Beginner’s Mind Sesshin: A Winter Silent Retreat

New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care

Beginner’s Mind Sesshin:
A Winter Silent Retreat of Wholehearted Practice
at the Garrison Institute

January 22 – January 26, 2025

Sesshin, the Japanese term for a Zen meditation retreat, holds the profound meaning of “touching the heart-mind” and stands as a fundamental pillar of Zen practice. This exceptional occasion offers a precious opportunity for us to delve deeper into our practice alongside a supportive community of fellow practitioners. During our time together, we will explore the teachings of the Wholehearted Way, emphasizing the ever-present possibility of intimacy and the sheer delight of experiencing life’s fresh reality.

Through the practice of sitting and walking meditation, engaging dharma talks, and intimate dokusan sessions with a teacher, we will immerse ourselves in the transformative power of Noble Silence. Let us come together, here and now, embracing this five-day, four-night journey of discovery and growth.

SCHOLARSHIPS

A limited number of partial scholarships are available for this retreat, provided by the New York Zen Center. Scholarship accommodations are for shared (double or triple) rooms only. Please apply for support by completing a Scholarship Application Form. Due to limited funds, preference will be given to Sangha members who regularly participate at the Center. Priority deadline: November 29, 2024.

GETTING HERE

The Garrison Institute is reachable by car or Metro North Railroad. There is also a Shortline Bus to Poughkeepsie, which is 30 minutes from the Garrison Institute. For further information, please visit this page.

Please anticipate an arrival time between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. ET. Please check your registration confirmation email for more information on what to bring.

COVID-19 POLICY

It is the Garrison Institute’s policy that every guest and participant must self-test (at home antigen test is acceptable) within the 48-hour window prior to arriving for a retreat on site, and to bring a second self-test kit when coming on site. They do not require proof of a negative test result. If you have a positive test result, please notify us immediately at info@zencare.org. Please see their Safety Protocols for Covid-19 page for more information. The Garrison Institute will continue to follow any COVID-19 guidelines set forth by local officials, NYS, and the CDC.

RETREAT ACCOMMODATIONS

Rooms are located on the second, third, and fourth floors. There are two spacious communal bathrooms on each residential floor. There is no elevator.

NY Zen Center REFUND POLICY

• More than 2 weeks ahead of the retreat – 50% refund
• Within the two weeks prior to the start of the retreat – non-refundable
• Registration will close at midnight Eastern Time on January 15th, 2025

All prices include tuition, lodging, and three vegetarian meals a day. Mid Level and Sustaining Level pricing are available for those who wish to increase their support of NYZC and our work to make the dharma accessible to all.

Donations (dana) to teachers are not included in registration cost. Dana is a foundational practice that emphasizes the importance of cultivating generosity without attachment or expectation of reward. In the Soto Zen teachings, we practice the act of giving not for benefit but to transform the mind of the giver and receiver equally.

The teachers offer themselves freely as an expression of dana. We encourage you to contribute an amount meaningful to you at the end of the retreat.

TEACHERS

Chodo Robert Campbell Sensei, is a co-founder of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care – a non-profit organization that focuses on the teaching of Zen and Buddhist practice with the goal to make them more accessible to people all around the world. The center delivers contemplative approaches to care through education, personal caregiving, and meditation practice. Chodo is a dynamic, grounded, and visionary leader and teacher; he has traveled extensively throughout the U.S instructing in various institutions. Sixty-thousand people listen to his podcasts each year. His passion lies in bereavement counseling and advocating for change in the way our healthcare institutions work with the dying.

He is also on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship and the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine in San Diego.

Koshin Paley Ellison Sensei, MFA, LMSW, DMIN, is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and Certified Chaplaincy Educator. After many years as a chaplain and psychotherapist, Koshin co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, which offers contemplative approaches to care through education, personal caregiving, and Zen practice. Today, New York Zen Center’s methodologies are internationally recognized—and have touched the lives of tens of thousands of individuals. Koshin is a world renowned thought leader in contemplative care. He is the author of Untangled: Walking the Eightfold Path to Clarity, Courage, and Compassion (Balance/Hachette, 2022); Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up (Wisdom Publications, 2019) and the co-editor of Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End of Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016). His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, CBS Sunday Morning, Tricycle among other publications.

He is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship, on Faculty of the Integrative Medicine Fellowship of the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine, and he is a visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School.

Sensei Jose Shinzan Palma was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He is a Zen priest and Dharma Successor of Roshi Joan Halifax. He has been practicing Zen since 1996. Shinzan lived in the Toronto Zen Buddhist Temple for 4 years. He was ordained in 2004 as a Zen Buddhist Priest by Ven. Samu Sunim. In 2006, he became a resident and student of Roshi Joan Halifax. He lived and trained for over 8 years at Upaya. He received the Dharma transmission on Jan 2015 from Roshi Joan Halifax.

Shinzan co-teaches a teenagers retreat for the Inward Bound Mindfulness Education, and weekends retreats in several parts of the country. Currently, he lives in San Diego and teaches at the Carlsbad Zen Community and Sweetwater Zen Center. His vision is to teach youth and create a zen Hispanic community in the USA and Mexico.

Dorothy Dai-en Friedman Sensei’s spiritual journey began in the 1960s when she was forced to seek help for a back injury. This event proved to be a wonderful preparation for her eventual immersion 20 years later in Buddhist Vipassana practice at Insight Meditation Center. After she established her Vipassana practice with Joseph Goldstein and Matt Flickstein, she then began her journey into Soto Zen practice. with Peter Muryu Mathiessen Roshi, from whom she received both ordination and Dharma Transmission as a part of the White Plum Asanga. Dai-en is now a Sensei at Ocean Zendo, located on Eastern Long Island. She is honored to be invited to teach with Koshin Sensei and Chodo Sensei in the wonderful work at NYZC, for the benefit of all beings, as we live and die.

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