Monday, Thursday, and Friday:6:45-8:00 am
No Zendo schedule on Monday Morning, March 29, after end of 3-Day Sesshin.
Saturday: 8:30-11:00 am
Sitting Meditation: 8:30 am
Study: 9:30 am
Mar 13, Reflection on Precepts
Apr 3, Zen Blues, Zen Schmooze:
Zen Master Bernie Glassman
Apr 10, Celebration of Buddha's
Birthday
Liturgy: Gate of Sweet Nectar:
10:30am
Evenings
Tuesdays:
Mar 2, Apr 6: Beginning Instruction for Zen Meditation: 6:30 pm [Please call ahead of time]
Sitting meditation: 7:30-8:30 pm
Study: 8:30-9:30 pm
Apr 13: Renewal of Vows
Mar 30, Apr 27: Council, Tea
Montague Farm Zen House
Mission
The Montague Farm Zen House aims to alleviate suffering in Franklin County through service and by increasing community wealth and power.
We also serve as a training site for people who want to work in or create zen houses internationally.
Goals in Support of Our Mission
-Create a business and job training/ support to employ people who have been left out of the mainstream market economy;
-Collaborate with community members, local organizations, and interfaith groups on community organizing -building the collective power needed to actualize community-defined goals;
-Provide regular homemade community meals for people who experience food insecurity;
-Make interfaith offerings (particularly meditation/counsel practices as well as kirtan and zikr) available to the community at the Montague Farm campus and various other sites in Franklin County;
-Have clearly defined volunteer and training opportunities in support of these goals.
This is a time of meeting each other and learning about the activities of Sangha Groups. Roshi Bernie will also give teachings and have dialogue with the attendees. It is also a time for schmoozing with members of the ZPS. Fee includes food and miscellaneous expenses. Starts Oct. 15 at 7:30pm and ends Oct. 17 at 1pm.
First Major Symposium for Western Socially Engaged Buddhism
August 9 to 14, 2010
at the Mother House of the Zen Peacemakers in Montague, MA
The Zen Peacemakers’ Zen House Seminary trains practitioners to work in Zen Houses. We are looking for mature, courageous self-starters who can combine the talents of an entrepreneur, social servant, and spiritual practitioner.
The program has two phases: four months’ in-residence study and training at the Mother House campus in Montague, MA, followed by a four-month internship serving in the Montague Farm Zen House, the Appalachian Zen House in rural central Pennsylvania, or Haley House in Boston. During these internships, trainees will have access to their Seminary cohort and instructors with biweekly check-ins.
Training phases must be taken sequentially, but candidates can take time off between each phase. The goals of the program are to inspire and train a new generation of practitioners committed to serving the needs of people and communities in underserved urban and rural areas of the world. Zen Houses and their service projects will be run by graduates of our Seminary Program.
The Seminary Program’s four months of in-residence study utilizes a core curriculum that embodies Zen Peacemakers principles and includes: (1) social enterprise and business plan development, entrepreneurship, and administrative and financial management; (2) needs assessment techniques for community organizing, and discussion of social service procedures; (3) exploration of theories and case studies of social change and social service; spiritual principles of environmental service projects and local contexts for deep ecology and Green Buddhism; and techniques of peaceful communicating, such as Non-Violent Communication, Council Circle, Byron Katie’s “The Work,” and counseling from a Buddhist perspective; and (4) Buddhist meditation and liturgy and multi-faith study.
All aspects of the curriculum are considered spiritual practices.
The House of One People of The Maezumi Institute
In addition to training in the core curriculum during in-residence study, participants also choose one of four tracks, each of which requires its own distinctive training. The track for Zen House Directors includes studying and practicing diverse models of leadership, and designing Zen Houses. The track for Zen House Ministers (which requires a Master of Divinity degree or equivalent) includes this training as well, with additional training in pastoral care and counseling. The track for Pathmakers includes experiential training in offering life-skills coaching for people in need. The track for Zen House Staff includes training in household budgeting and skills in intentional cooperative living.
The in-residence training program draws on progressive pedagogy inspired by John Dewey – a pedagogy grounded in pragmatism and utilizing a cyclical process of developing a hypothesis, testing, and reflecting. Progressive pedagogy also privileges opportunities for students to articulate and develop their passions within carefully defined required content areas. Far more than a “banking” model of learning, this is a relational, dialogical pedagogy.
Thus, at the start of the semester each participant in the Seminary Program will develop – with guidance from the training cohort and instructors – his or her personally tailored field of study that meets expectations in each of the four content areas of the core curriculum and of the individual training track. Each trainee’s personal field of study will include using books and resources (selected from an extensive and growing bibliography) as well as hands-on projects connected with the Montague Farm Zen House. The personal curriculum also will include time for analysis of, and reflection on, these learning experiences. Trainees will be encouraged, as well, to periodically post entries on a public Zen House Training Program Blog, so that a catalog exists of shared learning on socially engaged Buddhism and subtle aspects of social ministry.
The weekly schedule will include a two-hour morning class, occurring five days per week; three days per week of afternoon activities with the Montague Farm Zen House; and five days per week of meditation and instruction. There will be occasional weekend workshops.
During the four-month internships at Zen Houses, daily life will include meditation, liturgy, council, and working in the service projects sponsored by the Zen House.
Each Zen House develops its own social service projects, and structures its programs, schedules and staffing based on the needs of the community being served, delivering those services from a holistic, dignity-based perspective. Each Zen House, networking with social agencies, also offers training that provides the skills and tools necessary to empower people to hold market-wage jobs – preferably “green” jobs or other occupations that exemplify right livelihood – and to move toward economic self-sufficiency. Zen Houses also can teach people, whether in urban or rural settings, to supplement their jobs with sustainable and ecologically responsible strategies for growing their own food and healing the earth. The supervision and training of interns and staff by the Zen House Director will be supplemented by advanced workshops and retreats offered at the Mother House of the Zen Peacemakers in Montague.
Program Fees
Resident Program at Maezumi Institute Fees
Includes room, board, classes, and workshops: $4,000
Internship Fees
Includes room, board, followup, classes, and workshops: $2,000.
Scholarships
There are a limited number of scholarships
available. These will be awarded on a competitive basis.
To Apply for this Program
Please fill in the application form (click on the Application Tab at the top of this page) and click on the submit button or copy and send it to:
Laurie Smith
Resident Program
Maezumi Institute
177 Ripley Road
Montague MA, 01351