Two retreats

At the start of october I finished my three months in Zen River, and at the start of november I will leave for another three months in Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. In october I had two 7-day retreats and two weeks to spend with family and friends.

A few days ago I came back from the second retreat, which was at Dana Zen Center in Montreuil, on the eastern edge of Paris. This is where Genno Roshi lives, and she was teaching this retreat as well. She teaches in the White Plum school of Zen as well, so we are family in a sense. It was my first time at this center, and my first encounter [NL: ontmoeting] with this teacher. I hope it won't be the last. I was quite impressed by the warmth and strength of the sangha, and by the love that is present there.

The first retreat this month was the annual [NL: jaarlijkse] Pauenhof sesshin with my own teacher Irène Bakker Sensei. The Pauenhof is a retreat and practice center from a Tibetan buddhist tradition which is located just across the German-Dutch border. It was my third sesshin at the Pauenhof: two years ago, during my first Pauenhof sesshin, I first met Irène Sensei. Thus I have very fond memories [NL: fijne herinneringen] of the Pauenhof, and once again it was wonderful to be there. Although I wasn't quite healthy, it was a happy week for me. A whole week of silent retreat, being surrounded by my teacher, by many dear friends from my home sangha, and the wonderfully warm and welcoming people at the Pauenhof.

It felt like coming home. Again. This feeling of having come home is not new at all during retreats with my teacher and our sangha, but it even seems to become stronger as time passes and my practice deepens, which is wonderful to notice. During this sesshin I asked my teacher (for the third time) if I can receive monk's ordination [NL: monnikswijding], and she said yes. Wow!

Below I have added some pictures of the Pauenhof by Marianne and Constance. (Click to enlarge.)