Desert Rain Zen

Springs Mountain Sangha spring retreat, Benet Hill Monastery in the Black Forest, Colorado, March 2026: 2nd night: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Bender Roshi gives her second talk for the Springs Mountain Sangha Retreat, on March 10. * About us: Desert Rain Zen is located in Tucson, Ariz

Springs Mountain Sangha spring retreat, Benet Hill Monastery in the Black Forest, Colorado, March 2026: 3rd night: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Bender Roshi gives her third talk for the Springs Mountain Sangha Retreat, on March 11. * About us: Desert Rain Zen is located in Tucson, Arizo

Springs Mountain Sangha spring retreat, Benet Hill Monastery in the Black Forest, Colorado, March 2026: 4th night: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Bender Roshi gives her fourth talk for the Springs Mountain Sangha Retreat, on March 12. * About us: Desert Rain Zen is located in Tucson, Ariz

Springs Mountain Sangha spring retreat, Benet Hill Monastery in the Black Forest, Colorado, March 2026: 1st night: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah Bender Roshi gives her first talk on the opening night of the Springs Mountain Sangha Retreat, on March 9. * About us: Desert Rain Zen is locat

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2026: 4th night talks: Tenney & Megan

Send us Fan Mail In these talks from the last evening of retreat, Tenney returns to Zhaozhou's mondos and talks about how they show different ways of knowing, and s

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2026: 3rd night talk: Megan

Send us Fan Mail Megan gives the third night talk at our spring retreat focusing on Zhaozhou. She explores the crucial ways in which Zhaozhou’s teaching not only emphasi

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2026: 2nd night talk: Tenney

Send us Fan Mail Tenney gives the second night talk at our spring retreat focusing on Zhaozhou. Bringing in several short Zhaozhou mondo, Tenney talks briefly about some

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2026: 1st night talks: Tenney & Megan

Send us Fan Mail Tenney and Megan give the opening night talks at our spring 2026 retreat, which focuses on the teachings of Chan teacher Zhaozhou.  * About us: Deser

Desert Rain Zen Desert Sunrise Retreat, March 2024: Refuge Retreat, 2nd night talk: Tenney

Send us Fan Mail Tenney gives the second night talk at our March 2024 Desert Rain Zen Desert Sunrise Refuge Retreat.   “There is someone at peace, / walking in the Tao

Desert Rain Zen Desert Sunrise Retreat, March 2024: Refuge Retreat, 1st night talks: Tenney & Megan

Send us Fan Mail Tenney and Megan give the opening night talks at our March 2024 Desert Rain Zen Desert Sunrise Refuge Retreat, suggesting some ways we can let ourselves

Open Source Retreat, October 2025: “Golden Wind,” 2nd night talk: Tenney

Send us Fan Mail Tenney gives the talk on the second night of our retreat. Beginning by exploring various translations of the “Golden Wind” koan and the different feel t

Open Source Retreat, October 2025: “Golden Wind,” 4th night talk: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah gives the talk on the fourth night of our retreat. A group conversation follows Sarah’s talk. (talk given October 16, 2025 at the Bodhi Manda Ze

Open Source Retreat, October 2025: “Golden Wind,” 1st night talks: Tenney, Megan, and Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Tenney, Megan, and Sarah give brief talks on the opening night of our Fall 2025 Open Source “Golden Wind” retreat.    A student asked Yunmen, “When th

Open Source Retreat, September-October 2024: “Sickness and Medicine,” 2nd night talk: Tenney

Send us Fan Mail Tenney gives the second night talk on “Sickness and Medicine,” discussing the Blue Cliff Record commentary on the case and bringing in a few anecdotes,

Open Source Retreat, September-October 2024: “Sickness and Medicine,” 4th night talk: Sarah

Send us Fan Mail Sarah gives the fourth night talk on “Sickness and Medicine.” (check back soon for expanded notes on this episode!) * About us: Desert Rain Zen is lo

Open Source Retreat, September-October 2024: “Sickness and Medicine,” 3rd night talk: Megan

Send us Fan Mail Megan gives the third night talk on “Sickness and Medicine,” focusing on sickness and suffering not as mistakes to be “fixed” but as inescapable aspects

Open Source Retreat, September-October 2024: “Sickness and Medicine,” 1st night talks: Tenney, Sarah, & Megan

Send us Fan Mail Open Source teachers Tenney Nathanson, Sarah Bender, and Megan Rundel each give introductory talks on the first night of our retreat. Our retreat takes

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2025: "The World of Dew," 4th night talks: Tenney & Megan

Send us Fan Mail Tenney and Megan each give talks on the final night of the retreat. Tenney brings in a collection of anecdotes to continue exploring the sustenance avai

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2025: "The World of Dew," 3rd night talk: Megan

Send us Fan Mail Megan gives the third night retreat talk, bringing in several Issa poems that focus on impermanence, loss, and grief, then offering an extended meditati

Desert Rain Zen Sunrise Retreat, March 2025: "The World of Dew," 2nd night talk: Tenney

Send us Fan Mail Tenney gives the talk on the second evening of our retreat (the end of our first full day). Taking up three koans from The Blue Cliff Record that all co