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Through the Gateless Gate
August 17 - August 21, 2026
Henry Fersko-Weiss
This unique retreat draws from two profound traditions, End-of-Life Doulas and Zen Buddhism. They offer different perspectives, but share a deep commitment to exploring fundamental questions: Who are you really? What does it mean to die? and, How do you live—and even die—with a deep sense of meaning?The end-of-life doula approach carries wisdom that comes from a clear-eyed view of what human life looks like from its final vantage point; what people wish they had known or done sooner, and what matters when almost nothing else does. Zen Buddhism offers a direct inquiry into the nature of the self, mind, and reality using meditative practices as a means to investigate direct experience rather than relying on belief. Together they form a profound way to face the fear of dying, reduce the suffering of attachment, discover how to live a meaning-focused life at any age, and awaken to one’s true nature.What is the Gateless Gate?
The Gateless Gate refers to a Zen koan collection, the Mumonkan, which literally means a barrier with no real gate. Each koan, or Zen encounter in the Mumonkan, presents a barrier to realizing the true nature of reality because we are stopped from passing through as long as we rely on our intellect rather than experience. Once we see this there are no gates.In a deeper sense, the gateless gate is the realization that the barriers we think exist between self and other, life and death are an illusion. We actually live in a world where there is no inside nor outside, no relative and absolute. There is only just this. And that is the key to facing impermanence, finding meaning, and discovering our true nature. Of course, the mystery and the focus of this retreat is on what is “just this” and seeing how to live it by actively engaging in the doula approach combined with Zen meditation practice.Schedule:Monday, August 17
ABOUT THE TEACHERs
Henry Fersko-Weiss
Henry Fersko-Weiss, LCSW has been at the forefront of the contemporary end-of-life doula movement for over 20 years. He created the first fully developed end-of-life doula program at a hospice in the U.S. in 2003. He has served hundreds of dying people and their loved ones; crea...
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