There Is Always This

Cultivating Zen Meditation and Vision

Silent Meditation Retreat for Young Adults Age 18-35

Great Vow Zen Monastery -Clatskanie, Oregon

Tuesday, January 6th - Sunday, January 11th

Zen’s vision is that everyone has their own light.  This light is a beacon in the dark, a pure signal amidst all the noise and something reliable in the midst of shifting ground.  It’s your very own most body-heart-mind, awakened to it’s essential nature.

Join us for 6 days of focused meditation practice, teaching and exploration of this light that is intimately yours. This retreat is intended for all levels of experience — we welcome newcomers, those up for the rich challenges of encountering themselves in periods of extended stillness.

Group bonfire from the 2024 Dharma Gates retreat led by Jogen Salzberg

This retreat will be a silent retreat. Please read below for more information and details about what ‘noble silence’ entails. The one exception is there will be regular heart to hearts with the teacher — you will have the opportunity to meet with the teacher regularly to ask him questions and get support in your practice. The daily schedule also includes mindful meals, daily teaching sessions and a work period where everyone participates in chores around the monastery. See below for a daily schedule.

This retreat will take place at Great Vow Zen Monastery, about an hour of Portland in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Great Vow Zen Monastery is a residential community of lay and ordained people engaged in around-the-clock Buddhist practice. The practice heritage of Great Vow is the White Plum Soto/Rinzai lineage of Taizan Maezumi, Roshi enriched by teachings and practices from the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. For more information, visit https://zendust.org/.

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About the Teacher

My roots are nearly 3 decades of Zen Buddhist practice alongside strong influence and practice in Tantric / Vajrayana Buddhism with various teachers.  I have also engaged in devoted study of the Pali suttas, Mahayana philosophy, Dogen’s awakening poetics and consumed tons of mystical literature for the love of it.

I consider myself ultimately non-sectarian feeling that the vast Dharma is finally not encapsulatable or exhaustively contained by any teaching, description, system, cultural expression or lineage.

Among the influences on my dharma teaching and practice are Carl Jung and James Hillman’s understanding of Psyche and the polycentric self, Rumi’s odes to the enworlded Divine, Paratheatre embodied archetypal ritual, great Yogi Longchenpa’s Dzogchen love songs to the inexpressible, improvised music in general and my own drum kit studies.

Click here to visit Jogen’s website.

Jogen Salzberg

Daily Schedule

Note: The schedule will be responsive and dynamic. Group practice periods will consist of sitting meditation, movement practices, chanting, and group/private interviews, all announced in real-time. The schedule will be different on the arrival and departure days.

6:00 am Wake Up Bell

6:30 am - 8:00 am Group Practice Period

8:00 am - 8:45 am Breakfast

9:00 am - 10:30 am Work Practice

11:00 am - 12:30 pm Group Practice Period

12:30 pm - 1:15 pm Lunch

1:15 pm - 2:30 pm Personal Practice & Rest

2:30pm - 3:10 pm Movement Period

3:30 pm - 5:30 pm Group Practice Period

5:30 pm - 6:15 pm Dinner

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Group Practice Period

9:00 pm - ∞ Optional Night Practice & Bedtime

Noble Silence

This program will be held in noble silence. In short, this means not talking to other participants or community members. This practice supports the mind in settling. At the beginning and the end of the retreat there will be opportunity to connect and get to know each other participants. Noble Silence includes no unnecessary talking, including social courtesies like saying “good morning” or “excuse me”, no reading or writing unless the teacher specifically encourages you to do so, and no tech use. Noble silence is not a punishment nor is it a rule, it is something we choose to offer each other and ourselves — the gift of being with our experience as it is. If you haven’t experienced a silent retreat before and would like to hear more about the experience, please email offerings@dharma-gates.org and we’d be happy to set up a time to chat.

Location

The address is 79640 Quincy Mayger Rd, Clatskanie, OR 97016. Here are driving directions. We will send out a carpool and rideshare spreadsheet in advance of the retreat so you can carpool with other participants.

Phones & Emergency Contact

You will be invited to give your phone to a retreat manager at the beginning of the week so they can keep it in a safe place for you. You can also keep it in your room turned off. Upon being accepted to this retreat, you will receive emergency phone numbers that we ask you to share with your loved ones so that you will not need to be monitoring your own messages.

Retreat Managers

Retreat managers will be present throughout the entirety of the retreat to support the group. If at any point during the retreat you are feeling ill, are injured, or are in distress please speak with one of the retreat managers. We are here to support!

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 FAQs

  • No. All experience levels are welcome, including beginners.

  • Nope. You do not have to be Buddhist to participate in this retreat The teachings at Zen Mountain Monastery are rooted in the Zen Buddhist tradition and include beliefs that may be new or foreign for some. The invitation is to encounter the teachings, to build confidence in the teachings as we verify them through our experience, and to maintain a healthy, open, discerning, and inquisitive mind.

  • The retreat is run on a donation basis in the spirit of dana. There is no required attendance fee.

    https://www.dharma-gates.org/dana-based

    We ask you to donate the amount that feels appropriate and generous for you, given your situation and desire for Zen Mountain Monastery and Dharma Gates to continue to exist in the future.

    You can donate to Zen Mountain Monastery in your registration and Dharma Gates at https://www.dharma-gates.org/onetimedonation

  • Dharma Gates was founded because there are too few spaces where young adults can practice Dharma together. As such, we limit our retreats to folks age 18-35.

  • The food served at the retreat will be vegetarian with vegan options available If you have specific allergies or requests, you will be able to submit those to the retreat center ahead of time.

  • Dharma Gates welcomes people of all cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. There are gender neutral restrooms and accommodations available. Our aim is to make retreat practice accessible to all young people—if there’s something we can to do help you feel comfortable to attending, please do not hesitate to reach out to us (offerings@dharma-gates.org.)

  • As with all in-person retreats at the Monastery, participants are required to follow the current protocol for keeping everyone safe. Please review the current protocol requirements before registering, and if you have further questions, please contact ZMM’s registrar.

  • Please plan to arrive between 2:00 and 5:00 pm on Tues Jan 6th and depart by 2:00 pm on Sunday the 11th.

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