“Celebrating the Legacy of the Kodo Sawaki, Kosho Uchiyama & Shohaku Okumura Lineage”

Our STO/ASZC Fall Retreat is from October 9 (6pm ET) to October 13 (Noon). This retreat will be hosted at ASZC and will also welcome Zoom participation. Each year during our 5-day Fall retreat we come together to support each other in our Soto Zen Practice. This year our Dharma Talks will honor the legacy and wisdom of our Okumura Roshi Lineage. Shohaku Okumura Roshi and other guest speakers will join us for this special retreat. Please register for this retreat and join us.

Contact Zenku at email Jerry.Smyers@gmail.com or text/call at (847) 721-0665 for further information.

Everyone is Welcome.

STO/ASZC FALL RETREAT is an annual retreat emphasizing Zen meditation along with a series of daily talks about our Sawaki/Uchiyama/Okumura Lineage. The schedule wraps around all regular ASZC programs such as Newcomer Workshop (Wed 7:30-8:30pm); ASZC Music Program (Thu evening); Just Sit Saturday (9:00am-Noon); Morning Meditation (M-F 6:00-7:00am); as well as Sunday Morning Meditation and Heart Sutra Service (9:00am-Noon); so as not to disrupt regular attendance.

2024 marks the 13th anniversary of our annual retreat, believe it or not! Everyone is welcome to attend online, as well as in person where possible. Please take this yearly opportunity to join with other members of our far-flung Affiliates and members at large, in an intensive retreat (sesshin).

The Silent Thunder Order (STO, Inc. 2011) is comprised of disciples and priest trained under our guiding teacher, Zenkai Taiun Elliston Roshi, in the STO/Mokurai tradition established by Matsuoka Roshi. The Atlanta Soto Zen Center (ASZC, Inc. 1977) constitutes our Training Center and Headquarters. Both exist to support the needs of our Practice Leaders and to serve their communities (sanghas), a network of independent Affiliated Zen groups and centers.

We look forward to gathering with you for this annual retreat. It represents a precious opportunity, not to be missed, to revitalize your own Zen practice.

Please join us for zazen, engaging in dialog with members of our thirteen affiliate sanghas, as well as listening to, and deepening our understanding of, the Dharma.

Click Here for the Daily Schedule

Click Here to Register

Speaker Roster/Schedule

Thursday AM – Zenku, Jerry Smyers Sensei – “Finding Homeless Kodo”

Zenku Jerry Smyers is a Soto Zen Priest in the Lineages of Soyu Matsuoka Roshi and Shohaku Okumura Roshi. Zenku began his training as a disciple of Kongo Langlois Roshi, Abbot of the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago (ZBTC), and a dharma-heir of Matsuoka Roshi, in 1976. Zenku trained at the Zen Buddhist Temple of Chicago and was ordained a Zen Priest in 1982. Zenku was a Priest in Chicago until 2005, assisting Kongo Roshi until his passing in 1999, and then providing Temple leadership. In 2005, Zenku moved to Montana and established the Mission Mountain Zen Center in Dayton Montana where he currently resides. In 2010 Zenku was ordained by Taiun Elliston Roshi. In 2012, Zenku received dharma transmission from Taiun Roshi. Zenku is a full member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA).

Thursday PM – Eijun, Carola Butler Sensei – “History of STO Sewing”

When I was six my parents sent me to Sunday school. I came home from the first meeting and refused to go back again. The family story is that I said “All they ever did was talk about some guy named Jesus and it was boring.” Fortunately for me my parents never again tried to make me into a Christian.

The summer I turned fifteen, I decided to read every book by Aldous Huxley that could be found in the Columbus Georgia public library. One of the last ones I read was called “What Vedanta Means to Me.” That led me to the books about Hinduism, which I thought were sort of like me; on the next shelf were the books on Buddhism which I thought was a whole lot like me. Later on I read books about Zen and decided that that was me.

I sat by myself as well as I could until 1983 or 4 when I found ASZC and Hojo. I have practiced with him ever since. I was given the Rakusu by Matsuoka sensei in 1989 and received my black robe in 2010.

I met Kaaren Wiken sewing my Okesa and became her apprentice. I am now the sewing teacher for ASZC and a member of the council of the group formerly known as the Zen Buddhist Sewing Teachers.

Friday AM – Tesshin, James Smith Sensei – “Lineage…So What?”

Unzan Tesshin James Louis Smith was born and raised in Mutton Hollow in the town of Moriah, in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State. He presently lives happily in Shad Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada with his wife, Nancy Jarrett. He has two sons, one daughter, four step daughters and ten grandsons. He has served as a science teacher at Columbia High School in Decatur, GA., a specialist teacher at Landmark East School in Wolfville, Nova Scotia and an elementary school teacher for the Halifax Regional School District. He earned a B.A. in Biology from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Acadia University.

Tesshin has been training in Zen since 1978 under the guidance of Rev. Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston, roshi. Starting in 1981 he has served as practice leader for the Halifax Nova Scotia STO affiliate sangha. More recently, he served as coordinating chaplain and Soto Zen Buddhist Chaplain for the Multifaith Centre of Dalhousie University. As a transmitted priest, he presently serves as secretary of the STO Board of Directors.

