WINTER 2024 Practice Period January 18 - March 16
Register for Practice Period 2024
2024 Practice Period Events
- Overall Practice Period Registration - intentions, requests, and overview. Please start here.
- Opening Ceremony - Thursday January 18th, BUF & Online. All welcome
- Opening Sesshin - evening of Thursday January 18th through Saturday January 20th. BUF & Online. Separate registration required
- Regular Zazen Meetings - Weekday Morning sit online, Thursday evening sit BUF & Online, Sunday morning Zen Alive! February 4th & March 3rd. All welcome.
- Shuso's Class on Dogen's Genjo Koan. Monday evenings 6:30pm - 8:00pm. January 29 - March 11th. BUF & Online. Separate registration required
About Practice Period
Practice Period is a time in which Zen students practice intensively together. Historically, practice period started with the rains retreats of the early Buddhist nuns and monks when they could not travel due to heavy rains. During that time they settled down for more intensive practice.
Although we don't live in monasteries, each winter in the spirit of those in monastic practice, we settle our busy lives in order to intensify our practice. We bring our mindfulness and Dharma practice to the foreground of our lives more than usual. Annual practice periods have been an essential part of Zen practice for a thousand years and an important part of Red Cedar Zen for over 20 years.
In the center of the mandala of Practice Period is the head student, or shuso, who serves as the center of the sangha wheel giving classes, Dharma talks, and meets in small groups with practice period students over tea.
Shuso: This year's Shuso is Raizelah Bayen. Raizelah will be assisted by benji Ken Oates. Learn more about Raizelah at the Shuso's Class page.
Guest Teacher: We are delighted to announce that at the opening and closing of this year’s Practice Period, Nomon Tim will be co-leading with Hoka Chris Fortin, Raizelah's teacher and a long time friend and colleague of Nomon's.
Practice Period Theme: We will be guided this year by a study of several of the fundamental teachings of our lineage in Eihei Dogen's well known essay Genjo Koan (Actualizing the Fundamental Point).
Location: Events may be in-person, on-line or a combination.Check individual events for details. Information for attending in-person or online can be found on the Our Zendo page of the website. When attending in person, please adhere to our Covid Safety Guidelines.
Practice Period Registration: two steps
Please first do an overall registration from here to state your intentions for the period, sign up for a practice partner, and let us know if you need any assistance when attending in-person.
Secondly, if you are attending either of the two retreats or the shuso's class, please continue on to those events for additional required registrations.
