https://www.reddit.com/r/zenbuddhism/comments/1i4byo5/question_are_sesshins_often_tied_to_taking/
created by ZenSationalUsername on 18/01/2025 at 17:02 UTC
9 upvotes, 15 top-level comments (showing 15)
I’m trying to understand how sesshins are typically handled across Zen groups, as my local sangha’s approach feels a bit limiting.
I attend a sangha in the Deshimaru lineage. My teacher is from a different lineage and lives several hours away, so we meet weekly via Zoom. I live in the South, where there aren’t many sesshins or Zen groups nearby. My local sangha doesn’t hold sesshins due to a small membership, and participating would require traveling to another state. Here’s the issue: I’m about to become a father, so traveling long distances or attending a week-long sesshin isn’t practical for me right now. I asked a member of my sangha about the possibility of hosting a one-day sesshin or zazenkai locally. They said sesshins aren’t just about meditation—they involve working with and receiving the precepts for those at that stage, making shorter or less formal sittings without a declaration (like Jukai) out of the question.
I discussed this with my teacher, who felt this approach was a bit idiosyncratic, but acknowledged that groups are free to structure sesshins how they wish.
I’m wondering: Is it common for sesshins to be tied to taking precepts or other formal declarations in other Zen groups? I want to attend a sesshin, but I’d prefer to take Jukai with my teacher rather than with this sangha.
How do other sanghas approach this? Are sesshins typically tied to receiving the precepts, or is this an unusual policy?
Comment by posokposok663 at 18/01/2025 at 20:21 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’ve done sesshins in several lineages in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, and never once encountered the idea that they “involve working with and receiving the precepts”.
As another commenter said, hey may serve as an occasion to have a precepts ceremony for those among the participants who have been preparing to receive them, but that’s not the purpose of the sesshin and it is usually just a few people.
Comment by genjoconan at 18/01/2025 at 17:11 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
That's not how we do things. There's a fair amount of overlap between those who have taken precepts and those who sit sesshins, but there's no rule that one has to come with the other.
Comment by KamiNoItte at 18/01/2025 at 18:22 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Your teacher is correct; and it’s uncommon to require precept training for every sesshin.
Afaik sesshin is simply a period of focused zazen, which may or may not include other ceremonies like jukai.
Comment by Bahariasaurus at 18/01/2025 at 17:09 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In my tradition you generally are discouraged from taking the precepts unless you've already sat multiple sesshins. I think that's more the norm?
Sometime there is a sesshin which concludes in Jukai, but no one is made to take Jukai.
Comment by AreaOk3855 at 18/01/2025 at 18:09 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Sesshin are for zazen, in my experience.
If you’re of the mind to make a sincere effort at sitting that much, come one come all.
Comment by bodhi471 at 18/01/2025 at 18:46 UTC*
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The temple I attend is a fairly traditional Soto zen. Our parent temple is in Sendai, Japan. We hold Jukai sesshin usually at the end of the term. Anyone can attend, and no one is required to study the precepts or take Jukai.
Does that answer your question? Edited for charity
Comment by zelextron at 18/01/2025 at 20:17 UTC*
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I did a 10 day sesshin in the sangha of Stephane Kosen Thibaut, who is in the Deshimaru lineage, and they didn't expect me to receive the precepts to do the sesshin there. I also did one sesshin after another with the soto teacher Coen Shingetsu, I'm not sure what her exact lineage is, she practiced briefly with Taizan Maezumi and also with Shundo Aoyama in Japan, and she didn't expect me to receive the precepts in order to do the sesshin either. And with Coen Shingetsu, they offered all kinds of activities in their sangha in addition to the sesshin, but due to a bunch of circumstances, I did the sesshins and rarely participated in much else, and no one ever said I couldn't just keep doing that.
With other sanghas, I have no idea what their policy is.
Comment by prezzpac at 18/01/2025 at 17:38 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Never heard of that approach before. Very strange.
Comment by laystitcher at 18/01/2025 at 18:35 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They are not, in my experience, and I’ve sat sesshin with multiple traditional teachers in both Rinzai and Soto lineages.
Comment by Lawdkoosh at 19/01/2025 at 06:19 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My Soto Zen lineage temple offers a monthly online home hermitage retreat[1] that might be of interest to you.
1: https://zendust.org/calendar/1038/home-hermitage-a-day-long-retreat-online/
Comment by Ariyas108 at 19/01/2025 at 11:58 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They are often held in conjunction but it’s not common to require it. I’ve been to plenty that haven’t had any such ceremony.
Comment by Skylark7 at 20/01/2025 at 03:49 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We invite any Zen practitioner to sit in a sesshin in the WPA lineage groups around here. If you're a beginner who can sit a sesshin, more the power to you. We've held a jukai ceremony during sesshin but it was just one afternoon, and only for the handful of students who had been preparing for it.
It's especially odd about the zazenkai. We hold them every month, not a big deal.
Comment by Ok_Pianist6396 at 18/01/2025 at 17:22 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
So you practice in a different tradition to your teacher?
Comment by Bow9times at 18/01/2025 at 17:42 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Maybe try Mid City Zen?
Comment by JundoCohen at 19/01/2025 at 08:29 UTC*
0 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think others have answered, but no, there is no need to undertake the Precepts in most groups before sitting Sesshin. On the other hand, some retreats are connected to a Jukai Precept Undertaking ceremony as part of the Jukai itself.