Practicing the Ways - Fall Retreat
2024-11-14 16:00 - 2024-11-17 13:00 (America/Chicago)
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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Loring Group Retreat
2025-06-12 15:00 - 2025-06-15 11:00

Clouds in Water Retreat with Fish Murphy
2025-06-18 15:00 - 2025-06-22 12:00
Please contact https://www.cloudsinwater.org for more info

Practicing the Way Retreat - Cancelled
2025-06-25 15:00 - 2025-06-29 12:00
Cancelled

The Practicing the Way Retreat has been cancelled. Please join us for Practicing the Ways Retreat in November or please go back to the Calendar to see our other offerings.

“Therefore flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even though we dislike them. Conveying oneself toward all things to carry out practice-enlightenment is delusion. All things coming and carrying out practice-enlightenment through the self is realization.Those who are greatly realize delusions are buddhas. Those who are greatly deluded in realization are living beings. Furthermore, there are those who attain realization beyond realization and those who are deluded within delusion”.Realizing Genjokoan: The Key To Dogen’s Shobogenzo, Shohaku OkumuraIn 1233, Dogen wrote a letter to a lay practitioner spelling out nothing short of the nature of self, reality, and practice. Nearly 800 years later, this Genjokoan is prized as one of Dogen’s most profound and accessible works. It also helps us to explore the profound preciousness of our daily lives.

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

Questions we’ll invite each other to consider:• How can we encounter everything and everyone in our lives with joy, wisdom, and compassion?• What is the relatability of Genjokoan to our current conditions?• How do we embody the understanding of the Genjokoan in our lived experience with family, friends, community, and the world?

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.

Clouds in Water Retreat
2025-07-26 15:00 - 2025-08-02 12:00
Please contact https://www.cloudsinwater.org for more information.

Jewel Mirror Sesshin
2025-08-09 15:00 - 2025-08-16 11:00
The theme for this year’s Jewel Mirror Sesshin is “Guidelines for Studying the Way” (Gakudo Yojinshu) by Dogen Zenji. “Guidelines” is a collection of ten aspects of practice and enlightenment completed in 1234 and often thought of as a companion piece to his “A Universal Recommendation for Zazen” (Fukanzazengi). Fukanzazengi is a shorter work with specific instructions on how to sit in zazen.

“Guidelines”, on the other hand, is a longer piece in which Dogen Zenji expounds on the need to arouse bodhi-mind, the need for constant practice, and the need to practice in accordance with the Way among other compelling topics.

Join us this year as Rev. Dokai Georgesen, Rev. Reirin Gumbel, and Rev. Daigaku Rummé use this text for the basis of their Dharma talks at this year’s sesshin.

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.

Minnesota Zen Meditation Center Retreat
2025-08-19 15:00 - 2025-08-24 11:00
Please contact https://www.mnzencenter.org/ for more information.

Compassionate Ocean Retreat
2025-08-25 15:00 - 2025-09-01 11:00
Contact Compassionate Ocean for more information https://www.oceanzen.org/hokyoji

Receiving the Marrow by Bowing - Online Study Group
2025-10-13 18:30 - 2025-11-03 18:30
In this Fall online study group, we will read and discuss Dogen’s fascicle “Receiving the Marrow by Bowing” (using the translation from “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo” by Kazuaki Tanahashi). Together we’ll sit, check in with each other, read aloud, and discuss how this text connects with our lived experiences. We can explore what it means to embody his principle “receiving the marrow” in the hubbub of life.

Associate teacher Onryu Kennedy, Adam Isshin Kokotovich, Darin Musho Podulke-Smith, Rachel Seiren Vilsack will be facilitators for this four week study group. We will meet online via Zoom for four Mondays: October 13, 20, 27, and November 3 @ 6:30 – 8:00pm, Central Time.

Healing Retreat (Fall)
2025-11-06 15:00 - 2025-11-09 16:00
Tai chi, yoga, and qi gong – a private retreat.

