Squall on the Pacific June 2025 Sesshin

photo by Rev. Corwyn Miyagishima

 Pictured here are the happy attendees at our recent Boundless Way Zen Temple June Zoom sesshin.  Twenty-eight of us gathered for what we thought was a short sesshin, starting on Friday night and ending midday on Sunday.  But time disappeared and long and short seemed beside the point.  Based on our final sharing, everyone went deep and wide into their practice.  As we have discovered, since our first Zoom sesshin in 2020, the power of the Way manifests in this form as well as when in residence at Boundless Way Zen Temple.

Sangha members from as far east as Iran and as far west as Hawaii attended the retreat, plus people from Europe and the US.  Geography, as well as time, melted away.  

We focused on a koan from the Gateless Gate, number 41, in which the legendary Indian teacher Bodhidharma meets and connects with his eventual dharma heir Hui-ke.  Looking into this koan together, we were able to find in these two ancient characters some reflections of our own innermost longings.

Our next Zoom sesshin will be Sept. 6 -- 9 and is open for registration now (Boundless Way Zen Temple).  Three weeks of residential practice are also open for registration for July and August -- you can attend for one, two or all three weeks.  I hope to practice with you in the future!

Serious Play with registration link

In a few weeks, I’ll be teaching a three hour kōan café for an organization called “Sangha Live.” 

Sangha Live provides dharma teachings and practice opportunities online to an international sangha.   The folks at Sangha Live have invited me to join them on Saturday, July 20, from 10 am – 1 pm eastern US time to offer a kōan café for them which I have called Serious Play: A Zen Kōan Café. To register for this event go to: register

As many of you know, our Boundless Way Zen Temple kōan cafés are opportunities to explore kōan practice in the non-traditional way pioneered by my teacher’s teacher John Tarrant, Rōshi.  We use meditation, guided contemplations, dharma talks, free association and group dialogue to explore one or more kōans in company with others.  In the free-wheeling, compassionate atmosphere of a kōan café, everyone’s contribution is important, and no-one is ever wrong.  

I hope that you will join me and curious dharma students from many traditions around the world on July 20.

A Little Poem by Hanshan