Palolo Zen Center now offers two options for residential training:

• Visitors receive a full but relatively brief experience of temple life, with ample free time to explore Honolulu's other attractions.

• Residents make their home at the temple for the long term, engaging in all its activities as best they can while spending most of their waking hours elsewhere at jobs or school.

The two groups share the same facility and engage together in zazen, samu (work practice), mealtime ritual, and other traditional elements of Zen training, but they keep different schedules and pay different fees. These options are described in more detail below.

VISITORS

Anyone with a sincere interest in practicing Zen Buddhism is welcome to visit Palolo Zen Center. This opportunity is available year round except during sesshin, weeks of rest after the training periods, and when the temple is being used by other groups. Visitors join temple residents and other sangha members in maintaining the regular training schedule and, under the guidance of Palolo's templekeeper, participate in three hours of samu each weekday. They also take part in zazenkai and other sangha activities that coincide with their stay. (See the month-by-month calendar.)

Afternoons, every evening except for Wednesday, and most of the weekend are free for visitors' personal use. Some choose to do additional zazen or samu, while others take to O'ahu's excellent beaches, sample Honolulu's rich cultural life, or simply enjoy some free time in the beauty of the temple. Visitors staying for more than one week are expected to attend the weekly house meeting.

Fees, which include room, board, and instruction, are $35 per night. No prior experience in Zen training is required, but first-time visitors must apply in writing, and stays must be arranged at least 30 days in advance. A deposit of at least half the proposed fee amount should be sent on acceptance, the balance to be paid on arrival.

RESIDENTS

Long-term residency at Palolo is for people who have a well-established Zen practice and who wish to incorporate daily practice into their lives. While working or going to school, they make their home in the temple, maintaining its basic schedule year around and participating as much as they can in sesshin and training periods. Residents keep the daily schedule, joining in the intensification of the two annual training periods as they are able. In addition to the minimum daily schedule, residents do two and a half hours of temple clean-up every week and hold a weekly house meeting.

Living and practicing every day with fellow Palolo residents, and visitors is a challenging and valuable form of Zen training, certain to provide opportunities to manifest wisdom and compassion in interaction with others. The residential group is essentially self-governing within the program parameters set by the local sangha, functioning by consensus with the support of the teacher and other leaders.

In the interest of maintaining a congenial household, applications for residency are reviewed by the current resident group. Anyone not sufficiently known to the local sangha will be required to live at the temple as a visitor for 30 days before applying to become a resident, and the first three months of residency will be a probationary period. Preference will be given to members of the Honolulu Diamond Sangha, other HDS participants, and members or participants of Diamond Sangha affiliate groups, in that order. Diamond Sangha affiliation isn't required for application, however.

Space is limited. Fees for residents average $400 per month. Rooms may be shared (and fees reduced correspondingly), but private rooms are the norm. Food and sesshin fees are not included in the monthly fee.

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