Various Dates
7 pm -9 pm

In this 2-hour workshop, you receive all the tools you need to get started on your personal journey in Zen practice.

Instruction will be given in zazen meditation, basic Buddhist philosophy, developing a home practice, as well as practicing as part of a community.

There will be plenty of time for questions and conversation!

In-person only

Saturday, June 6

9 am - Noon

By donation: $5 - $105
No one turned away for lack of funds

With Rin LaJoy and Joanna Hill

Participants in the Dharma of Plants workshop will learn about select central Buddhist teachings through the lens of our inseparable connections with nature. Participants will learn about the historical and cultural importance of the Bodhi tree, Ficus religiosa, the tree that Siddhartha Gautama was said to have meditated under when he attained enlightenment and became the Buddha. Participants will also learn about local connections with nature and sacred trees.

The Cedar tree is a very sacred tree to the Anishinaabe People. It is known as Nookomis Giizhik, Grandmother Cedar. Joanna will share about the medicinal uses and properties of Eastern White Cedar (Thuja Occidentalis).

Stinging Nettles is rich in many nutrients, a great food source, and has been used as a utility for Indigenous people to make cording for nets for fishing and other uses. We will learn about these two plants. It is noted in some texts that Milrapea, the Tibetan Buddhist, was sustained on nettles during his long retreats in mountainous caves. The class will have opportunities to participate, ask questions, and have hands-on activity with the plants.

In-person only

Sunday, June 7, 11 am - Noon

By donation: $5 - $30
No one turned away for lack of funds

With Sosan Flynn

Are you a person whose gender identity matches the gender you were assigned at birth? Are you worried for your friends, family, and sangha members who are trans, nonbinary, intersex, and/or gender-expansive? Are you confused about the terms and issues, and hesitant to ask? Please join us for a little bit of education and discussion on how we can support trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals, including promotion of acceptance, awareness, and equal rights. The fight for trans rights is everyone’s responsibility.

As you may know, The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security has released a third Red Flag Alert for the USA related to the Trump Administration’s anti-trans initiatives, which have continued to expand nationwide. They write:

The Administration has moved from identifying transgender people as a threat to the family and to the nation’s military prowess to claiming that transgender people constitute a cosmic threat to the spiritual health of the nation and the greatest direct threat to U.S. national security in the world. Given these ideological developments, especially coupled with the increasingly hostile and draconian legislation against trans identities, the Lemkin Institute believes that the United States is squarely within the early to middle stages of a genocidal process against trans people, the goal of which is to completely erase transgender people not only from public life but also from existence in the U.S. and globally.

In-person only

Friday June 26, 7-9pm 

Masks encouraged

By donation: $5 - $30
No one turned away for lack of funds

With Jinzu, Betzi and Koji

Soft gentle space to land, and an alternative to Pride Month alcohol-centric events.

Join us for a chill, low-stakes evening of ease and connection. This retreat is a soft-space, an opportunity to celebrate what brings you euphoria and nourishment during these bonkers times.

We will expand into the gentle knowing that we are enough, and we are not alone. We will be centering support for our trans, nonbinary and intersex community members, and/queer identities welcome. Refill your fuel tank so you can keep showing up for yourself and your community through protest, non-cooperation, mutual aid and joy.

• Eat snacks and lay on a bed of cushions

• Drink tea and share your favorite playlist

• Collage yourself as a tarot archetype card for your altar

• Write yourself or your found family members love letters/poems

• Add to a community altar of survivance and delight

• Join in yoga/movement/meditation practice

• Make a euphoria adventure zine

• Make a friendship bracelet

Hybrid: In-person and Zoom

Sunday, June 7 - Saturday, August 15

By donation: $5 - $700 
No one turned away for lack of funds

With Keika San Juan and Sosan Flynn

Practice period gives us the opportunity to concentrate our Sangha energy on practicing together. This practice period, we'll focus on "Entering the Cave: Bringing Resolve, Courage, and Sincerity to Our Collective Practice."  A class will meet Thursday evenings. If you can't attend the class, a recording will be available. 

The practice period will open with a short ceremony on Sunday, June 7, and close with a formal Shuso Hossenshiki ceremony for Keika on Saturday, August 15 at 7:00 p.m.

It will also include two tea and discussion opportunities with the shuso, or “head monk”, Keika Karín Aguilar-San Juan. Tea Gatherings: Wednesday, August 5 and Wednesday, August 12 at 7:30 p.m.

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Summer Practice Period Class: Enter the Cave: How to Bring Resolve, Courage, and Sincerity to Our Collective Practice

Wednesday evenings, June 10 - July 22, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

With Keika Karín San Juan and Sosan Flynn

Inspired by Huike’s pivotal encounter with Bodhidharma in ancient China, this class explores Zen Buddhism as a collective practice that develops resolve, courage and sincerity in the face of urgent and intense realities. Five themes or “research questions” will shape our study: What is Zen? What is practice? What is study? What is mind? What is action?

We will draw inspiration from a variety of materials - short readings, poems, videos, and images - to inspire individual reflection and small group exchange regarding our experience of the path and practice of Zen. Mini-lectures by Sosan and Keika will be amplified by guest speakers along with offering incense, bowing, chanting, gentle tai-chi movement, and free-writing

In-person only

Friday, June 12, 7pm - FREE Public Talk

Saturday & Sunday, June 13 - 14 : Weekend Retreat

Saturday 10am - 4:30pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

This series is hosted at Clouds in Water, but is not a Clouds in Water event. For registration information and fees, please click the link below.

