Workshops & Events

Calling Our Sangha Together (hybrid)
October 22 – Nov. 5, 2023 (Three consecutive Sundays)

Roshi Robert will facilitate three sessions with our Sangha community, beginning on Sunday, October 22, 2023 from 10:00 to 11:00 am. Each session will build on the previous one using an ancient Tibetan process called the Four Karmas (This will be done differently than our normal council process). Roshi invites all Sangha members to join and requests that, it they can, all members commit to the three sessions so that they get the full experience of this process. We have decided, due to the participatory nature of these sessions, to not record them.

The following guidelines will help us get the most out of this process:

  • DEEP INQUIRY: We rely on differences of experience and perception in order to discern action that might bring sanity and clarity to our situation.

  • HUMILITY: We honor the fact that no one person or group has the answer.

  • APPRECIATION: The experience of all stakeholders are essential to understand the complexity of our situation.

  • PATIENCE: We take time to listen to each other so that we may better understand the complexity of our situation.

  • INSIGHT: We open to the collective wisdom that arises when we work well together.

We make the following assumptions:

  • Certainty is the source of positional conflict; curiosity creates and opens possibilities and enriched relationships

  • All perspectives are essential but not sufficient. No one person or group understand the whole complexity of our situation.

  • Every perspective, prejudice, and opinion offers information that is valuable to the whole.

  • People support what they create; engagement is a necessity for a healthy community.

  • Diversity is an emergent quality; it is a life-saving enriching blessing, not a problem.

The Five Stages of this process involve:

  1. Pacifying (Buddha Family Energy)

  2. Enriching (Ratna Family Energy)

  3. Magnetizing (Padma Family Energy)

  4. Cutting (Vajra Family Energy)

  5. Action (Karma Family Energy)

These sessions are all FREE. A FREE resource course has been created on our new Zen Life Online Community platform. Starting on October 1, 2023, this new online platform will be available to all ZLMC Members.

Should you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact Roshi Robert by email at robert.althouse@zlmc.org or at 708.703.2510.

Autumn Sit and Social
Friday, October 27, 2023, 6:30–9:00 PM (in-person only)

We had such a good time at our first Autumn Sit and Social, we’ve scheduled another one. Let’s welcome the Fall Season together. ZLMC’s Kinship Circle invites you for an evening meditation on the Center’s back patio (6:30-7:00 pm), followed by refreshments and social time with your Sangha friends. Come see our new very cool solo fire pit. Bring a beverage of your choice and we will provide some snacks. We hope that you will join us for this FREE event. Please RSVP below.