Tallahassee Chan Center and guiding teacher Guo Gu offer a seven-day retreat in a rural setting and a signed Passing Through the Gateless Barrier to the successful bidder for this item. 

Retreats offer a rare occasion to deepen a person's Chan practice and commitment to the path. Many experiences arise in retreats that would normally not surface in daily individual or weekly group practice. Each sitting during a retreat is thirty minutes, punctuated by short periods of mindful yoga or walking meditation. There is also mindful work practice, which is a way for retreatants to integrate their practice to daily situations. Retreatants also get an opportunity to speak one on one with Guo Gu in personal interview. Click here to view a sample one-day retreat schedule.

Gateways to awakening surround us at every moment of our lives. The whole purpose of koan (gong’an, in Chinese) practice is to keep us from missing these myriad opportunities by leading us to certain gates that have traditionally been effective for people to access that marvelous awakening. The forty-eight koans of the Gateless Barrier (Chinese: Wumenguan; Japanese: Mumonkan) have been waking people up for well over eight hundred years. In Passing Through the Gateless Barrier Chan teacher Guo Gu provides a fresh translation of the classic text, along with the first English commentary by a teacher of the Chinese tradition from which it originated.

Guo Gu is one of Master Sheng Yen's senior and closest disciples, and assisted the master in leading activities at the Chan Meditation Center, Dharma Drum Retreat Center, and Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, and other parts of Europe and Asia.