Upcoming Events
Gateway to Chan:A 5-day Retreat in West Virginia
In the Chan tradition, there are two main approaches to awakening: the method of silent illumination (mòzhào) and investigating a critical phrase (huàtóu). The former is a settling method of serene reflection on the nature of awareness; the latter is an explosive approach that aims to concentrate and shatter all mental states so awakening manifests.
Dwelling in Goodness and Safety: A Brahma Vihara Retreat
Through cultivating beautiful qualities of the heart and mind, we can discover a place of safety, rest, and resiliency, right in the middle of everything. Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity are the skillful responses of a wise heart. Known as the brahma viharas (divine abidings), they are qualities that keep us resourced and inspired to engage with our complex, aching world. During this program, we’ll explore and deepen into these four heart practices offered by the Buddha. Our sitting and walking schedule will move through each of them in sequence, beginning with the practice of metta (loving-kindness), and moving through karuna (compassion), mudita (appreciative joy), and upekkha (equanimity).
Compassion as the Foundation of Vajrayana: An Introduction to Tantra: A 3-Day Silent Retreat with Megan Mook
This event is co-sponsored by Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and is intended for participants ages 18-35.
Compassion is the foundation of all Vajrayana Buddhist practice and also its goal. Vajrayana is a rich and complex tradition that works with the subtle energies of the body and the imagination as a means of actualizing compassionate activity that is inseparable from non-dual, non-conceptual knowing.
This program includes both intellectual as well as experiential learning. Intellectually, participants will learn a brief history and the theoretical basis of the Vajrayana. Experientially, participants will explore traditional compassion meditations that seek to radically expand one’s perception of one’s self and one’s world.
The Center That Holds - Peace Amidst Ferocious Change: A 5-Day Silent Retreat with Jogen Salzberg
A 5-day donation-based meditation retreat for young adults
Living a Zen Path
Dharma Gates is pleased to be partnering again with Zen Mountain Monastery is offering a 5-day immersion in the path of Zen Buddhism with Mn. Shoan Ankele & Mn. Gokan Bonebakker
Zen is a practice of discovering our natural inner clarity and learning how to bring this into our everyday life. This retreat will be an opportunity for beginning to intermediate practitioners to experience Zen training within the supportive environment of the monastery.
Click here to find out more and here to register!
NYC Half-Day Retreat
In this half-day silent retreat, join Tibetan Teacher Megan Mook and Dharma Gates as we explore how to spread peace and cheer, without sacrificing yourself.
Being Outside (Ward, CO)
An 8-day Zen Retreat for young people with Shinei Sara Monial and Soten Danney Lynch in the Rocky Mountains. This retreat will be held in silence using the Zen form of Sesshin; there will also be group and solo hiking, guided body practice, devotional song, dharma talks, Q & A, and one on one meetings with the teachers. Dharma Gates is happy to help coordinate rideshares among participants if needed.
Asheville Half-Day Retreat
Join Rev. Teijo Munnich and Dharma Gates for a half-day meditation retreat. This retreat will be an exploration of masks and the hungry ghost. This retreat is an opportunity to see ourselves and one another as we are: to see through our masks, to take them off, and acknowledge our true essence underneath.
Right Livelihood In Practice (Alexandria, VA)
Join Dharma Gates and Darius Norell for a DC-area exploration of right livelihood in practice. In this session, we will explore how meditation can act as a foundation for creating extraordinary value in the world and in our work. What do right speech and right action look like in and at work? When many unskillful behaviors seem to get rewarded, what is the real value of living with integrity? How might that integrity benefit for you and those you work with? How can we skillfully navigate the work-related challenges and vocational questions that inevitably arise?
Developing a Daily Meditation Practice
This five week meditation series is an accessible and empowering introductory exploration into developing and maintaining a spiritual practice. We’ll begin by asking questions like: What is Buddhism? What does daily practice look like? Where do we start? Is it possible to align and engage with the world in a meaningful way?
