Guests are most welcome to visit the Abbey on most Sundays, provided they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 including a booster shot. Please see our monthly calendar for Sunday events: https://shastaabbey.org/lk-dev22/calendar/. We will offer a short tour and orientation to the event for newcomers beginning at 9:45 am. Our monastery is currently not open during the week for tours and drop-in visits. Please feel free to contact the Guestmaster for further information at 530-926-4208, ext. 305.
SUNDAY SERVICES
Sundays offer opportunities to visit the monastery. Most Sundays we have a ceremony at 10:30 a.m. that involves incense offering, chanting of scriptures and invocations. After the ceremony there is a public Dharma Talk. If you are coming for the first time, please arrive by 9:45 a.m. so that we can give you a brief tour and orientation. Please confirm with the Guestmaster if you plan to come to a Sunday service.
We sometimes have a Meditation Sunday when monks, lay congregation members and visitors sit in meditation in the Buddha Hall for a 40 minute meditation period. Meditation Sundays are noted on our monthly calendar. If you are coming for the first time, please arrive by 9:30 a.m. for the meditation instruction. Please let the Guestmaster know if you are planning to attend.
INTRODUCTORY RETREATS
Introductory Retreats begin to provide some answers to the questions that bring us to Buddhist practice. These retreats offer an introduction to the Serene Reflection (Soto Zen) practice in a monastic setting. They provide down-to-earth suggestions for taking this practice into one’s daily life outside the monastery gates. Please go to Retreats for more information, and to our 2022 Calendar for retreat dates.