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Sunday Retreat Schedule
If you are beginning your retreat on a Sunday, you will need to arrive by 6:30 a.m. to
allow yourself time to put belongings away and receive any necessary instructions.
Overnight Guest
If you stayed at the monastery the night before, you will be woken at 5:30 a.m. by three
strikes on the densho (bell) outside the door, or a knock on the door. Please respond to let
us know you are awake by simply saying gassho. Following that turn the light on, sit in
seiza (a kneeling posture) and with your hands in gassho, recite the Verse of Waking:
As we wake this morning,
May all beings
Realize each dharma as it is,
Pervading the ten directions.
SA MAM SA HAM AH
You will have half an hour to wash and dress. Owing to the number of residents and washrooms,
retreatants should shower during the free period after breakfast or lunch rather than first thing in
the morning. Put away all of your belongings, as there should be no personal items left in view.
You may have some tea or coffee and it is also recommended that you have something to eat, as
you will not receive your first meal until noon. You will find bread on the counter or in a
cupboard in the Dining Hall. Please be sure to leave the coffee area neat and orderly. At 6:00 a.m.
please be in the Shuryo to wait for the monastics and formal students who will attend the samu
meeting.
Samu period.
At the conclusion of their participation in monastic chants led by Roshi in the Hatto, the
monks meet with retreatants and formal students in the Shuryo to discuss samu (caretaking
practice) and each students is given an assignment. Please be finished with your assignment and
put away any materials associated with it by 6:35 to allow yourself a ten-minute free period until
6:45, when First Bell is struck. Close the door behind you, and walk clockwise in kinhin.
7:00 a.m. Sitting
On Sundays, an extended sitting for formal students and monastics takes place in the Hatto (the
practice room on the second floor) from 7:00 a.m. until 10:45. During the first round of this
sitting, a tape is played which is restricted to senior students. For this reason, you will begin
sitting in the first floor Zendo and will join other students in the Hatto when the tape is finished.
The candles in the Zendo will be lit and incense laid out in readiness for you to begin
your sitting. When you enter the Zendo, please close the door behind you and begin walking in
kinhin a few steps inside the door (rather than walking to the other end of the room). You will not
need to pick up the kaishaku (wooden clappers) or time the kinhin round because you will hear
strikes on the densho (bell) outside the Zendo indicating the time. Continue to do kinhin until you
hear a series of twelve strikes indicating that the sitting in the Hatto is about to begin and that you
should light the incense on the Butsudan in the Zendo and begin your sitting.
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