Chapel Hill Zen Center

10/01/2026

🧘 Rohatsu Sesshin — Led by Zenki Kathleen Batson
Friday evening, December 11 through Wednesday afternoon, December 16
Registration due Wednesday, December 2

Rohatsu marks the week of the Buddha's enlightenment. Each year we sit sesshin in that spirit — together, in silence, through the darkening days of early winter.

This year's sesshin is led by Zenki Kathleen Batson. The day begins at 6 AM with zazen, kinhin, a Dharma Talk, work period, and formal oryoki meals. Dokusan with Zenki is available. Sesshin begins Friday evening at 7 PM with orientation; please arrive on time. Silence follows.

Fees: $50/day for Participating Members, $60/day for others. Scholarships available — no one turned away for financial reasons. Contact Danielle Bouchard at [email protected].

Registration form: chzc.org/sesshin.pdf — return with a $50 deposit by December 2.

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center, 5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC | [email protected] | (919) 967-0861

10/01/2026

🕯️ Sejiki — Feeding the Hungry Ghosts
Friday, October 30 at 7 PM
Children welcome. Costumes welcome too.

Sejiki is a Japanese word meaning "feeding the hungry ghosts." In Buddhist teaching, hungry ghosts are beings whose hunger can never be satisfied — a vivid image for the part of the mind that is always wanting more, always finding what we have insufficient.

In this ceremony we call forth those stuck in intermediary states, and the shadowed regions of our own lives, and offer them the nourishment of Dharma. It is also a universal memorial service: the names of those for whom we have performed services during the past year will be read aloud. If you would like a name included, please send it to [email protected] no later than October 29.

Bring a Jack-o-Lantern to help decorate the entry garden. And if you're moved to, bring non-perishable food for the Interfaith Council pantry — offerings will be collected in the entryway.

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center, 5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC | (919) 967-0861

10/01/2026

🧘 All-Day Sitting — Sunday, October 18
Note: This sitting ends at noon rather than the usual 5 PM.

Orientation begins Saturday evening, October 17 at 7:30 PM and includes instruction in the oryoki meal form.

The Sunday sitting runs from 6 AM to noon and includes zazen, a Dharma Talk, Dokusan (private meeting with the teacher), and a work period. Breakfast is included.

Half-day attendance is welcome, but please sign up in advance. Suggested donation: $15 for members, $25 for others. Oryoki sets available to borrow ($5 donation appreciated).

Sign up by Wednesday 15 October at [email protected].

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center, 5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC | (919) 967-0861

10/01/2026

Baikaryu Eisanka (Saturday 10 October — 10 days out)

🎵 Baikaryu Eisanka — Soto Zen Hymns with Bell Accompaniment
Saturday, October 10, 10 AM to noon

You are invited to sing Baikaryu Eisanka — Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist hymns accompanied by bells. No experience needed, and no Japanese either. Just come and make sound together.

Chris Censullo has created a short video with a PDF download to help beginners learn a hymn before the session: tinyurl.com/588z469u

To attend or for more information, contact Chris at [email protected].

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center, 5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC

Sing along with the melody to learn the Soto Zen buddhist hymn Sanb...

10/01/2026

🙏 Zenki is home.

After three months of monastic training at Tōshōji in Tokyo, Zenki Kathleen Batson has returned to the Chapel Hill Zen Center.

We are glad to welcome her back. Her time in Japan — sitting the full 85-day practice period required for CHZC to continue ordaining priests — was a gift to this sangha, and now she is here again.

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center — Red Cedar Mountain Temple
5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC | (919) 967-0861

08/25/2026

Upcoming events at Chapel Hill Zen Center

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🎶 Join us this Saturday, August 15 (10 AM–noon) for Baikaryu Eisanka — the singing of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist hymns with bell accompaniment. No experience necessary, everyone welcome! Contact Chris at [email protected] if interested. 🙏

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💻 Our monthly Virtual Peer Group meets this Wednesday, August 12, 7–8 PM via Zoom. A supportive space for sangha members to share, connect, and encourage one another in practice. Contact Al-Nisa or Maura for the Zoom link — see chzc.org/events.htm for details.

