CURRENTLY ON HAITUS

The community at GBZC invites you to participate in the LGBTQIA+ Zen Group, a monthly sitting practice where our focus is on LGBTQIA+ issues. Our aim is to create a safe space for Zen meditation and dialogue for LGBTQIA+ people and allies.

What to Expect:
This is a shortened Zen Buddhist service that will include chanting, seated meditation, walking meditation, and discussion. We will also seek to bring in teachers from the Zen community that can speak to topics affecting the LGBTQIA+ community. No RSVP required.

This is an opportunity to cultivate a diverse community rooted in inclusivity, justice, and compassion. This group is meant to be both an entry point to discovering and practicing Zen and an exploratory practice for LGBTQIA+ people and allies already familiar with Zen.

Location: Currently being conducted via Zoom. Instructions here.

When: Every 4th Sunday from 7:00-8:30pm unless otherwise noted.

Approximate program schedule:
6:30 pm – Early arrival for newcomers that would like an orientation
7:00 pm – Sutra Service (15 min), Walking Meditation (5 min), Sit (20 min), Walking Meditation (5 min), Discussion/Talk (30 min), Walking Meditation (5 min), Closing Service (5 min)
8:30 pm – Out for the evening

Who: All LGBTQIA+ people and allies are welcome.

Questions/Comments: Please contact the group’s facilitator at lgbtqia@bostonzen.org.

CURRENTLY ON HIATUS

The Arts as Spiritual Practice group evolved from Writing as Spiritual Practice to reflect the many variegated gifts of its participants. This open group meets twice a month to create a community of loving support for participants’ creative endeavors and to help one another see inherent links to spiritual practice. This is an especially good space for those interested in or engaged in art but who do not necessarily see themselves as “artists.”

We cultivate this community through creative practices of reading and listening (often a close reading from our sutra book), guided prompts and exercises, and space to come forth and share work of any form. We meet one another’s work with attentive, encouraging, and, we hope, inspiring feedback, letting the act of response become an art in itself. All are welcome to join and participate at any level that feels comfortable, either to share work or to listen and marinate in the work of others.

This group is co-facilitated by GBZC members Rebecca Doverspike and Sarah Fleming, who aspire to hold a shared space where all voices know themselves as vibrant and vital.

We have also launched a seasonal creative arts journal, Radiant to the Heart: A Journal of Zen Arts. We invite you to read it—or submit to it!—here. To accompany the release of each new volume, we hold a journal launch for those both in and beyond our community. The theme of the second volume of Radiant to the Heart is art as refuge during turbulent times. Stay tuned!

Location: Currently being conducted via Zoom. Instructions and guidelines here.

When:  Monthly from 7-9pm on the last Thursday of the month.

Who: All are welcome for any of the meetings.

Questions/Comments: Please contact Rebecca Doverspike and Sarah Fleming at writing@bostonzen.org.