Hokyoji

Clouds in Water Retreat with Fish Murphy
2025-06-18 15:00 - 2025-06-22 12:00, 2024-07-31 16:00 - 2024-08-04 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Please contact https://www.cloudsinwater.org for more info

Loring Group Retreat
2025-06-12 15:00 - 2025-06-15 11:00, 2024-09-12 08:00 - 2024-09-15 17:00

Private Event
2025-06-01 15:00 - 2025-06-07 12:00

Just Sitting Retreat
2025-05-25 15:00 - 2025-06-01 12:00
Please join us in an evolving retreat format of mindful meditation within an environment of deepsilence and communty. A sitting schedule and silence are the bones of the retreat. The principlesguiding the retreat are tranquility, harmony and respect. These principles apply to both ourselves(internally) and to others (externally) through our actions. There are no services, dharma talks,interviews with a teacher or work periods. Meals, silence, sitting and sleep are the support for ourindividual and collective practice. That said, participants are free to practice as they see fitaugmenting their day with walks, naps, bird watching, botanizing, looking…meeting one’s needsmindfully as retreat activity.All participants should have experience sitting multi-day mindfulness retreats or sesshins.Space is limited. Vegetarian meals.

Full retreat (6+ days/7nights)Single occupancy: $679Double occupancy: $583Camping: $457

Minnesota Contemplative Outreach
2025-05-14 15:00 - 2025-05-18 12:00
Contact MCO for more information https://www.minnesotacontemplativeoutreach.org/

True Heart Women's Retreat
2025-05-01 16:00 - 2025-05-04 11:30
Please join us for this year’s True Heart Women’s Retreat led by Kyoku Tracey Walen and Toku Cynthia Scott.

Activities will include silent and guided meditation, group sharing and discussion, and individual creative expressions such as writing, artwork, and photography. We will enjoy nourishing vegetarian meals, mindful nature walks and yoga and there will be free time to renew and refresh.

We will take up the question: how shall we live this precious life? What is the most important thing? With courage and patience we will quietly explore how we can embrace our own life, this life, with joy, and live with serenity in the midst of chaos.

Kyoku Tracey Walen began practicing Buddhism in 1998, was ordained in 2008, and given Dharma transmission by Byakuren Judith Ragir in 2015. She trained from 2008-2010 at Great Vow Zen Monastery. Currently she resides at and supports Hokyoji and also serves as a Zen teacher at Clouds in Waters Zen Center in St. Paul, MN.

Toku Cynthia Scott leads an online community dedicated to the study and practice of the Metta (Lovingkindness) Sutra and works with students individually. Toku was ordained in 2013 at Dharma Field Zen Center in Minneapolis and received Dharma transmission from Rev. Diane Sojun Martin in 2020. She served as executive director and teacher at Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul from 2019 to 2021. She lives in Minneapolis but escapes to the woods at every opportunity.

Registration fees cover lodging and food. Hokyoji compensates teachers through the dana system. If you would like to contribute, you may do so before, at, or after the retreat. If you would like to donate online, please click here.

Healing Retreat (Spring)
2025-04-24 12:00 - 2025-04-27 13:00

Retreat with Marc Anderson
2025-04-02 15:00 - 2025-04-06 12:00

Genjokoan Six Week Online Study Group
2025-03-10 18:30 - 2025-04-14 20:00
Hokyoji Associate Teacher Onryu Kennedy, alongside Rachel Seiren Vilsack, Adam Isshin Kototovich, Musho Darin Podulke-Smith, and Doan Roessler, will facilitate a six-week study group on Dogen Zenji’s fascicle, Genjokoan. Written in 1233 as a letter to a lay practitioner, Genjokoan is celebrated as one of Dogen’s most profound yet accessible works.

Whether you’re reading this remarkable text for the first time or revisiting it, your perspective will enrich the conversation as we explore how Genjokoan connects to our daily lives and shared experiences. Take a break from the hubbub of your life this Spring and engage deeply with this precious text in the company of others on the same path.

The study group runs Mondays, March 10 to April 14, 6:30–8:00 PM. The requested fee is $90, with all proceeds supporting Hokyoji Zen Practice Community. We will be using Shohaku Okamura’s excellent book, Realizing Genjokoan.

Image source: DALL-E

Rohatsu Sesshin
2024-12-02 16:00 - 2024-12-09 12:00
What a world we are living in! The ancient sages knew this too, including the Buddha. The beautiful line from the Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi reads, “The ancient sages grieved for them (us), and offered them the Dharma.” This line will be our overarching theme for Rohatsu sesshin this December. We will explore stories of the Buddha’s spontaneous teaching as he wandered the countryside, meeting living beings just as they were, and offering them illumination, not separate from the very world they found themselves living in. Together may we be inspired to receive the Dharma that melts away the root of suffering.

