with Roshis Chozen and Hogen Bays
Once a student inquired of their teacher. How do I practice emptiness? The teacher replied, can you hear the sound of the stream? The student said, yes! I can hear it. Enter here, replied the teacher.
We all have the capacity to know/experience the openness and spaciousness of our minds. Deep listening opens awareness through and beyond the perceived limits of the body and the self. It facilitates states of meditative absorption and can be deeply pleasurable.
In this five day in-person retreat, participants will learn to utilize the practice of deep embodied listening/toning to open the boundless space of awareness. Listening deeply develops our capacity for connection with others, as we learn to actually hear them free from our projections, judgements and views. Listening is a practice of great compassion.
The Florida Community of Mindfulness is delighted to be hosting two esteemed Zen teachers who are co-abbots of Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon. Roshis Chozen and Hogen Bays will co-lead a five-day Zen ‘sound’ retreat that they have offered at Oregon for many years to ‘rave reviews’.
Meditation sessions during the Sound Retreat will include periods of toning and periods of silence. Deep listening as our path will include recorded soundscapes and music, vocal toning, and the chorus of the natural world.
The voice of rain and birds blessing the silence, the rustle of clothes, saxophone speaking soulfully, keyboards dancing through space. The myriad beautiful sounds-
From where do they arise? Where do they dissolve? In what are they embraced?
The retreat is appropriate for any students of the FCM’s Dharma or Wisdom Paths (or others with equivalent experience). The retreat is in-person participation only at FCM’s Tampa Center due to the intimate nature of the listening that will be experienced during the retreat.
Retreat Logistics
The retreat will begin with orientation at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, February 7 and ends after lunch on Sunday, February 12. Participation is open to both FCM members and non-members.
The fee for in-person participation is $400 for overnighters and $300 for commuters, with a $50 deposit required to register. The balance of the fee will be due by January 23.
Retreat Scholarships are available; please click here to see FCM’s Retreat Scholarship Policy and for an Application, which needs to be submitted prior to the registration deadline for this retreat. The teachings are offered in the Buddhist tradition of Dana, wherein the teachers freely give of themselves to the students out of gratitude for what they’ve received from their teachers and a desire to be of service. The student’s response is also based on Dana, i.e. generosity that naturally flows from a sense of appreciation of the value of Dharma and gratitude to the living lineage. All retreat dana will go towards supporting the retreat teachers.
The retreat registrar will be sending additional information to registrants once registration is closed, including retreat protocols, schedules, and Zoom links.
The last day to register for this retreat is January 13.
Retreat Leaders
Roshi Chozen Bays has been the teacher for Zen Community of Oregon since 1985. In 2002 she helped to found Great Vow Zen Monastery and is co-abbot. In 2011 she also helped found Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon. She has written books on mindfulness and mindful eating, and written articles published in Buddhadharma and Shambhala Sun.
Roshi Hogen Bays began practicing Zen in 1968 with Philip Kapleau, Roshi doing residential training at Zen Center of Rochester and eventually at Zen Center of Los Angeles with Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He continued his Zen studies with Shodo Harada Roshi in Japan and on Whidbey Island from 1990 – 2015. He’s a psychologist and Naturopathic Doctor (ND). He is co-abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery.
Questions?
For more information, please contact Angie at parrish26@gmail.com.
