Abiding in Shamatha
The Nine Stages of Maitreya
Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi and
Emyo Darlene Tataryn
Thursday, March 19th 2:00 pm ET (New York) -
Sunday, March 22nd 3:00 pm ET(New York)
Tendai Buddhist Institute
East Chatham, NY
or Online
Setting the mind
Continuous Setting
Resetting
Close Setting
Taming the mind
Pacification
Complete Pacification
One-Pointedness
Absorption
About the Retreat
Concentration practice forms the backbone of all meditative techniques. While Zen practice is characterized by zazen, just sitting, or koans, working with insight story, shamatha, the Sanskrit term for one-pointed concentration, is a developmental framework for learning to focus the mind. More often associated with Theravada and Vajrayana styles of Buddhism, shamatha provides the Zen student with a structure to practice meditation. All aspects of Zen practice are refined with shamatha practice.
How Is This Retreat Organized?
Pointing Out Instructions:
This four-day retreat offers a step-by-step approach to shamatha practice using the nine stages of calm abiding, known as the elephant path and the Nine Stages of Maitreya. The Bodhisattva Maitreya is the future buddha who waits patiently for all beings to awaken. Pointing out instructions offer the Zen student the opportunity to recognize and return two different aspects of meditative states. Metacognitive Awareness grows as we become familiar with the landscape of concentration practice. Ekai Roshi and Emyo Darlene have been teaching these stages of meditation for over 20 years.
Individual Meetings With the Teachers
Throughout the retreat, individual students will meet in private one-on-one sessions with the teachers. Traditional Rinzai retreats enable students to develop a healthy relationship with senior teachers. Students will have an opportunity to meet with both Ekai Roshi and Emyo Darlene.
Qi Gong Practice
Each day will include three Qi Gong practice sessions. Conscious embodiment is an important element of our Zen practice. Qi Gong not only fosters a healthy body, it offers students the opportunity to practice zazen while moving.
Retreat Specifics
The retreat will be hosted at the Tendai Buddhist Institute in East Chatham, NY. The meditation hall is quiet and comfortable for long term practice. In-person participants will be provided with comfortable sleeping arrangements. Three meals a day are served in the dining hall.
Online participants will have a clear view of the teachers and will have direct access to the teachers.
About Tendai Buddhist Institute
Established in 1995, Tendai Buddhist Institute is a village temple in New York state founded by Abbot Monshin Paul Naamon and Rev. Shumon Tamami Naamon. For the first nine years, the center conducted services in the main house and in a walled-off section of one of the barns. In 2002, the 256th Zasu, head priest of Tendai Buddhism, granted TBI the status of branch temple of Enryakuji, the tradition’s head temple in Japan. TBI functions as the administrative center of Tendai in North America and is the only facility outside Japan authorized to train priests. The temple offers weekly gatherings, educational programs and meditation retreats.
“There is a place in human consciousness that exists below our normal conditioned mental and emotional reactions. If we can gain awareness of this space, there is potential for an immense increase in the ability to gain and maintain agency over our thought and feeling responses to the world around us. ”
Program Fees
In Person:
Member Fee
Non-Member Fee
Financial Aid
Online:
Full Fee
Fair fee
Low Cost
Financial Aid
Retreat Leadership
Ekai Joel Kreisberg Roshi
Ekai continues to evolve his practice to incorporate a variety of Buddhist wisdom in his teachings. His commitment to compassionate action keeps offering endless opportunity for learning and growth. Ekai Roshi has 15 years of experience teaching meditation. He continues to teach both online and in person.
Emyo Darlene Tataryn
Darlene Tataryn, PhD Expressive Therapy, is an educator and therapist who bridges Buddhist meditative traditions with the transformative power of emotional and somatic therapy. As founder of One Wisdom (onewisdom.ca), she guides individuals and communities toward somatic healing, emotional liberation, and spiritual awakening, seeing the world as an ever-unfolding mandala of interconnection and luminous potential.
She was a pioneer in Canada's expressive arts field since the early 1970s, and in 2017, Darlene was acknowledged as an Elder in Expressive Therapy at the International Indigenous Roots of Expressive Therapy Conference in Winnipeg. Her Buddhist training includes Theravada and Yogachara (Shamatha-Vipassana certified by Upasaka Culadasa in 2021), Vajrayana Karma Kagyu Namgyal Lineage among others, and Zen, ordained as Priest Emyo Seien by Jun Po Roshi in 2014. As a Culadasa-certified teacher of The Mind Illuminated, Darlene offers meditation programs for all levels. She is a certified Hollow Bones Mondo Zen Facilitator of koan inquiries that integrate heart-mind collaboration and shadow work for compassionate living.
These disciplines inform her creations: Maitreya's Chair—a contemplative seated movement practice for releasing tension and cultivating tranquility—and The Lotus Series (Asaya Yoga), a dynamic movement meditation promoting neurocellular reprogramming, spinal alignment, and improvisational expression for all ages.
