​​Information About Crimson Gate retreatS

Day Long and Half Day Retreats
​Selected Sundays starting at 9 am
Schedule of Upcoming Retreats​
Where: In person in Oakland and hybrid by Zoom
Register: Details will be announced prior to the event
Cost: By donation, but no one is turned away
$50-150 suggested for day-long retreats
$10-$50 suggested for half-day retreats
February 1
May 3
August 2
November 1
Registration to be announced a few weeks before the event.

A vegetarian lunch is provided for day-long retreats.
Lunch is not provided on half-day retreats.
​
​RSVP is required.
​An invitation to the retreat will be sent a few weeks prior to the event. It will also be posted here. Registration will open a few weeks prior to the event. 
Scroll down for the archive of previous day-long and half-day retreats...
November 2nd, 2025
Autumn Stillness
As the leaves turn and the air grows crisp, we gather for a day of renewal, reflection, and quiet joy. Autumn invites us to let go — to release what no longer serves and make space for what is coming into being.
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During this one-day retreat, we’ll settle into the spacious rhythm of fall through meditation, teachings, and shared silence. We’ll explore the season’s teachings of impermanence and balance — how to rest in the turning, how to trust the cycles of our own lives.
A student asked Yunmen, "When the tree withers and the leaves fall, what's that?" Yunmen said, "The Golden Wind reveals itself."
golden_wind_dharma_talk.pdf
File Size: 325 kb
File Type: pdf
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Detail from "Buddhist Temples amid Autumn Mountains" 
Unidentified artist after Yan Wengui, Chinese, 14th–15th century
NY Metropolitan Museum of Art
August 3rd, 2025
​The Path to Awakening
What is awakening, and how do we walk the path toward it? In this one-day retreat, we will explore a Zen perspective on awakening, its stages and challenges, how it can support our lives in these challenging times, and the role of spiritual community in our development. There will be plenty of time for sitting and walking meditation, and a dharma talk and conversation. Lunch is provided, and beginners are welcome.
"Scholar Viewing Waterfall" by Ma Yuan, 1160-1225, ​Public Domain
May 4th, 2025
​Women of the Way
In this one-day retreat, we will explore stories and practices of some of our female ancestors in Zen.
"Guanyin Bodhisattva of the Southern Sea" Liao (907-1125) or Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), Chinese, 
Photo Credit: ​Granger Meador, Creative Commons License
March 30th, 2025
​Half-Day Retreat, 9am - Noon
Being with Impermanence
​We are all feeling the impacts of change and loss these days. In this half day retreat, we will take up practices and teachings on navigating life in a world where the truth of impermanence is especially vivid.
Photo Credit: ​Dr. Megan Rundel
Febuary 9th, 2025
Cultivating Joy
​Crimson Gate invites you to a one-day retreat on Sunday, February 9. Our theme is Cultivating Joy, and we will explore how we can cultivate states of mind that reflect peace and connection even in times of difficulty. We will have sitting and walking meditation, a dharma talk and conversation, and a sutra service. Lunch will be provided. All are welcome!
Hotei by Kanō Masanobu (1434-1530)
November 3rd, 2024
Cultivating Resilience
Many of us are looking toward the upcoming election with anxiety and uncertainty. If you'd like to spend a day grounding in silence, community, and deep practice before the upheavals of the election, please join us. There will be sitting and walking meditation, a dharma talk and conversation on Cultivating Resilience. 
September 15, 2024
Half-Day Retreat, 9am - Noon
​Basic Trust
Our theme is Basic Trust, which is so important and so elusive. When we can trust ourselves and life itself, things are so much easier! We can step into the unknown, out of our comfort zone, take risks, and act with confidence.

How can we build this basic trust? It's not something we can put on our to-do list, and approach as we do other tasks in life. But we can deeply take up the question, Do I trust my life? What would happen if you sunk into the question and just noticed what comes up?
May 19, 2024
​Not Knowing is Most Intimate
"Not knowing is most intimate." -Zen koan

When we are faced with a difficult situation, our usual response is to try to figure out the right answer. But in Zen, we value not knowing, or beginner's mind. This not-knowing isn’t clinging to a state of indecision or ignorance. Instead, it’s a way we engage the next moment: fresh, open, unbiased. We let go of clinging to fixed views, of our sense of being a person who knows (or should know). It’s grounded in reality, because in truth, you don’t know what’s going to happen next. You don’t know for sure what’s going to be effective. You don’t know the person standing in front of you – at least, not completely, and maybe hardly at all. You don’t know who you are, as if you could sum yourself up in a sentence or paragraph. And, paradoxically, the unknown carries the seeds of hope we all need in these challenging times.

In our May one-day retreat we will explore the open field of not-knowing, and the surprise that we can find there. These retreats are such an important opportunity to slow down, reset, and give and receive support for our practice. Please join us!
February 4, 2024
Simplicity and Spaciousness
Zen is known for its aesthetic of simplicity and spaciousness. In this retreat, we will explore these qualities of heart-mind, how we can cultivate them in our lives, and how we can support each other in community. This retreat will include sitting and walking meditation, a dharma talk, a sutra service, and soulful conversation. Lunch is provided. All are welcome, no meditation experience required.
November 5, 2023
Turning Ghosts to Ancestors
All are welcome! Please join us for our fall day-long meditation retreat. Autumn is the season where the veils between the worlds grow thin, and when we feel our connection to those who came before us. The ancient Chinese believed that death creates a ghost, and that ghosts are a collaboration between who the dead person was, and what we felt about that person. In this retreat, we will reflect on a ghost who still haunts us, and offer a simple ceremony to reveal and release our contribution to the ghost. Then the ghost becomes an ancestor, a presence capable of blessing and supporting our practice.
Feeding Hungry Ghosts. Detail from the "Hungry Ghosts Scroll", late 12th century. Kyoto National Museum.
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