Answering Vice-Prefect Zhang
As the years go by, give me but peace,
Freedom from ten thousand matters.
I ask myself and always answer:
What can be better than coming home?
A wind from the pine-trees blows my sash,
And my lute is bright with the mountain moon.
You ask me about good and evil fortune?….
Hark, on the lake there’s a fisherman singing!
- Wang Wei
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.
By 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: Miriam’s Kitchen
The Miriam’s Kitchen team utilizes a comprehensive approach to eliminating the housing crisis in Washington, D.C. Through engaging our guests with healthy, made-from-scratch meals, we connect them with personalized social services that assist them with re-building their lives.
Beyond our intensive program offering, we regularly engage community leaders and elected officials who fiercely advocate on our guests’ behalf.
Washington D.C., USA
PEACEMAKERS PODCAST
Faith in the Night
In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, we walk after dark with San Francisco Night Ministry, a multi-faith community offering spiritual care on the city’s streets and phone lines. No preaching, no agenda—just presence.
PEACEMAKER CIRCLES
Just Sitting and Noticing with Jacqueline Kramer
Tuesday, Dec. 9th, 12pm Eastern Time, Zoom
Bearing witness is a skill that develops with practice. During hard times we can fortify ourselves by bearing witness to the beauty of the natural world around us, even if it is just one leaf. In this workshop we will look closely at a leaf of your choice, talk about it and draw it.
Sacred Mischief Levity Strategies with Moshe “Youwho” Cohen
Tuesday, Dec. 16th, 12pm US Eastern Time, Zoom
Step back to 1998: “I need tools of tricksterdom,” Bernie tells me when we first meet. This is after Wavy Gravy calls, asking me to come across the Bay Bridge to the Hogfarm’s Berkeley house to meet “a man who needs a teacher.” It is, he says, “a real clown emergency.” Bernie has come seeking a clown teacher because the teachers and students learning from and training with him “take themselves too seriously” or are “downright arrogant” and he is looking to use humor as a wake-up call.
Yes, you too can invite a little levity into daily life by activating your “sense of funny”- what’s funny to you and investigating how to express those energies-non-verbally! How do you do that? Come find out in this introductory session.
CORE TRAINING
Core Training: Introduction to Zen Peacemaking with Eve Marko
Monday, Dec. 15th US Eastern Time, Zoom
Our approach to Peacemaking is unique. As we practice the Three Tenets of Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Taking Action, we commit to not taking fixed positions, to embracing wholeness and unity, to setting a place at the table for everyone. In a world of conflict, suffering, and violence, how do we make peace in this way. Please join us to learn about Zen Peacemaking.
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)
Thurs., Dec. 18th - Ecosattva Council with Kathleen Hoêtsu Battke
Fri., Dec. 19th - Women Only Council
New Affiliate Announcement!
Join us here at https://hive.zenpeacemakers.org to explore some of the offerings of the organizations affiliated with Zen Peacemakers.
Caminho de Luz
Comunidade de Saberes e Práticas Filosóficas e Espirituais “Caminho de Luz”
Comunidade Caminho de Luz is a Brazilian religious organization dedicated to the study, practice, and promotion of diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions, with a special emphasis on the confluence of Afro-Amerindian religions (particularly Umbanda) and engaged Buddhist spirituality. Our core mission is to foster a just, compassionate, and harmonious society grounded in the principles of interdependence, decoloniality, and engaged spirituality that is both socially and ecologically conscious. We seek to create spaces for learning, healing, and compassionate action, integrating academic research and university extension projects to build bridges between ancestral wisdom and contemporary challenges.
What They Do
Our main activities are designed to integrate spiritual practice with community service and personal development:
Regular Spiritual Services: We hold weekly Umbanda religious services (”giras”) that are open to the public and free of charge, offering spiritual counseling, healing rituals, and charity work for the community.
Study and Practice Groups: We facilitate study and development groups focused on the philosophical and practical aspects of our traditions, including Afro-Brazilian wisdom, engaged Buddhism, and inter-spiritual dialogue.
Contemplative Practices: We encourage and teach contemplative practices, such as daily meditation and prayer, to cultivate inner peace, presence, and a strong spiritual foundation for our members.
Academic and Leadership Development Initiatives: This vision is actively being seeded through the academic work of our spiritual leader at the University of São Paulo (USP). His engagement in research, teaching, and university extension projects is pioneering practices and policies that foster a culture of deep listening, care, non-violence, and interdependence within the academic environment. These pilot initiatives serve as a living laboratory for our aspiration to develop future leadership programs aimed at empowering social change agents powered by Bodhisatva vows to act effectively and resiliently in the world.
São Paulo, Brazil
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

















