Winter Solstice Chant
Vines, leaves, roots of darkness, growing,
now you are uncurled and cover our eyes
with the edge of winter sky
leaning over us in icy stars.
Vines, leaves, roots of darkness, growing,
come with your seasons, your fullness, your end.
- Annie Finch
FROM GEOFF’S KITCHEN
Dear Peacemakers,
Two week ago I asked for your help closing a fundraising gap we face this year. I want to thank you sincerely for your wonderful response in November. It has helped.
However, I still face a significant shortfall in December and I need to raise donations by US$30,000. I can once again use your help to keep our programs and events and trainings going strong into 2026.
Whatever you can do to help will be greatly appreciated before the end of the year.
You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
We also can now accept gifts of stocks, which helps the donor avoid capital gains taxes and of course helps Zen Peacemakers. Contact me at geoff@zenpeacemakers.org for information.
Thank you in advance for your support.
I wish you warm and peaceful holidays.
Geoff
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
PEACEMAKER CIRCLES
Creating Our Own Experience in the World
Thurs., Dec. 4th, 12pm Eastern Time, Zoom
How can we live with a peaceful heart and steady mind when so much of the world around us seems so frantic, divisive, violent, and painful? Leaning into the Buddha’s words on ‘Right Effort’ as a framework, this talk with Oshō Mike Travisano will explore simple, practical, and effective practices for cultivating a wise mind and peaceful heart, regardless of what is happening around us.
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.
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)
Mon., Dec. 8th - Mental Health Professionals & Caregivers with Dr. Iris Dotan Katz
Thurs., Dec. 18th - Ecosattva Council with Kathleen Hoêtsu Battke
A Note From Zen Peacemakers Affiliate
At Holy Land Trust, while we do not operate directly inside Gaza, we are committed to raising awareness, standing with those suffering, and calling on all people of conscience to act.
The starvation of an entire population cannot be justified. It is not collateral damage—it is a form of violence. And we believe in nonviolence. We believe in justice. We believe in the transformation of trauma into hope, and that starts with recognizing the full humanity of those being crushed by this war.
As we reflect on this moment, we ask our community to stand with Gaza—not only in prayer, but in action:
Speak out.
Share the truth.
Support organizations delivering food and medicine.
Refuse to look away.
From Bethlehem to Gaza, our struggle is one. Our hope is one. And our future depends on how we respond to the cries of the most vulnerable today.
AFFILIATE EVENTS
Street Retreat San Francisco
December 1 – 8, 2025
Join us on the streets of San Francisco, for our December Street Retreat
Led by Joshin Byrnes, Guiding Teacher, Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community
Affiliate Spotlight: Beyond Us & Them
fostering wellbeing, compassion, and social connection
Beyond Us & Them envisions a culture of social connection, engagement, and resilience that promotes mutual respect, well-being, and care and dismantles systems of oppression, exclusion, and racism.
What They Do
Beyond Us & Them offers practical, evidence-based solutions to enhance wellbeing, disrupt division, nurture relationships, and deliver tangible results.
Los Angeles, USA
PEACEMAKERS PODCAST
Beyond Us & Them: Council, Connection, and Taking Action (with Jared Seide)
In this episode of the Peacemakers Podcast, hosts Jim Hōden Fricker and Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe sit down with Jared Seide of Beyond Us & Them to explore a simple, radical practice: sitting in a circle and truly listening. What begins as “ordinary” turns out to be transformative—calming classrooms, easing tensions in neighborhoods, helping people heal in pr…
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

















