Sesshin without toys -style of practice was created by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, and it’s a possibility to practice without ”distractions” - focusing purely on zazen.

Our ”No Toys” Weekend Retreat will take place from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon (19.-21.1.).

On our No Toys -retreat some of the usual sesshin activities are set aside. There will be no dharma talks, dokusan, chanting or body practice (yoga etc.) The schedule will consist of zazen, work period, meals and rest. We will practice in silence, just sitting zazen, zazen, zazen… :)

As Barry Magid writes: “Uchiyama Roshi, the Soto teacher who wrote a very good book, Opening the Hand of Thought, used to run entire sesshins that way. He called them sesshins without toys. There were no talks and no dokusan -- just sitting, where the form and the silence were the teaching, were the teacher. Very simple, very powerful, sometimes very misleading, very easy, perhaps, to go astray in that context, which is why I wouldn’t do that on any regular basis. But it’s a good reminder that the teacher is not outside of us, that ultimately we have to be grounded in our own experience.”

We’ll start with an info-meeting at 19:00 on Friday evening.

The retreat will end on Sunday around mid-day, followed by lunch, cleaning, packing etc. 

(The schedule of this retreat is somewhere between a zazenkai-weekend and a sesshin. Schedule will be longer than on a zazenkai, but less intensive than on our usual sesshins.)

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Price for the weekend:  Tmz-members 65 euros, non-members 85 euros.
Getting there: If you need a ride: pick up from Turenki train station will be available on Friday at 17.30.
If you wish to come earlier on Friday and help us with the preparations, get in touch. 

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For more information contact: jani_kristian (at) hotmail.com

Registration for this retreat is now closed