Sesshin

Sesshin at Sanshin

Sesshin at Sanshin is an opportunity to practice zazen without distraction. It's one of the core activities for us in this dharma family, and we pay a lot of attention to it. We set aside the usual activities -- or entertainments -- of temple life, like work periods, meetings with teachers and dharma talks, and focus completely on zazen. We practice in complete silence following a 4 am to 9 pm daily schedule that consists simply of fourteen 50-minute periods of zazen with one-hour periods for oryoki meals and a bit of personal time. This sesshin-without-toys style of practice was created by our founder's teacher, Kosho Uchiyama Roshi, and practiced at Antaiji in Kyoto, Japan. We carry on and offer this tradition of our lineage here at Sanshin. We look forward to practicing together!

Sanshin style sesshin is likely to be different from the sesshin and retreats you may have participated in at other dharma centers, both in activities and approach. As you consider participating in an upcoming sesshin here, please take a thorough look around this webpage for logistics and basic considerations. More in-depth resources from Hoko and other dharma leaders on understanding Sanshin-style sesshin are also linked at right.

Those who are new to sesshin practice, or who wish to deepen their understanding of Sanshin-style sesshin, are encouraged to consider participating in our Introduction to Sesshin workshop on Jan 10th, 2026.

Understanding Sanshin style sesshin

Facing the wall, we are only facing ourselves. We have no choice but to see that no one is compelling us to practice, and no one can do our practice for us. If we can see that in sesshin, we can also realize that we always have to live our own lives, make our own choices, take responsibility for ourselves and walk on our own legs. This is one aspect of the self that is only the self. The other aspect is that of the self that includes everything.

We encourage you to take some time with the resources we make available about the nuances and opportunities of Sanshin style sesshin HERE.

Note: Registration for this year's Rohatsu sesshin (Dec 3 - 8) is now closed. Practitioners may drop in freely for periods of zazen with the participants, virtually or in-person.

Information & considerations

deciding to participate in sesshin: considering mental and physical health

While everyone is welcome at Sanshin, the reality is that this kind of sesshin is not right for everyone at all times. Attendees should be generally healthy in body and mind in order to have a meaningful sesshin experience. Sanshin's style of sesshin is one of the most intensive available, and while participating in sesshin is not a matter of endurance, it is a matter of resilience. Challenges, both physical and psychological, go with the territory, and participants need to be able to bounce back on their own easily enough to carry on. That resilience comes from maturity of practice, life experience, physical and mental health, and self awareness. We need to understand what's happening when we're feeling resistance to discomfort or potential discomfort, including whatever comes with sitting still, minimal new stimulation, lack of social interactions, and encountering the parts of ourselves that we'd rather avoid. The response to experiencing physical pain or a negative emotion during sesshin cannot be to express an opinion to friends, change the environment, go do something else, or create a distraction by eating, drinking or watching a video. If panic is the result when these options are removed, sesshin is not a good idea for you.

Before making the decision to participate, it's important to ask yourself some questions, and answer yourself honestly.

Will my physical health be adversely affected? Sesshin can be painful for the fittest of human bodies. If you're recovering from surgery or an injury or have back or joint issues, digestive or dietary conditions, problems sleeping, etc. that may be exacerbated by eating, sleeping and sitting during sesshin, consider carefully whether you really want to take this on.
Will my mental health be adversely affected? If you're under the care of a therapist or other mental health professional, discuss whether a sesshin like this is contraindicated for you before you decide to register. If not but you have emotional or mental health concerns, be candid with yourself about whether you're prepared to sit calmly with whatever may arise, and to do so for 14 hours a day, day after day. While practice leaders are here to help with practice questions, we are not therapists who can respond to mental health crises.

If after talking things over with yourself you've realized that now is not the time for sesshin at Sanshin, there are other options available to you for deepening your practice and perhaps continuing to prepare for an eventual sesshin here. Ideas include:

Registering for one day of the sesshin, rather than the full event. If that one day goes well, you can attend more of the next sesshin.
Participating virtually from home.
Attending sesshin with a sangha whose style is less intensive and which may have support resources available.
Working with health care professionals to resolve issues of body and mind before deciding to attend sesshin.

Sanshin is concerned for everyone's wellbeing during sesshin, and relies on participants to make mature decisions about their attendance. While we recognize that unpredictable things happen during sesshin, heading off crises and early departures makes the sesshin go more smoothly for everyone.

