Letters to a Young Poet (July, 1903)
Have patience with all unsolved problems in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms, or books that are written in a foreign tongue. Do not search now for the answers, which cannot be given you, because you could not live them. That is the point, to live everything. Now you must live your problems. And perhaps gradually, without noticing it, you will live your way into the answer some distant day. Perhaps you actually have in you the possibility of moulding and shaping, as a particularly blessed and pure form of life; train yourself in it—but take what comes in complete trust, and, as long as it comes from your own will, from some need or other of your inner self, then take it for itself and hate nothing.
- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
BEARING WITNESS RETREAT
Information Session for Bearing Witness
at Auschwitz / Birkenau
Each November, Zen Peacemakers returns to Auschwitz-Birkenau to sit together and bear witness. This session is an open hour to ask about that practice — what the week actually asks of you, and what it might ask of us together. It is for anyone considering the retreat, and equally for those already registered who are holding questions.
Wednesday, September 2nd
12:00 - 1:00 pm US Eastern
Online - Open Q&A - All are Welcome
There’s great power in the place
where life and death come together.
- Eve Marko
This November, Zen Peacemakers from all walks of life will come together to bear witness in Auschwitz, a place that has become a monument to intolerance. We invite you to join us.
Scholarships are available,
and guidance for Raising a Mala to support travel and retreat costs.
Zen Peacemakers Auschwitz-Birkenau
Bearing Witness Retreat
November 15 - 21, 2026
Oświęcim, Poland
A Universe of Peace: Vishvapani’s Pilgrimage to Auschwitz
Excerpted from Pilgrimage to Auschwitz article by Vishvapani published in the book Challenging Times: Stories of Buddhist Practice When Things Get Tough.
ONE DAY PLUNGE
PEACEMAKERS CIRCLE
HOW THE BUDDHIST SANGHA ORGANIZED ITSELF TO SUPPORT UKRAINE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD
12:00 PM US EASTERN
The presentation will involve a story about how we as a Buddhist community gathered spontaneously out of fury and compassion from the very first days of war told by a few active members, by Ukrainian volunteers through short videos, and from a Ukrainian singer whose town, Kherson, is almost destroyed.
PEACEMAKERS CIRCLE
ART, ACTIVISM, AND THE PRACTICE OF PEACE: A CONVERSATION WITH JANE HIRSHFIELD
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH
1:00 PM US EASTERN
Both Zen and art-making are practices of transformation. They broaden seeing, soften understanding, and expand the field of our actions and speech.
Join Zen Peacemakers on Tuesday, September 29th for a second conversation between poet Jane Hirshfield and Geoff Shoun O’ Keeffe as they continue the dialogue about art-making and activism, the ways that creative heart-mind increases compassion, and the perennial question of meeting the difficult with tenderness, humility, and courage.
During the program, Jane will also read some of her poems and there will be time for question and answer with the group as a whole.
Jane Hirshfield is an American poet, essayist, and translator and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, known as one of American poetry's central spokespersons for the biosphere and recognized as writing some of the most important poetry in the world today. Her award-winning work through collections poems, essays, newspapers and literary journals has been translated into over fifteen languages.
PEACEMAKERS CIRCLE
THE LONG CONVERSATION: A LIFE TRANSLATING CHINA’S MOUNTAIN POETS - WITH RED PINE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7TH
12:00 PM US EASTERN
Bill Porter, known to many readers as Red Pine, describes translation as a conversation with the dead — a phrase that also became the title of a documentary about his life and work. Every poem is a person who once stood somewhere, saw something, and wrote it down. The translator’s task is to come close enough to hear them, then let them speak.
In this Peacemakers Circle, Bill will share from that long conversation: the Zen hermit Stonehouse, the eccentric Han-shan of Cold Mountain, and other poets he has spent decades translating and accompanying. Each poem carries its own story — the poet’s life, the mountain where it was written, and the difficult, intimate work of carrying its meaning into English.
ZEN PEACEMAKERS SERIES
INTRODUCTION TO SKANDHA PRACTICE
A SIX SESSION COURSE WITH KEN BYALIN
STARTING MONDAY SEPTEMBER 14
12:00 US EASTERN
“Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajna Paramita, perceived the emptiness of all five conditions and was freed from pain.”
The skandhas are the “five conditions” named in the Heart Sutra — the elements through which we construct and experience our lives.
