Windhorse Zen Community

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United States
Alexander, NC
Windhorse Zen Community

A Zen Community outside of Asheville, North Carolina in the Kapleau lineage. Offering practice in person & online. Email [email protected] for more.

08/28/2026

This Wilderness Retreat is a period for intensified Zen training embedded in all the beauty and challenge of the natural world. Practicing outdoors, away from the comforts and distractions of modern life, offers a unique opportunity to directly experience the interconnectedness of all phenomena. While, of course, "all phenomena" includes cell phones, cement, and the hum of A/C, something about extended time in the outdoors allows a deeper, closer experience of life unfolding. You're invited to experience this for yourself October 16-18.

Reach out to [email protected] for more!

08/26/2026

This year’s Fall Ango (Term Intensive) will be held from September 13th through December 20, 2026.

There will be a number of opportunities for practice with Windhorse, including two 7-day sesshins, a weekend Wilderness Retreat, community ceremonies and celebrations, a book-study group focused on David Loy’s new book Loving the World as Our Body: The Nondual Path in a Dangerous Time, sangha small-group support meetings, as well as our normal weekly programs, and more. By participating in these programs, and in whatever other ways work for each of us, everyone is invited to find a way to bring our practice to life during this Ango period.

The registration link is in the Update. Reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions.

08/10/2026

From August 10 through the 22nd, the Center will be closed. The residents will be taking some time off, and final repairs from the recent major re-plumbing project will hopefully be completed. We'll reopen on Sunday, August 23 with our regular Sunday program. See you then!

08/08/2026

Join us tomorrow! Roshi Sunya Kjolhede is back from a month of working with the Polish Sangha and is eager to reconnect with the Windhorse Community. This will be our last Sunday program until 8/23 as Windhorse is going on staff break. If you want to join in person for the first time, or the Zoom link just reach out to [email protected]

07/24/2026

Join us this Sunday! Ordained Windhorse member Steve Scholten will be offering a dharma talk on "Coming Back to Life: The Power of Practice in a Numbed-Out World." If you'd like to join in person for the first time, or for the Zoom link, just reach out to [email protected]

07/16/2026

Join us this Sunday! Ordained Windhorse member Andy Ford will be offering a dharma talk on "The Saint, the Roshi & the Pirate: West Meets East in 1549." If you'd like to join in person for the first time, or for the Zoom link, just reach out to [email protected]

07/13/2026

Our schedule for the rest of July is a little different than normal. We'll only have zazen, dokusan and chanting on Thursday night from 7-9PM. You may register for dokusan with Lawson-roshi like normal. If you'd like to join in person, or for the Zoom link, just reach out to [email protected]

07/11/2026

Join us tomorrow! Ordained Windhorse member Jamie Friedrich Ager will be offering a dharma talk on Greed and Generosity. In Buddhism, greed is one of the three poisons, alongside hatred and delusion. At the same time, constant messages from the dominant American culture venerate and reward an obsession with unending accumulation. How do we navigate this maze with dignity and compassion? If you'd like to join in person for the first time or for the Zoom link, just reach out to [email protected]

07/04/2026

On this hot holiday weekend, let’s celebrate together a true INTERdependence Day—and the Dalai Lama’s 91st birthday!

And let’s honor the wisdom teachings of some of the Great Ones, natives of this land, whose ancestors inhabited America as much as 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, and whose ways of governing were clearly observed and copied by our “founding fathers” in creating the new government of the United States of America.

At a time when a powerful effort is underway to rewrite and whitewash the history of this nation, let us pay homage to the deep wisdom of some of our Native American elders, who offer us a very different and inspiring vision of human existence—one in harmony with the Earth and, in many ways, with Dharma teachings and practice.

Join us! If you'd like to come for the first time or for the Zoom link just reach out to [email protected]

07/03/2026

IN YOUR INBOXES you'll find our monthly newsletter with summertime reflections from Sunya-roshi, advice for how to deal with "distractions" in practice, a library update and our red lentil soup recipe we often serve in sesshin—plus much more! If you'd like to receive our emails, just let [email protected] and we'll get you added!

Address

580 Panther Branch Road
Alexander, NC
28701

Telephone

+18286458001

Website

http://www.windhorsezen.org/

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