Photo by orvaratlii
Virtual Zen sounds like a contradiction. After all, Zen means waking up to each moment. It’s very much about being real and inhabiting life fully.
Can ‘virtual’ Zen work?
Our first Virtual Zen Retreat, AWARENESS: MIRACLE OF NOW, was a foundational retreat. My aim was to offer an opportunity to learn how to meditate, and to explore how mindfulness makes life vivid and vibrant.
A participant said:
“I’ve been trying to start meditating for years. You’ve got me started at last.”
It was a knife-edge challenge to create a retreat that that can help beginners and experienced Zen people alike. I encouraged all participants to approach the retreat with Beginner’s Mind. Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki said:
“In the mind of the beginner there are many possibilities, in the mind of an expert there are few.”
Whether it’s the nip of cold in the air, or your partner’s gaze, or your breath rising and falling – Beginner’s Mind allows us to approach each moment completely afresh.
Did the virtual retreat manage to convey Beginner’s Mind? I think so – at least for some. One person wrote:
“WOW! It was a real game-changer!”
Do we need virtual retreats?
Traditional week-long Zen retreats (sesshins) are held in seclusion. That means that people leave their ordinary lives to devote time to developing their spirituality. Such retreats are a marvelous opportunity to deepen practice.
However, it’s not so easy to take a week off work and travel to a retreat center. Many people are bound by responsibilities that prevent them from leaving home. It may be that they are looking after children or after aged parents. Or they need to use their sparse holiday for time with their family. Or their employment may be tenuous and they can’t take time off work.
Virtual retreats allows people to focus on their spirituality for a period of days without having to leave home.
A guided retreat in the midst of ordinary life is radical.
The Internet has made that possible for the first time in history. Each day, a retreat email brought an articles outlining the theme of the day, as well as suggested exercised into each participants’ inbox. In addition, people could choose to receive Twitter messages with gentle practice reminders. (Twitter actually had a high uptake. Over 110 participants joined the Twitter service). In addition, people could gather in a private forum to share their experience of the day.
Is it what people want?
When I first had the idea of offering a virtual Zen retreat, I thought that maybe fifty people would join – not four hundred! I expected that we would have participants from, say, Los Angeles, New York, or Sydney.
But I was amazed to see participants from Islamabad and Calcutta, Arima in Trinidad, or Tire in Turkey. Not to mention Paris, Madrid, Bucharest and most other major European cities. Some people even participated from Shenzhen and Taipei. It was truly international.
I feel humbled that people gathered from all around the world in order to devote time and energy to this retreat!
One person remarked:
“It was a joy to practice with so many people from all over the world! I felt so supported and found I could relate well to people, no matter where they lived.”
The challenges
Setting up the retreat and coping with so many enrolments was daunting. I could never have done it on my own! Luckily I worked with a great team: Deb Moran, the Retreat Administrator, and Miraz Jordan, the Technical Advisor. Their warm and caring personalities really showed up in the contact with participants. I’m truly grateful for their help. Personally, I love working as a team! It’s exciting and useful to bounce ideas off each other and to carry an important project such as this into the future.
One feature of the retreat was that it was by donation. We wanted to make sure that everyone could participate regardless of their financial situation.
There were some very generous people. And it was heartwarming to get emails from people who were unable to give a donation, but who offered their help instead! We were pleased that donations paid for web hosting costs – but they didn’t pay for the months of full-time work that went into creating the retreat.
Deb and I have decided to keep true to the path of generosity. The next virtual retreat will once again be by donation. And in order to lead by example, we plan to give 10% of all retreat donations to charity. Do you have a favourite charity you would like to suggest?
All in all, I found this retreat deeply satisfying. It was wonderful to see some people’s lives change in just ten days! And I was moved by the depth and integrity of what people shared.
What we want to improve
We all learned a lot about running a virtual retreat and will put that into practice in the future. The enrolment procedure and password protection of the retreat site was a bit of nightmare. But it should be a lot smoother next time.
What I found challenging was to get the level right. I wanted the retreat to be nourishing for beginners as well as for experienced Zen students. That was a walk on a knife edge! Teaching in the next retreat will be a lot easier as we’ve now laid a foundation upon which we can build. (For those who missed the MIRACLE OF NOW retreat, we’re preparing a self-study course that people can do in their own time.)
What I would love to include in the next retreat are daily podcasts and a video or two. That’s challenging for me because I’m not a very technical person. I did try, though! I produced a guided meditation audio – but the file size ended up much too big. Trying to put it up onto the website was like stuffing an elephant into a shoebox.
As to producing videos – I’m in touch with a local film-maker and will take lessons on shooting and editing videos. It will be an interesting journey as I’m starting my learning curve from zero – or actually from slightly below!
How did people experience the retreat?
Here are some reports:
“One central practice each day, with support, made a huge difference in my life. The simplicity and depth of the teachings was effective, the practices just what I needed. Thank you!”
“The ten days have been journey of discovery and consolidation. Opening up the human heart and allowing for the deepening of connections.”
“I am in a period of significant change which will effect how I am for the rest of my life. This retreat came at exactly the right time for me. I am continuing with meditation practice. And I find by doing it I am more at peace with myself and the world.”