In this free six-session course, participants will spend one week with each of the five skandhas, exploring them not as abstract Buddhist concepts, but as living aspects of moment-to-moment experience.
ZEN PEACEMAKERS SERIES
AGING: RENEWING THE MYSTERY
A MONTHLY GATHERING WITH ROSHI EVE MARKO
2ND TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH
Aging: Renewing the Mystery will be a monthly Zoom gathering investigating themes and issues many of us face as we get older. Topics will include forgiveness, fear of dependence, illness and death, simplicity, regret, loneliness, the changing faces of love, and others that come from participants.
We are also offering an “Aging Council” the 4th Tuesday of each Month. Open to everyone.
CORE TRAINING
INTRODUCTION TO MEDIATION
SEPTEMBER 21st
12:00 - 1:00 PM US EASTERN
Human beings have been practicing mindfulness or meditation for millennia. It is a natural activity for us, like sleep, or walking, or moving about. Often, this practice is part of a religious or spiritual tradition, taking on many varied forms. And many of us meditate unaffiliated with any doctrine or lineage. We will offer a basic, introductory training in meditation, unattached to any specific tradition, that participants can put into personal practice immediately. It has been said, “Stillness answers every question.” Let’s explore that together.
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 each listen and speak from the heart, encountering and experiencing one another gently and with awareness. We are not solving problems, 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)
Sept 7th: Mental Health Professionals & Caregivers with Dr. Iris Dotan Katz
Sept 17th: Ecosattva Council with Kathleen Hoêtsu Battke
Sept 22nd: Peacemakers Council - Aging Council with Geoff Shōun O'Keeffe
AFFILIATE EVENT
The Bodhisattva Path in Action: How Buddhism, Politics, and Social Engagement Serve Democracy
The event will reflect on how the Dharma’s teachings on non-harming, interdependence, wise speech, and compassion can help us:
Respond to today’s realities with wisdom rather than reactivity.
Communicate across political differences without losing heart.
Take meaningful action while avoiding further polarization.
Ground civic engagement in the Bodhisattva path of awakening and service.
Tara Brach, Ben Connelly, and Kaira Jewel Lingo
“We hope that participants will leave the town hall with the answers to several questions,” said Trisha Stotler, IMCW Events Consultant. “How can we participate in this political moment without hardening our hearts? How do we stand up for what matters while remaining grounded in compassion, wisdom, and respect for our shared humanity?”
A PRAYER FOR PEACE
Hello Family!
Our dear Lakota relative, Violet Catches, would like to invite Zen Peacemakers from all around the world to join on the Fourth Friday of the month at 1:00 pm US Eastern Time, to offer prayers for peace. Participants will be encouraged to offer prayers from their faith tradition, culture, and in their language.
In peace & gratitude-
Michel Engu Dobbs
Zen Peacemakers Affiliate
NEW AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT
Awakening Dharma
Fostering awakening and its embodiment in worldly life.
Zen Peacemakers is a network of independent organizations on five continents. Each of them came to this work on their own path; introducing them is how the network becomes visible to itself.
What they do: Awakening Dharma is the teaching community of Stephen Mugen Snyder, Roshi, who teaches in both the Zen and Theravāda traditions. In their own words, they continue a 2,500-year-old lineage of practice “through the application of authentic, rigorous Buddhist and modern practices.” Mugen Roshi’s teaching centers on the brahmavihāras — lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity — as immersive practice. They offer one- to three-week meditation retreats, most now online and some in person in Michigan and Indiana, a monthly mentoring program, Liberating the Heart and Self, and Monthly Sangha Gatherings open to anyone.
Where: United States, and online.
https://zenpeacemakers.org/affiliates/awakening-dharma/
TAKING ACTION
Equality across gender is not just policy—it is lived dignity.
Through the Three Tenets, we practice:
Not-Knowing: Releasing assumptions about gender roles and identities.
Bearing Witness: Listening to the realities of women, non-binary, and LGBTQ+ people.
Taking Action: Supporting advocacy, shelters, and empowerment programs.
Daily Practice: Notice your language, bias, and choices. Practice equality in small daily encounters.
Get Involved: Connect with organizations advancing gender equity and safety.
Learn more here: https://zenpeacemakers.org/taking-action-home/taking-action-gender-equality
✨ 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
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
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