Retreat Leaders

Rev. Myo-O Habermas-Scher practiced with Katagiri Roshi from 1975 until his death in 1990; she also trained for twelve years in the Vipassana tradition. She received Dharma transmission in 2012 from Dokai at Hokyoji. Myo-O is a master movement teacher and teaches somatically based vocal training. In 2021 she retired after fourteen years as an interfaith staff chaplain at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, MHealth Fairview. She is also a mom and a grandmother to two little grandsons.

Rev. Kyoku Tracey Walen was ordained in 2008 and given Dharma transmission by Byakuren Judith Ragir in 2015. Her training included three years at Great Vow Zen Monastery and study with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village. She lives at Hokyoji where she is a staff member and is also a teacher at Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Practicing the Ways - Fall Retreat
2024-11-14 16:00 - 2024-11-17 13:00
Practicing the Ways: meeting of Vipassana and Zen

co-led by Patrice Koelsch and Onryu Kennedy

This retreat will explore how these practices intersect and complement each other. Our time together will include succinct investigation of foundation texts, dharma talks, guided meditation, and time for reflection practice.

Retreat Leaders

Rev. Onryu “GD” Kennedy has received transmission in both the Katagiri and Uchiyama Roshi lineages. In 2019 and 2020, she attended three-month practice periods at Toshoji International Zen Center (Japan) and in 2017 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (California). In the Spring 2020 practice period at Toshoji she was Shuso, head monk, for the practice period. She completed zuise in January 2023, and in February 2024 her application for Kokusaifukuyoshi was approved by the Japanese Sotoshu.

Throughout her life she has valued social justice work as an expression of her vow. She is currently an Associate Teacher at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community. She experiences great joy in the opportunity to learn and teach Buddhist practices.

Dr. Patrice Koelsch, Buddhist Chaplain and Common Ground Meditation Center Teacher. Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice began sitting at Common Ground Meditation Center in 1995. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program, and completed a year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. She has practiced meditation at monasteries in Thailand and Myanmar. Patrice has provided hands-on care for persons in the last stages of HIV/AIDS, and worked for many years in HIV education and client support services. For more than 2 decades she has been facilitating meditation groups in correctional facilities. She is on the Board of the Minnesota Multifaith Network, and volunteers with ISAIAH and Faith in Minnesota to bring about a multicultural democracy, a caring economy, and a just climate future.

Please email onryukennedy@gmail.com or pckoelsch@yahoo.com with any questions.

Just Sitting Retreat - Fall 2024
2024-10-22 16:00 - 2024-10-27 13:00
Please join us in an evolving retreat format, an experiment in dedicated mindful meditation within an environment of deep silence. A sitting schedule and silence are the bones of the retreat. There will be no services, no chanting, no dharma talks, no interviews with a teacher, no formal meals, no work periods. Meals, silence, sitting and sleep will be the support for individual and collective mindful practice. That said, participants are free to practice as they see fit, augmenting their day with walks, naps, bird watching, botanizing, looking…meeting one’s needs mindfully as retreat activity.

All participants should have experienced multi-day mindfulness retreats or sesshins.

Meals and a private room will be provided. Please register by Oct.18

For further information and questions, contact Lee (leestevenlewis@gmail.com) or Bill (bftresch@hotmail.com).

Fall Caring for the Land/Work Weekend
2024-10-17 08:00 - 2024-10-20 17:00
When the weather begins to change, it’s time to take care of Hokyoji and prepare it for the season ahead. Fall means putting things away for a time of rest and caring for the land: clearing trails, brush, and deadfall, reducing invasive plants, or planting new growth. Work days include morning and evening sitting practice, communal meals, and a variety of work projects, both indoors and out. In addition to being a terrific opportunity for mindful activity, it’s a good chance to visit Hokyoji, meet others in the community, and get to know what happens here.

Jijuyu Zanmai Six Week Online Study Group (Commentary by Menzan Zuiho)
2024-10-07 18:30 - 2024-11-11 20:00
You are invited to study Jijuyu Zanmai, written by Menzan Zuiho, with us. This commentary is a guide offering us ways to pivot towards a more peaceful way of living.

The practice of zazen supports us showing up in our lives with compassion and wisdom. This includes our karmic consciousness, our relationship to each other and the larger community.

We will have opportunities to read, reflect, exchange views, and share our real time experiences of this essential teaching.

We welcome everyone into this circle of study.

Suggested dana for this offering is $60.00. No one is turned away.

