45, and in order to experience the full service…

Beginning Instruction

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

June 28, 2020
Zen Mountain Monastery
A chance to receive beginning instruction in Zen meditation and an orientation to the Sunday program, which you will join following this brief class. You will have a chance to try out different meditation postures and set-ups, so plan to wear loose, comfortable clothing. Please plan to sign on promptly at 9:45, and in order to experience the full service…

September Introduction to Zen Training Retreat

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

September 4 - 6, 2020
Are you new to meditation or Zen Buddhist practice? Have you read books about Zen, or been doing meditation on your own? Do you think you’d like to study with a teacher? Designed for those new to Zen or formal Zen training, this introductory retreat allows you to immerse yourself in Zen practice and experience …

Wild Grasses Sesshin: A Meditation Intensive for Women (Self-Identified)

with Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei

September 10 - 13, 2020
Characterized by silence and deep introspection, sesshin is recommended to anyone who is sincerely interested in experiencing intensive Zen training. We wake up each day before dawn to begin a schedule that includes 7 to 10 hours of zazen, chanting services, formal silent meals in the zendo (oryoki)...

September Mountains and Rivers Sesshin

with Shugen Roshi, Hojin Sensei & Hogen Sensei

September 21 - 27, 2020
Characterized by silence and deep introspection, sesshin is recommended to anyone who is sincerely interested in experiencing intensive Zen training. We wake up each day before dawn to begin a schedule that includes 7 to 10 hours of zazen, chanting services, formal silent meals in the zendo (oryoki)…

October Introduction to Zen Training Retreat

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

October 2 - 4, 2020
Are you new to meditation or Zen Buddhist practice? Have you read books about Zen, or been doing meditation on your own? Do you think you’d like to study with a teacher? Designed for those new to Zen or formal Zen training, this introductory retreat allows you to immerse yourself in Zen practice and experience…

Milarepa – Lessons from the Life and Songs of Tibet’s Great Yogi

with Judy Lief

October 15 - 18, 2020
“ I am the yogi Milarepa, Who looked directly and saw the nakedness of my mind. Without complications, it is like the sky. See the sky and rest naturally, And you will be able to see the innermost nature of mind.”   Milarepa did not have an easy life. His childhood was traumatic. As a…

October Harvest Sesshin

with Shugen Roshi, Hojin Sensei & Hogen Sensei

October 19 - 25, 2020
NOTE: Participants must enter by Thursday evening. Characterized by silence and deep introspection, sesshin is recommended to anyone who is sincerely interested in experiencing intensive Zen training. We wake up each day before dawn to begin a schedule that includes 7 to 10 hours of zazen, chanting...

October 30 – November 1 Introduction to Zen Training Retreat

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

October 30 - November 1, 2020
Are you new to meditation or Zen Buddhist practice? Have you read books about Zen, or been doing meditation on your own? Do you think you’d like to study with a teacher? Designed for those new to Zen or formal Zen training, this introductory retreat allows you to immerse yourself in Zen practice and experience…

Ecodharma: A New Buddhist Path?

with David Loy

November 13 - 15, 2020
Our ecological emergency is not something the Buddha or Zen masters talked about, but their teachings have important implications for how understand and respond to the greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced. This aspects of the eco-crisis this retreat will focus on include reconnecting with the natural world, the parallels between our individual predicament and our collective predicament; and the ecosattva path…

November Shuso Hossen Sesshin

with Shugen Roshi, Hojin Sensei & Hogen Sensei

November 16 - 22, 2020
Characterized by silence and deep introspection, sesshin is recommended to anyone who is sincerely interested in experiencing intensive Zen training. We wake up each day before dawn to begin a schedule that includes 7 to 10 hours of zazen...

November 27 – November 29 Introduction to Zen Training Retreat

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

November 27 - 29, 2020
Are you new to meditation or Zen Buddhist practice? Have you read books about Zen, or been doing meditation on your own? Do you think you’d like to study with a teacher? Designed for those new to Zen or formal Zen training, this introductory retreat allows you to immerse yourself in Zen practice and experience…

Buddha’s Enlightenment Vigil

with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff

December 11 - 13, 2020
At Zen Mountain Monastery, we celebrate the Buddha’s enlightenment with a vigil dedicated to the simple yet profound practice of zazen. We’ll begin Friday evening with introductory remarks and a renewal of our bodhisattva vows. Then, we’ll mark the Buddha’s enlightenment by sitting together through the night and day. In the spirit of hermitage practice...

December Rohatsu Sesshin

with Shugen Roshi & Hojin Sensei

December 26 - 31, 2020
ZMM
Traditionally, Rohatsu is the last day of a week-long sesshin celebrating the Buddha's enlightenment. Keeping with ZMM tradition, the last day of this sesshin culminates on December 31st, with Shugen Roshi leading a fusatsu, (renewal of vows ceremony) to help us transition into the New Year. The evening will conclude with a midnight breakfast. In a Rohatsu Sesshin, each evening's meditation period…