PEACE
Take these seeds,
plant them deep,
press down the flesh of your body
and water with your attention.
Behind the cage of your ribs
nurture peace,
know peace in your heart,
raise peace in your mind,
make peace inside your body.
As it grows toward the light,
with your out-stretched hand
offer peace where you travel
and peace when you leave.
But first, take these seeds,
plant them.
- MARY WALKER, marywalker.co.nz
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: Equal Justice Initiative
The Equal Justice Initiative works with communities that have been marginalized by poverty and discouraged by unequal treatment. We have launched programs aimed at reducing poverty in America, including an Anti-Hunger Program that has served thousands of families struggling with food insecurity and a health clinic that provides free care to vulnerable people.
We are committed to changing the narrative about race in America. EJI produces groundbreaking reports, an award-winning calendar, and short films that explore our nation’s history of racial injustice. EJI operates the Legacy Sites—the Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park—as part of our national effort to create new spaces, markers, and memorials that address the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation that shapes many issues today.
Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.A.
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.
PEACEMAKER CIRCLES
Preserving the Legacy of Zen Master, Shunryu Suzuki
Thurs., January 15th, 7:00pm US Eastern Time
Please join a presentation by David Chadwick. He will talk about how he came to practice Zen and is helping to preserve the legacy of Shunryu Suzuki and those whose paths crossed his.
SERIES
Introduction to Precept Practice with Roshi Ken Byalin
Weekly on Thursdays: First class, Jan. 29th
The Precepts, the Buddhist guides to ethical conduct, are inexhaustible tools of personal transformation. In this course, you will take a quick dive into each of the ten grave precepts, using them both as mirrors and guidelines. Roshi Ken Byalin looks forward to sharing this gift which he received from Bernie and Jishu with you.
CORE TRAINING
Introduction to Way of Council with Eve Marko
Mon., Feb. 9th, 12pm Eastern Time, Zoom
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. In this Introduction, we will briefly present the history of Council, explain the guidelines we use, and then experience a short Council session.
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)
Wed., Jan. 14th - Moms Council
Friday, Jan. 16th - Women Only Council
Monday, Jan. 26th - Dad’s Council
Monday, Feb. 2nd - Mental Health Professionals & Caregivers with Dr. Iris Dotan Katz
FRIENDS AND AFFILIATE EVENTS
Reading the Names of Gaza’s Lost Children
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
International Holocaust Memorial Day.
We (Etty Hillesum Cards team in cooperation with other peace activists) will hold an online ritual. In this ritual we will read the names of the children from Gaza who were killed in the last war since October 2023, (From the most updated lists)
PEACEMAKERS PODCAST
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

