Luminous Bones of Being (Livingston Manor, NY)
Join Zen teacher Jogen Salzberg for a week-long meditation retreat exploring Buddhist teachings of the five elements. Practices will include meditations on our bodies' elemental nature, direct absorption in fire, sky, water, earth and wind, contemplation of the Elemental qualities of life, mind, and internal energy, and ritual work with the elements. Dharma Gates is happy to help coordinate rideshares among participants if needed.
A Day of Practice with Lama Rod: Embodiment-Based Mindfulness Meditation (New York, NY)
Join Lama Rod Owens as he supports us in gentle and clear guided embodiment-based mindfulness teachings that will invite you back into your body to establish a firmer sense of balance, stability, and connectedness. This is a special opportunity to practice with Lama Rod!
Tricycle Retreat (Charles Town, WV)
Join us for a 5-day meditation retreat for young adults (ages 18 to 35). Come take a respite from the constant demands of day-to-day life and the incessant buzz of social media, and reconnect with your inner resources of peace and wisdom. Dharma Gates is happy to help coordinate rideshares among participants if needed.
Digital Detox (online)
One of the most powerful techniques for resetting our relationship with digital technology is a 30-Day Digital Detox. The challenge has you abstain from non-essential digital tech for one month. Join us for our kickoff at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET.
Building A Beautiful Life (online)
A deep exploration of livelihood, relationships, money, meaning and Buddhist practice in our world today. We’ll gather on Zoom for 90 minutes on Saturdays at 11:00 AM PT/2:00 PM ET.
A Beautiful Relationship to Our Mind
A 6-day silent meditation retreat
For participants ages 18-35, donation-based
Our relationship with our object of meditation serves as a mirror for our quality of mind. A forced or overly controlled relationship with our practice can leave us frustrated, not wanting to meditate, or “stuck” in our practice. On this retreat, Beth will guide us in cultivating a relaxed, beautiful relationship with our object of meditation, with the breath as a default object. Through creating a beautiful relationship with meditation, we can train ourselves in wholesome qualities of the mind which translate into all of our relationships with ourselves, with other beings, and with the world.
Half-Day Meditation Retreat
About the Retreat:
Join Dharma Gates for a half-day of practice guided by Beth Upton, a Dhamma teacher trained under Pa Auk Sayadaw. This half-day retreat is donation-based and open to all participants between the ages of 18 and 35. Teachings will focus on the practice of mindfulness of breathing, but you are welcome to come and practice your own technique. There will be an opportunity for Q&A with Beth. All experience levels are welcome, including total beginners.
Location: This retreat will take place at Yoga in Daily Life Studio in Alexandria, VA. The address is 2402 Mt. Vernon, Avenue. Please register in advance if you plan to attend. Sitting supplies will be provided, although you are welcome to bring your own.
Note: This retreat will take place on the second floor of the Yoga Studio and there is no elevator in the building. As such, this retreat is not wheelchair accessible.
Living a Zen Path
Zen Mountain Monastery is offering a 5-day immersion in the path of Zen Buddhism.
Zen is a practice of discovering our natural inner clarity and learning how to bring this into our everyday life. Over the past fifteen hundred years, the Zen tradition has evolved various upaya, or skillful means, to help us wake up to reality right where we are. This retreat will be an opportunity for beginning to intermediate practitioners to experience Zen training within the supportive environment of the monastery. During our time together, we’ll engage in some of the core practices of Zen, including zazen (Zen meditation), Buddhist liturgy, and silent work practice, all of which emerge from direct contact with our inherent wakefulness. We’ll spend one full day in silence, following the structure of a classic one-day Zen meditation retreat.
Love & Spaciousness Retreat
Heart and clarity, deep feeling and deep seeing, mixing together in the great transparent space of awareness- this is the alchemy we’ll explore together. This retreat will focus on practices of spaciousness and heartfelt embodiment, inviting love and openness to melt, enliven, instruct and awaken.