The Healing Retreat
2024-09-26 12:00 - 2024-09-29 13:00
Tai Chi & Yoga

Minnesota Zen Meditation Center
2024-09-17 08:00 - 2024-09-22 17:00

Compassionate Ocean Zen Center
2024-08-26 16:00 - 2024-09-02 13:00
https://www.oceanzen.org

Ken Keiyu Ford Memorial
2024-08-24 10:00 - 17:00
Dear Sangha,

On Saturday, August 24th at 10:00am Hokyoji will ceremonially inter Keiyu Ken Ford’s ashes at the site of Katagiri Roshi’s stupa. The ceremony will be officiated by Rev. Shoken Winecoff, founding teacher of Ryumonji Zen Monastery, and Hokyoji’s Guiding Teacher Dokai Georgesen.

Jewel Mirror Sesshin
2024-08-10 16:00 - 2024-08-17 13:00
Please join us August 10-17 for Hokyoji’s Jewel Mirror Sesshin.

Hokyoji supports a variety of retreats, each with its own distinctive practice vision, perspective, and teaching style. At the Jewel Mirror Sesshin, zazen is practiced throughout the day, interspersed with formal services, oryoki-style meals, and a work period each afternoon. Three teachers will present teachings based on a study text; this year, the text will be the Hōkyō Zanmai, Jewel Mirror Samadhi.

This is a cherished opportunity to cultivate an atmosphere of deep silence and introspection. We look forward to practicing with you.

Retreat Leaders

Reirin Alheidis Gumbel has been the Resident Priest at Milwaukee Zen Center since 2015. After many years of being a lay practitioner, she was trained at the San Francisco Zen Center, where she lived as a monastic for almost 12 years. She was ordained as a Soto Zen Priest by Furyu Nancy Schroeder in 2007 and received Dharma Transmission in May of 2019. Reirin attempts to be an example for her sangha by maintaining a strong sitting practice and bringing it into the world that so urgently needs the dharma.

Dokai Georgesen started practicing Zen with Dainin Katagiri Roshi in 1974 and was ordained in 1984. He received transmission from Katagiri Roshi in 1989. He is the Guiding Teacher at Hokyoji and has resided there since 2003. He is the current President of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA).

Daigaku Rummé was ordained a Soto monk by Harada Sekkei Roshi in 1978 and trained with him for over 27 years at Hosshinji Monastery in Japan. In 2003 he began working at the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco. He then moved to L.A. in 2010, where he was Director of the Soto Zen Buddhism North America Office and Head Priest of Zenshuji Soto Temple. In 2015, he moved to St. Louis and founded Confluence Zen Center where he is the guiding teacher.

Calligraphy of Hōkyō Zanmai by Daigaku Rummé.

Hokyoji Family Weekend
2024-07-26 08:00 - 2024-07-28 17:00
Enjoy kid-friendly activities, great food, and Hokyoji’s wide open spaces.

Here is a tentative schedule of events for the weekend:

Friday3:00pm – Arrivals & Settling In6:00pm – Dinner7:00pm – Introduction to Hokyoji & Meditation in the Zendo (15 minutes for kids, 40 minutes for adults)

Saturday7:30am – Meditation in the Zendo, Morning service8:15am – Breakfast10:00am – Mindfulness Walk or Qigong with Ann12:30pm – Lunch1:00-3:00pm – Free Time / Kiddie Pool3:00pm – Yoga in the Zendo / Kids Activity & Snacks Served at Picnic Tables5:30pm – Dinner6:30pm – Meditation in the Zendo (15 minutes for kids, 40 minutes for adults)7:30pm – Bonfire / Music / Sing-alongs / S’mores

Sunday7:30am – Meditation in the Zendo, Morning service8:30am – Breakfast10:00am – Ceremony at the Stupa12:30pm – Lunch1:00pm – Free Time / Cleaning & Packing

The recommended donation is $30.00 per day, per adult, with $60.00-$65.00 for the weekend.

Clouds in Water Retreat
2024-07-12 16:00 - 2024-07-19 13:00

Practicing the Way in this Very Moment
2024-06-19 16:00 - 2024-06-23 13:00
Dogen’s essay “Instructions for the Cook” helps us to explore the profound preciousness of our daily lives. How do we nourish ourselves and all beings in all the hubbub? How can we help others using our past conditioning and present situation?

In this retreat, we well sit zazen, engage in discussion, meet with the teacher, build community and eat together. Our practice is a time to be together. We welcome everyone into this community.

Our retreat will be led by Onryu Kennedy, and co-faciltated by Genjo Conway, Rachel Seiren Vilsack, Adam Isshin Kokotovich and Dan JunKan Mattimiro.

