Soji’s Winter Sesshin

December 26 – 31, 2025

St. Raphaela Center | Haverford, PA

“With tea at the start of our sesshin
I vow with all beings
to let each breath hold my koan,
each bell be a call to return.” 

Please consider joining us for our year-end sesshin, a time of deep and gathered silent meditation, an opportunity for immersive residential practice in darkness and light as we move through the stillness of December and approach the beginning of a new year. The retreat will include extensive zazen sitting, opportunity for interviews, daily dharma talks and a Jukai precepts ceremony.

The study text for sesshin will be Zen Vows for Daily Life by Robert Aitken. With every moment, in each different activity we bring forward, we have an opportunity to realize the Buddha way in our embodied expression of practice. Aitken Roshi reminds us that “Everything is affected each time I make a move, here in the grand net of the universe, and as I rediscover my own Buddha nature, my vows are naturally the vows of the Buddha that all beings be freed from their anguish.” Sesshin provides a rich ground for continuous practice, using all of our activity from brushing our teeth to eating our soup as a space to encounter our own nature.

Registration Information

The year-end sesshin will be held at St. Raphaela Center, located at 616 Coopertown Road, Haverford, PA 19041. The retreat will begin on Friday, December 26, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. and end on Wednesday, December 31, 2025 at 1:00 p.m. There are multiple ways to attend the retreat, so please reference the table below for attendance options and rates. Priority will be given to full retreat registrations; single occupancy rooms are currently sold out, but contact us for more information or to inquire about commuter rates. Please fill out the registration form and make your payment via check to “Soji: Dedicated to the Study of Soto Zen Buddhism Inc.” (preferred method) or via PayPal. No registrations will be taken without the completed registration form. To receive the discount, full payment is due by December 7 and registration closes on December 10.