Christian-Zen retreat at Ripon College

This retreat is an invitation to explore two of the world's great stories of homecoming, allowing them to illuminate one another – and to illuminate our own lives:

• Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in the Gospel of Luke
• The Buddha’s parable of the son in the Lotus Sutra, one of the great texts of Mahayana Buddhism.

Arising in different cultures and spiritual traditions, both stories tell of leaving home and returning home, of losing touch with the truth of who we are, and of the journey of awakening. Both invite us to explore timeless questions concerning our deepest identity, the nature of reality, and what it truly means to come home.

This is an experiential retreat. Rather than comparing Christian and Zen Buddhist thought and practice from the outside, the invitation is to encounter the truth of these parables from the inside, opening to their complementary wisdom in an atmosphere of shared silence and exploration.

Together we will explore both the striking similarities and illuminating differences between these two parables, allowing each tradition to deepen our understanding of the other while inviting us more deeply into our own spiritual lives.

The retreat will be guided by two experienced teachers, one presenting from the Christian contemplative tradition and one from the Zen Buddhist tradition, offering a genuine dialogue between the two paths.

Through a flow of teaching, extended periods of meditation, and opportunities for shared reflection and structured conversation, we will explore questions such as:

• Who are we? What is our deepest identity?
• How do we lose touch with who we truly are - with Reality - and wander away from home?
• How is this estrangement healed? What is the path of awakening and return?
• What do we discover when we finally come home? About our home, about ourselves

For both Jesus and the Buddha, the spiritual journey is a journey of awakening – to the truth of who we are, to what has always been true.