Dharma Teacher Weekend 2025 Registration

We invite you to come and explore how we can fulfill our job as Dharma Teachers with confidence and compassion. Together we'll explore the skillful means to help ourselves and help this world.

October 18 & 19, 2025 at the Providence Zen Center & on Zoom

Please register early, as we may limit the number of overnight attendees. There are only a small number of single rooms and will be given first to those who need them for health reasons.

Our Covid policy for the weekend is:

  • We ask that you self-test the day of your expected arrival at the event. If you are positive, PLEASE STAY HOME.

  • If you had contact with a Covid positive case in the last week before arrival, are sick, or are experiencing Covid-like symptoms, PLEASE STAY HOME.

  • Masks are optional.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Pricing for Dharma Teacher Weekend:

Online Attendance: $30 per person

Overnight Accommodations: $120 per person

No Overnight, In-Person Attendance: $100 per person

Private rooms are limited, and we cannot guarantee one.

Weekend Schedule

Friday Evening, October 17th

Greet participants and show them to their rooms.

6:30pm: Special chanting, regular chanting, short sitting period

Saturday, October 18th

5:00am: Wake up

5:15am - 7:30am: Bow to our Teachers, 108 Bows, chanting & sitting with kong-an interviews
Location: Main Dharma Room

7:30am - 8:30am: Breakfast
Location: Dining Room

9:15am - 10:00am: Introductory Circle Talk, led by Edahn Small, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room

10:15am - 11:30am: Ethics Plenary, led by Zen Master Bon Soeng (Jeff Kitzes) 
Location: Main Dharma Room

11:40am - 12:30pm: Concurrent Breakouts
Breakout #1: You’re a Dharma Teacher, Now What? led by Kwan Haeng Sunim JDPS & Edahn Small, DT
Location: Lounge #1

Breakout #2: Zen & Neurodivergence, led by Steven Valerio, DT
Location: TBD

12:30pm - 1:45pm: Lunch
Location: Dining Room

12:30pm - 1:45pm: Refuge Recovery Meeting, led by Don Boudreau, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room

12:30pm - 1:00pm: Yoga, led by Jacqueline Vischer, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room                         

12:30 - 1:00pm: Tonglen, led by Manu 'Won Jin' Garcia-Guillén, BT
Location: Upstairs Dharma Room

1:45pm - 2:45pm: Concurrent Breakouts
Breakout #1: Dealing with Emotions in Practice, led by Nancy Hathaway, SDT
Location: Upstairs Dharma Room

Breakout #2: Starting a New Sitting Group, led by Zen Master Bon Haeng (Mark Houghton) & Gary Kahn, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room

3:00pm - 3:45pm: Concurrent Breakouts
Breakout #1: Zen & AI, led by Raimondas Lencevicius, SDT
Location: TBD

Breakout #2: Teacher training workshop – Using the teachings of the Buddha to deal with the suffering of addiction, led by Don Boudreau, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room

4:00pm - 5:00pm: When Mental Health Issues present in Zen practice - Tools for the Dharma Teacher, led by George Fernandez, DT
Location: TBD

5:00pm - 6:15pm: Dinner
Location: Dining Room

5:00pm - 5:30pm: Yoga, led by Jacqueline Vischer, DT
Location: Main Dharma Room

5:00pm - 5:30pm: Tonglen, led by Manu 'Won Jin' Garcia-Guillén, BT
Location: Upstairs Dharma Room

6:30pm - 7:15pm: Chanting: Special chanting, Evening Bell Chant, Heart Sutra, Great Dharani
Location: Main Dharma Room

7:30pm - 9:30pm: Socializing

7:30pm - 8:30pm: Art Experience with Willy Garver, SDT & Paul Bloom, SDT
Location: Main Dharma Room

8:30pm - 9:30pm: Sound Bath, led by Lisa Odom-Villella, DTiT & Danielle Alpher, DTiT
Location: Main Dharma Room

Sunday, October 19th

5:00am: Wake up

5:15am - 7:30am: Bow to our Teachers, 108 Bows, chanting & sitting with kong-an interviews
Location: Main Dharma Room

7:30am - 8:30am: Breakfast
Location: Dining Room

9:15am - 10:15am: Concurrent Breakouts
Breakout #1: Giving Dharma Talks, led by James Hudspeth, DTiT
Location: TBD

Breakout #2: Psychotherapy and Zen: Parallels, Differences, and Integration (for Therapist Dharma Teachers, but open to anyone), led by George Fernandez, DT
Location: TBD

10:30am - 11:30am: “Nature and Dharma” Plenary, led by guest speaker Lama Liz Monson from Natural Dharma Fellowship and Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in Springfield, NH
Location: Main Dharma Room

11:45am - 12:45pm: Closing Circle Talk
Location: Main Dharma Room

1:00pm - 2:00pm: Lunch
Location: Dining Room