7-Night Zen Sesshin

With Rev. Kōkyō Henkel

at Jikoji Zen Center

12100 Skyline Blvd, Los Gatos, CA 95033

July 6th - 13th, 2025

This will be a 7-day silent meditation retreat, sesshin, for young people, ages 18-35. All experience levels are welcome. This retreat is run on a donation-basis, with no payment or fee required for attendance. We are excited to partner with Jikoji Zen Center, a beautiful Sōtō Zen temple in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Sesshin, meaning “to gather or collect the mind” is a traditional Sōtō Zen meditation retreat that includes sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks, private interviews with the teacher, and formal oryoki-style meals. Sesshin involves following the daily schedule completely and being ready to learn the many forms and rituals of traditional Zen practice.

Registration Coming Soon…

Jikoji zendo

The retreat is run entirely by dāna. Find out more about dāna here

About the Teacher

Rev. Kōkyō Henkel is interested in exploring how the classic teachings of Buddha-Dharma from ancient India, China, and Japan can still be very much alive and useful here and now, to bring peace and openness to the minds and hearts of this troubled world. Kōkyō has been practicing Zen Buddhism since 1990 in residence at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, and No Abode Hermitage - all in the Sōtō Zen lineage of Shunryū Suzuki Rōshi - and a year at Bukkokuji Monastery in Japan (with Tangen Harada Rōshi). After living in these monastic communities for almost two decades, Kōkyō was then teacher at Santa Cruz Zen Center from 2010-2020, and now resides at Bright Window Hermitage, a retreat place in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California, along with his wife Rev. Shōhō Kuebast.

Kōkyō was ordained as a Zen priest in 1994 by Tenshin Reb Anderson Rōshi, receiving Dharma Transmission from him in 2010, becoming a 92nd generation lineage-holder authorized to guide others on the path. Kōkyō has also been practicing with the Tibetan Dzogchen (“Great Perfection”) Teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche since 2003, in California, Colorado, and Kathmandu.

Approximate Daily Schedule

5:30 am Wake-up Bell

6:00 Zazen (Sitting Meditation), Kinhin (Walking Meditation), Zazen

7:20 Morning Service (Sutra Chanting)

7:40 Breakfast

8:30 Break and Kitchen Clean-up

9:20 Zazen, Kinhin, Dharma Talk and Discussion, Kinhin, Zazen

12:00 pm Lunch

12:50 Break and Kitchen Clean-up

2:00 Zazen, Kinhin, Dharma Talk and Discussion, Kinhin, Zazen, Kinhin, Zazen

5:30 Evening Service

5:40 Supper

6:30 Break and Kitchen Clean-up

7:20 Zazen, Kinhin, Zazen

8:50 Three Refuges, End of Day

Noble Silence

During this retreat we will be practicing in Noble Silence. In short, this means not talking. When the whole group enters into Noble Silence we offer each other and ourselves the gift of being with our experience as it is. This practice supports the mind in settling. Noble Silence includes no unnecessary talking, including social courtesies like saying “good morning” or “excuse me”, no reading or writing unless the teacher specifically encourages you to do so, and no tech use.

You will be invited to give your phone to a retreat manager at the beginning of the week so they can keep it in a safe place for you. You can also keep it in your room turned off. Upon being accepted to this retreat, you will receive emergency phone numbers that we ask you to share with your loved ones so that you will not need to be monitoring your own messages. Retreat managers will be present throughout the entirety of the retreat to support the group. If at any point during the retreat you are feeling ill, are injured, or are in distress please speak with one of the retreat managers.

Registration Coming Soon…

Frequently Asked Questions

  • No. All experience levels are welcome, including beginners.

  • Nope. You do not have to be Buddhist to participate in this retreat. Rev. Kōkyō Henkel’s teachings are deeply rooted in the classical Zen Buddhist tradition and include beliefs that may be challenging for some. The invitation is to encounter the teachings, to build confidence in the teachings as we verify them in our experience, and to maintain a healthy, open, discerning, and inquisitive mind towards what we cannot verify in our own experience.

  • The retreat is run on a donation basis in the spirit of dana. There is no required attendance fee. We ask that participants give a deposit of $100 in order to claim your place at the retreat. This deposit is returned back to you at the end of the retreat unless you choose to donate it. We keep your deposit in the case that you don’t show up, or you cancel within 3-weeks of the start of the retreat. For this retreat, that’s end of day, 5pm, PST June 15th.

  • The food served at the retreat will be vegan. If you have specific allergies or requests, please let us know. We do are best to able to accommodate all dietary requests.

  • The 5 precepts are training guidelines as the foundation of sīla (ethics). Throughout this retreat we will all be maintaining the 5 precepts so that we can we can practice in harmony.

    The 5 precepts are:

    1. I will not engage in physical violence or intentionally cause bodily harm to myself or others

    2. I will not steal or damage other people’s property.

    3. I will refrain from forced, coercive, or non-consensual sexual contact or any other form of sexual harassment against others. For this retreat we will be practicing celibacy.

    4. I will not intentionally insult or verbally abuse others.

    5. I will not consume intoxicating substances including, but not limited to, alcohol, marijuana, psychedelics or any other illegal substances.

  • Dharma Gates wholeheartedly welcomes people of all cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. There will be gender neutral bathrooms available and we may be able to provide single rooms if that would make you more comfortable. Our aim is to make retreat practice accessible to all young people—if there’s something we can to do help you feel comfortable to attending, please do not hesitate to reach out to us (team@dharma-gates.org.)

  • This retreat will be at Jikoji Zen Center. The address is 12100 Skyline Blvd, Los Gatos, CA 95033. Jikoji is approximately 45 minutes from Santa Cruz and 35 minutes from San Jose.

    Dharma Gates will provide a spreadsheet for participants to self-organize ride shares.

  • Arrival: Please arrive between 2:00pm - 4:30pm on Sunday, July 6th. It is important you arrive during this window so you can go through the check-in process before the evening activities begin.

    Departure: The retreat will end at 3:00pm on Sunday, March 13th.

  • We ask that everyone who attends wears modest loose clothing, with subdued colors, prints, and minimal/no words for the duration of the retreat.

    We also ask you to bring a fragrance-free products.

  • We are no longer require testing for Covid-19. We are still committed to the safety and health of the retreat container. The intention is to move towards a culture of taking care of ourselves and others by self-monitoring symptoms, and reducing transmission of any possible sickness.

Registration Coming Soon…