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ZEN PEACEMAKERS SANGHA
FAMILY NEWSLETTER
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ZEN PEACEMAKERS SANGHA LISTINGS
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Thank you for supporting the work of the Zen Peacemakers Sangha!
Rwanda Report
Bearing Witness Retreat
by Grover Genro Gauntt
Photos by Peter Cunningham
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July 2010
Dear Zen Peacemakers Sangha,
For most of us, the heat of summer accompanies this second issue of the Zen
Peacemakers Family Newsletter. This issue focuses on ZPS Interfaith Sanghas and
hopefully leaves you with the cooling and harmonious effect of interconnection.
Also, you will see what two different affiliates of the Zen Peacemakers Sangha
can do when they put their hearts and minds together. Sensei Grover Genro
Gauntt (Hudson River Peacemaker Center), Sensei Fleet Shinryu Maull (Peacemaker
Institute), and photographer Peter Cunningham organized and facilitated the
first Rwanda Bearing Witness Retreat. Click on Rwanda Report
to read and see photos of this inspiring event.
There have been several new Dharma talks added to the ZPS Senior Teachings
section, (Sensei Bruce Seiryu Blackman, and Sensei Lou Mitsunen Nordstrom). I encourage all
Seniors to send their Dharma talks so we may represent your teachings in our
newsletters. Our multi-media section has many features that may also represent
your Sangha activities (awards; announcements; prayer list).
Our Zen Peacemakers Sangha Mother House serves as a place for connection and
support, a meeting and gathering site for the Zen Peacemakers Sangha, and a
place to incubate new projects. One of its new projects is the development of
Zen houses. Zen houses, a new model for Buddhist practice, are residential
centers devoted to serving the needs of people and communities in underserved
areas of the world.
The first Zen house was formed in the Appalachian hills of
Pennsylvania, and we have created a Mother House Zen House here in Montague,
Massachusetts called the Montague Farm Zen House (MFZH). One of its social action projects is the weekly Montague Farm
Café. Choosing not to use the term “soup kitchen”, the Café serves individuals
of all ages and socio-economic strata with free food and the flavor of fun and family
support. The Café also has a volunteer wellness team offering medical and
dental consultations, stress reduction classes, and acupuncture sessions. Click here for a slide show and an article about the Café by Karen Kisui Werner,
director of the MF Zen House. As Sangha Coordinator, I am inviting each East
Coast Sangha to commit to a Saturday Café by sending a car load or two of its
Sangha members to cook, serve, play, listen, and help facilitate the day. Please
speak with your Sangha about contributing to this unique offering of the Mother
House Zen House and then contact me either by email, or by calling me at 914-837-7646.
So, get a tall glass of lemonade, and enjoy the taste of our unique ZPS Family.
As always, I thank you and check out the Sangha Quiz below for a peek at another wonderful sangha member.
Blessings,
Sally Sonen Kealy
Editor
Sangha Quiz
Her life's work has been about helping others. Her research, teaching, and
activism focus on social welfare and community economies. She co-founded the
North Quabbin Time Bank, a community currency based in Orange, MA. She has been
on the faculty of Goddard College for 8 years, and has degrees from Brown,
Harvard, and Brandeis. Her hobby is puppetry, and is currently writing puppetry
scripts for the 10 Ox-Herding Pictures (view U-Tube). She directs the
Montague Farm Zen House, and facilitates the Montague Farm Cafe every Saturday
from twelve to three.
Who is she? (Click on her picture to see the answer.) |
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Polish Peacemakers, Warsaw, Poland; Healer Circle Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Zen Peacemaker Circle Bern, Bern, Switzerland; The Healing Circle, Colorado Springs CO
On April 8 -11 the Polish Peacemaker Community co-organized and participated in the first Conference of the Euro-Mediterranean Abrahamic Forum in Amman. The theme of this international and interreligious conference was: "Living Together. The Role of Religion in Establishing Dialogue."
.....read more.
The Peacemaker Circle Bern is not confined to any specific faith, religion, or
church. We study the core texts of all the main religious faiths as well as
ethics in order to deepen our daily practice of mindful awareness.
We consider it to be crucial that our practice does not build walls, or create
“in-groups” and “out-groups” in the name of religion.
Personally, I recently experienced how two faiths came together in my work as a
caregiver in a hospice lead by Christian nuns. Before that time I primarily
used Buddhist teachings while being with the dying. At the hospice center I
have repeatedly experienced the profound palliation that dying patients received
by the soothing prayers of the Christian nuns.
