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Zen Peacemakers Sangha: Overview: Introduction to ZPS Charter

Graphic depiction of the House of One People
The Mother House of the Zen Peacemakers at the House of One People in Montague, Ma.

Mission

We the undersigned Zen teachers and chosen representatives of Zen Peacemaker groups (Zen centers, groups, institutes and circles) agree to come together to create a Zen Peacemakers Sangha with a Mother House and an educational institute called the Maezumi Institute. The purpose for our cooperative efforts is to maintain Zen practice, realization and actualization, and to nurture, promote and creatively transform Zen traditions.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please link here to send an email to us.

Vision

We recognize that no one teacher or group holds all truth and that we can better maintain and advance our Way through cooperation and learning from one another. Our efforts to establish a Sangha speaks to this wish to share our diverse methods of practice and teaching, to continue to educate and develop ourselves as practitioners and teachers, and to provide the best possible opportunities for practice, realization and actualization for our students and the generations that follow.

Unifying Principles

Zen manifests through the dedicated efforts of individuals and groups who realize and actualize the interconnectedness of life through their practice in training halls, at work, within families and within community. The Three Treasures and the Three Tenets serve as the common foundation for our Zen practice.

The Three Treasures can be understood from many different perspectives, including Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and Oneness, Diversity and Harmony; as such, the Three Treasures are not limited to any one faith or belief system.

The Three Tenets are the human embodiment and functioning of the Three Treasures and consist of Not-knowing, Bearing Witness and Loving Actions.

The Three Treasures and Three Tenets are the foundation of our commitment to zazen, to the uniquely relational nature of Zen teaching, to the mind-to-mind transmission of teaching authority, to circle practice, to peacemaking, to social service, to broad-based inclusivity, to community, to Oneness and to the interconnectedness of all life.

Organizing Principles

A deep understanding of the interpenetration of Oneness and Diversity lies at the heart of Zen. This is expressed in taking great care to maintain balance in the subtle relationships between whole and parts, to recognize the interplay of perspectives, and to make wise choices as to the appropriate perspective for each situation. Teaching and transmitting this understanding calls for a knowledge of traditional teaching methods (upayas) that have come to us from our ancestors, as well as for the creativity to develop new upayas relevant to the needs of sanghas and practitioners in the ever-unfolding present.

In this spirit, we honor the authority invested in realized Zen teachers and support their wisdom and vision; and we honor Zen circle practices, which foster and draw nurturence from the horizontal wisdom, compassion and creativity of the peer group. In this spirit, we seek to create a union that will honor the autonomy and creativity of individual teachers and groups while opening paths of mutual understanding, learning, shared endeavors and some common practices. We embrace a Federalist model, in which decisions are made at the lowest appropriate level. Thus we seek to protect the integrity, autonomy and authority of each group while developing a cooperative union that utilizes the Mother House and the Maezumi Institute. The members of the Zen Peacemakers Sangha - teachers, centers and circles - will develop their own styles and ways of practice, their own liturgy, rituals and vestments.


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