Dear dragon souls and elf hearts!

The nerd fraction of the sangha is organizing the traditional board game weekend at Lammi zen center on 23.-25.2.2024. This time with an extra treat: we will start with EXTRAORDINARY MURDER MYSTERY DINNER PARTY on Friday evening. 

Do you like board games? Come and bring your favourite games and your best Sherlock spirit with you!

Don’t like board games? Remember Shen Shen Ming - when preferences are cast aside - and follow The Great Way into Arkham, Mordor & El Dorado. No more lousy ass zazen, let Cthulhu eat you as a great practice opportunity!

Actually, you can join for zazen, relaxation, general hang out etc. and no boardgaming or murder mystery is required. A weekend of informal hangout is also an option. Children are also welcome.

Timetable: We will start gaming on Friday evening with the murder mystery game, and end on Sunday around afternoon. Meals will be made together with shared costs, but otherwise there is no schedule. 

PLEASE NOTE that sign in for the murder mystery is by 2.2.2023 to outi . kautonen at gmail.com or +358 50 3482819! (We need to know the number of participants in order to plan the mystery.)

For the rest of the weekend you can just pop up, but we appreciate if you let us know if you are coming (and if you have a special diet)!

Warm welcome and mystery filled greetings,
Ville, Jussi, Karen and Outi

Zen buddhist mediation weekend city retreat in Oulu with Karen Terzano 19. – 21.1.2024

A zen buddhist meditation retreat will be held in a beutiful surrounding in Hietasaari, Oulu.

Teacher in the retreat will be Karen Terzano (born in 1950). Karen is an American Zen Buddhist teacher in the Ordinary Mind School tradition, founded by Charlotte Joko Beck (1917-2011). Karen has worked as a research psychologist and university professor while maintaining an active psychotherapy practice. She holds a PhD in Physiological Comparative Psychology as well as one in Clinical Psychology, and specialized in Ethology for her Masters degree in Biology. Karen began Zen practice in the late 1980’s. At the moment Karen is the head teacher in Ordinary mind Finland living at Lammi retreat center, Hämeenlinna.

The retreat will be held in english. The schedule will consist of silent sitting meditation (zazen) and walking meditation (kinhin). During the retreat there is a possibility for private meeting (dokusan) with the teacher. There will be an hour long lunch break where you need to have your own lunch with you. There will be tea served in the afternoon break. Accomodation during the retreat will be arranged by participants by themselves.

Cost of the retreat is 85€, and for the member of Ordinary Mind zen school, 75€.

Schedule for the retreat will be following:

Friday 17.30 – 20.00
Saturday 10.00 – 17.30
Sunday 10.00 – 14.30

The retreat will be located at Keulapuomintie 10, Hietasaari, Oulu

More information and questions can be asked from:
Tapio Ukkola
tavallinenmieli.oulu(at)gmail.com

Registration can be found here

Payment for the retreat will have to be paid until 7.1.2024 in the account of Tavallinen mieli Zendo ry.: FI80 1544 3000 2317 58

In the message of the payment please write ”Oulu retreat january 2024”

Welcome to the retreat!

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.)

***

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. 

***

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

Registration for this retreat is now closed

January 5th 5PM-9PM
Introduction to Zen - Theory and practice.

January 6th 9AM-5PM & january 7th 9AM-2PM
Zen practice in silence

This weekend will be a chance to get a good and deep insight into Zen practice. On Friday there will be an informal introduction to theory and practice. Saturday and Sunday we will practice together in silence. Karen does only speak English. Some translation will be possible but dokusan (teacher-student-interview) will be in English.

On Saturday we will have lunch together , otherwise we will have lights snacks, everything is vegetarian.

It will be possible to stay overnight in the seminar room for a donation of 10–15€ per night. For this you can make a bed out of the available mats (or bring your own sleeping mat). Please bring a sleeping bag and a towel.

Cost
95€ for the whole weekend (65€ in case of financial shortage), 30€ for just the introduction on Friday. Karen does not get paid for her work. The money is used solely to pay for room rental, Karen's flights etc. According to Buddhist tradition, there will be the possibility for a donation for Karen.

The zen weekend will take place at the Devah Zentrum, Pilatuspool 11a, 22355Hamburg.

For more information please get in touch with Klaus

Registration can be found here

More info can be found here

Learn to get to know your own voice and free your rythmic expression as well as chant traditional zen sutras. In a weekend workshop/ retreat singer and music pedagog Eeva-Maija Vehviläinen and psychologist, psychotherapist and musician Ville Vainikka will provide the participants some improvisation based tools to use your voice and drum rhytms in an expressive way, and also as a tool to self inquiry, as well as to use the fruits of the voice and drum work in chanting traditional zen sutras. The program of the weekend will include some sitting meditation and short work periods as we follow a loose retreat-program. Everyone is welcome! You don’t need any experience or background in any kind of voice work, singing or drumming. Nor do you need to bring a drum, as the organizers will bring drums for all. You can, if you want, bring some instrument you like to be played at the ending circle.

The program starts on Saturday with zazen and the first workshop starts at 10 am. You are welcome to arrive on Friday evening already, (there will be a meditation starting at 19.00 on friday), but if you are not able to come earlier, please be there at the latest by 10 am on Saturday, when the first workshop starts. Price of the weekend is 70 euros, including food.

Registration by wed 25.1.2023 via email:
eeva.vehvilainen@gmail.com

You can pay the fee to account Nordea FI80 1544 3000 2317 58

Practice period at Lammi (ango)

I’m going to Lammi 11.-15.1.2023. There will be a schedule for this period, including three sittings per day – morning, noon and evening sittings. They will be either 3x30 min or 2x30min.

Ango is an annual practice period in many Zen temples and monestaries, a period of practicing more sitting and doing less work. During this ango, it’s possible to work remotely if necessary, if it doesn’t disturb other participants. Also everybody will take part in cooking and house maintenance for a few hours per day.

This is not a strictly silent period, but there will be silent times in the schedule. If someone wants to spend more time in silence, it will probably be possible.

The Online Working Persons sesshin will be starting at January 15th, in the evening. So there is no overlap.

Participation fee is the normal price for staying at Lammi, plus the money for food.

If you’re interested in participating, send me email:
timo.teravainen@gmail.com

Not knowing, just sitting. Lammi 27.4.-1.5

Not knowing is one of the pillars of Zen practice. Where do we come from when we are born? How should we live our lives, how can we make the right choices? Who am I? Where do I go when I die? I don’t know. Or I may think I know. But being with not-knowing is something else. When we are one with not-knowing, we are at the core. The core of what?

Dizang asked Fayan, “Where are you going from here?”
Fayan said, “I’m on pilgrimage.”
“What sort of thing is pilgrimage?”
“I don’t know.”
“Not knowing is most intimate.”

I'm going to go to Lammi and sit for a few days. If you want to join me, you’re very welcome to do so, too. There will be a daily schedule. The program will consist of sitting periods, meals and their preparations. Possibly sauna in the evening. And possibly some talks. I suggest we’ll be in silence as much as possible. In a spirit of not knowing.

It’s nice if you can come for the whole time (from Wed-evening to Sunday), but it’s also ok to come for just a day or two. I need to know when you will be coming, so mark that info in the registration form. Please note that there will not be a lot of rides to bus/train stations.

Registration can be found here