Practicing the Ways Retreat - Vipassana and Zen
2025-11-13 15:00 - 2025-11-16 12:00
This retreat will explore the liberatory practices of Vipassana and Zen and how they intersect and complement each other.

Primarily, we will focus on the Therigatha, the songs of awakening voiced by our First Buddhist women ancestors. We will read aloud the songs, offer dharma talks, meditation, and group discussions. The retreat will be co-led by Dr. Patrice Koelsch and Rev. Onryu “GD” Kennedy.

We welcome everyone into this retreat.

Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice Koelsch began sitting at Common Ground Meditation Center in 1995. Patrice 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.

Rev. Onryu 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 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.

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.

CANCELED - Naturally Awake with Marc Anderson & Milissa Link
2025-11-19 15:00 - 2025-11-23 12:00
Activating our inherent capacity for peace, playfulness and relationality.

Naturally Awake retreats are both sanctuary and celebration. Together we move through silence and conviviality, deep introspection and playful expression, cooperative activity and the non-dual practice of oneness. Exploring the expansiveness of consciousness, while cultivating the practicality of responsive personhood, we engage in silent and guided meditation, movement, sound healing, inquiry, conversation, cooperative work and creativity.

Cooperation is the activity of the true hearted, making the world even more perfect for the beautiful ones yet to come. Naturally Awake retreats are welcoming for those relatively new to contemplative practice and deepening for seasoned practitioners.

Marc Anderson is the founder and director of the M2 foundation, a non-profit organization committed to democratizing access and applicability of all human wisdom that supports optimal well-being. He is an ordained priest in the Soto lineage of Zen Buddhism and has been leading meditation retreats, trainings and daily sessions for many years. Marc has also received training in Non-Violent Communication and Internal Family Systems Therapy. He is a well-known musician with recording and concert credits across the globe. His current musical interests are focused on the healing power of sound and music through sound baths and improvisational performances. Marc has an academic background in cultural anthropology and is an experienced educator in the fields of music, spirituality and anthropology. And he is also a poet and released his first collection of poems called “Songs of the Next Future” in 2024.

Milissa Link embodies the wonder and joy of a shared path to awakening. She has co-lead retreats in the Midwest, the Pacific Northwest and Mexico. She is certified in Spring Forest Qigong, InterPlay, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and Craniosacral Therapy. Interweaving somatic modalities with contemplative practices, Milissa is dedicated to nurturing our collective remembrance of oneness.

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.

Registration opens soon!

Rohatsu Sesshin
2025-12-01 15:00 - 2025-12-07 12:00
Jumping off the 100 foot Pole

Please join us this year for Hokyoji’s Rohatsu Sesshin. Rohatsu means “eighth day of the 12th month” and commemorates the enlightenment of the Buddha. This year, the Rohatsu Sesshin will be co-led by Hokyoji’s Associate Teachers Rev. Onryu “GD” Kennedy and Rev. Keidō Jeromy Thotland. The theme this year will be Jumping off the 100 foot Pole.

We have added “long weekend” option to this year’s Rohatsu. If you can’t get away for the entire week, why not join us Thursday (evening) through Sunday? Purchase the “Long Weekend Retreat Ticket” when registering.

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.

Rev. Keidō Jeromy Thotland is a Senior Priest and Sewing Teacher with MZMC in Minneapolis, MN and an Associate Teacher and Board member with Hokyoji near New Albin, IA. He was ordained in 2019 and given transmission in 2024 by Ted O’Toole.

​He was born and raised in Minneapolis. His life includes experiences in the US Navy, retail, labor union work, and research. He depends on these, including family and sangha life, to remind him of the many ways of being. His focus is on the intersection of the everydayness of life and the everydayness of Zen, and the wonder that each moment can bring.

Ino/TenzoIf you have any interest in volunteering as ino or tenzo for this retreat, please indicate so in your registration comments.

New Zendo ConstructionThe New Zendo is now under construction. We don’t know what the noise level will be like at this time but it won’t be as quite as usual (probably more city-like). Of course, there will be no construction during the early morning and evening hours as well as weekends.

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.