With over 35 years as a counselor, private practitioner, and former Applied Counseling instructor, she draws on Integral Theory to support clients in therapy, retreats, and expressive movement sessions where trauma dissolves and innate wisdom emerges.
As practitioner, wife, and (grand)mother, Darlene encourages spiritual practice in the daily activities of life and relationship. She has shared Buddha Dharma through Sunday meditation sits and retreats at Selkirk Vihara, the Hermitage on Denman Island, Dharma Treasure in Cochise, AZ, and online venues such as Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society. She invites us to affirm our birthright to live, move, and grow as embodied expressions of the Divine—interconnected in body, breath, and boundless potential.
For inquiries, meditation attendance, or to join her email community, visit onewisdom.ca
“This retreat was a valuable opportunity to meet good people who are dedicated to making a difference in the world, and also to take a look within and see how I might evolve more effectively. Highly worthwhile!”
Schedule
All times in ET (New York)
Thursday March 19th
Noon Staff Check In and Set Up – lunch served
1:00 pm Arrival on the site
2:00 pm Opening Check-in – Online Begins - Ekai
2:30 pm Orientation – Ekai
3:00 pm Kinhin
3:10 pm Meditation – Emyo
3:50 pm Kinhin
4:00 pm Meditation - Emyo
4:30 pm Overview of the nine stages - Ekai
5:00 pm Kinhin
5:10 pm Meditation - Ekai
5:30 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Evening Service with instruction /Meditation - Emyo
7:40 pm Kinhin
7:50 pm Maitreya’s Chair - Emyo
8:20 pm Kinhin
8:30 pm Meditation - Emyo
8:50 pm Closing Service with instruction - Ekai
9:00 pm Evening Close
Friday March 20th
6:00 am Bonsho
6:15 am Meditation
7:00 am Council
7:30 am Breakfast
8:30 am Staff Meeting
9:00 am Morning Service - Online Begins
9:30 am Meditation
10:00 am Kinhin
10:10 am Qi Gong - Ekai
10:35 am Break
10:45 am Meditation
11:15 am Kinhin
11:25 am Dharma Reflection with Q & A – Emyo
11:50 am Kinhin
12:00 pm Meditation
12:30 pm Meal/Break
2:00 pm Meditation
2:30 pm Kinhin
2:40 pm Meditation
3:10 pm Kinhin
3:20 pm Meditation
3:50 pm Kinhin
4:00 pm Group Dokusan - Emyo Online – Ekai in-person
4:30 pm Meditation
5:00 pm Kinhin
5:10 pm Meditation
5:30 pm Meal Break
7:00 pm Evening Service/Meditation - Emyo – Dokusan Ekai – in-person
7:40 pm Kinhin
7:50 pm Maitreya’s Chair - Emyo
8:20 pm Kinhin
8:30 pm Meditation/Closing Service
9:00 pm Evening Close
Saturday March 21st
6:00 am Bonsho
6:15 am Meditation
7:00 am Council
7:30 am Breakfast
8:30 am Staff Meeting
9:00 am Morning Service - Online Begins
9:30 am Meditation
10:00 am Kinhin
10:10 am Qi Gong – Ekai
10:35 am Break
10:45 am Dharma Reflection with Q & A - Ekai
11:15 am Kinhin
11:25 am Meditation
11:50 am Kinhin
12:00 pm Meditation
12:30 pm Meal/Break
2:00 pm Meditation
2:30 pm Kinhin
2:40 pm Meditation
3:10 pm Kinhin
3:20 pm Meditation
3:50 pm Kinhin
4:00 pm Group Dokusan - Ekai online, Emyo in person
4:30 pm Meditation
5:00 pm Kinhin
5:10 pm Meditation
5:30 pm Meal Break
7:00 pm Evening Service/Meditation - Emyo – Dokusan online - Ekai
7:40 pm Kinhin
7:50 pm Maitreya’s Chair - Emyo
8:20 pm Kinhin
8:30 pm Meditation/Closing Service
9:00 pm Evening Close
Sunday March 22nd
6:00 am Bonsho
6:15 am Meditation
7:00 am Council
7:30 am Breakfast
8:30 am Staff Meeting
9:00 am Morning Service
9:30 am Meditation
10:00 am Kinhin
10:10 am Qi Gong - Ekai
10:35 am Break
10:45 am Meditation
11:15 am Kinhin
11:25 am Group Dokusan – Emyo Online/ Ekai in person
11:50 am Kinhin
12:00 pm Meditation/Closing Service
12:30 pm Meal/break
1:30 pm Jukai Rehearsal
2:00 pm Jukai Ceremony
2:30 pm Closing Circle
3:30 pm End – Clean –up
4:30 pm Closing Staff Meeting