Mental health considerations

For the good of everyone, we urge you to consider which activities are most appropriate for you in your current circumstances. This style of sesshin features solitude and lack of interaction, moving us toward letting go of our self-concepts and our stories about who we are. In the zendo, if we're stable and healthy, we can safely take a vacation from "me." If we're experiencing some forms of disorder, that can feel like dissociation or annihilation and can be upsettingly disorienting. The reality is that the intensive style of sesshin we do here is not a good idea for those who have current psychiatric disorders such as psychoses, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and identity disorders. If you are new to practice and have a substance addiction or personality disorder, a sesshin at Sanshin is also likely not the best place for you to start. We recommend that first you discuss your wish to engage in zazen with your therapist or doctor, and once you've established a regular daily zazen practice. you begin by participating in a shorter and less intensive retreat. There are many such retreats offered by dharma centers around the country that are designed to introduce newer practitioners to the schedule, forms and experience of more prolonged zazen practice.

If you are not under the care of a mental health professional but feel drawn to sesshin as an escape from stress, a space for making life decisions, a dose of instant peace or a means of managing challenging emotions, sesshin is likewise not for you. Please seek help to sort out your troubles from people and organizations that are trained to offer the real resources you need. Not only will sesshin not serve your purpose, it may well make things feel worse. We are not mental health professionals, and while we can answer questions about practice, we will not be able to help you navigate psychological disturbances that may arise from intensive zazen.

Many sesshin participants do not live locally or practice regularly with our sangha; thus practice leaders don't always know them well or have familiarity with their situations. Likewise, while participants trust the container and the practice, they may not have any established relationship with our practice leaders. If mental health considerations are a part of your discernment about attending sesshin, you may be well advised to participate in a retreat being held by a sangha with which you can practice regularly in person and led by a teacher with whom you can build a relationship. The teacher can make recommendations about your practice path after getting to know you and can help you choose the best activities for you. The stability of a familiar sangha can be a real support to your practice.

sesshin logistics

Sesshin logistics:

In the interest of maintaining a settled and focused practice container for everyone, please do not wear brightly colored or wordy clothing, flashy or jangly jewelry, or strongly scented products in the zendo.
For those sleeping in the zendo, wake-up is at 3:40 am. There is no wake-up bell; please set an alarm for yourself. If you get up early, please be respectful of others who may still be sleeping.
Zazen begins at 4:10 am; please be seated by 4:00 wearing your rakusu or okesa if you have one, in time for Hoko’s bows and zendo rounds at 4:05. She should be the last one into the zendo, so if you are late and she has already arrived, please wait until the next kinhin period to enter the zendo and take your place.
Everyone will have a work assignment on one or more days of the sesshin. You may be asked to help prepare meals in the kitchen, set up tables, serve food into participants' bowls, wash dishes, ring bells in the zendo, or other things. Work assignments will be posted on the board in the entryway; please be sure you know what you’re assigned to do and show up to do it. Work is itself practice and not an interruption of your sesshin.
If you’re camping or staying in the zendo and using the shower there, you can leave things in the baskets above the toilet. Showers are taken during the personal time following meals and at no other time because of noise considerations; bathroom noise carries right down the hall into the zendo.
Public spaces need to remain public spaces for the use of all participants, so please refrain from napping on sofas, leaving dishes or belongings about, or otherwise claiming sangha space as your own.
On Sunday morning the public will arrive for the 9 am zazen period and the dharma talk which follows. By then we will already have broken silence and attended to cleanup and a closing chat.

Your role in sesshin

One of the things we hear from sesshin participants most frequently is that their practice here is only made possible by the efforts and contributions of the entire group. Your presence is important to everyone, and we plan on your attendance at all sesshin activities during the days for which you're signed up. If you aren’t around to carry out your work assignment, someone will need to cover for you. If you skip meals, we will have bought and prepared too much food. We realize that it may be necessary to take unscheduled breaks in order to take care of yourself, but please inform a practice leader as soon as possible if you will be taking significant time out, unable to do your work or missing meals. Please do everything you can to be here for the full duration of your planned stay.

On a related note, planning to leave early on the last day is strongly discouraged as it can have a significant adverse effect on the sesshin community. It’s important for the group as a whole that participants stay together and finish strong because having the energy and spirit of fellow practitioners is a vital support to everyone’s practice. If your flight, train or bus departure would require you to leave on the last day before the official close of the sesshin, consider staying for another night, getting some good rest and leaving for home the next day. We recognize that health issues, family emergencies, bad weather, etc. do come up, but your decision to leave early affects more people than just you yourself. Ask for help if you’re struggling rather than casually throwing in the towel. The sesshin peters out with a whimper when participants trickle quietly away before cleanup and close—not to mention that all of the work assignments fall to the few who remain.

