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Find Your True Nature
The European Winter Meditation Retreats 2021
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Dear friends in the Dharma, please save your time for the coming Winter Kyol Che. Due to the Covid-19 situation like most of our retreats this Winter Kyol Che will be held both online and offline adhering to local pandemic regulations to ensure safety. The situation is dynamic and still subject to change.

This year our Winter Zen Meditation Retreats will be held across Europe in different locations. You can enter for the duration of 2 days up to 1 month. Please follow the details below to learn more and check this page regularly. Bookmark This Page to have easy access.

Dates

Dates & Venues (We are working on clarifying all details and will update you as soon as possible.)

  • Borisa, Spain - 10.01 – 07.2.2021

    Zen Master Bon ShimBon Shim SSN
    Barbara Pardo JDPSN Barbara Pardo JDPSN

    Join us for a 1 month meditation retreat in the mountains. Bori Sa is located amidst the magnificent scenery of Alta Garrotxa Natural Park. We’ll practice sitting, bowing, chanting, working and eating together in complete silence. Possibility of sitting the retreat for weeks, entrances and exits on Saturdays. Scholarships available. Write to: council@kwanumeurope.org

  • UK - 07.02-14.02.2021

    Bogumila Malinowska JDPSNBogumila Malinowska JDPSN
    Lizzie Coombs JDPSNLizzie Coombs JDPSN Scholarships available. Write to: council@kwanumeurope.org

  • Wubongsa, Warsaw, Poland - 28.02 – 07.03.2021

    Joeng Hye SSNJoeng Hye SSN

    Scholarships available. Write to: council@kwanumeurope.org.



Heart Kyol Che

You can join practice in Heart Kyolche formula for morning and evening practice or if possible for you all day.

  • Morning and evening meditation practice, optional all day (commitment expected)
  • Dharma talk: once a week on the weekend
  • One schedule for all weeks
  • Kongan-Interviews: twice a week.
  • Daily Schedule:

(X) = Online practice

5.00h    – Wake up

5.15h    – 108 bows (X)

5.45h    – Morning chanting (X)

6.40h    – Meditation (2x 30 min) (X)

8h        – Breakfast

9h        – Work period

10.20h  –  Break

11h      –   Meditation (3 x 30 min) (X)

13h      –   Lunch

15h      –   Walk outside

15.50h  –   Meditation (1 x 1 hour)

(15h Alternative: 3 x 30 min) (X)

17h     –   Dinner

18.30h –  Evening chanting (X)

19.35h –  Meditation (2 x 30 min) (X)

20.45h –  Four Great Vows (X)

22.00h –  Silence

* Online practice: We ask for your commitment of a total week. You can either join all day or only for morning (5:15 – 7:50) and evening practice (18:30 – 20:45).

Access

Join Zoom Meeting Meditation practice

Join Zoom Meeting:

Each venue has its own link

What is Kyol Che ?

“Kyol Che” is a traditional Korean zen meditation session held in temples and monasteries. The experience of a whole group immersed in silence, looking deeply into the inquiry into “Who am I?” can change your life forever. Meditation in Kwan Um School is a practice of the very essence of clear mind – training of concentration, wisdom and compassion – beyond any religion. Zen Master Seun Sahn said: “I don’t teach buddhism, I only teach don’t know”.

How to prepare ?

Please bring your sleeping bags, towels ,warm socks, which we use in the Dharma Room, loose trousers reaching your ankles for sitting meditation. All participants are obliged to arrive with valid medical insurance. Each retreat will provide more specific details. Safety measures regarding Covid-19 situation will be taken.

Why Join the Kyol Che ?

When we practice together, we learn from one another. Individual practice is important, but when we only practice individually, it is difficult to see our limitations and our karma, the karma of our mind. The sangha is like a mirror, in which you can easily see your limitations, the limits of your actions and your opinions.

If you read something about zen and buddhism make sure that your digestive system works correctly, because you must necessarily digest it. Only then wisdom can appear. Digestive system of mind works efficiently only when your don’t know is clear and meditation strong.

Zen Master Joeng Hye

 

Fees for attending

Costs for online participants (requested minimum): 50,- EUR per week (30,- per week for Eastern European countries). No further reductions. We appreciate your support for the hosting temple and the teachers by paying any other additional contribution.

Kwan Um School of Zen / IBAN: DE59 100500 000 190502142/ SWIFT: BELADEBEXXX

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 conditions. I learned to go on no matter if my leg hurt, my roommates were snoring or being hurtful, the schedule was harsh, just following the situation both in harmony and chaos, when I felt strong but also when I felt worthless or jealous. This endurance created a different kind of strenght in myself. Later it changed into deeply transformative experiences of finding energy in stillness and presence of something unspeakable and eternal. And now it’s 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? Don’t know!”

Senior Dharma Teacher
Warsaw Zen Center

“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.”

Veronique
Online Sangha

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