Exploring the Formless Realms with Shikantaza – NEW!

Self-Paced Home Retreat

This self-paced retreat includes material for a six or seven-day home meditation retreat.

This is an opportunity to potentially access the formless jhanas, also called the formless realms. These formless realms are discrete functions or qualities of the Absolute.

Steeping in each formless realm is transformative to our personality structuring and can produce deep transcendent awakeness.

The formless jhanas or realms are:

• the base of boundless space
• the base of boundless consciousness (manifest Absolute)
• the base of no-thing-ness (unmanifest Absolute)
• the base of neither perception nor non-perception (complete non-conceptual functioning and perception)

To my knowledge this has never been taught before.  This will be a rare opportunity to access and abide in the formless jhanas/realms.

What’s Included

• Enough material for a six or seven-day home retreat.
• 12 retreat videos including guided meditations, dharma talks, check-ins, and questions & answers.
• Complete recording of the retreat. Over 15 hours of content.
• Reference material for preparation.
• One Handout.
• 720p HD Video – Zoom-quality recordings.

The recordings are from Mugen’s “Exploring the Formless Realms with Shikantaza” retreat. It was hosted online.  The original retreat was seven days long and included two calls per day and one dark day (no recordings for that day).

Formless Realms/Formless Jhānas

“In Theravada Buddhism there are four formless realms called the four formless jhānas. The formless realms are nondual. By “nondual,” I mean there is neither perception nor awareness of a particularized me or anything we could identify as not me. Abiding in these realms is a direct, merged awareness with the particular quality of that realm. Each realm, as we move closer to the Absolute realm, is simpler yet further refined in breathtaking delicacy than the prior realm.

The formless realms are an important part of the path from First Awakening to full self-realization. They are important because each is a quality, a dimension, of the Absolute realm. The Absolute realm is the source of all creation and in its center is the potential for the experience of Cessation. Consider Cessation as the quality of the universe before any life, or Beingness, existed. Cessation is experienced as a primordial, dark, soundless silence devoid of all conceptual knowing, filled with thoroughly accepting pure love. The dark recesses of Cessation are the source of light, sound, and movement. As you realize the formless realms and continue immersing in them, the merging of individual consciousness and the Absolute consciousness as expressed by the particular formless realm are revealed as an undivided Oneness.

With each realm we can experience these from a subjective or objective perspective. The benefit of such an experience is opening our consciousness to experientially know awareness can be in one particular location or everywhere. In a subjective experience, we feel there is a location of awareness, a place from which awareness is perceiving. In contrast, in the objective experience there is not one location of awareness. Awareness is everywhere in the vastness of that realm. Perception arises from everywhere in the objective experience of perception and awareness.

These are the four formless realms/jhānas:

• the Base of Boundless Space (the Fifth Jhāna)
• the Base of Boundless Consciousness (the Sixth Jhāna)
• the Base of Boundless No-thing-ness (the Seventh Jhāna)
• the Base of Neither Perception nor Non-perception (the Eighth Jhāna)

I have found that, for myself and a few students, the formless realms can experientially open in consciousness without always requiring the deep focus of absorption in concentration meditation. When the Absolute realm is functioning in our consciousness and awareness, it is possible for any or all of the formless realms to appear and open.

— Stephen Mugen Snyder, Demystifying Awakening

If you’d like a preview, the opening talk and guided meditation from this retreat are available on YouTube.

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.

Review of this Retreat

I could not attend the retreat live, but followed the recordings afterwards as part of a self-paced retreat. Roshi’s guided meditations and talks were powerful. I was amazed by how much the recorded sharings and questions from the participants resonated with me and encouraged my practice. Making contact with the formless realms and steeping in each realm’s unique experience of peace and freedom was nourishing and eye-opening. I am extremely grateful to Roshi and this retreat for making these practices more accessible to us!

— Phuong-Anh Nguyen

Exploring the Formless Realms with Shikantaza (April 2026) was my first multi-day virtual retreat with Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi. This retreat exceeded all expectations. The sitting integrated naturally into the rhythm of ordinary activity in a way that felt surprisingly nourishing, the practice unfolded beautifully even alongside my usual work obligations. Mugen Roshi’s teachings on the formless realms were profound. He had a wonderful way of leaving us with living questions — “Where are the formless realms in daily life?” — that continued working long after each session ended. Daily life became more exciting, full of moments worth investigating. My practice deepened even after retreat ended and I now find myself sitting longer than I ever had before. I am so grateful for the teachings and the opportunity to expand my meditative capacity in this way. We had two group sessions with Mugen Roshi per day and everything ran smoothly the entire time. The sense of sangha was also remarkable. I have sat with other teachers, but there is something truly special about this particular community — we bonded quickly and genuinely, and the warmth and collective energy that arose were unlike anything I have experienced elsewhere. I wholeheartedly recommend sitting with Mugen Roshi and his sangha to anyone.

— Polina BoriSova

Prerequisites

This retreat is suitable for intermediate and advanced meditators and practitioners. For beginners, we recommend only signing up if you are capable of sitting at least 45 minutes two times per day.

Investment

Sliding scale:

• $199 – Subsidized
• $249 – Sustaining
• $299 – Supporting

Students who are part of a mentoring program receive a $50 discount from above prices (coupon code is found within your mentoring course on a page called “Discounts”).

Scholarships are available to support your participation.

Please review our Cancellation Policy.