Support Us Today
There are three ways to support the Brattleboro Zen Center and help us to thrive. Donation, Membership, and Voluneering.
Donation
Our ability to provide a place for meditation and Zen practice in Brattleboro is entirely dependent upon donations and
membership dues.
Membership
Everyone is welcome and anyone may practice as part of our BZC Sangha. Membership is an opportunity to deepen your Sangha commitment
Volunteering
There are multiple opportunities to support Brattleboro Zen Center by volunteering. We always need people willing to learn temple jobs, to play the zendo instruments and help greet newcomers and regular practitioners as they arrive.
Donation
Brattleboro Zen Center is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Our ability to provide a place for meditation and Zen practice in Brattleboro is entirely dependent upon donations and membership dues.
In Buddhist teachings, generosity is a practice. Not unlike meditation or ethical deportment, generosity is an essential quality to be cultivated on the path. To give is to actively renounce stinginess through an opening of the heart. It can also be an expression of faith in the goodness of a project, trusting that it will benefit others and that the Sangha’s practice of awakening together will send ripples in the world.
To engage in the practice of giving, please make a donation as your means allow. Everyone is welcome at Brattleboro Zen Center and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds.
Thank you for helping to establish our developing Sangha and to support Hakusho’s teaching. We are deeply grateful for your support.
“To engage in the practice of giving, please make a donation as your means allow. Everyone is welcome at Brattleboro Zen Center and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds.”
Become a Member
Your financial contribution supports the Brattleboro Zen Center and its programs and events.
If you have been practicing with us regularly, we invite you to become a member by making a recurring donation of whatever amount is appropriate to your means and well-being. Membership can remind us of our commitment to Zen practice and our intention to awaken throughout our whole life. Your offering helps us maintain the zendo, sustains the teachings, and supports our teacher.
Committed Membership donations allow us to plan the budget, develop programs with confidence and reduce the amount of time spent in fundraising. Reliable donations will also inform the next steps we take as a new and developing Sangha, including when to rent a temple-space of our own.
To be clear: Membership is not a requirement to practice at Brattleboro Zen Center. Participation in all our events is freely-given and not transactional. Everyone is welcome and anyone may practice as part of our BZC Sangha. Membership is an opportunity to deepen your Sangha commitment by maximizing the benefit of your donation for the caretaking of our Zen center.
Please consider signing up as a member as your means allow to help us care for our practice together.
Volunteering
There are multiple opportunities to support Brattleboro Zen Center by volunteering. We always need people willing to learn temple jobs, to play the zendo instruments and help greet newcomers and regular practitioners as they arrive. We’re also on the lookout for people who can contribute through woodworking, photography, website design, as well as anyone in the Sangha willing to organize social gatherings outside our usual practice events. If you are interested in contributing as a volunteer, please send us an email.
In addition, there is also the opportunity to engage with the BZC Ecosattvas. The group’s purpose is threefold: to support the individual environmental work of each member, to review what the group might take on , and to provide support for other groups. Topics of discussion are broad and range from social justice to light pollution to civil disobedience action.
There is little formal structure and anyone from the Sangha is encouraged to join. A sitting for the earth is held every Saturday from 1:00 to 1:30 PM at Wells Fountain, rain or shine. The group also engages in a book study over Zoom. Some of the books have included “In Search of the Mother Tree”, “Braiding Sweet Grass” and “The Myth of Progress”. Send us an email if interested, or speak directly to John Woodland or Vera Riley.
“A sitting for the earth is held every Saturday from 1:00 to 1:30 PM at Wells Fountain, rain or shine.”
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