Author Archives: Julie Nelson

July-August 2025 Residential Retreat

Announcing

Greater Boston Zen Center Sesshin

July 31 – August 3 

Alexandria, NH

Dear Sangha Friends, 

Periods of extended, intensive practice are an important part of a Zen life. It has been too long since GBZC has offered this opportunity! 

But it is finally coming about: GBZC is hosting a residential retreat (sesshin) from July 31 to August 3 near Mt. Cardigan in scenic Alexandria, New Hampshire. 

The three-day sesshin will begin with dinner at 5:30pm Thursday evening, July 31 and end at noon on Sunday, August 3. Alexandria NH is about a two hour drive from the Boston area. We will do our best to arrange carpools and other transportation assistance. 

Five fully paid registrations must be received by June 30 for the retreat to run, and capacity is limited to ten people. The Registrar will keep you informed about whether the minimum or maximum have been reached.

Our sesshin days will begin very early in the morning and conclude by 9pm each evening. Our schedule will include periods of sitting (zazen) and walking (kinhin) meditation, chanting, work practice (samu), formal meal practice (oryoki) and Dharma Discussions led by volunteers. Those who want them may sign up for private meetings (dokusan) with the GBZC member who has been educated in and accepts the responsibilities that come with offering individual guidance. We will be staying in a well-furnished rural home and preparing our own simple, vegetarian meals.

The fee for the retreat is $275 for GBZC members and $350 for non-members. (See How to Join for information about becoming a member. You do not need to live in the Boston area to join.) Most rooms will likely be shared, but single rooms may be available, and may require an additional fee. Scholarships are available for those who can’t afford the full fee. 

Registrations will be accepted through July 23 (though without sufficient registrations by June 30 the retreat may have to be cancelled).  Full payment is required at the time of registration. Full refunds will be given through the end of June, and partial refunds thereafter.

To reserve your place, please fill out this registration form. It asks for your contact information, retreat background, your preferences regarding rooms and roommates (if any), and your needs for special accommodations, financial aid, or transportation. It includes information on how to send your payment (payment link). Those attending the sesshin will receive more information about retreat observances, the schedule, carpools, the availability of single rooms, and what to bring as the sesshin approaches. 

If you have any questions – about registration, fees, schedules, on-site arrangements, or anything else – please contact the Registrar at registrar@bostonzen.org

 

Annual Meeting

The Annual Membership Meeting has been rescheduled to

Saturday ​July 26, 2025
1:00 PM 
via Zoom
(https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89763551047
meeting ID: 897 6355 1047
Passcode: GBZC)

To continue to develop our “sangha-led sangha,” it is vitally important that members participate in decision-making. The meeting that was scheduled in June could not do business for lack of a quorum.

Anyone can attend the meeting, but only formal members can vote.

  • Not a formal member yet, but interested? See Why Be a Member? and apply to the board, preferably before its next meeting (July 6)! 
  • Not sure if you’re a formal member? Contact info@bostonzen.org.
  • No longer interested in being a member? It would be helpful if you could notify the board at board@bostonzen.org

You may view the agenda and proposals that will be voted on at the meeting. Members who are unable to attend are strongly encouraged to fill in and submit this proxy form, allowing someone who will be attending to vote in your stead. (If you don’t know who is attending, you might consider naming a board member such as the Board Clerk.)

We hope to see you there!

Saturday Morning Format Change

As Saturday morning practice is, for the time being, entirely on zoom, we have adopted a modified format.  

Saturday formal practice begins at 9am. It now includes an abbreviated Zen liturgy, one brief period of walking meditation (kinhin), and one 25-minute period of silent sitting (zazen), finishing around 9:45am. You are invited to stay on for an optional 45-minute discussion period, organized around participant’s questions and concerns or around a theme suggested by the day’s Practice Leader.

See this Instructions Document for details and zoom link. 

To arrange an orientation (at 8:25am)  please contact the Practice leaders at saturday@bostonzen.org.)

Suggested donation – GBZC members: Free / non-members: $10 (but don’t let money keep you away).  Virtual Dana Box.

Book Group: For Aging Zen Learners

Of course we are all aging, and at the same pace! Yet the reality of this often becomes more noticeable at midlife or later. This group is for anyone who wants to explore with others how we may be fully present in this process, drawing on resources from the Zen tradition. 

We will begin by reading 4000 weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman and meeting online 9-10am (EST) on (usually) the third Wednesdays of each month. For more information, the schedule, and the zoom link, see this instructions document.

Questions? Email julie@bostonzen.org.

