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General Information: Overview: Press Clips: Buddhism in Action: A Zen Master Teaches at HDS An article on Roshi Bernie Glassman On a bright morning in September, as the humidity lingered and autumn struggled to find its grip, a small classroom on the second floor of Divinity Hall was buzzing with chatter and anxious movement. Some 40 students were crammed into room meant for 17, crowding into chairs pushed tight against the conference table, sitting on window ledges, and standing along the walls and in the doorway. The students took in their surroundings, said hello to friends they'd not seen in months—and waited. It was the first day of classes at Harvard Divinity School for the academic year 2007-08, and, at 9:01 am, the man they had all come to hear was running late. Bernie Glassman, a renowned Zen master and Buddhist thinker, is at HDS for the fall term, as Preceptor in Buddhist Studies, to teach "Buddhist Arts of Ministry in the Zen Peacemakers Order." Glassman was born into a Jewish family and grew up in Brooklyn. During the 1960s, he worked as an aeronautical engineer for McDonnell-Douglas, and in 1970 he received a PhD from UCLA in applied mathematics. He began studying Zen in Los Angeles in 1967 with Taizan Maezumi Roshi and, in 1976, became sensei, or teacher, and was named the first of Maezumi Roshi's Dharma successors. In 1980, Glassman moved back to the New York City area, and, two years later, founded the Greyston Bakery. It eventually become part of the Greyston Mandala, a varied group of social service companies, also including the Greyston Family Inn, which helps to refurbish homes and buildings for low-income families, and Greyston Health Services, which provides a diverse range of care for persons living with HIV/AIDS. "Many people, when they think of Buddhist practice, think of the meditation call or the service," Glassman says. "When I think of Buddhist practice, I think of society and ways of working in different fields." Tucked next to the Hudson River in Yonkers, Greyston Bakery provides job opportunities for the under-classed and continues to hire on a first-come-first-served basis. In 2005, the CBS news program 60 Minutes called the bakery "a role model for companies that want to inject some social action into their business." Glassman is a man of many titles. He is an author, businessman, leader, and, of course, teacher. "I talk from inside," Glassman says. "I tend to teach more from who I am and experiences I've had." In 1995, after 28 years of practice and teaching, Glassman received inka-shomei, or "the legitimate seal of clearly furnished proof." Having now given up a formal leadership role with Greyston, Glassman serves as spiritual director and president of Zen Peacemakers, a collection of various peoples and organizations, who, according to its mission statement, "seek to bear witness to the joy and suffering of the universe, and to realize and actualize the oneness and interdependence of life through study, practice and action for personal and social transformation." The Maezumi Institute, located in Montague, Massachusetts, serves as a center for learning, study, and practice. In April 2008, the seminary, as Glassman calls it, plans to launch a resident program with a focus on serving individuals living in inner cities. Glassman is also planning to develop Zen parish houses, which will pay regular salaries to staff members and serve as bases for Buddhist ministry within urban communities. For their final paper, his HDS students will be required to write versions of what a Zen parish house would look like. Glassman is hopeful that the class will yield a crop of students who are interested in developing and working in these Zen houses. "The staff of the Zen houses will be people who have finished their training," he says. "This one class is probably not enough training, but it depends on the person's background." What is the timeline for the first Zen house? "January 2009 is my 70th birthday," Glassman says. "And I'm going to give myself a birthday present of the first Zen House. That's my goal." In the last four years, Janet Gyatso, HDS's Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies, has, with Cheryl Giles, Francis Greenwood Peabody Professor of the Practice in Pastoral Care and Counseling, spearheaded an initiative to develop a Buddhist ministry track at HDS. In fall 2006, Gyatso and Giles together taught the course "Teaching and Adapting Meditative Skills," a Buddhist Arts of Ministry and Leadership course. During that semester, they invited Glassman to serve as one of four guest speakers at one of their classes. "Roshi Glassman has a very unique approach," says Janet Gyatso, who is also the author of several books, including most recently Women in Tibet. "He employs not only meditative techniques, but also a kind of viewpoint on how things should be done that shows his Buddhist heritage." Glassman's presence at HDS is important, says Gyatso, "for students who are doing ministry at the School, as well as for some students who, after they graduate from HDS, might want to go on to take a lay ordination that Roshi Glassman's organization is developing for people like graduates of the Divinity School." On this first day of class in September, Glassman walked through the door at 9:09 am. The room became still, and, as he walked the few paces toward a seat at the front of the conference table, he calmly scanned the faces gathered in the stuffy room and delivered a warm smile. He apologized for his tardiness and told his new pupils he had been under the impression he had a 10-minute cushion. So, according to Harvard time, he was, in fact, one minute early. Matthew Turner, a third-year student working toward a master of divinity degree, was one of the lucky ones to have a seat at the table with Glassman. He later said that he hoped Glassman's class would inspire him to continue to catch the "social action bug." "I'm intrigued by Roshi Glassman's work in that he's moving the Zen community in so many new directions that I'm interested in," says Turner. "He's done work with people living with HIV/AIDS. He's worked with the homeless. . . ." Turner then paused for moment before finishing his thought: "He's shaking things up." |
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