Overall, it's important to remember that without participants there is no sesshin. It's not like a performance put on by one group of people for another, in which things can carry on whether or not the audience decides to duck out before the last act. No matter whether you're experienced or a beginner, from Bloomington or from out of town, if you're suddenly not here there's a gap in the practice that affects everyone.

After sesshin

After almost every event we find participants’ abandoned shoes, clothing, toiletries, camping gear or other things. Several times a year we have to make a run to the charity shop with a load of this stuff because we just don’t have the space to let it pile up. Before you leave for home, check all the places you’ve been: shoe shelves, zendo, cubbies, changing room, bathrooms, common room, picnic tables. Please don’t leave your stuff here, because unless you realize quickly and contact us it’s likely to be given away.
Likewise, check what you’re taking home to be sure it’s actually yours. Many robes, samu-e, pants, shoes and other items look similar; make sure you’re not leaving with someone else’s prized belongings.
When you leave Sanshin, take care with your reentry. After spending days in shikantaza with barriers down, you may feel vulnerable or emotional. Plunging right back into the world of chatter, devices and friends and family can be jarring. If you’re headed to an airport, you may find the bright lights, loud monitors and strident advertising somewhat painful. The airport chapel is a safe and quiet alternative to the main seating areas.

info for travelers

For those traveling to Sanshin from out of town, note that Sanshin can provide neither guest rooms nor transportation to and from the temple each day. You may sleep in the zendo with your own bedding or camp in the yard with your own gear if you wish. See our zendo stay and camping guidelines here. Some may prefer to rent a nearby hotel room or other temporary housing.

virtual participation

A virtual drop-in option is available during the sesshin. Simply go to our virtual practice page and click on the green button to join for scheduled periods of zazen. No registration or fee payment is required, though gifts of financial support are welcome and appreciated. Please go to this page to make your donation rather than using the registration buttons.

Please note that virtual participation begins with the first zazen period on the opening evening -- the opening welcome meeting listed on the schedule simply covers logistical considerations relevant to those practicing at Sanshinji in-person.

public & personal health during sesshin

If you would be arriving with a communicable illness, please withdraw from the sesshin. Colds and flu spread rapidly through a community practicing at close quarters with a demanding schedule. In kindness to all participants, including aging teachers, please don’t bring an illness into the group even if you yourself feel well enough to participate. No one wants to come down with something in the midst of sesshin and miss his or her opportunity to practice.
While you're here, handwashing and cough-covering protocols are vital to maintaining everyone’s health. Please manage your used tissues and generally do what you can to keep your germs to yourself. Because practitioners are sometimes arriving from all over the world, we’re exposing each other to new bugs with every event. See our public health protocols here, which may limit, but do not eliminate, the risk of contracting an illness while practicing at Sanshin.
Take care of your body as the ground of your practice. If you’re taking any kind of medication for body or mind, this is not the time to stop. Use extra cushions for support during zazen or move to a bench or chair as necessary. Drink enough water and get as much sleep as you can under the circumstances. If you’re staying on the Sanshin campus, that’s about 6 hours a night. If you commute, it’s less. If you’re driving back and forth to sesshin every day, please watch your fatigue level and don’t put yourself in a position to fall asleep at the wheel. For your own safety, if you need to leave just before the last zazen period of the day in order to get additional sleep, do it.
Watch your mindstate and tell a practice leader immediately if you feel yourself becoming confused or disoriented. It’s uncommon, but intensive, prolonged zazen or any intensive sitting practice can lead to letting go of the self in a way that allows for us to lose our bearings to a greater or lesser degree. Most of the time this is fine, we know what’s going on, and we can just observe. However, if you’re concerned at all with what’s happening, don’t tell yourself you just need to sit through it or that it’s just your mind wandering. Please find someone and we’ll talk about it.

Food practice during sesshin

oryoki meals

During sesshin at Sanshin, we carry out meals in the zendo using oryoki. We sit at low tables and follow the procedures used at Antaiji. This video introduces the steps of the meal (though some details have changed since it was recorded), and this one shows the use and handling of the oryoki set for breakfast. There are various other oryoki-related resources available online, which you can find and study on your own.

