On the old plum tree,
one blossom by one blossom,
the Spring thaw is born
- Ransetsu
March Zen Peacemakers’ Haiku Submissions OPEN, Submit up to 3 haiku by February 25th by clicking Here. THEME: Spring Equinox (Winter Turning to Spring)
FILM SERIES
I Am Not Your Negro
Purchase a ticket to for on-demand viewing between Feb 12 - March 14, 2025
Cost: $5.49 via KINEMA, proceeds go towards supporting our Bearing Witness Retreats
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
Purchase Tickets Here
BEARING WITNESS RETREAT
Bearing Witness to Racism in America 2025
April 24, 2025 - April 28, 2025
It has long been our desire to create a bearing witness retreat around America’s racial history – as seen through the eyes of African Americans. The intention has always been to engage without becoming a tourist; to seek unity without ‘othering’ those with whom we Bear Witness.
This year we plan on walking the grounds of a deep history in the expansion of slavery, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement – Selma and Montgomery.
We intend our Plunge in Alabama to be personal and transformative, with attendees coming away with an emotional and heart connection with the people, places, and events we witness.
We hope you can join us.
WAY OF COUNCIL
Council is one of our most important core Zen Peacemaker practices. We share Council during our Bearing Witness retreats most every day. In Council, we come together in a small group in a profound way. We create a shared liminal space that is safe, confidential, and perhaps sacred. We each listen and speak from the heart, encountering and experiencing one another gently and with awareness. We are not solving problems or debating issues or making plans. We are making a healing space for each of us to hear and be heard, see and be seen.
UPCOMING COUNCILS (click on title to learn more & register)
Monday, Feb. 24th - Bearing Witness In Times of War
Monday, March 3rd - Mental Health Professionals & Caregivers with Dr. Iris Dotan Katz
PEACEMAKER CIRCLE
Education for Peace
Wednesday, Feb. 26th, 12pm Eastern Time, zoom
As we continue to witness intractable conflicts, climate chaos, famine, war & the rise of fascism & extremism, people have existential concerns and are looking for outlets to learn from, imagine alternative worlds, find ways to dialogue. This workshop will serve as an introduction to Peace Education. Peace Education began as a study of the causes of war and its prevention but has evolved into the study of violence in all its manifestations and educating to counteract the war system for the creation of a peace system on structural and individual levels. Peace education methodology is progressive, promoting egalitarian learning environments, open inquiry & significant learner participation. Peace Education asks learners to examine a) impediments to peace, b) structural forces that limit peaceful conditions, c) root causes of impediments, d) roles we play as agents of change to enact peace on personal, interpersonal, communal & global levels, e) methods of nonviolent communication/action.
AFFILIATE ANNOUNCEMENT
To strengthen our planetary network, ZP will feature newly affiliated groups. Join HERE to explore some of the offerings of the organizations affiliated with ZP, and visit here for a full list of these groups. Following is an introduction to the Sangha for Ukraine
Sangha for Ukraine
Compassion for Ukraine Mission: The Compassion for Ukraine community maintains a daily gathering to open our minds and hearts, and radiate compassion to all who are suffering as a result of the invasion and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Our daily practice is based on traditions and practices of Buddhist meditation and mind training, with a focus on the practice of tonglen. In addition to our practice, we bear witness to the impacts of the war and learn from our Ukrainian friends about their experience and concerns, and about Ukrainian history and culture. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE
PLEASE ATTEND THEIR UPCOMING CONCERT:
Heart to Heart with Ukraine, 3 Year Anniversary of Heroic Resistance
WHEN: February 22nd, WHERE: zoom, 11am EST, 90min.
Learn More and Register Here: https://sites.google.com/view/ukraine-tonglen/home?authuser=0
When I feel overwhelmed and numbed by the tragedy in Ukraine, I listen to music that opens my mind, and brings back the view of human beauty and fearlessness.
Мusic also warms the hearts of those who are directly facing everyday betrayal, trauma and death.
Therefore we decided to have a fundraising concert to raise spirits, and to financially support people in Ukraine with so many needs.
During this concert you will not only enjoy beautiful performers such as Meredith Monk, Herbert Elsky, Lanny Harrison, Laura Simms, Nathan Carterette, Oksana Solbieva ((Ukraine) and dancers of Ukraine and Georgia, but also meet our lady volunteers who will tell you about their selfless work.
Please show up for them, and witness their bravery.
The concert will be recorded, and many people in Ukraine who are not able to attend will watch it, and know that we care.
Peace to All Your Loved Ones and to Ukraine!
Ella Reznikova
Sangha for Ukraine
TAKING ACTION - Prison Outreach
Letter Writing Campaign
Compassion Prison Project has been told by several prison residents that nothing brightens their day more than hearing their name called during mail call.
They have also heard from letter writers on the outside that their lives have been deeply enriched by the relationships they’ve cultivated with the incarcerated men and women with whom they communicate. Expressive writing can be therapeutic and healing and can also cultivate a sense of belonging and connection.
CPP is always looking for volunteers to join their letter writing campaign. Please fill out the volunteer form and let them know that you’d like to write to someone living in a prison.
CPP is a grassroots, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
May we fulfill our vows to free and save all sentient beings.
JOIN ZEN PEACEMAKERS TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PRISON OUTREACH
ZAZEN
Experience a connection with your personal landscape through the transformative power of online meditation sessions with the Zen Peacemakers. Whether you're part of a local sangha or other spiritual community, we invite you to join us in this virtual space where we can gather across geographies and time zones.
Join us for these online meditation sessions and experience the profound benefits of collective mindfulness. The Zen Peacemakers are here to support you on this transformative journey.
Monday - Friday
10:00 - 10:40 am US Eastern
MORE INFO HERE
Haiku
Monthly Haiku Page
Please participate in our Haiku Poetry Challenge
OFFERING
The Bernie Koans
Edited by: Ken Byalin, Francisco "Paco" Lugovina, Christopher Panos
‘It’s just my opinion, man’, as Bernie would say. We all have our opinions about Roshi Bernie Glassman. To some of us, he is the stern head monk at Zen Center of LA; to others, he is the socially engaged Buddhist who built up the Greyston Bakery and Foundation. To others he is the founder of Zen Peacemakers International and the instigator of bearing witness plunges on the city streets and at Auschwitz and to others he is the clown, the founder of the Order of Disorder. He is all of these and more. As the stories in the book show, he is Bernie, the mensch, who spent his life feeding the hungry ghosts of society and teaching that Zen is to realize the oneness and interconnectedness of life.
-Gerry Shishin Wick, grateful Dharma brother and disciple of Roshi Bernie
Peacemakers Podcast—a space where compassion, action, and deep listening come together. Presented by Zen Peacemakers, this podcast explores the transformative power of the Three Tenets: Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action.
Join us as we engage with activists, spiritual leaders, and people just like you who embody the principles of peacemaking in their lives and work. Through their stories, we uncover the challenges and insights that arise when we step into the unknown, witness suffering, and respond with wisdom and love.
Whether you're a longtime practitioner or new to these teachings, we invite you to listen deeply, reflect, and discover how peacemaking can become a way of life.
Let’s walk this path together.
Thank you for reading this week's Zen Peacemakers newsletter.
We look forward to connecting at upcoming events, on social media, and via email.
With gratitude,
The Zen Peacemakers Team