MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

01 February 2007

I'm going to a Zen monastery for the weekend! [More:]As a Christmas present, my dad sponsored me for a 2 day silent meditation retreat at a local Buddhist monastery. I'm looking forward to it. Has anybody else done one of these?
Oh, how very cool!

I haven't done one, but I've wanted to. There's actually a Christian monastery in Big Sur that lets visitors stay for cheap, as long as they stay quiet (well, I mean, I doubt they charge you more if you speak; you know what I mean), but I haven't yet gotten up the courage to call and schedule a weekend there.
posted by occhiblu 01 February | 14:55
I did one many years ago at the Minnesota Zen Center's rural retreat. It was kind of overwhelming--not so much the meditation itself, but all the fairly ritualized practices, especially the oryoki meals. I was doing OK, though, right up until I got either food poisoning or stomach flu early on the second day, and had to drive 180 miles back to Minneapolis in that state. (Now *that* was an object lesson re: the Impermanence of All Things, although not so much conducive to inner peace. As it were.)

I'm sure your experience will be much better than that, though. I'd love to hear about it once you're back!
posted by kat allison 01 February | 15:29
Congrats! It sounds awesome. I used to know a 60ish lady in S.F. who would go to rural India for 6-week silent Vipassana retreats. They had to travel by rickshaw through bandit country to get there.
posted by matildaben 01 February | 15:31
That sounds amazing, pie. I've never done one, though I'd love to.

My only trepidation about Zen centers is that I understand there is no coffee.

posted by Miko 01 February | 15:53
That sounds like time well spent, pieisexactlythree. Remember to eat your rice, drink your tea, and live your life.
posted by Hugh Janus 01 February | 15:54
That sounds like a good little journey/adventure to have.
posted by fluffy battle kitten 01 February | 16:06
Do ask about their koan practice. This is generally where they help you get through blocks in your journey to enlightment by having you think deeply about paradoxes, in the middle of which periods of concentration, they thwack you hard from behind, to make sure you are awake and thinking diligently. Worked a treat for my hard headed Western self.
posted by paulsc 01 February | 16:10
Oh lucky pie! I hope you have a good and interesting time!

Are you going to one of the monastaries on Madison?

I haven't done a Buddhist retreat, but I've done many courses/retreats/intensives when I lived at the Hindu monastary... Once I was in silence for a month! That was tough. But good.
posted by Specklet 01 February | 16:19
I just got back from lunch with my dad. While we were sitting at Whole Foods talking, the guy across from us said that he'd spent a month at the Trappist monastery in McMinville, OR, and we (or rather he and my dad) talked about the different experiences.

Specklet, this one is located out in Clatskanie, on Hwy 30 about halfway between Portland and Astoria.
posted by pieisexactlythree 01 February | 16:33
Oooh very nice! Should be beautiful out there!
posted by Specklet 01 February | 16:57
I did two days of silence, out of 10 days in a Stephen Levine death-and-dying retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs.

It was transformative.

This was will be wonderful, from the sound of it and the location. It will be hard at first but then you will not want to leave and resume your normal life.
posted by danf 01 February | 17:01
I hope you get out of it what you want/need, pie.

I've never been on any sort of retreat but would like to one day.
posted by deborah 01 February | 17:09
Pie, that sounds fantastic! I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience.
posted by scody 01 February | 18:25
I'd like to point out that the URL to this thread is: i_m_going_to_a_zen_monastery_for_the_wee

But man, pie, that sounds like fun. Something I've always wanted to do, since I was a little Catholic boy sweeping the Church steps.
posted by Eideteker 01 February | 19:04
(d)?
posted by pieisexactlythree 01 February | 19:24
A promise, some information and a request... || Peeve of the Day:

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN