I had a great retreat last week that was led by Harada Roshi at Tahoma Zen Monastery. I found a true Zen Master in Harada Roshi and he's surrounded by a great group of dedicated and hard working students. The schedule (4:30 am to 9:00pm) included about 9 hours of zazen, sanzen, teisho, an exercise period, and of course the infamous formal Zen meals, At Haradas' retreats the only utensil you to eat with is chop sticks, great for oatmeal and soup!
One thing that was really cool was each day Roshi brought a group students to his home for tea. During the tea he gave each student a beautiful hand bound book from a series of talks he gave at a previous sesshin on the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. He hand painted an Enso on each cover and also put your name on the first page. In Japan He's famous for his calligraphy. I've been reading it and I have to say that he's incredibly clear.
The monastery grounds are beautiful and there was no more than an hour of sunshine and at least a little rain everyday.
Please forgive my lack of writing skills and if you have any questions feel to email me, you can find my contact info on this page.
Also after the first couple days I noticed that there were no statues on the grounds. On the wall behind the alter there was a giant Enso.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful you got to sit with Harada Roshi. He truly is the embodiment of Zen.
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