Kyoku's Home Leaving Ceremony and Celebration
2025-12-19 11:00 - 14:00
11am – Noon: Ceremony and community acknowledgement of Kyoku’s great service on behalf of Hokyoji and community

Noon-2pm: Light lunch and gathering in Mauss Hall

We welcome both online and in-person participation at Hokyoji. For online participation, please copy and save this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86468787805?pwd=[REDACTED]

Please register for in-person participation using the button below. You may register for “Lunch Only” or a Thursday night stay and Lunch on Friday (limited spaces available). People are welcome to bring a dessert or dish to share. Please include this in your registration.

To learn more about Kyoku, click here…

Hokyoji is undergoing construction for the new zendo.

Zen and the Roman Emperor
2026-01-14 18:30 - 20:00
Zen and the Roman Emperor: Marcus Aurelius, Journaling, and Stoicism for the Zen Practitioner

Online. Alternating Wednesdays from January 14 – March 25, 2026 (1/14, 1/28, 2/4*, 2/25, 3/11, 3/25) from 6:30-8p CT.

This winter you are invited to join the inaugural offering for the Men’s Study Group at Hokyoji. Over the course of 3 months, we will read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and look at the Stoicism, Zen, and their intersection, through various journaling practices (no, not “dear diary!”).

Marcus Aurelius was one of the Five Good Emperors (out of 82 and a 500 year span). He as an avowed Stoic, a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in 300 BCE. It had counted everyone from slaves to emperors amongst its contributors. Stoicism had a profound influence on St. Augustine and therefore Christianity.

Zen has its roots in China, with the arrival of Bodhidharma (d. 530 CE) from India during the Northern & Southern Dynasties period. It further developed throughout the Sui & Tang Dynasties, the Five Dynasties Period, and reached its zenith during the Song Dynasty. Dogen Zenji (1200-1253 CE) brought Chan to Japan from Song China in 1228 founded the Soto School of Zen Buddhism.

At first blush, it doesn’t seem like these two traditions would have anything in common but over the course of the study group we hope to demonstrate that they do and that Stoicism can help Zen practitioners and Zen can help Stoics.

Main text – Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, translated by Gregory Hays, Forward by Ryan Holiday. You need not purchase the book through Amazon. You will also need a notebook. It can be as nice as you like but not so nice you don’t want to write in it…

The group will be led by Rev. Jushin Stephyn Butcher, Associate Teacher. Questions? reach out to Jushin through the contact page.

Private Retreat
2026-01-16 09:30 - 2026-01-18 10:00
Closed for a private retreat

Winter Practice Period 2026
2026-02-02 15:00 - 2026-02-15 16:00
Hokyoji’s Winter Practice Period (Week 1: February 2-8. Week 2 sesshin, February 9-15). Come for Week 1, Week 2 or both. Week 1 is also available online.

We will explore Dogen Zenji’s fascicle, Hachi Dainin Gaku: Eight Qualities of a Great Person. Dogen Zenji invites ordinary people (like us) to engage our bodhisattva vow through our lived experience. We are living in times that offer us continuous opportunities to live by vow in innumerable ways. We are not separate from our ancestors and are continually supported in known and unknown forms.

Please join us in this wondrous inquiry into the qualities of a great person. Dogen Zenji fascicle welcomes all into this timely investigation.

The recommended text is The Roots of Goodness: Zen Master Dogen’s Teaching on the Eight Qualities of a Great Person, commentary by Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, translated with an introduction by Daitsu Tom Wright.

The first week will be led by Hokyoji’s Associate Teacher Rev. Onryu “GD” Kennedy. The second week will be a sesshin led by Associate Teacher Rev. Jushin Stephyn Butcher.

Week 1 – Hybrid Option. For those who would like to participate to some degree but whose circumstances prevent them from taking a week or two off, we will be offering the opportunity for hybrid participation. See the schedules below with Hybrid participation for Week 1 highlighted in gold. Suggested Ticket Price: $150 (or as your circumstances permit). Click registration below and select a Online Ticket.

