Urban retreats & one-day sittings
Our Zen practice is not confined to the meditation hall - ideally, our practice is one with our daily life and our everyday environment.
Our urban retreats and one-day sits both offer a chance to deepen practice in our ordinary urban environment, without leaving Auckland.
Our one-day sits are a single day of extended sitting, at our Zendo in Onehunga. You will need to bring your lunch and dinner for the day or you can purchase from the cafes in Onehunga. This creates an opportunity to integrate Zen practice with daily life- we sit, and then we go and order coffee for lunch, we sit some more, and then we go home for the night.
Our urban retreats are usually 2-3 days long and are non-residential, held at our Zendo in Onehunga. Again you will need to bring your lunch and/or dinner each day or you can purchase from the cafes in Onehunga.
The Urban retreats are more flexible than our seven-day sesshins and they are an excellent introduction if you are interested in attending sesshin. You can attend the Urban retreats part-time or full-time, and can join from home via Mixlr if you want to.
Check our events page to see the dates for the next Urban retreat or one-day sit. A donation of $20 per day is appreciated.
Typical three-day urban retreat schedule
Day 1
8:30 Zazen / kinhin
10:30 Silent tea
11:00 Zazen / kinhin / remote dokusan
12:30 Lunch break
1:30 Zazen / kinhin / in-person dokusan
3:30 Chanting
3:50 Exercises
4:25 Zazen
5:00 Dinner break
6:00 Zazen / kinhin
8:00 Four Vows
Day 2
8:30 Zazen / kinhin / teisho
10:30 Silent tea
11:00 Zazen / kinhin / remote dokusan
12:30 Lunch break
1:30 Zazen / kinhin / in-person dokusan
3:30 Chanting
3:50 Exercises
4:25 Zazen
5:00 Dinner break
6:00 Zazen / kinhin
8:00 Four Vows
Day 3
8:30 Zazen / kinhin / in-person dokusan
10:30 Silent tea
11:00 Zazen / kinhin / remote dokusan
12.30 Chanting
1p.m. Close, optional lunch at a cafè