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🧘 All-Day Sitting this weekend! Begins Saturday evening, Aug 15 at 7:30 PM, continuing Sunday, Aug 16, 6 AM–5 PM with zazen, a Dharma Talk with Josho Pat Phelan Roshi, Dokusan, and a work period. Sign up by Wednesday to [email protected] — first-timers, please reach out to Josho or Zenki beforehand.

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📚 New Study Group starting Thursday, August 20, 6–7 PM via Zoom, led by Josho Pat Phelan Roshi. We'll read and discuss Shohaku Okumura's *The Structure of the Self in Mahayana Buddhism: Self, No-self, Universal Self*. Open to all — join us!

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🌅 Silent Outdoor Half-Day Sitting, Saturday, August 29, 6 AM–12:15 PM. Bring a bag breakfast; coffee and tea provided. No charge, donations appreciated. Email Steve at [email protected] to sign up (partial attendance welcome).

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🍂 Reminder: The Zen Center will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, September 7. Regular zazen schedule resumes the following day.

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❄️ Save the date: Rohatsu Sesshin, Friday evening, December 11 through Wednesday afternoon, December 16, led by Zenki Kathleen Batson. More details to follow.

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Zen Buddhism Calendar of Events, Meditation Retreats, Ceremonies, and Notifications in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

07/29/2026

VIRTUAL PEER GROUP — WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12

Join the Chapel Hill Zen Center Virtual Peer Group on Wednesday, August 12, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm on Zoom.

These monthly meetings offer sangha members an opportunity to share their experiences, receive encouragement and offer compassion within a safe, supportive community grounded in Soto Zen practice.

Everyone is welcome.

Zoom Meeting ID: 851 8538 4652

For more information, contact Al-Nisa Berry or Maura High.

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BAIKARYU EISANKA — SATURDAY, AUGUST 15

You are invited to join us in singing Baikaryu Eisanka—Japanese Soto Zen Buddhist hymns accompanied by bells.

Saturday, August 15
10:00 am–12:00 noon
Chapel Hill Zen Center

No previous experience is necessary.

Please contact Chris Censullo if you are interested in attending.

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ALL-DAY SITTING AND DHARMA TALK — AUGUST 15–16

The Chapel Hill Zen Center will hold an All-Day Sitting on Sunday, August 16.

Orientation begins Saturday evening, August 15, at 7:30 pm. The sitting continues on Sunday from 6:00 am until 5:00 pm.

The day will include zazen, a Dharma Talk by Josho Pat Phelan Roshi, Dokusan, a work period, breakfast and lunch. The Dharma Talk begins at approximately 10:30 am, following the regular 9:00 and 9:50 am periods of zazen.

Participants may attend for half the day, but advance registration is required. Those attending their first All-Day Sitting should speak with Josho Roshi or Zenki beforehand.

Suggested donation:
• CHZC members: $15
• Others: $25
• Oryoki bowl-set use: $5

Please register at [email protected] by Wednesday, August 12.

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NEW ZOOM STUDY GROUP — BEGINNING AUGUST 20

A new CHZC study group led by Josho Pat Phelan Roshi begins Thursday, August 20.

Thursdays
6:00–7:00 pm
Via Zoom

The group will read and discuss Shohaku Okumura Roshi’s The Structure of the Self in Mahayana Buddhism: Self, No-self, Universal Self.

The text is available as an ebook from the Dogen Institute, with a requested donation of $7.50–$15.

Everyone is welcome, and there is no charge for the study group. Please join the Zoom meeting five to ten minutes early so that the group can begin promptly.

Zoom Meeting ID: 821 378 615

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WEEKLY ZAZEN AT CHZC

The Chapel Hill Zen Center offers regular opportunities to practise zazen both in person and online.

In person

Monday–Friday mornings
6:00 and 6:50 am

Tuesday evenings
7:00 and 7:50 pm

Sunday mornings
9:00 and 9:50 am

Participants may attend either or both periods.