Peace and Love,
Franziska
This circle is open to the people of Bern and its agglomeration. Our group has
men and women, young and old, who come from different traditions and religious
backgrounds. Our circle started out having mostly Christians, and now we also
have individuals from the Islamic and Jewish faiths. Zen meditation creates a
strong connection between us.
.....read more
I have been privileged to form and facilitate three groups: The Healing Circle,
Buddhism & Extreme States, and the Psychosis Dharma Community. They are not
what might ordinarily be thought of as multi-faith Zen. The Healing Circle
meets in a mental health client-run drop in center called the Haven House
located in downtown Colorado Springs. Its members are almost entirely
Evangelical Christian; however, it is open to individuals of all faiths or none
at all. I give meditation instruction, and use terms that each member may
understand and digest. On occasion, we discuss koans. I believe that the
dharma is universal and can be found and expressed in all religious terminology
if one looks carefully.
.....read more.
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Sun Mountain Zen, Brisbane, Australia; Wild Goose Sangha, Cirencester, Great Britain; Retiros de Silencio Monte Tabor, Mexico City, Mexico; Via Integralis, Bad Schönbrunn, Switzerland; Clare Sangha/Zen Community of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD; One Heart Sangha, Silver Spring, MD; Morning Star Zendo, Jersey City, NJ; Dragon's Eye Zendo, New York, NY; Flowing River Sangha, Dallas, PA
Roshi Robert Kennedy
After studying for many years in Kamakura, Japan with Yamada Koun Roshi who was
known for his Interfaith approach to Zen, Fr. Robert Kennedy sought to find an
American teacher with an all-inclusive approach to Zen and life. He found that
teacher in Roshi Bernie Glassman who stresses that Zen include all faiths as
well as all the discarded pieces of society. Roshi Kennedy is an embodiment of
these teachings.
.....read more.
Rather than focus on my own synthesis, I feel it would be instructive to share
reflections of beginning students from Dragon’s Eye Zendo. Obviously, their
remarks represent their personal views. .....read more.
In June 2004, the time had arrived: Roshi Pia Gyger and Roshi Niklaus
Brantschen created Via Integralis, the contemplative wing of the
Glassman-Lassalle group. Via Integralis, is a three year training program that
combines the study of Zazen and Christianity.
Within the name of the Glassman-Lassalle Group the connection shines through,
warmly including Father Lassalle and Roshi Bernie Glassman, two of the first
bridge builders between Zen and Christianity and Zen and socially engaged
Buddhism. Both Niklaus and Pia are dharma heirs of Roshi Bernie Tetsugen who was
delighted to see them follow their hearts and create this wonderful study
opportunity.
.....read more.
Four years ago I formed a Zen meditation group in the town of Cirencester
located in the beautiful rural Cotswold countryside of England. I am an
ex-Anglican now married Roman Catholic priest who spent over 20 years in the
Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Tulsa I became a Zen student of Roshi Ruben
Habito. After a few years of studying with Roshi Habito, I began to study with
Roshi John Daido Loori of Zen Mountain monastery. In my position as Director of
Spiritual Formation for the Diocese, I ran a Spiritual Life Centre. Under the
direction of Robert Kennedy Roshi I started what became a flourishing Zen
sitting group. After retiring from the ministry in Tulsa, I returned to my
native England and began a meditation group.
.....read more.
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The Great Heart Society, Manchester, Great Britain; Light Within Light, Mexico City, Mexico; Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, New York, NY
Sufism is the English word to describe the spiritual reality known as Tawhid (the Oneness of God) and the spiritual technology known as Tasawwuf. The central practice of that technology is dhikr, which can be translated as Remembrance of God. Though the Sufi path involves a whole deal more than this, it is my hope to communicate one subtle drop of the knowledge flowing through the silsila of light and transmitted by the mystic hearts of the Sufi Shaykhs of my lineage; Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi, as well as Shaykh Nur Lex Hixon, known in the Zen tradition as Jikai. .....read more.
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Shir-Hadash Contemplative Community, Pacific Palisades, CA; The Garden, Yavne'el, Israel
Rabbi Don founded Shir Hadash in 1981 as a contemplative community of friends open to the dialogue of life. A teacher of contemplative Judaism, ordained at Hebrew Union College. He also received dharma transmission from Zen Master Bernie Glassman. Currently he leads study groups and retreats focused upon dialogue with root texts of the Jewish wisdom heritage. Rabbi Don is a leading contributor in the Jewish and Buddhist dialogue.
.....read more.
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