The Board has now approved moving forward with recruiting one or more Adjunct Teachers. The GBZC membership invites applications from authorized Zen teachers to offer instruction within our sangha-led community.

The title “Adjunct Teachers” reflects the idea that teaching positions at GBZC support the sangha’s practice life but do not hold governance authority within the organization. Their primary role is to teach meditation practice, forms, traditions, and Dharma concepts. This is the only formal teaching position at GBZC. Please review this description (pdf version) for more details.

In September 2026, Julie Seido Nelson, Sensei entered into an Adjunct Teacher agreement with GBZC. Others who meet the criteria listed in the job description and are interested in applying should contact the board at board@bostonzen.org. Please include a description of your teaching qualifications and experience.

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.

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.

We need volunteers to lead discussions at occasional Tuesday evening and Saturday morning sits! Please consider volunteering. Such discussions can take a variety of formats, including:

1. A prepared talk (10–20 minutes) by a presenter (usually someone who has been practicing for a good while), followed by discussion
2. Opening comments (5–10 minutes, which may include a reading) by a presenter, followed by discussion
3.  A question or set of questions that are on your mind, followed by discussion
4. A reading, followed by discussion
5. Other innovations (sharing a song? a video?), as appropriate

To volunteer, please write to programming@bostonzen.org and include which format you’d be interested in and your idea for a topic, question, or reading. You should also say whether you will facilitate the group discussion yourself or if you would prefer to have someone else do it. Discussion can be conducted popcorn style or as circle practice as decided by the facilitator. Readings could include pieces from the liturgy or from elsewhere. Questions could be questions about our practice, people’s experiences with Zen, historical teachings—whatever might be interesting and instructive. The scheduler may then go back and forth with you about possible materials, format, and dates. 

Contact programming@bostonzen.org with any questions. 

“We can’t do it by ourselves, and no one else can do it for us.”
—GBZC Sutra Book

A powerful way to more deeply explore your practice is to attend a zazenkai, an all-day sit.  You are always welcome to attend for any portion of an all-day sit, as suits your schedule. The retreat includes liturgy, dokusan/interviews, zazen, walking meditation, a Dharma talk with discussion,  and a period of meal/rest/study practice.

Schedule: 

TBA (The most recent was on  April 8, 2023.)   

If you have any questions, email zazenkai@bostonzen.org.

Suggested Donations:

• Non-members: $40 for the full day; $20 for half day. Please put “zazenkai” in the notes field if donating through the  virtual dana box. 
• GBZC members: Please keep the above in mind when making (or adding to) your regular membership donation. 
• Please never let money keep you away. All are welcome, regardless of means. Yet because it costs money to run the Zen Center, we do ask that everyone make a contribution in some amount to our shared work, as you are able.

Hate crimes against members of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities have increased dramatically. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has especially affected members of AAPI communities as a result of their work in low-wage sectors of the economy or health care. Further, the recent murders in Atlanta serve as sorrowful reminders of the violence and misogyny faced by many Asian American women in particular. 

Accordingly, the GBZC Persons of Color sitting group would like to share two sets of resources with the broader sangha. First, here are some action steps that anyone might take in response to the harms and suffering that members of AAPI communities may be experiencing. These were compiled by the San Francisco Zen Center; taking just any one step may meaningfully benefit the life of another. Second, here is a set of articles from Tricycle magazine to open up reflection about the unique intersections and divides among Asian, Asian American, and white convert Buddhist traditions. For over 2500 years of history, it has largely been Asians and Asian Americans who have served as stewards of the dharma, providing our sangha with much of its heritage today. These and other articles provide important food for thought regarding our own practices and the gratitude we might express for this gift that belongs to all. 

Finally, the next meeting of the Persons of Color sitting group will be on April 19, 2021 at 7:00pm. In order to spark conversation about some of the topics above, we will be discussing From “Just Culture” to a Just Culture by Cristina Moon. However, no prior reading of the text is required. Drop-ins are absolutely welcome. For full instructions, see here.

Vincent Cho & James Peregrino
Leaders of GBZC POC Sitting Group

From Josh Bartok, on behalf of the GBZC Spiritual Direction Committee, the GBZC Board of Directors, and the senior teaching community of GBZC,  drawing from statements from the Soto Zen Buddhist Association (SZBA)

June 7, 2020

In deep grief over the recent murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, let us acknowledge the deep-seated, systemic, and structural racism that poisons life in the United States of America. 

Today, we see and hear the searing pain and anger of Black people, who have endured centuries of oppression and violence in the United States and who, as a community, continue to suffer acts of violence and discrimination, including at the hands of police.  

Those of us who are white fully avow our complicity in perpetuating the harms of white supremacy in all its oppressive forms including police violence and mass incarceration.

With heavy hearts we further acknowledge: 

• That the colonization of what we call the Americas, and the rise of the United States as a global power, rests upon the enslavement of African people taken violently from their homes and forced to labor under brutal and oppressive conditions. 
• That we as individuals and communities live in a world in which only some, because of the color of their skin, are accorded safety, as well as social and economic privilege—and we recognize the willful blindness that upholds this privilege.
• That we as individuals and communities have systematically treated Black people with discrimination, disrespect, cruelty, and violence because of their race—and that we have upheld policing systems that enact this discrimination for us.
• That we as individuals and communities are complicit in an unfair, classist economic system that divides humanity into winners and losers, exploiter and exploited, and that encourages selfishness and conflict. 
• That as human beings, we cannot separate the gift of our own existence from the violence being done to Black people in the United States. 

As individuals, as a sangha, and on behalf of all those who came before us, we atone for our participation in all systems that perpetuate white supremacy, domination, violence, greed, and injustice in this world we co-create with all beings.

Accordingly: 

• Let us vow to overcome systemic racism, supremacy, and dominator culture in ourselves, our Sanghas, our nations, and our world, in the service of all beings throughout space and time.
• Let us commit ourselves to the work of untangling racism’s tenacious tendrils and cultivate the blossoming of a more just world. 
• Let us pledge to face, acknowledge, study, understand, and hold the weight of our collective karma so that we may show up with clarity, vulnerability, and truthfulness. 
• Let us commit ourselves to continue with renewed urgency our Bodhisattva work and call for a fresh and coordinated effort to dismantle racism at every level of our culture, society, government, as well as in our Zen communities, and our own hearts; 
• Let us commit to taking individual actions—such as direct financial support to organizations, protests, educating others, advocacy in places we have privilege and power; and 
• Let us commit ourselves to creating true refuge for all who breathe,
  and for all who cannot breathe. 

The above statement draws from the SZBA Statement & Call to Action on Systemic Racism by Tenku Ruff and the SZBA Board of Directors, as well as from the SZBA’s Statement of Recognition and Repentance, crafted by Koun Franz, Norman Fischer, Greg Snyder, and many participants of the 2018 SZBA conference.
Adapted by Josh Bartok.

For more resources, including related talks and suggestions for responses, see this document.