On Zoom

Monday–Friday mornings
6:00 and 6:50 am Eastern Time

Zoom Meeting ID: 856 5980 4526

Orientation and meditation instruction are available at 9:00 am on Sundays and 7:00 pm on Tuesdays. Please contact [email protected] before your first visit.

All are welcome.

06/17/2026

🙏 Harmonious Practice: What to Do When in the Zendo
Saturday, July 18

Whether you’re new to the Chapel Hill Zen Center or have been sitting with us for years, this morning workshop is for you.

We’ll go over the forms of practice together — when and how to bow, which direction to face at different points in the zendo, how to hold and care for sutra books, and how to move and carry objects with care and attention. We’ll also take a short tour of the Center and have time for questions and answers.

The morning will close with a period of zazen and a short service.

Forms aren’t obstacles to practice — they are the practice. This is a chance to meet them with fresh eyes, whatever your experience.

To sign up or for more information, contact us at [email protected] or call (919) 967-0861.

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center — Red Cedar Mountain Temple
5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC

06/15/2026

🙏 Zenki Kathleen Batson at Tōshōji — June 28 through September 26

Our Vice Abbess, Zenki Kathleen Batson, will be traveling to Japan at the end of this month to undertake a three-month practice period at Tōshōji, a Soto Zen training monastery in Tokyo.

This is not simply a personal retreat. As CHZC prepares for the next chapter in its leadership, Zenki’s completion of two 85-day practice periods at a credentialed Japanese monastery is required by the Soto School for CHZC to continue training priests and hosting registered Practice Periods. Fewer than twenty temples in Japan are authorized to offer this training — Josho Roshi’s own deep history at Tassajara and San Francisco Zen Center was recognized as an equivalent, but that recognition is not transferable. Zenki is undertaking this on behalf of all of us.

Zenki departs June 28 and returns September 26.

During this time she will be in full monastic enclosure and unavailable by phone, text, or email except in the case of emergency. For questions or practice support, please contact the Zen Center at [email protected] or call (919) 967-0861.

We carry Zenki with us in our practice this summer. May her time at Tōshōji be fruitful — for her, and for the sangha she will return to.

A short film about Tōshōji is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v36Gkr1Cxs

📍 Chapel Hill Zen Center — Red Cedar Mountain Temple
5322 NC Highway 86, Chapel Hill, NC

Yakage local TV made this documentary about Tosho-ji Shuritsu Senmon S**o, Sotoshu International Training Monastery in Okayama Prefecture, Japan.

05/02/2026

🏮 SUMMER SESSHIN
Led by Josho Pat Phelan Roshi
Friday evening, June 5 to Wednesday afternoon, June 10

Our Summer Sesshin, led by Abbess Josho Pat Phelan Roshi, begins Friday evening, June 5 and concludes Wednesday afternoon, June 10.

“Sesshin is an intimate way to practice with ourselves and others. We begin sesshin together, we sit together, walk together, eat together, and work together. Our practice is supported by the entire universe and each of us is supporting everyone else.”

Sesshin begins at 7 PM on Friday with orientation and job assignments — please arrive on time. The zendo will be open from 5 PM. Silence begins following orientation.

The daily schedule includes zazen from 6 AM, kinhin, a Dharma Talk, work period, formal oryoki meals in the zendo, and dokusan — individual meetings with Josho Roshi.

It is possible to sit part of sesshin. Priority is given to those sitting the whole sesshin, but partial attendance is welcome. Please come to orientation on Friday evening and commit to at least two consecutive days.

Fees: $50 per day for Participating Members, $60 per day for others. Scholarships are available — no one will be turned away for financial reasons. To request a scholarship, contact Danielle at [email protected].

📄 Please return your registration form with a $50 deposit by Wednesday, May 27.
Registration form and full details:https://www.chzc.org/sesshin.pdf

For questions about accommodation, contact Zenki at [email protected].

Everyone is warmly welcome.