PEACEMAKERS PODCAST
BEARING WITNESS RETREAT
Bearing Witness to Racism in America
Montgomery & Selma, Alabama | April 23–28, 2026
This retreat is not about standing at the edge of history to change the world. It is about allowing the experience to change us — to see ourselves as the other,
and the other as ourselves.
Alumni often tell us that returning to this retreat opens new layers of insight, responsibility, and compassion — both personal and collective. If this work continues to call to you, we warmly invite you to join us again, or to share this offering with others in your community.
TAKING ACTION
From Bearing Witness to Taking Action
Zen Peacemakers live by the Three Tenets: Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action.
When we let go of certainty, we begin to truly see.
When we see, our hearts move us to respond.
Taking Action invites us into that response — a growing web of service and connection around the world. Together, we are building a map of compassion in motion — one that connects individuals, communities, and organizations embodying the practice of contemplative social action.
In 2026, this living map will feature over 20,000 global organizations offering meaningful volunteer opportunities in areas such as environmental care, racial equity, prison outreach, and more.
✨ Explore the Taking Action initiative — discover how you can serve, connect, and be inspired by the work already unfolding in your communities.
👉 Explore More
❤️ Your gift helps bring the Three Tenets to life.
👉 Donate Here
Weekly Spotlight: New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia
In today’s diverse and complex world, the need for interfaith dialogue and cooperation is more important than ever. Interfaith Philadelphia works to promote inter-religious understanding among people of all faiths and backgrounds in our region. We invite you to join us to equip individuals and communities for interfaith engagement, build collaborative relationships and stand in solidarity with our diverse neighbors.
We provide a diverse array of programs and offerings to youth, adults, congregations, organizations, and businesses aimed at promoting interfaith learning and engagement.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
PEACEMAKER CIRCLE
Tuesday, Feb. 17th, 12:00 pm US Eastern Time, Zoom
Film Screening: ARE WE ONE
This new documentary film traces the transmission of Zen meditation through the life’s work of Robert Kennedy, 90-year-old Irish-American Jesuit Zen Master – and his successors and students – in a contemporary exploration of interfaith dialogue on the common ground of human experience.
A Talk With KRISHNA DAS
Wed., Feb. 25th, 12pm Eastern Time, Zoom
Few figures in modern spirituality, particularly in the West, have impacted the hearts and minds of contemporary seekers as Krishna Das has. A devotee of the North Indian Saint, Neem Karoli Baba (Maharajji), Krishna Das has played an enormous role in popularizing the traditional practice of kirtan in the West, taking the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and temples and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling western chant artist of all time.
CORE TRAINING
Core Training: The Three Tenets with Sensei Jim Daikan Bastien
Monday, March 9th, 12pm US Eastern Time, ZOOM
I will embody Not Knowing, thereby giving up fixed ideas.
I will Bear Witness, opening my heart to the joy and suffering of life.
I will take Loving Action arising out of not-knowing and bearing witness.
We can practice and manifest our true selves in every situation and with everything that arises, using the Three Tenets. This is a lifelong practice, one we never complete on our hourlong session we will present and describe the Three Tenets and have time to take your questions.
WAY OF COUNCIL
Council is one of our most important core Zen Peacemaker practices. We share Council during our Bearing Witness retreats almost 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)
Join our New Mom’s & Dad’s Councils. These councils are a way to connect, share stories, and support one another in navigating the joys and challenges of modern motherhood & fatherhood. space limited so register soon
Wed., Feb. 11th - Mom’s Council
Mon., Feb. 23rd - Dad’s Council
PRAYER FOR PEACE
Our dear Lakota relative, Violet Catches, would like to invite Zen Peacemakers from all around the world to join together on Friday, February 20th at 1:00 pm ET, to offer prayers for peace. Participants will be encouraged to offer prayers from their faith tradition, culture, and in their language.
ZEN PEACEMAKERS AFFILIATE PROGRAM
Applications are now open for the next Meditation Leader Training Program with Sensei Sean Tetsudo Murphy, beginning at the end of February and offered fully online via Zoom.
Designed in the spirit of the widely known 200-hour yoga teacher trainings, this nine-month certification is ideal for experienced practitioners who wish to confidently share meditation and mindfulness in their communities, workplaces, or professional settings. The program is secular and ecumenical, welcoming participants of all backgrounds and faith traditions.
Whether you intend to guide others or immerse yourself deeply in study and practice, this training offers a broad, grounded foundation in transformative contemplative skills.
Sensei's teacher, Roshi Gerry Shishin Wick, in particular, has been a strong supporter of the program, commenting, "The more people we get meditating, the better!"
Learn more and apply: www.sagetaos.com
Partial scholarships and payment plans are available.
Questions? Email breathe@sagetaos.com
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
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


















