Spring Sesshin

Saturday 5th to Saturday 12th October (including Labour day on 7th October)

SZC Spring sesshin will be led by Gillian Coote, roshi and apprentice teacher, Will Moon

Spring comes with flowers, autumn with the moon,
summer with breeze, winter with snow.
When useless things don’t stick in your mind,
That is your best season.
Wumen Hui-k’ai (d.1260)

At sesshin, we let go into vastness and silence and settle into our depths. Here we can be gentle with ourselves and embrace the present moment without thoughts of realisation, without ideas of goals. Here is radical simplicity, seeing what is, seeing when the flow of living is blocked – lovingly, intelligently, compassionately. ‘Sesshin’ means ‘to settle the heart-mind, to touch the heart-mind, to convey the heart-mind’; each day offers endless opportunities to continue this practice and realise each moment, each moment which contains everything.

Old-timers and new students alike are most welcome. However, as sesshin involves seven or eight hours a day of zazen – sitting meditation – it is suitable only for people with experience in meditating for extended periods.

Kodoji or Ancient Ground Temple, is SZC’s retreat centre in the Upper MacDonald Valley, about 2 hours north-west of Sydney, via Wisemans Ferry and St Albans. It was built over the last thirty-five years by Sydney Zen Centre students. Kodoji sits in a beautiful valley called Gorricks Run, surrounded by high sandstone cliffs and deep wilderness.

Indoor accommodation is available if you require it. Most participants prefer to bring their own tents and camp in the paddock, or sleep under cover of the dojo verandah.

COVID safe:

The sesshin will be run on COVID-safe principles. If you experience cold/flu/respiratory symptoms in the days leading up to the sesshin, you can not attend sesshin, and we will fully refund your fee.

Backup plan / cancellation of sesshin:

In the event that flooding or fire risk prevents us from accessing Kodoji, our backup plan is to relocate the sesshin to our Annandale zendo during the daytime, with early morning and evening blocks online. We will provide a refund option for participants who might find these arrangements impractical.

Flyer and Application form here

Contact: Janet Selby janetselby@bigpond.com

 

 

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SZC will hold other sesshins during 2024:

Rohatsu sesshin at Annandale, led by SZC teacher
Friday 6th to Wednesday 11th December, 2024
Contact: Julie Robinson julesandco@live.com.au

Timetable

  Open Time Close Time Teacher Address
05/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
05/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
06/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
07/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
08/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
09/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
10/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
11/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
12/10/2024 5:30 AM 9:00 PM Will Moon, Gillian Coote Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
05/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
05/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
06/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
07/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
08/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
09/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
10/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
11/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW
12/10/2024
5:30 AM - 9:00 PM - with Will Moon, Gillian Coote - at Kodoji, Upper MacDonald Valley, NSW

Will began his Zen practice in the mid-eighties and attended his first sesshin when Robert Aitken visited Australia in about 1985. He began practice with the Sydney Zen Centre around the same time. In 1989 and 1991 he went to Hawaii and participated in the training periods held during these years with Robert Aitken at Koko An Zendo. During this time, he worked on the building of the Palolo Zendo. He moved away from actively participating in Zen practice with the Sydney Zen Centre from 1997, returning in 2006. He began koan study initially with Robert Aitken, then John Tarrant, and then worked with Subhana Barzaghi, Gillian Coote, Paul Maloney, Maggie Gluek and Robert (Bob) Joyner during a 6 month stay in Adelaide. Will has spent many years pursuing activities in the outdoors including bushwalking, sea kayaking, mountain biking, climbing, skiing and canyoning. He developed an interest in the Aboriginal archaeology that was present in all of the remote areas he visited, and from this he pursued studies in archaeology and went on to complete a Masters in Archaeology and Heritage Management at Flinders University. He presently works as a consulting Archaeologist. In 2019 Will became an apprentice teacher with Gilly Coote, roshi as his supervisor.

Gillian Coote, a senior resident teacher of the Sydney Zen Centre, met Robert Aitken Roshi in 1980, regularly attending his annual sesshin in Sydney as well as training periods and sesshin in Hawai'i. She also studied with John Tarrant and Subhana Barzaghi, from whom she received dharma transmission in June 2004 at Kodoji, Temple of the Ancient Ground. Gillian has been involved with developing sangha at Sydney Zen Centre since the early '80's - organising sesshins, editing SZC's journal, Mind Moon Circle and being involved in sangha ceremonies and activities. Inspired by their experience of sangha building at the Ring of Bone Zendo in California in 1982, Gilly and her architect/builder husband Tony, have built and maintained, with the help of the sangha, our bush zendo Kodoji at Gorricks Run. She trained with environmental activist and Buddhist scholar, Joanna Macy, and for fifteen years was the co-ordinator of the Sydney branch of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. She has practised with Thich Nhat Hanh, attending his artists' retreat in Ojai, California and joined his pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in India and Nepal. She directed and produced 'The Awakening Bell', a documentary film made during his visit to Sydney. Gillian is a social documentary filmmaker, writer, grandmother and bush regenerator. She is supervising apprentice teacher, Will Moon.