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8
Saturday Retreat Schedule
If you did not stay at the monastery the night before, you will need to arrive by 5:30 a.m.
to allow time to put your belongings away and receive any necessary instruction. 
Overnight Guest
If you stayed at the monastery on Friday night, you will be woken at 4:30 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”. As soon as you wake up, turn the light on, sit in seiza 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 in the Dining Hall. Please be sure to leave the coffee area neat
and orderly. At 5:00 a.m. please go to the Shuryo to wait for the monastics and formal students
who will attend the samu meeting. 
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 5:35 to allow yourself a ten-minute free period until
5:45, when kinhin begins. 
6:00 a.m. Sitting
Two sittings run concurrently on Saturday mornings, one in the Hatto, and the other in the Zendo.
If you are at all unsure as to which room to go to, please ask a practice advisor or a Dharma
Teacher. 
Please be ready to enter the practice room to begin kinhin by 5:45, when First Bell is
struck. 
Conclusion of the sitting and breakfast
Both sittings end at 7:25 a.m. and retreatants should remain in the practice room. You will hear a
bell rung outside the rear door of the practice room indicating that your tray has been placed
there. End the sitting round by striking the gong once, exhaling. But please, do this mindfully.
Wait a moment before striking the gong, and practise rather than hurrying to retrieve the tray.
Make full use of the forms to maintain your mindfulness as you strike the gong, and bow forward
while exhaling. Straighten, pause, and then move into seiza (kneeling posture) and take care of
your zafu and zabuton, feeling the hand, feeling the fabric under the hand as you do all of this. 
Stand, turn, and walk around the room clockwise at a normal walking pace (this is not
kinhin) to the rear door of the practice room to pick up your tray. If two or more students are
sitting a retreat, all should go to the door to retrieve their trays, which will have been placed in