Our mission

We’re here to help you find your way.

We created this Zen Center so that we could be an oasis in the storm of life for someone like you. We are a diverse, open-hearted Sangha community practicing a Zen spiritual path in the White Plum Lineage. Our doors are open to everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, or point-of-view.

At our Zen Center, we embody a profound vision, a purposeful mission, and a set of unwavering core values that guide our spiritual journey.

Vision
To cultivate an awakened world that transforms suffering into compassion and delusion into wisdom.

Mission
To empower you to live a Zen-inspired life of openness, empathy, and clarity

Core Values

  • Live a life of openness, showing respect and kindness to everyone

  • Be genuine and true to yourself and others

  • Practice openness and fearlessness in the face of conflict

  • Face your fears as opportunities for learning and transformation

  • Create and appreciate beauty

  • Have integrity, keep your word, honor your agreements

  • Respect others with faith and loyalty

  • Acknowledge awareness of privilege, without guilt, when it arises in diverse settings

  • Respect differences in world views as opportunities for learning and enrichment

ZLMC Board Members

President: Robert Kanjo Schwoch
Vice President: Roshi June Ryushin Tanoue
Treasurer: James Kanshin Sullivan
Secretary: Rev. Linda Gyokuzan Warring
Susan Akers
Ken Daigu Hillman
Julie Chisho Kase
Skye Jigen Lavin
Sarah Reishin Richart

Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago is a Zen Center in the White Plum Lineage. The White Plum Asanga is an organization of peers whose members are Zen teachers in the lineage of Hakuyu Taizan Maezumi Roshi

Ethical Code of Conduct

This Ethical Code of Conduct was approved by our ZLMC Board of Directors on March 17, 2024. Click here to read.

Grievance Policy and Procedure

This Grievance Policy was approved by our ZLMC Board of Directors on March 17, 2024. Click here to read.