Friday PM – Daitsu Tom Wright Sensei – “Interview on Uchiyama Lineage and Zen Practice”

Daitsū Tom Wright was born and raised in Wisconsin. He received his B.A. in Oriental Languages and Literature from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and his M.A. in English Literature and the Humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Wright was active in the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the mid- to late 60s. He went to Japan in 1967 and lived there for over 40 years. Together with Steve Yenik, Wright translated Uchiyama Kōshō Rōshi’s Seimei no Jitsubutsu—Zazen no Jissai. The original title was Approach to Zen, later retranslated with Jisho Cary Warner and Okumura Shōhaku, and titled Opening the Hand of Thought. He was ordained by Uchiyama Kōshō Rōshi as a Buddhist priest in 1974, and continued to receive his teaching until 1998. For thirty-five years, Wright taught English, as well as European and American Culture, at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. His personal research while at the university was on the Holocaust. Wright spent several months in Poland, visiting most of the sites of the Holocaust. He also taught Zen at the Kyoto Sōtō Zen Center until 1995. In 1998, he received transmission from Takamine Dōyū Rōshi. After retiring from the university, Wright moved to Hawaii, where he continues to teach Buddhism to various Zen groups there. Wright is married and has one son.

Saturday AM – Sangaku, Dan Joslyn Sensei – “Katto”

Sensei Unshin Sangaku Dan Joslyn is a Silent Thunder Order Transmitted Priest. In 2015, he founded The Falmouth Soto Zen Sangha (FSZS) in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and continues as its Guiding Teacher. As Leader of FSZS, he is a member and follows the ethical standards of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA), the Lay Zen Teachers Association (LZTA) and the Cape Cod Clergy. Sensei also works in drug and alcohol counseling and engaging senior citizens in learning meditation. The Sangha is also involved in community outreach establsihing “Sitting Groups” in location community sites including half-way house, senior centers and libraries. Before becoming a priest, he was an organizational sociologist for thirty five years working with some two hundred nonprofit organizations in strategic planning, program-evaluation, and management training. His largest client-base was Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). He is a graduate of North Georgia College (University) and the University of Memphis. In addition, he has been a college lecturer at several institutions and served on a number of boards of trustees. He is available to speak on the history of Buddhism and Zen and their role in everyday life, and “ How a Small-Town Boy from Forsyth, Georgia, Grew-up to be a Zen Buddhist Priest.”

Saturday PM – Taiun Elliston Roshi – “Dharma Brothers: Kosho Uchiyama and Soyu Matsuoka Quotable Quotes”

Taiun Roshi’s involvement with Zen began in 1965 when he met Matsuoka Roshi, founder and head teacher of the ZBTC. After two years of training under Matsuoka Roshi’s supervision and at his suggestion, he underwent a combined initiation and discipleship ceremony, and was given his first dharma name, Taiun, “Great Cloud.”

Taiun Roshi was registered with the Soto Shu in Japan July 13, 1969 (Priesthood Register No. 164, Soto Zen Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan) and ordained as a Zen Priest March 22, 1970. He continued his duties at ZBTC until 1970, when he moved to Atlanta, the same year that Matsuoka Roshi moved to Long Beach, leaving Kongo Roshi in charge of ZBTC. In the early 1970s Hojo began offering Zen meditation and teaching at the Cliff Valley Way UU Church of Atlanta. In 1977 he founded the Atlanta Soto Zen Center (ASZC). Matsuoka Roshi presented the title of “roshi”, which he called “the P.H.D. of Zen” to Hojo in a special ceremony at ASZC on September 20, 1983.

Hojo completed “Shuso” (head student) training and precepts ceremony with Seirin Barbara Kohn of Austin Zen Center (Suzuki lineage). He completed Transmission (Shiho) ceremony with Shohaku Okumura (Sawaki-Uchiyama lineage) in August of 2007. Taiun Roshi is a full member of SZBA.

Sunday AM – Shohaku Okumura Roshi – “Sanshin (Three Minds): Magnanimous mind, Nurturing mind, and Joyful mind”

Shohaku Okumura is a Soto Zen priest and Dharma successor of Kosho Uchiyama Roshi. He is a graduate of Komazawa University and has practiced in Japan at Antaiji, Zuioji, and the Kyoto Soto Zen Center, and in Massachusetts at the Pioneer Valley Zendo. He is the former director of the Soto Zen Buddhism International Center in San Francisco. His previously published books of translation include Shobogenzo Zuimonki, Dogen Zen, Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo, and Opening the Hand of Thought. Okumura is also editor of Dogen Zen and Its Relevance for Our Time; and SotoZen. He is the founding teacher of the Sanshin Zen Community, based in Bloomington, Indiana, where he lives with his family.

Suggested Fees: $75 per day or $250 for the entire retreat (3.5 days). Or pay what you can afford if you are a student or are under other financial constraints (fees are also waived for certain in-kind donations). You are welcome to attend any part or all of the retreat, determining your own fee on the honor system.

Zoom Meeting Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85324595201?pwd=JbHJ2jWWgYfW6riZClPDHBbJgna6Ie.1

For more information, you can also contact our Abbot @ taiunmelliston@gmail.com