19.6-25.6
Seon Mun Sa, Vražné, Czech Republic
Zen Master Dae Kwang
Website: http://www.vraznezen.org
Contact: Jiri Hazlbauer, +420 608 169 042, vrazne@vraznezen.org
Summer Retreat Map
Dates & Venues
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
27.6-2.7 (CANCELLED)
London Zen Center, United Kingdom
Dharma Master Bogumila Malinowska
ONLINE ONLY
Website: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/locations/london-zen-centre/
Contact: +44 7742979050, london.zen.kwanum@gmail.com
Poland
2.7-16.7
Forest retreat in Wisla, Poland
Chon Mun Sunim
Dharma Master Igor Pininski
Contact: Igor Pininski JDPSN, obt@originalbuddhatemple.org
Hungary
10.7-16.7
Poland
17.7-30.7
Wu Bong Sa, Warsaw, Poland
Zen Master Bon Shim
Zen Master Joeng Hye
Website: https://www.zen.pl/
wydarzenia/ Contact: Robert Baczyk, wubongsa@gmail.comBelgium
31.7-6.8
Spain
31.7-27.8
Bori Sa, Alta Garrotxa, Spain
Zen Master Bon Shim
Dharma Master Knud Rosenmayr
Dharma master Bàrbara Pardo
Dharma Master Lizzie Coombs
• Week 1 (July 30 to August 6): Bon Shim SSN
• Week 2 (August 7 to 13, arrival August 6): Knud Rosenmayr JDPSN
• Week 3 (August 14 to 20, arrival August 13): Barbara Pardo JDPSN
• Week 4 (August 21 to 27, arrival August 20): Elizabeth Coombs JDPSNwebsite: http://boricentro.kwanumzen.es
Contact: boricentrozen@hotmail.com, dokan108@gmail.com
Slovakia
28.8-3.9
Kosice, Slovakia
Zen Master Dae Kwang
Jiří Hazlbauer, JDPSN
– Contact: Dusan Silvasi, kosice@kwanumzen.skInka, MoM - Slovakia
3.9-4.9
Czech Republic
19.6-25.6
Seon Mun Sa, Vražné, Czech Republic
Zen Master Dae Kwang
Website: http://www.vraznezen.org
Contact: Jiri Hazlbauer, +420 608 169 042, vrazne@vraznezen.org
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
27.6-2.7 (CANCELLED)
London Zen Center, United Kingdom
Dharma Master Bogumila Malinowska
ONLINE ONLY
Website: https://www.kwanumeurope.org/locations/london-zen-centre/
Contact: +44 7742979050, london.zen.kwanum@gmail.com
United Kingdom
Poland
2.7-16.7
Forest retreat in Wisla, Poland
Chon Mun Sunim
Dharma Master Igor Pininski
Contact: Igor Pininski JDPSN, obt@originalbuddhatemple.org
Poland
Hungary
10.7-16.7
Hungary
Poland
17.7-30.7
Wu Bong Sa, Warsaw, Poland
Zen Master Bon Shim
Zen Master Joeng Hye
Website: https://www.zen.pl/
wydarzenia/ Contact: Robert Baczyk, wubongsa@gmail.comPoland
Belgium
31.7-6.8
Belgium
Spain
31.7-27.8
Bori Sa, Alta Garrotxa, Spain
Zen Master Bon Shim
Dharma Master Knud Rosenmayr
Dharma master Bàrbara Pardo
Dharma Master Lizzie Coombs
Website: http://boricentro.kwanumzen.es
Contact: boricentrozen@hotmail.com, dokan108@gmail.com
Spain
Slovakia
28.8-3.9
Kosice, Slovakia
Zen Master Dae Kwang
Jiří Hazlbauer, JDPSN
Slovakia
Inka, MoM - Slovakia
3.9-4.9
Inka, MoM - Slovakia
What is a Zen Retreat ?
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.
Covid-19 and safety
Each retreat will provide more specific details regarding local and national CV-19 situation. General KUSZE pandemic recommendations can be read here. Please bring your sleeping bags, towels, 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.
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.
Cover photo by HÉCTOR MEDIAVILLA