Zen Center of Pittsburgh April 2009 e-Newsletter

FEBRUARY'S SESSHIN:

"Follow a good master without complaining and sit silently for at least ten years. Then, after ten years, sit for another ten years. And then, after twenty years, sit anew for another ten years. If you sit like this throughout thirty years, you will gain a good view over the landscape of zazen-and that means also a good view of the landscape of your own life." - Uchiyama Kosho Roshi

Typically, sesshins at Deep Spring Temple are a relatively short, but intense, period of practice composed, in large part, of numerous 75-minute-long meditation periods. However, the February sesshin followed a different path.
Based on the teachings of Kosho Uchiyama, the former abbot of Antai-ji in Japan and the author of more than 20 books on Zen Buddhism and origami, this sesshin was conducted in almost total silence with no chanting, dharma talks, or dokusan. Even the assignments for work practice were handed out on slips of paper instead of being briefly discussed, as is the case at most sesshins. As a result, the focus of the February sesshin-even more than at most meditation retreats-was on a prolonged and concentrated experience of zazen.

Rev. Kyoki Roberts, head priest at Deep Spring Temple, choose to follow these guidelines for the sesshin for two reasons. First, never before as a practitioner or teacher had Rev. Roberts had the opportunity to participate in this type of sesshin. The experience allowed her, like the other Sangha members, to devote additional time to her own zazen. Second, Rev. Roberts knew in advance that the participants in the February sesshin were all senior members of the Sangha who she was confident could handle the longer intervals of zazen.

One of those senior members is Gary Crouth, who has attended dozens of sesshins during his 10 years of practice. "I usually don't look forward to sesshins," Gary says. "Because they're so intense, the rational mind prefers to avoid the discomfort they can cause. I think I go anyway in response to some deeper instinct I don't fully understand."

Though Gary's role as tenzo for the sesshin made some discussion of meal preparation essential, Gary found that the new approach helped eliminate distractions and encouraged him to face the zazen experience more directly. In this way, Gary and the rest of the participants in February's sesshin, got a small taste of the teaching of Uchiyama Kosho Roshi.