After the welcome meeting on the opening afternoon of sesshin, we take some time to (re)orient ourselves to oryoki practice at Sanshin, moving through the steps of formal meals together, with opportunities for discussing details and refinements before the complete silence of sesshin. If you have your own oryoki set you're welcome to bring it, but we have plenty of (lay) sets for use by participants during the sesshin.

how we source food for practice

We are participating in the local food & farming community.

During sesshin at Sanshin, we simply sit, sleep, and eat. Quietly living out this schedule together for three, five, or seven days at a time, we embody in a very concentrated way a central question in our practice: how do we live without causing each other suffering?

Cooking and eating can be a deep study of community. This becomes especially apparent when these are our only waking activities besides sitting, as during sesshin. In this context, we can’t help but notice that in order to live, we all need, as Rev. Tatsuzen Sato writes for Sotoshu, “to put other forms of life such as those of animals and plants into our mouth.” Less obvious is that underpinning this dynamic is the interaction of countless beings in the growth, harvest, and transport of living food. Our food practice, like zazen, teaches and embodies interconnection. Eating fresh vegetables grown in nearby soil during sesshin can be a simple and direct reminder for us.

Relating to the local community and environment through the basic necessity for food has been a given in sanghas across the world through most of Buddhist history. In our modern context of supermarkets, industrial-scale agriculture, and widespread environmental degradation, it takes some intention to participate in this long tradition, and to do our best to avoid some of the harms to nonhuman and human beings inherent in much of our contemporary global food system.

Recognizing the opportunity, particularly in sesshin practice, for wholesome participation in the life of all beings, we aim to source a substantial portion of food for our practice activities from nearby small farms, gardens, and people that work to produce and provide food sustainably -- and to grow what we can as a sangha ourselves. Coordination efforts in this direction are built into the job description of Sanshin’s operations manager.

Preparing the soil for Sanshin's "sesshin garden" at a Bloomington Community Garden plot. March, 2024

Picking up sesshin produce at Stranger's Hill Organics in Bloomington. September, 2023

You can learn more about our approach to nyoho food practice, and its relation to sesshin at Sanshin, here.

Upcoming sesshin opportunities

Registration typically opens a month and a half ahead of each sesshin. Register for bolded dates at right.

Rohatsu sesshin (Dec 3 - 8, 2025)
3-day Uchiyama Roshi memorial sesshin (Mar 5 - 8, 2026)
5-day sesshin (June 2 - 7, 2026)
3-day sesshin (September 3 - 6, 2026)

You may also be interested to participate in our 1-day Introduction to Sesshin workshop on Sat, Jan 10th, 2026.

Rohatsu sesshin
Dec 3 - 8, 2025 -- Registration closed.
Practitioners may drop in for periods of zazen according to the schedule below, virtually or in-person.

PLEASE NOTE: The dates for this year's Rohatsu sesshin have changed to Wed, Dec 3rd - Mon, Dec 8th., as reflected now throughout this page.

Rohatsu sesshin is carried out each year across the Buddhist world in recognition of Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening under the bodhi tree. It offers a particularly intensive opportunity to come together to embody the Buddha's practice.

Daily schedule

Note that virtual participation begins with the first zazen period on the opening evening.

Wednesday, Dec 3
3:00 pm - Welcome meeting & oryoki meal orientation
5:10 - Opening comments and zazen
6:00 - Dinner
7:10 - Zazen
8:00 - Kinhin
8:10 - Zazen
9:00 - End of day

Sunday, Dec 7
same as Dec 1 - 6, except:
9:00 pm - Silent tea
9:20 - Zazen
10:00 - Kinhin
10:10 - Zazen
11:00 - Kinhin
11:10 - Zazen
12:00 am - Heart Sutra service

Monday, Dec 8
7:30 am - Cleanup
8:00 - Informal breakfast
9:00 - End

Thurs, Dec 4 - Sat, Dec 6
4:00 am - Participants in their seats
4:05 - Doshi entrance
4:10 - Zazen
5:00 - Kinhin
5:10 - Zazen
6:00 - Breakfast
7:10 - Zazen
8:00 - Kinhin
8:10 - Zazen
9:00 - Kinhin
9:10 - Zazen
10:00 - Kinhin
10:10 - Zazen
11:00 - Kinhin
11:10 - Zazen
12:00 pm - Lunch
1:10 - Zazen
2:00 - Kinhin
2:10 - Zazen
3:00 - Kinhin
3:10 - Zazen
4:00 - Kinhin
4:10 - Zazen
5:00 - Kinhin
5:10 - Zazen
6:00 - Dinner
7:10 - Zazen
8:00 - Kinhin
8:10 - Zazen
9:00 - End of day