Hi Everyone,

The Retreat Sitting Schedule is now available for download (PDF) at this link …

Our ‘Treeleaf Two-Day Online Retreat‘ shall be LIVE NETCAST over the weekend of DECEMBER 6 and 7, 2008! (and available in recorded form after that, for participation any time ‘On Demand’). DETAILS CLICK HERE

I need to explain how the schedule will work for all the people sitting in different time zones around the world … and I believe all will be surprisingly easy once I do:

We will be sitting in Japan from 6AM to near midnight both Saturday and Sunday (Japan time) . That means that the live netcast will actually run FRIDAY evening to SUNDAY morning/afternoon in most of North America and Europe (I have included in the schedule equivalent times in New York and London). There is a blank column on the attached schedule for you to pencil in your equivalent local times.

So, here is how you can do the Retreat:

I – One way is to just sit from your morning to late night, in your time zone Saturday and Sunday, using the recorded versions only (recordings of each segment, e.g., Zazen, Samu Work Practice, Oryoki, will be posted by me on the Treeleaf Blog as soon as we finish live sitting). You will follow us in “real time”, but just a few hours after us in Japan. (You do not need to begin at 6am as we do, but I ask that you begin your day in your local time zone no earlier than 4am, and no later than 7am, adjusting the schedule accordingly)

II- The other way is to sit, as much as you can, with live segments, and then sit with any missed segments via their recorded version by simply adding the missed segments right on the end of each day. You will need to figure out the schedule to see which activities you can join live, and which you will need to join later as a replay recording.

I DO NOT CARE IF YOU CHANGE THE ORDER OF SEGMENTS, SO LONG AS … AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE … YOU DO ALL SEGMENTS, AND OVER A SOLID TWO DAYS.

I have designed the schedule, as much as possible, so that you can do this. So, for example, the activities you miss while you are asleep (like Samu Work Practice) can be easily moved to the end. Other activities (such as meals) were positioned by me in about the right times so folks in most time zones can join us ‘live’ (at least most of the time).

NOTE TO PARENTS: Please feel free to devote Samu work periods to family/child care, extend or move Samu work periods as necessary to do so, or convert some “Zazen” periods to additional Samu. If you miss any Zazen, it would be nice if you do “make-up” Zazen by adding it at a convenient time. REMEMBER: All parental activities should be done with an attitude of Samu, and as much as possible, in Silence. All will be part of the Retreat!

A parent wrote to ask whether … if really really really necessary, a parent can divide the Retreat into 3 or 4 days to allow for childcare duties: Yes, if really really necessary. It would be better to do the Retreat as a solid two days, but if you need to break it up over 3 or 4 days (and sit the Retreat when the kids are in bed, in school etc.) … NO PROBLEM, if you really need to do so! Just consider the 3 or 4 days a 3 or 4 days Retreat, and try to spend those days with that attitude. However, the foregoing does not mean that folks without a very very very very good excuse should divide up the Retreat over more than two days.

Finally, I am terrible with numbers. I have checked several times, but if there are any mistakes in my time calculations … please forgive me, and we will correct them.

We will just have a silent sitting today …