Our human mind can easily become entangled in its own creations—concepts, beliefs, and emotional patterns. When this happens, the mind contracts, as if bound by a tight internal knot. This knot generates unnecessary suffering and obscures mind’s true nature. Yet within the mind lies the ability to unwind this knot and reveal its original, spacious nature—one that is intrinsically free, awake, and compassionate.

The Nyingma teachings of Tibetan Buddhism offer profound methods for experiencing the self liberation of mind in the realm of now. In this retreat, Anam Thubten will offer teachings and guided meditations based on the teachings of Dzogchen masters such as Dudjom Lingpa.

In person only

Friday, June 19, 5 pm through Sunday, June 20, 3 pm

By donation: $5 - $300
No one tuned away for lack of funds

With Sosan Flynn and Shoken Winecoff

We are happy to continue to partner with Ryumonji Zen Monastery in northeastern Iowa for a lovely sharing of practice energy. Ryumonji, located about 3 hours from the Twin Cities, is designed from a blueprint of a classic Zen monastery in Japan. Built and operated in an environmentally sustainable way, its gorgeous buildings and temple grounds reflect the spirit of "peaceful dwelling." You will experience the deep quiet of the rural countryside, and if it's clear at night you will see the Milky Way! During this retreat you will learn about many of the Zen ritual objects and engage in some of the formal Zen practices. 

The retreat will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, dharma talks by Koji (Saturday) and Shoken (Sunday), traditional oryoki meals, zen chanting liturgy, temple care (mindful cleaning), body practice, rest breaks, and training in the Zen forms. While there will be some silence, there will also be time for conversation.

While this retreat is appropriate for beginners, if you have not done a sesshin previously, please contact the Koji before registering to help determine if retreat is right for you at this time.

By Roshi Norma Ryūko Kawelokū Wong 

In-person only

Tuesdays July 7, 14, 21, 7 - 8:30 p.m.

By donation: $5 - $280
No one turned away for lack of funds

Book group led by Revs Keika Karín Aguilar-San Juan and Jinzū Minna Jain

Join us as we navigate Roshi Norma Wong’s timely and poetic book together in a shared experience of reflection, practice, and action. 

“With wise and witty prose that wanders and turns, guides and reveals, Zen master and Indigenous Hawaiian leader Roshi Norma Wong’s meditation holds our collective moment with gravity and tender care. She asks us to not only imagine, but to live into, a story beyond crisis and collapse—one that expands to meet our dreams of what (we hope) comes next while facing with clarity and grace our here and now in the world we share today.” -from Roshi Wong’s website.

Using breath, movement exercises led by Roshi Wong herself via videos, and reflection resources prepared by her own close community of practitioners, we will explore social and environmental crisis and collapse with curiosity and practice.

Hybrid: In-person and Zoom

Saturday, July 11, 9-11 am

By donation: $5 - $70
No one tuned away for lack of funds

With Myoshin Benjamin

In this class, the first in an occasional series, we will learn about our Zen ancestors in ancient China before and during the Tang Dynasty (prior to 907 CE). We will examine how Buddhism first came to China, learn about the first six patriarchs along with three enlightened nuns, and understand how Buddhism from India began its transformation into the Zen we practice today. We will also engage with at least two texts from this time period to help provide a flavor of the teachings from this era.

The primary source for the class will be The Circle of the Way, A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World by Barbara O’Brien. This newer text incorporates modern scholarship and archaeological findings with traditional lore to discuss the development of Zen doctrine and practice.

In-person only

Saturday, July 25, 2 p.m. through Saturday, August 1, 3 p.m. (see partial participation options, below)

By donation:
$5 - $1,120, Entire Week
$5 - 360, Sangha Days retreat
$5 - 800, Sesshin

No one tuned away for lack of funds

With Guiding Teacher Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn

Join us for a residential Soto Zen experience at Hokyoji Zen Practice Community in the beautiful driftless region of Southeastern Minnesota (about 3 hours from the Twin Cities).

The retreat will consist of two components. You are invited to attend one or both:

1. Sangha Days Retreat: 2 pm, Saturday, July 25 through 2 pm, Monday, July 27. 

2. Sesshin (traditional Zen retreat): 3 pm, Monday, July 27 through 3 pm, Saturday, August 1.

The Sangha Days Retreat is a basic Zen retreat coupled with time for training in service positions and ceremonies. There will also be time allowed for sewing (for those sewing rakusu or okesa). Both the Sangha Days Retreat and Sesshin will include periods of sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks by Sosan, traditional oryoki meals, Zen chanting liturgy, temple care (mindful cleaning), body practice, and rest breaks. Click here for a Link to the proposed schedule.

The Sesshin will provide more opportunity for zazen (sitting meditation), with ten 30-minute periods of zazen per day. The Dharma talks during this retreat will explore teachings from Asvaghosa's "Awakening of Faith" regarding how a person can participate in the life of the infinite while still participating in the practice of helping suffering beings in the relative world.

Hybrid: In-person and Zoom

Thursday evenings, Aug 6 - 27, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

By donation: $5 - $280
No one tuned away for lack of funds

With Fukutoku Ann Morishita 

Work practice, or samu, is an important part of Zen. Retreats and practice periods all have a daily work practice included, in part to accomplish the tasks that need to be done, but also as a form of active meditation. Cooking, cleaning, maintenance, gardening, and laundry all offer us an opportunity to cultivate mindfulness outside of formal meditation. In this class, we will come together to experience the energy and joy of work practice. Through short readings and conversation, we will explore some key teachings on work from Zen literature. Then, each class participant will develop a personal project, which we will use class time to complete. Projects could include anything that benefits the sangha, such as maintenance, painting, furniture refinishing, fiber crafts, outdoor grounds tending, or a deep cleaning or organizing project.