Note: Thesaurus.com suggests synonyms for “aging” that include “maturing,” “fermenting,” “mellowing,” “crumbling,” and “developing”! 🙂Take your pick, or embrace them all! 

Aspects of Zen

GBZC is now offering an “Aspects of Zen” series, meeting occasionally, usually on the 2nd Wednesday of the month  from 7-8:30 pm via Zoom. See the Newsletter or Calendar for possible upcoming offerings.

The zoom information is:
Meeting ID: 881 4801 5759
Passcode: GBZC

The suggested donation is $15 per session, but please don’t let money issues keep you away!  Leaders (or co-leaders) will be GBZC members who have experience with a topic and want to share it.

Questions? Ideas for topics? Interested in leading a session? Contact programming@bostonzen.org.

Book Group: The Hidden Lamp

Starting in June 2024, the GBZC Book Discussion Group is reading and discussing The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women, edited by Zenshin Florence Caplow and Reigetsu Susan Moon. Meetings are held approximately monthly on Sunday evenings from 7:30-8:30pm via zoom. There is no charge, though donations are always welcome. See the Instructions Document for the upcoming schedule and more information.

September 2024 Sesshin

Announcing the
Greater Boston Zen Center Sesshin
September 19-22, 2024 
Northwestern Massachusetts 

Dear Sangha Friends, 

We are pleased to announce that we will hold a residential retreat from September 19-22 in the scenic Berkshires town of Monroe, Massachusetts. The three-day sesshin will begin with dinner at 5:30pm Thursday evening, September 19 and end at noon on Sunday, September 22. Because space is limited to ten people and we know you want to be able to make plans, we are starting registration now

Our sesshin days will begin early in the morning and conclude by 9pm each evening. Our schedule will include periods of sitting (zazen) and walking (kinhin) meditation, chanting, work practice (samu), formal meal practice (oryoki) and discussions led by volunteer attendees. For those who want them, private meetings (dokusan) will be offered by qualified senior practitioners. We will be staying in a well-furnished home and preparing our own simple, vegetarian meals.

The total fee for the retreat is $210 for members and $240 for non-members. Single rooms may be available for an additional fee. Scholarships are available for those who can’t afford the full fee. Donations to the scholarship fund from those who can afford it are very welcome!

Registrations will be accepted through September 12 – but with limited space early registration is strongly encouraged! The first ten registrants will receive immediate confirmation of registration and be asked to pay a non-refundable deposit of $20.  The balance of fees will be due no later than August 22. Those on the waitlist will be notified of space as it becomes available. 

Carpools will be arranged, where possible. 

To register, please fill out this form. It asks for your contact information, retreat background, your preferences regarding rooms and roommates (if any), and your needs for special accommodations, financial aid, or transportation. You will (by email) then receive more details about fees/scholarships if you are among the first ten registrants, or be told you are on the waitlist if not. Those attending the sesshin will receive more information about retreat observances, the schedule, carpools, and what to bring as the sesshin approaches. 

If you have questions – about registration, fees, schedules, or on-site arrangements – please contact me.

We hope to see you there! 

Julie Nelson (Sesshin Registrar)

and the GBZC Retreat Working Group
registrar@bostonzen.org.

 

Update from the Board President

November 28, 2023
 

To My Wonderful GBZC Bodhisattva Sangha Members:

Ōbaku (Huángbò) addressed the assembly and said, “You are all partakers of brewer’s grain. If you go on studying Zen like that, you will never finish it. Do you know that in all the land of T’ang there is no Zen teacher?” 

Then a monk came forward and said, “But surely there are those who teach disciples and preside over the assemblies. What about that?” 

Ōbaku said, “I do not say there is no Zen, but that there is no Zen teacher.” 

~ Case 11, “The Blue Cliff Record,” trans. Katsuki Sekida

In all of Greater Boston Zen Center there is no Zen teacher.

This is no mere cliché profundity. It is true. In all of Greater Boston Zen Center (GBZC), there is no Zen teacher. Unlike every North American Zen community that I am aware of, GBZC alone is without an official teacher, acting teacher, or lead spiritual director. And GBZC is not even actively seeking one at this time. 

Usually after I mention this to someone, the questions start coming: 1. Why don’t we have a teacher? 2. Why aren’t we even looking for one? 3. What makes GBZC Zen? 4. What are we going to do?