Schedules for each week are above. Click to enlarge or right click and select “Save image as…” to your local computer.

Retreat Leaders:

Onryu “GD” Kennedy (Week 1) 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.

Jushin Stephyn Butcher (Week 2) started his Buddhist journey nearly 35 years ago in the Tibetan tradition. He found his way to Hokyoji, where he became a student of Rev. Dokai Georgesen. Jushin received jukai in 2013, ordination in 2017, and dharma transmission in 2025. He is an Associate Teacher at Hokyoji. He lives in Cambridge, Maryland, along with his husband, dog, chickens, and garden.

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.

Online Study Group - Uji (Being-Time)
2026-04-06 19:00 - 2026-05-11 20:30
Being in Minnesota in 2026 has demanded so much of us it can be overwhelming.

Dogen’s concept of “Uji” (being-time) expresses the relationship between existence and time, where each moment simultaneously contains both its particular nature and the totality of all being-time.

This is true of any “dharma position” or a specific moment, thing or event—like standing by a river, sitting in zazen, witnessing suffering, participating in non-violent action—which is both independent and interpenetrating with everything else.

In studying the Uji fascicle together through our lives now, we invite it to penetrate and manifest in real time.

This Online Study Group runs for six weeks on Mondays at 7:00-8:30p CT, starting April 6. Your facilitors will be Associate Teacher Onryu Kennedy, Musho Darin Podulke-Smith, Isshin Adam Kokotovich, JunKan Dan Mattimirro, and Seiren Rachel Vilsack.

We will be using Kaz Tanahashi’s translation from “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo”. A PDF of the fascicle will be provided.

Hokyoji's Annual Membership and Board Meeting
2026-04-11 13:00 - 15:00
Meeting will be in the Twin Cities and by Zoom, all are invited. Hokyoji members get to vote on new Board Members.

In person at:

Linden Hills Park Facility (Minneapolis Park Board)3100 43rd St WestMinneapolis, MN 55410

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81202856762?pwd=[REDACTED]

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Caring for the Land
2026-04-16 15:00 - 2026-04-19 12:00
We warmly invite you to join us for our upcoming Caring for the Land weekend! Our next event is scheduled from Thursday, April 16, to Sunday, April 19. This year, we are constructing a new zendo, and depending on the weather and construction progress, there may be opportunities for volunteer work, including landscaping, painting, and other emerging needs. As always, there will be plenty of work available for clearing trails, cutting up deadfalls, and eradicating invasive species.

The Hokyoji Zen Practice Community is situated in the scenic bluff country of southeastern Minnesota, near the Mississippi River. Spanning 105 acres of heavily wooded bluffs, wetlands, and abandoned farmland, Hokyoji hosts diverse wildlife habitats, including old-growth oak and walnut trees. However, the environment at Hokyoji faces challenges due to the overgrowth of non-native species, such as European buckthorn, Japanese honeysuckle, multiflora rose, and others. These invasive plants are choking out the regrowth of native species and hindering the re-establishment of the original ecosystem. Additionally, the construction of the new zendo has created some site disturbances and altered certain landscape features that will need to be addressed.

We provide accommodations in the Guest Hall and offer ovo-lacto-vegetarian meals, fostering companionship and engagement in meaningful, satisfying work. At the end of each day, after a rewarding day’s labor, you can enjoy a quiet period of meditation to soothe your tired muscles!

Here is a photo taken in late winter showing the new zendo under construction. There will be a need for landscape work and site improvement, depending on the weather and construction status.

The area depicted in the accompanying photo shows a hillside at Hokyoji, where the undergrowth is tangled with young honeysuckles, buckthorn, plum, and various thorny plants. Young walnut trees are also trying to emerge. Without intervention, this area is likely to become dominated by honeysuckle, making it nearly impenetrable!

Private Taichi/Yoga Retreat
2026-04-23 12:00 - 2026-04-26 10:00
Reserved for a private retreat.

Private Centering Prayer Retreat
2026-05-03 15:00 - 2026-05-09 10:00
