Sunday – Saturday · 7 days
03–09
Private Centering Prayer Retreat
Hokyoji Zen Practice Community / Eitzen, MN, USA
This Week's Letter — The Retreats Desk · April 28
The other shore of Zen
A Chan teacher arrives at a Zen monastery in Oregon — and the distinction between the two traditions turns out to matter less than you'd think.
Vesak falls on May 12 this year — the full moon that marks the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death in a single observance. Most Western Zen centers acknowledge it quietly, a bow at the altar, maybe flowers. The Theravada and Tibetan celebrations tend to be larger. But the date itself is a hinge: it sits in the middle of May like a reminder that all the traditions, however different their forms, trace back to one person who sat down under a tree and didn't get up until something shifted.
May
2026 24 retreatsWednesday – Sunday · 5 days
06–10
Introductory Four-Day Sesshin
San Francisco Zen Center / San Francisco, CA, USA
Thursday – Sunday · 4 days
07–10
Ango Intensive
with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold
Zen Center of New York City/Fire Lotus Temple / Brooklyn, NY, USA
Thursday – Sunday · 4 days
07–10
Ango Intensive (Online) – Turning Words and the Wellspring of Great Peace
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Thursday – Sunday · 4 days
07–10
Ango Intensive – Turning Words and the Wellspring of Great Peace
with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Saturday
09
Just Sit Saturday@ASZC
Atlanta Soto Zen Center / Atlanta, GA, USA
Saturday
09
Touching the Earth: A Sangha Hike in the Woods
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Saturday – Monday
09–11
Norman Fischer Retreat
with Norman Fischer
Mountain Rain Zen Community / Vancouver, BC, Canada
Monday – Sunday · 7 days
11–17
May Sesshin – The Light of Our Ancestors
Great Vow Zen Monastery / Clatskanie, OR, USA
Thursday – Sunday · 4 days
14–17
Chado: The Zen Art of Tea
with Pei-Tsen Tao, Naomi, Andrew Hobai Pekarik, David Kozen Williams
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Thursday – Sunday · 4 days
14–17
True Heart Women's Retreat 2026
Hokyoji Zen Practice Community / Eitzen, MN, USA
Saturday
16
Making Visible the Invisible Zazenkai
with Jody Hojin Kimmel
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Sunday
17
Zazenkai w/ Sara Hunsaker - Day Sit
Monterey Bay Zen Center / 4th Ave, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA, USA
Monday – Sunday · 7 days
18–24
2026 Bay Area Sesshin
with Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Everyday Zen Foundation / Oakland, CA, USA
Tuesday – Sunday · 6 days
19–24
True Refuge Week: Self-Directed Intensive Practice for MRO Students
with MRO Teachers and Senior Staff
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Saturday
23
Inner Critic Workshop
Great Vow Zen Monastery / Clatskanie, OR, USA
Saturday
23
Precepts II – The Practices of a Bodhisattva
with Jody Hojin Kimmel
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA
Sunday
24
Meido Barbara Anderson — Dharma Tears
Santa Barbara Zen Center / Santa Barbara, California 93102-1331, USA
Sunday – Sunday · 8 days
24–31
Just Sitting Retreat - Spring 2026
Hokyoji Zen Practice Community / Eitzen, MN, USA
Monday – Sunday · 7 days
25–31
Ocean Gathering Sesshin
with Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Jody Hojin Kimmel, Ron Hogen Green, Danica Shoan Ankele
Zen Mountain Monastery / Mt Tremper, NY, USA