We live on the streets with no resources other than our true nature, experiencing homelessness first-hand, having to beg for money, find places to get food, shelter, to use the bathroom, etc. By bearing witness to homelessness, we begin to see our prejudices and boundaries directly and to recognize our common humanness.
—Roshi Bernie Glassman
For four days in October, a small group of VZ sangha members and others participated in a street retreat, led by Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara and Sensei Grover Gauntt. Here are some accounts of that experience, starting with a talk by Roshi that gives some of the scope of those four days. It is followed by the impressions of several participants, some written spontaneously after the retreat, some at the invitation of this Journal.
- Include Everything
Roshi's reflections on the Street Retreat - Glimpses of Homelessness
Poem by Laura Toshi Foley - I Never Laughed So Much
Reflection by Annie Markovich - Fragments
Words from Hugh Shōin McGinness - Four Days of Surrender
Sally Sonen Kealy on the Street Retreat - On Being at Home
What is it like to be helpless?—Tim Bokushu Tucker - I Am Amazed
Peggy Ikai Schubert on seeing herself - Street Retreat Photos
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis

Photo: A. Jesse Jiryu Davis