Keeping up the momentum
In order to keep up the momentum, we are going to offer our next Virtual Zen Retreat from 21 to 28 of June. The theme is FINDING PEACE IN THE CHAOS OF ANGER. In this retreat you will learn to –
- Develop and deepen meditation skills,
- Find the still center in the midst of emotional turmoil
- Work skillfully with anger.
If you never have any problems with anger, don’t enroll! (We run a special retreat for saints ☺)
If you’ve just completed the last retreat, the most important thing is to keep up your meditation practice. And to find the miracle of NOW, over and over again.
I’d love to hear from those of you who participated in the Virtual Zen Retreat:
Did it work for you?
And if you weren’t able to take part, please share your thoughts in the comments too.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Mary, Your joy and enthusiasm radiate and are quite infectious! I am intrigued by your Virtual Retreats. The material presented, I am sure, was exceptional and it sounds as though the method of presentation added to the experience as well as availability to many participants that may not have been able to participate otherwise.
I look forward to reading participant’s comments and constructive notations. I am very interested in the retreat material as a self study and particating myself in future retreats.
Thank you for extending yourself this way.
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I signed up for the virtual retreat and loved the daily practice.
However, some personal emergencies happened on the 4th day so I wasn’t able to do the practices and fell behind. I didn’t want to skip any, nor did I want to do several in the same day, so I was stuck behind and out of sync with the rest of the group.
Now that those emergencies are over I’m ready to pick up where I left off.
With 400 participants (well done, by the way!) I’m sure I can’t be the only one who experienced this.
Thanks for all the effort you and your team have put into this retreat!
Gwynns last blog post..7 Little Things That Make Me Disproportionately Happy
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I am in at least two minds about Virtual Retreats. Being at a computer is too disembodying for me. I wanted to get the readings and get away from the screen quick as I could.
Following a perticular line of enquiery and knowing that all these folks from all over the planet were on the same ship – that was amazing. Busy-ness prevented me from getting to the computer for the last few days of the retreat, but that seemed fine, and even apropriate in a way. All I had to do was touch thumb and forefinger and I felt connected to everybody participating. ANd that feeling is lingering now. This recent VR has fostered a strong sense of Sangha in me. It could never replace a real retreat, but thats not the point either. Computers are so prevalent, its nice they can be a conduit for a living, real time exploration of the dharma.
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Great post with an alluring title and interesting content. I like the idea of the Beginner’s Mind for Zen. Thanks for sharing.
“No self. No Problem,” said the Buddhist Master when asked to explain the deeper meaning of Buddhism.” Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle p.36
Jonathan | enlightenYourDay.coms last blog post..Stillness Speaks: Meditative thoughts by Eckhart Tolle
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Dear Mary,
“Is Virtual Zen Real?” brings up in my mind the question, “Isn’t Real Zen Virtual?”. I do agree that “Zen means waking up to the present moment”.
But isn’t the “present moment” a concept of time, which itself is fleeting, abstract, and becomes nonexistent before we
can “catch”, “experience” or label it?
I personally feel that I am experiencing “timelessness”, and the quintessence of myself (my I AM PRESENCE, SOUL?), through ZEN.
After long research, quantum physicists are just saying, that this physical reality in which we are “experiencing” is a virtual hologram, being projected from the “SOURCE”.
I feel that ZEN has always been structured, hierarchical, and has evolved to its present stage through contless masters’ contribution of their practical experience, knowledge, and wisdom.
Your “Virtual Zen Retreat” has taken the disemmination of Zen to a new level, which is accessble to a virtual participant like me. You have broken the barriers of Time and Space, through your innovative thinking.
As your “virtual” student, I am grateful to have learnt the virtues of Zen from you, without even meeting you in “reality”. Who in this material world would have thought of offering a “donation at will” Virtual Zen Retreat, which does not even guaranty a return of your own investment?
Just before entering your “Virtual Zen Retreat”, I was almost dead with my desperate bid to commit suicide. Your personal messages, and your Zen lessons have made me realize the true value of this human existence.
I salute your spirit of generosity, unconditional love, compassion, and your willingness to share your knowldge of Zen with the less fortunate (but probably the most needy). You embody, and personify Zen. I am sure that more neeedy people from accross the globe will find your future “Virtual Zen Retreats” as God’s “Virtual Gift”, to transform their lives for their highest good.
Lokanadha Prabhu Kumars last blog post..MEDITATING ON THE HEART CHAKRA
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Dear Lokanadha – I don’t know what to say…
I was glad to be of service and am humbled by your words.
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Hi Diane -it’s true, I am enthusiastic and joyful. Every moment is so precious!
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Hi Gwynn – I’m glad you’re continuing. My sense is that we packed too much into the course. That’s why you and others had the feeling they were ‘dropping behind’ if they couldn’t complete everything.
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Hi Chris!
I love what you say: that the Internet can be a “conduit for a living, real time exploration of the dharma.”
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Hi Mary,
thanks for your post on the Lost Coin Website. The idea of a virtual retreat made me curious. Reading your blog was really inspiring. It was enchanting to see how your retreat made 400 people from all over the world connect with each other. There might be only little time left to safe our planet. Given the possibilities we have in the virtual age, and seeing how you and Doen Sensei are using them, I start to trust more and more in the idea that maybe we can make it. Thank you for that.
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