Vine of Obstacles Zen

Overview:

This program - created in 2013 to offer in-depth, dynamic training for practitioners living "in the world" (versus living in a monastic or residential setting) - offers Zen practice under the guidance of Zen teachers Dōshō Rōshi and Tetsugan Osho.

The Vine is designed for those who are determined to awaken (kensho) and actualize the great matter of life and death (post-kensho training) - and who aren’t shy about it!

Our primary avenues for cultivating verification are daily zazen, dharma study, and engagement within the Vine container, and in the world. 

Practitioners who are proactive, self-directed learners, inquisitive, reflective, open to feedback, possess good communication skills, and who have the resources to follow through with practice commitments, tend to acclimate best to the Vine environment. 

The Vine training process includes the following components:

• Zazen
  • Vine students commit to establish and maintain a consistent zazen practice, and to support each other by sharing their daily practice details in a group spreadsheet.
  • "Consistent practice" = a minimum of 300 minutes of zazen each week, via online group zazen sessions and in solo sitting periods at home, generally for an hour a day at least five days a week (unless traveling for work or vacations, experiencing major illness, or navigating some other significant life-altering event). 
  • During practice periods and intensives, most students increase their zazen time, with some doing up to two hours a day during the training periods.
  • In our style, the focus in zazen is on breath practice; the key-phrase method of kōan introspection; or another practice method given by the teachers. 
  • Additional training opportunities are offered through online retreats and in-person sesshin (meditation intensives). Some students also take up solo retreat practice, if/when appropriate and in consultation with the teachers.
• Study
  • Vine students participate in group study during practice periods and training intensives, reading and working with texts, sutras, and other materials that are selected by the teachers, with an emphasis on classical teaching sources.
  • During interim periods, students engage in personal dharma study, with texts chosen in consultation with the teachers.
  • Study opportunities are also offered during Sunday group practice sessions which include a brief period of zazen plus a dharma talk given by the teachers, or a student talk on some aspect of practice.
• Engagement
  • Vine students participate in online dharma discussions via the Engagement Forums, and complete daily or weekly assignments during study periods and intensives. This is an important opportunity to engage the teachings, and turn the dharma wheel together with the teachers and other Vine students.
  • Engagement also means taking the practice off the cushion and applying it in the world, bringing the teachings and one's evolving understanding of them alive within daily affairs.
  • Students engage the dharma during practice meetings with the teachers (weekly, in most cases), and during chosan ("morning meeting," a brief period of dharma discussion offered on Thursdays following morning group zazen).

The Vine welcomes all who are interested in realizing the great matter of birth-and-death, and living a life in accord with the buddhadharma. We aim to foster a creative training environment that recognizes and values a diversity of perspectives and experiences, while also directing our collective energy toward awakening from the dream of separation.