Shared Stewardship

An Ongoing Class and Exploration

Led by Reverend Tom Dharma-Joy Reichert
Sundays: February 11, March 24, April 14, May 12 & June 9

1:30-4:00 p.m.

(Zoom & In-person – REGISTER BELOW)

CLASS INFO

In June 2001, not long after Roshi Egyoku was installed at ZCLA’s third abbot, ZCLA embarked on an investigation into the practice of Shared Stewardship.  Shared Stewardship represents a fundamentally different approach that eschews a transactional model of Zen training and instead invites each and every Sangha member into a practice of co-creation – and co-responsibility.  Understanding that everything we do at Zen Center is an aspect of training, and emphasizing a horizontal structure that acknowledges but de-emphasizes the historical vertical hierarchy, Shared Stewardship became a foundational practice and organizing principle of ZCLA that carries forward to this day.

This series of explorations/classes will return to the roots of Shared Stewardship, so that everyone can receive the foundational information and training that underlies this way of relating and co-creating.  After some initial orientation and grounding, we will strive to develop a common background in the history and current functioning of ZCLA, observing both its strengths and shadows.  We will closely study Dogen Zenji’s Tenzo Kyokun, the Instructions to the Tenzo (Head Cook), which offers a model of how to practice together in community.  We will also look at portions of “Instructions to the Cook:  Living a Life That Matters,” a book by Roshi Bernie Glassman and Rick Fields, that uses Dogen Zenji’s text as a jumping off point to vastly expand the “community” to include the whole world.

Like everything involving Shared Stewardship, this will be an investigation and an experiment.  We will meet more-or-less monthly until we agree we are fully cooked.  This offering is intended to help train us all as Bodhisattvas and to orient us to carry Zen Center forward – together – into the future.  We are all co-creating it together, whether you are conscious of that fact or not.  This invites you to do so more consciously and to shift your perspective and relationship to practice.  Will you join me?

In-person Participants:

Members: Click here for rates.

Non-Members: $85/class; $425/Fulltime

Zoom Participants:

Members: $40 / day; $200 full-time

Non-Members: $60 / day; $300 full-time

DEADLINE TO REGISTER:

CLASS #1: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11 @ 8:30AM

CLASS #2: SUNDAY, MARCH 24 @ 8:30AM

CLASS #3: SUNDAY, APRIL 21 @ 8:30AM

CLASS #4: SUNDAY, MAY 12 @ 8:30AM

CLASS #5: SUNDAY, JUNE 9 @ 8:30AM

Zoom participants registering after the posted deadline will receive a link to the class recording.

Click here to request Dharma Training Fund.

(If you have any questions or concerns before your program’s start date, please contact programsteward@zcla.org)

REGISTRATION & PAYMENT