Coming Home: Awakening in this Lifetime

Three-week Residential Retreat

We will turn to the qualities and functions of the source of all reality and manifestation – the Absolute.

During this retreat, we will steep in the practices of awakening through teaching and guided meditations, opening to the Absolute awakening to itself in kensho.

We will journey deep into the manifest Absolute with its qualities and functions of pure, unconditioned love, pure non-conceptual awareness, and pure presence (beingness).  Additionally, we will enter into the rich vast blackness of vast absence along with deep peacefulness and profound primordial stillness of Cessation.

This is a rare opportunity to take a sustained deep dive into the Absolute, the unconditioned, undying qualities in your consciousness.

There are any number of ways that a First Awakening can occur. For example, some First Awakenings occur to people who are on a spiritual path. The path itself seems to be the cause of the Awakening. Dedicated spiritual practices such as prayer and meditation help us orient toward the divine mystery and develop sufficient trust that we can begin to gently question and explore our deepest conceptual convictions about how our personal world operates.

With Awakening, we release our conceptual conviction that we are exclusively a separate individual and temporarily put down our belief that our fundamental flaw, our unlovability, bars us from unity with universal unconditioned love.

― Stephen Mugen Snyder, Demystifying Awakening

This retreat is suitable for intermediate and advanced meditators and practitioners.

Reviews

“I’ve been on several retreats with Stephen over the years and every one of them has been life changing. I experienced the depth of wisdom, skill of teaching and expression of compassion and kindness throughout each retreat. The guidance and support of Stephen and Awakening Dharma has been a priceless gift.”

— Derek koji McClure, Attended the 3-Week Awakening retreat in October 2024 and 2025

“Stephen is a rare combination of deep realization, penetrating clarity, loving heart, and skill as a teacher. He draws you into what’s already here, and now. I’ve done many retreats, and being on retreat with Stephen was at a whole other level. Truly life-changing.”

– Rick Hanson, PhD, bestselling author of Buddha’s Brain and Neurodharma

“Beyond words.”

— Mark Shope,  Attended the 3 week ‘Come Home: Awakening the Heart of Longing’ retreat October 2025

The Awakening Retreat’s with Mugen Roshi are very profound. This was my second time participating. All participants are very serious practitioners, many of them had awakening’s. Mugen and his wife Julie also cook for everyone. Mugen’s guided meditations into the Absolute enabled all participants to experience life-changing experiences again this year, such as Absence of Self, Love Unity Consciousness, Kensho, or Cessation. After three years of working with Mugen Roshi, I can confirm that this type of practice and guided meditations first opens one’s own access to the unlimited and unconditional qualities of the Absolute, such as peace, stillness, love, and compassion, and then these qualities gradually become one’s own foundation from which one operates. Furthermore, Mugen is also one of the teachers who emphasizes personal development work after the first Kensho as necessary for further awakening’s and liberation.  His extensive experience with students enables him to guide them individually, step by step, through this challenging work. He is a meditation master and fully capable and authorized to instruct students in Zen Koan practice, the Theravada Jhanas, Cessation and gradual deepening through Shikantaza. This comprehensive expertise makes him a unique teacher.

— Matthias Chōtan Wyss, Attended the 3-Week Awakening retreat in October 2024 and 2025

“I just finished a residential retreat with Mugen that was life changing. The location was quiet with easy access to nature, comfortable accommodations and a small, family environment. Mugen attracts experienced and dedicated students, which helps create a deep, trusting atmosphere. Mugen’s dharma talks and guided meditation are tailored to the group and I found them optimal for helping me go deeper and open more completely.  One-on-one interviews were frequent and regular, so I felt completely supported with kind and wise guidance right when I needed it. Mugen’s teaching has a rare clarity and directness. I experienced a profound event that changed me. I’ve done dozens of retreats and this one was miraculous. Thank you, Mugen Roshi!”

— Mark Shindo Johnson,  Attended the 3 week ‘Come Home: Awakening the Heart of Longing’ retreat October 2025

Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi began practicing daily meditation in 1976. Since then, he has studied Buddhism extensively—investigating and engaging in Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and Western non-dual traditions. He was authorized to teach in the Theravada Buddhist tradition in 2007 and the Zen Buddhist schools of Soto and Rinzai in 2022. Mugen is a senior student of Roshi Mark Sando Mininberg. Mugen encourages students to turn toward their true nature and embody their true identity. He is the author of five books, including Buddha’s Heart and Demystifying Awakening.

Recording

• This retreat will be recorded. One-on-one interviews will not be recorded.
• Recordings will be made available during the retreat once automatic processing has completed (usually within a few hours).
• By signing up and participating you are agreeing to release your rights of privacy and agree that any audio or video recording can be used by Awakening Dharma or Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi
• After this retreat is over, Awakening Dharma may sell the recordings as a self-paced retreat. If, so participants will be given free access to the self-paced retreat.

Experience Prerequisites

• Attended at least two online daylongs with Mugen Roshi in the past year.
• Attended at least two silent, residential, Buddhist meditation retreats for a minimum of six days.

For in-person attendance, the prerequisites are required. Please include specifics of your retreat experience to verify that you meet these requirements in your application. Mugen may consider exceptions to these requirements under some circumstances. To request an exception, please email us at [E-Address: events | awakeningdharma].

In-Person Attendance

All-inclusive cost for 21 days (room, meals, teaching fees and staff dana):

• Private room for one person: $3950 – FULL
• Shared room (2-3 people per room) for one person: $3500
• Dorm bed for one person: $3100

Please review our Cancellation Policy and Participation Waiver.