Questions we’ll invite each other to consider:

What is the relatability of this text to our lived experience?

How do we embody the understanding of the Tenzo Kyokun in our lived experience with family, friends, community and the world?

How can we encounter everything and everyone in our lives with joy, wisdom and compassion?

Mahakala Radio Retreat
2024-06-09 13:00 - 2024-06-16 13:00
Bodhisattvas are motivated by far-reaching prayers born of Wisdom. With no obstacles clouding their mind, they are free of fear and delusion. What can the insight and prayers of Bodhisattvas teach us? In this retreat we will practice methods that arouse the heart and dream-like ways out of the muddle. Please join us in the shelter of retreat in the refuge of Sangha united in purpose. Come put into practice the impossible prayers that Bodhisattvas know to be true.

Just Sitting Retreat
2024-05-26 16:00 - 2024-06-02 09:30
Please join us in an evolving retreat format—an experiment in dedicated mindful meditation within an environment of deep silence. A sitting schedule and silence are the bones of the retreat. There are no services, dharma talks, interviews with a teacher, formal meals or work periods.Meals, silence, sitting and sleep are the support for individual and collective mindful practice. That said, participants are free to practice as they see fit, augmenting their day with walks, naps, bird watching, botanizing, looking…meeting one’s needs mindfully as retreat activity.

All participants should have experience sitting multi-day mindfulness retreats or sesshins. Please review the proposed schedule.

Vegetarian meals.

Accommodations are single rooms unless a double is requested.

• Financial considerations should not be an obstacle. If the cost seems a barrier, please contact one of us (below).• If you are considering less than the full retreat, please contact one of us (below).For further information and questions, contact Lee (leestevenlewis@gmail.com) or Bill (bftresch@hotmail.com).

CostsFull retreat (6+ days/7nights) $590

Proposed Schedule

Sunday May 266:00 – dinner7:00 – sitting7:30 – orientation8:00 – sitting8:30 – end of day

Monday thru Saturday7:00 – sitting7:30 – recitation7:35 – break8:00 – breakfast9:00 – sitting9:30 – walking9:45 – sitting10:15 – break10:45 – sitting11:15 – walking11:30 – sitting12:00 – lunch

2:00 – sitting2:30 – walking2:45 – sitting3:15 – tea break4:00 – sitting4:30 – walking4:45 – sitting5:15 – dinner

7:00 – sitting7:30 – walking8:00 – sitting8:30 – end of day

Sunday, June 27:00 – sitting7:30 – walking7:45 – sitting8:15 – recitation8:20 – breakfast9:00 – wrap up group conversation

9:30 – clean up and depart

Hokyoji's True Heart Womens Retreat
2024-05-16 16:00 - 2024-05-19 13:00
This year’s True Heart Women’s Retreat will take place May16-19, 2024, Thursday to Sunday. Activities will include regular periods of zazen and creative activities such as writing, singing and art. We will enjoy nourishing vegetarian meals, mindful nature walks and yoga.We will have group sharing and discussion. And there will be free time in the afternoon to renew and refresh.We will explore with gentle curiosity who are the True Hearts in our lives. How do we embody our True Heart? And co-create a space to hold people and natural things that express to us individually and collectively the true hearts in our lives.We welcome everyone into this retreat. It will be led by two of Hokyoji’s Associate Teachers.

Rev. Kyoku Tracey Walen began practicing Buddhism in 1998, was ordained in 2008, and was given dharma transmission by Byakuren Judith Ragir in 2015. She trained from 2008-2010 at Great Vow Zen Monastery. She also studied Zen sewing with Tomoe Katagiri and became one of her successors. Currently she resides at and supports Hokyoji and also serves as a Zen teacher at Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Rev. Onryu Kennedy has received transmission in both the Katagiri and Uchiyama Roshi lineage. In 2019 and 2020, she attended three month practice periods at Toshoji International Zen Center (Japan) and in 2017 at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center (California). In the Spring 2020 practice period at Toshoji she was Shuso, head monk for the practice period. She completed zuise in January 2023. And in February 2024 her application for Kokusaifukuyoshi was approved by the Japanese Sotochu.

Throughout her life she has valued social justice work as an expression of her vow. She is currently an Associate teacher at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community. She experiences great joy in the opportunity to learn and teach Buddhist practices.

Naturally Awake Retreat
2024-05-09 16:00 - 2024-05-12 13:00
UNFORTUNATELY CANCELLED

Minnesota Contemplative Outreach
2024-05-03 16:00 - 2024-05-08 13:00
A Friday to Wednesday Centering Prayer Retreat

Healing Retreat, Tai Chi & Yoga - private
2024-04-25 12:00 - 2024-04-28 17:00
