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Maezumi Institute: Overview: Resident Training Program in Socially Engaged Buddhism

Bernie Glassman

The Core Program

The Maezumi Institute will offer a five-month residential training program in socially engaged Buddhism beginning in September 2008. The curriculum will cover four areas - Zen training, financial and managerial skills, service methodologies, and communications. All these aspects of the curriculum are considered spiritual practices. Study at the Institute will be followed by a six-month residential service internship in a Zen House. Upon completion of requirements in the two phases of study, students will be eligible for either certification as a Socially Engaged Buddhist Mentor or for ordination as a Socially Engaged Buddhist Minister.

The goals of the program are three-fold: to inspire and train a new generation of practitioners committed to socially engaged Buddhist practice; to encourage the design of new models for such practice; and to make direct efforts to alleviate suffering in the world by training practitioners to create and run social service projects in disadvantaged areas.

The training of Zen Peacemakers is grounded in traditional Zen practice - meditation, retreats, liturgy, a personal study-relationship with an empowered teacher, and the intimate recognition of mastery, which maintains the integrity of Zen lineages.

What characterizes the socially engaged practices of Zen Peacemakers is how they extend Dharma from the meditation hall to the worlds of business, social service, conflict resolution, and environmental stewardship. This work has engendered new models of practice, especially ones that address the needs of individuals and communities in disadvantaged areas.

The curriculum will include formal training in the basic tenets of Buddhism, the Observances of the Zen Peacemakers and meditation practice. We will teach administrative and management skills on how to develop sustainable businesses and create jobs, work with a Board of Directors, set policy, manage staff, fundraise and handle budgets. The training will also include the development of counseling skills, a multi-faith perspective, knowledge of social service systems and the delivery of services, the variety of public funding sources and client entitlements, community organizing, and some knowledge of mental health assessment and referrals. Communication skills will cover networking, public relations and advertising, from flyers, brochures and print advertisements to web site development and pod casting.

In addition to the core, residential faculty, an array of the leading teachers and educators in socially engaged Buddhism will lead workshops within the program at the Maezumi Institute.

The Harvard Divinity School (HDS) invited Roshi Bernie Glassman to serve as an adjunct faculty member and teach courses in the Buddhist Arts of Ministry beginning in the fall of 2007. HDS students may specialize in Buddhist ministry in the Masters of Divinity program at HDS, and then go on to receive further ministry training with the Zen Peacemakers Order, at the Maezumi Institute, to achieve Ordination as a Zen Peacemakers Minister. Christian students of many denominations have long sought ordination from religious institutions that recognize HDS training as part of their academic preparation for ministry, but the current HDS graduating class contains the first students who will go on to receive lay ordination from a Buddhist order.

Graphic depiction of the House of One People
The House of One People building at The Maezumi Institute

Internships in Zen Houses

After a four month residency at the Zen Peacemakers campus in Montague, Ma, trainees will move to internships in Zen Houses. These houses embody a new model of residential Zen service center and training site, devoted to socially engaged Buddhism, where the residents will run social service projects. The training program and Zen Houses integrate social action and Buddhist practice through direct community service, emphasizing the transformation of the individual and society.

Zen Peacemakers will open the first Zen Houses in 2009. They will be located in an underserved urban area and an underserved rural area. Future Zen Houses will be initiated by groups of Zen practitioners, trained at the Maezumi Institute, who choose to live among and serve the people who fall between the cracks of our society, and whose needs-economic, social and spiritual-often remain unmet.

Daily life in a Zen House will be regulated and focused on service in the projects sponsored by the house. Each Zen House will develop its own social service projects and structure its programs, schedules and staffing based on the needs of the community being served. The supervision and training of staff and interns at the House will be supplemented by advanced workshops and retreats offered at the Maezumi Institute.

Services will be delivered from a holistic, dignity-based perspective. They will offer training that provides the skills and tools necessary to empower people to hold market-wage jobs and move toward economic self-sufficiency. Each House will also network with existing service agencies.

Program Fees

Fees include room, board, classes, and workshops: $20,000

Scholarships

There are a limited number of scholarships up to 100% of the total annual fee. These will be awarded on a competitive basis. Those receiving full scholarships will be asked to commit to working in a Zen House for one-year at a reasonable salary.

To Apply for this Program

Please fill in the application form and send it to:

Daniel Herman
Resident Program
Maezumi Institute
177 Ripley Road
Montague MA, 01351

Contact Information

Daniel Herman
Maezumi Institute
Phone: 413 367-2080, ext. 3#
Fax: 413 367-2065
email: daniel@zenpeacemakers.org


177 Ripley Road | Montague, MA 01351 | Phone: (413) 367-2080 | 2007 Zen Peacemakers