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BEARING WITNESS
NEWSLETTER FOR WESTERN SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM - JANUARY 2010 ZEN HOUSE ISSUE
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JUNE and NOVEMBER 2010 AUSCHWITZ BEARING WITNESS RETREATS
First Auschwitz Bearing Witness Retreat Trailer
The Zen Peacemakers and Bernie Glassman return to Auschwitz for a Bearing Witness Retreat on Nov 1-5, 2010.
To read descriptions and/or to register, please click here. This retreat includes Youth from Israel, Palestine, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, USA, and other countries.
There is also a June 7-11 Auschwitz Retreat which is fully subscribed but we have a waiting list for this retreat. If you wish to be on the waiting list for the June Retreat, please link here to make a deposit ($500) and secure your position on the list.
(This deposit is fully refundable (or transferable to the November Retreat.)
Historic First Bearing Witness Retreat in Rwanda
April 11-16, 2010
To read more about the Rwanda Retreat, link here. Link here to register for the Retreat.
Rwanda
In the tradition of the Peacemakers Bearing Witness Retreat at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, the Peacemaker Institute will conduct a five-day retreat, bearing witness to the horror and tragic impact of the 1994 Rwandan genocide as well as the current state of healing and reconciliation efforts in Rwanda. Grounded in our Three Peacemaker Tenets – not knowing, bearing witness and loving action – the retreat will offer Rwandans of all backgrounds and visitors from other countries new means for bearing witness to the realities and aftermath of genocide in ways that lead to healing, reconciliation, community-building and ultimately genocide and violence prevention.
Please!"Adopt a Monk." Join Alan Senauke, founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and help the monks and nuns of Burma's Saffron Revolution.
May the New Year bring fresh opportunities to deepen our practice and to
serve others in love and compassion. May we recall the Zen precepts of
humility, mindfulness, and exertion as we respond to the challenges ahead.
May we strive for a world in which all beings are safe and happy.
In this issue of Bearing Witness we focus on the Zen House movement as it
is developing in Appalachia, Boston, New York and Montague, Massachusetts.
As you will see, each site presents its own mix of challenges and
opportunities, some familiar by now – the ongoing sagas of Haley House and
the Greyston Bakery – and others brand new for engaged Buddhists.
Naturally, we are all working to identify best practices and common
resources that will reinforce the sense that this is indeed a movement
that can be launched wherever the needs arise.
The Newsletter serves as a clearinghouse for information about
western socially engaged Buddhism. Announcements of upcoming events and
resources may be found in the sidebar at the left. Our Directory of
Western Socially Engaged Buddhism is quite possibly the most
comprehensive anywhere: please follow the links there to visit many groups
and projects. If your group or resources you know about are missing,
please write to us with the reference. We will make sure it is added.
Themes for the next two issues of Bearing Witness will be “Dharma in the
Prisons” and “Dharma and Mental Health.” If you are active in either of
these areas, please write to us so that we can profile or mention your
work.
Let us all work to make 2010 a year of service and joy.
Please help promote the cause of Socially Engaged Buddhism by
sharing this URL with friends, associates, sangha members and groups you think would be interested. Click on the line below, "Send mail using your own address book".
The Appalachian Zen House (APZ) is an integrated group of projects addressing rural poverty and environmental challenges in central Pennsylvania.
APC contains:
“Green Appalachia,” based at Ahimsa Village and consisting of No Harm Farm, Bald Eagle Biofuels, and the Earth Education Program, including the Ahimsa Summer Camp;
“Floating Lotus Zendo,” offering Zen training;
Workshops on: Non-Violent Communication, Council Circle; and Byron Katie’s “The Work.” and
“Many Paths, One Heart,” focusing on multi-faith initiatives.
In April, 2009, the Zen Peacemakers Board of Directors decided to open a signature Zen House at our Montague location. Karen Kisui Werner was hired as the Zen House Leader for the Montague Farm Zen House (MFZH). The MFZH uses facilities on the Montague campus, including residence space in the farmhouse, the meditation hall and the House of One People.
The MFZH is being used to develop principles, structures and practices for Zen Houses, to serve as a model for Zen Houses, and to create social service projects in the Pioneer Valley.
Haley House offers collaborative living and working environments that build communities and connections across the boundaries that divide us, model creative alternatives that confirm the intrinsic dignity and worth of each person, and challenge the attitudes and structures that perpetuate suffering.
With a focus on reciprocal learning, they provide: skills training for the underemployed, volunteer experiences, housing for the homeless and working poor economic development opportunities, and wholesome nourishment for body, mind and spirit
Started in 1966 in Boston's South End, Haley House originally provided basic necessities to the homeless and soon expanded into a full-service soup kitchen run by a live-in community of volunteers and guests. They have since added new layers to their organization, growing organically into the lean and feisty non-profit they are today.
The Greyston Bakery was founded in 1982 by Zen Master Bernie Glassman in Yonkers NY.
The Bakery produced high end pastries for the best restaurants in Manhattan, provides Brownies for Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and provides jobs for the poorest members of Yonkers Community.
The Bakery has growen into a 6 million dollar business with more than 75 employees.
Success of the Greyston Bakery gave rise to the Greyston Foundation, a 13 million dollar integrated network of for-profit and not-for-profit entities providing jobs, workforce development, low income housing, supportive services, child care, after school programs, comprehensive HIV health care, housing, a gourmet bakery business and community gardens.
Since 1991, Greyston Foundation, has developed over 200 units of affordable housing and $48,597,735 in real estate projects in Westchester County, N.Y. with another $25,000,000 in projects underway.
The Greyston Foundation is recognized as a national model of community economic development and successful "social enterprise" and the Greyston Model became a "Best practice" example of social enterprise and is studied in major U.S. business schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford University and New York University. The Zen Houses are based on the Greyston Model.