Zen Meditation Retreat Retrospective

Posted on Jan. 22, 2009 by Wayne Codling, Zen Meditation Retreat Facilitator

Seven experienced meditators joined me for a one-and-a-half-day Zen meditation retreat in the Marguerite Lounge on the evening of Friday, January 16. For a couple of hours then and all day on Saturday we submitted to a schedule of silence, seated and walking meditation, fallow time and sleep time. These periods of extended meditation practice are called 'sesshin' (saeh shin), which means to touch the mind or gather the mind.

Extended meditation retreats become desirable as meditation practice matures and meditators want to grapple directly with their mind; that inner topography of opinions, judgements and thoughts, ceaselessly arising. Meditating at home is a wonderful and helpful practice but it is hard to process more psychological issues with a brief, daily meditation routine. A personal meditation practice will perfume the present but to expose more concealed and entrenched aspects of mind to the present, one must meditate for longer stretches of time. The Zen tradition values these opportunities to touch or gather the mind, often phrased as 'study the self'. Each of the seven brought their deep desire to study their self and I have heard tales that a couple had quite powerful insights about this.

But every sesshin works wholesome change, whether it is evident through sensation or not evident. The hours of stillness and tedium stir our depths of Selfhood; intentional currents releasing a certain fluidity where solidification is routinely and erroneously sought.

We will be doing three more of these Zen 1½-day retreats and I hope many experienced meditators will consider joining us (see below). There is also the on-going, drop-in, by donation Zen meditation groups that meets each Sunday, 9-11 am and 1-3 pm. Attending a few Sunday sessions is an excellent way to gauge whether or not a sesshin is something worth doing. Please check the Queenswood website for further information on either of these meditation events.

Links to other Zen meditation programs at Queenswood:

• Zen Meditation Retreat: Time to "Get Busy" (May 29-31, 2009)
• Zen Meditation Retreat: Looking for the One Who Is Not Busy (Sept. 4-6, 2009)
• Zen Meditaiton Retreat: Just This Is Enough (Dec. 18-20, 2009)
• Drop-in classes at Queenswood, including Zen Meditation