Here’s my gander at answers:

  1. Why don’t we have a teacher? The best concise answer I can offer comes from the opening lines of Resilient Sangha Project (RSP) About page: “Greater Boston Zen Center (GBZC) is a sangha in recovery from clergy abuses of power. [In the course of handling the clergy abuses of power] all then-transmitted teachers left our community.” (https://bostonzen.org/resilientsangha/)
  2. Why aren’t we even looking for one? I can best refer you to the RSP page again (link above.) To summarize, GBZC has experienced more harm than good from its experience with teachers over the past several years. And so our sangha is taking its time to consider the best leadership for itself.
  3. What makes GBZC Zen? The short, provisional, conventional answer is that GBZC runs its sitting groups, services, liturgies, precepts classes, and other activities with long-time Practice Leaders. Many of these have “attained” some level of official recognition by formally recognized transmitted “teachers” in the Zen tradition, up to and including full teaching “transmission.” These individuals collectively lead GBZC. Among these, no one holds any more authority than any other. Many at GBZC have taken to the term “sangha-led sangha” as a good description of what we are. Consider that Zen and Buddhist communities around the world regularly recite vows of taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. We do not take refuge in any teacher. We are a sangha-led Zen Buddhist community. The longer answer is being practiced moment by moment by the members of our sangha. More thoughts on this below and more to come. We are living the answer.
  4. What are we going to do? I don’t know. And, what a wonderful place to be.

While there is much we don’t know, there are some things that can be said:

  1. We have a strong, engaged, community of practicing bodhisattvas committed to compassion, justice, and skillful means. Even as our work has continued to be attacked by powerful players in the Zen Buddhist community, RSP and our board members have continued to remain dedicated to an effort we see as critical. As the RSP web pages say, “If you practice Buddhism long enough in America, you are bound to uncover an extensive and disturbing history of teacher abuses of power (sexual, emotional, financial, etc.). It can be distressing to read about and even more distressing to experience firsthand. All too often, Buddhist communities who harbored transgressors have enforced a culture of silence around the misconduct.” Because of this extensive history of abuse, GBZC is taking a stand that American Zen must do something radically different if we are to detach from this cycle of harm. 
  2. Did I mention that we have a strong, engaged, community of practicing bodhisattvas committed to compassion, justice, and skillful means? Oh, yes, I said that in the point above. It bears repeating. I specifically want to call attention to the names of our current board members: Ryan Iuliano, James Peregrino, Cheryl Morrow, and Karen McCormack. These members have been making lots of important decisions. And they have been committed to doing the hard work of learning about all aspects of the issues to make the best decisions possible. And further, I want to call attention to the Resilient Sangha Project Trustees: Rebecca Behizadeh (lead), Jill Gaulding, Rebecca Moonspike, Sarah Fleming, Julie Nelson, Cheryl Morrow, and Karen McCormack. These have made Herculean efforts over the past few months to continue to strengthen our message to the world.
  3. Other American Zen communities have been in contact with GBZC for insight and guidance on new ways to handle clergy abuses of power. One reason that our community is experiencing backlash from powerful players may be that other Zen adherents are taking heed of GBZC’s transparency in our handling of clergy abuse. 
  4. GBZC’s Practice Leaders, Board, and Sangha members are in the process of setting up discussions and learning sessions (not teaching sessions) on what are the most true and useful forms for a Zen Buddhist community like ours to put in place for best supporting our bodhisattva vows to save all beings. We plan to investigate this thoroughly.

Stay tuned! I’m eager to report over the next weeks and months the inspiring work that our dedicated sangha members engage in. We are eager to have others join us too, as we ask big questions—like, What makes for a great Zen Buddhist community?—and seemingly small ones—like, Can everyone unmute for the last verse of the Bodhisattva Vows so we can have our voices blend together at least for a short bit, even if it’s messy?

In all the land of Greater Boston Zen Center there is no Zen teacher.

And, according to Ōbaku, we are not alone. “In all the land of T’ang,” he says, “there is no Zen teacher.” In all the world, he is saying, there is no Zen teacher. And, in fact, Katsuki Sekida notes in his comments on this case,It is an iron rule that Zen cannot be taught.” Sekida further emphasizes this point by quoting Buddha: “In my forty-nine years of Dharma activity I did not preach a word.” 

Perhaps we might say we are all Zen learners.

In my last Board Chair note, I closed with the following haiku:
Greater Boston Zen,
Prunes its branches in summer,
Great harvest in Fall.
This time I leave with another:
Great harvest in Fall?
We sit. Snow flies. We sit still.
The climate changes. 
Sanghas are numberless, we vow to save them

Deep bows,

James Shōun 祥雲 Lopata (he/him)