What is a Zen Retreat ?
Why Join ?
Join the Retreat
Due to the Covid-19 situation most of our retreats will be held both online and offline adhering to local pandemic regulations to ensure safety. Timeline below will show you the correct way on the journey to your True Nature.
It begins on the 21st of June in the Czech Republic and ends on 11th of September in Austria.
Using your compass of zen, you can travel without coming and going from one Zen Center to another through nine different European countries.
We have over 40 years of experience in organizing intensive silent retreats in the tradition of Korean zen brought from the East by Zen Master Seung Sahn.
Scholarships! Provide your Guiding Teacher’s recommendation to comms@kwanumeurope.org and if you are our School’s member with financial difficulties or long term Sangha volunteer, you can receive up to 50% discount.
Dates & Venues
Czech Republic’ title=’21.6-27.6
Seon Mun Sa, Vražné, Czech Republic
Zen Master Dae Kwang
Website: http://www.vraznezen.org
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-1-seon-mun-sa-vrazne/
Contact: Jiri Hazlbauer, +420 608 169 042, vrazne@vraznezen.org
Poland 25.6-10.7
Wu Bong Sa, Warsaw, Poland
Zen Master Bon Shim
Zen Master Joeng Hye
The retreat will end on Saturday 10.7 with a precepts ceremony
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-2-and-3-wu-bong-sa-warsaw/
Wu Bong Sa Website: https://www.zen.pl/
United Kingdom 11.7-17.7
London Zen Center, United Kingdom
Dharma Master Bogumila Malinowska
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-4-london-zen-center-uk/
Website: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/locations/london-zen-centre/
Contact: +44 7742979050, london.zen.kwanum@gmail.com
Germany 18.7-24.7
Berlin Zen Center, Germany
Zen Master Gu Ja
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-5-berlin-zen-center-germany/
Lithuania 25.7-31.7
Various Zen Centers in Lithuania
Zen Master Joeng Hye
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-6-lithuania/
Contact: alvydas.turskis@gmail.com / 108.tomas@gmail.com
Slovakia 1.8-7.8
Surya Centrum, Moravské Lieskové, Slovakia
Zen Master Ji Kwang
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-7-surya-centrum-slovakia-2/
France 1.8-7.8
Mottereau, France
Dharma Master Koen Vermeulen
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-8-mottereau-france/
Contact: Eanjo Dudragne dkeanjo@gmail.com
Spain 1.8-28.8
Bori Sa, Alta Garrotxa, Spain
Zen Master Bon Shim
Dharma master Bàrbara Pardo
Dharma Master Lizzie Coombs
Dharma Master Knud Rosenmayr
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-9-10-11-12-bori-sa-spain/
website: http://boricentro.kwanumzen.es
Contact: boricentrozen@hotmail.com, dokan108@gmail.com
United Kingdom 28.8-4.9
London Zen Centre and York Zen Group
Dharma Master Lizzie Coombs
Dharma Master Bogumila Malinowska
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-13-london-zen-centre-and-york-zen-group/
Contact:
kuszyork@gmail.com
london.zen.kwanum@gmail.com
Austria 4.9-11.9
Buddhist Center Scheibbs, Austria
Zen Master Hyon Ja
Dharma Master Knud Rosenmayr
Direct event webpage: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/event/kyol-che-week-14-buddhist-center-scheibbs-austria/
Website: https://www.zen-meditation.wien/en/zen-retreat-with-kong-an-training-back-to-dont-know-sept-2021/
Information: kwanumzenvienna@gmail.com / 0650 9949 546
Registration: kwanumzen.retreat@gmail.com
Ginselberg 12, 3270 Scheibbs, Austria
Zen Retreats are a traditional Korean Zen meditation retreat held in temples and monasteries. The experience of a whole group immersed in silence, looking deeply into the question “Who am I?” can change your life forever.
Why Join the Retreat ?
In a long retreat, we can easily see that our habits do not need to control our lives. That we can live our lives in a more simple way, in a more joyful way, with wisdom. This wisdom is a door to liberation, and it is something we can give back to this world.
Members talk about Zen Retreats
Kyolche can vary depending on a person and throughout years of my practice it has been all. In the beginning it used to be a challenge for body and mind showing that I am capable of going beyond my own limitations and not moving (not leaving!) regardless of the mind weather – no matter if my leg hurt, my roommates were snoring or being hurtful, the schedule was harsh, my own feelings leaned towards worthlessness, envy nor even bliss. Then it changed into deeply transformative experiences of finding energy in stillness and presence of something eternal in simple things. And lately it’s been mostly a peaceful, bright, space-like, somehow transparent experience of easing into every day life filled with sitting, eating, sleeping, drinking tea, working in the kitchen, looking at friends. Who knows what comes next?
It is hard to describe what happens when you sit a week long retreat. I can see my mind at work and I see good things and bad things appear, which may not always be pleasant. At the end of the week something has shifted and my mind has become a bit clearer. It is a subtle change, but it has a positive impact on how I respond to everyone around me and to daily life. This is the reason why I will be back to sit another week of Kyolche when I have a chance and I wish that more people will share this experience with me.
Sound in the morning. The bell and moktak right after. Going down from the attic in the morning requires at least a bit of non sleep. Cold water touching face in the bathroom helps to wake up even more without thinking what awakening is. Everything is not to think. I have read “Confessions of a buddhist atheist”. These couple of days showed me what one feels, when the letters forming words in the book become the experience beyond any wording. It has been three days since I left the retreat, but I don’t know, I don’t know how to understand as soon as I look at it more clearly. But I’m still there. It’s like a dose of stillness applied straight into the blood. Moktak. Bowing, sitting, chanting, meals, work, kitchen, forest walk. In the evening you feel every inch of your body, you close your eyes and it’s already dawn. I know for sure I want more. But I can’t say anything more for now.