Lotus in the Fire: Awakening into Your Life with Kisei Costenbader, Sensei
About the Event
This event will be donation-based, held via Zoom, and open to all.
The way the self arrays itself is the shape of the entire world.--Dogen Zenji
What does it mean to practice in the midst of living? How do we awaken in the fire of our own lives? One of the core Dharma teachings is the teaching of emptiness. Though often misunderstood, insight into emptiness empowers us to live a genuine, authentic life. During this mini-retreat we will explore the freedom and love of emptiness through the basic tenets of Dharma practice: openness, compassion, stillness, inquiry and expression. We will use guided meditation, creative exercises and group dialogue to directly experience the many facets of emptiness and come into a deeper relationship to ourselves and the world.
About Kisei
Amy Kisei, Sensei is an authorized Zen teacher, zen priest, spiritual counselor and dream-worker. Kisei has 12 years of monastic training and teaching experience from Great Vow Zen Monastery, and holds a BS in Earth Science and Gender Studies. Kisei is also an artist and painter who is passionate about re-awakening the ancient practices of dreamwork, art-making, divination and ceremony in service of planetary awakening. Learn more by visiting her website Earth Dreams by Amy Kisei.
Conversation & Q&A: Buddhism, Neuroscience, & Psychotherapy
About the Event:
Join Dr Joe Loizzo, Founder of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, and Aaron Stryker, Dharma Gates Co-founder, for a conversation about the intersections between modern science and traditional Buddhism. Joe has spent the better part of his life forming a dialogue between Buddhist wisdom and psychology, Buddhist contemplative practice and neuroscience, and Buddhist ethics and social justice. Joe and Aaron will talk about how as practitioners we can benefit from this intersection of modern science and traditional Buddhism. They'll also talk about the relationship between secularized forms of practice and traditional lineages, building a career in the science of meditation and will also take your questions. This event will be donation-based, held via Zoom, and open to all ages.
About Joe Loizzo:
Joseph (Joe) Loizzo, M.D., Ph.D. is a psychiatrist, clinical researcher and meditation scholar-teacher who integrates neuroscience with contemplative practice to help people cultivate personal well-being, interpersonal compassion, and transformational leadership. Assistant Professor at Weill-Cornell Medical College and founder of the educational non-profit Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science, he has published dozens of chapters and articles on the benefits and mechanisms of meditation in peer-reviewed publications such as The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences and Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. His books include Boundless Leadership, Sustainable Happiness and Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy. In addition to offering frequent classes and workshops internationally through his Nalanda Institute, Dr. Loizzo works individually with leaders in business, healthcare and education in his private consulting practice in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Gerardine, and their sons Maitreya and Ananda.
Opening to Connection: A Relational Meditation & Community-Building Retreat (In-Person)
A five-day exploration of the intersections between formal meditation practice, embodiment, and relational states of awareness, compassion, and clarity
Building a practice in Tibetan Buddhism with Claire Villareal
About the Event:
This event will be donation-based, open to all, and held via Zoom.
If you'd like to explore Tibetan Buddhism in more depth, how do you start? Join us to learn about traditional ways to begin a serious practice -- and what they look like in 2022. No, you don't have to become a monk or nun; yes, it will be a commitment of time. Bring your questions!
About Claire:
Claire Villareal is a Buddhist dharma teacher with a focus on bringing Tibetan wisdom into modern life. She began meditating in 1997 and has spent much time in both personal and group retreat since 1999, making trips to Thailand, India and Nepal to study and meditate in traditional settings in those countries, with pilgrimages to Tibet. She earned her doctorate in Religious Studies from Rice University in Houston with a dissertation that explored contemplative ways of knowing and how they speak to the contemporary academic study of mysticism. Claire is a former Programs Director for Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism in Houston; TX and she is also a former board member for Compassionate Houston. She is currently a member of the Gen X dharma teachers’ community and a faculty fellow at the Jung Center in Houston, TX.