Welcome!

Welcome to the Chester Zen Peacemaker Circle!

We are a new circle in the Zen Peacemaker family, connected to the Zen Peacemaker Circles in Europe and the US and social action all over the world.  The Zen Peacemakers are the creation of Zen Master Bernie Glassman, and are summed up in three principles- Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Loving Action.  We will study and explore these principles together, with the intention of serving and celebrating the world we live in.  Everyone is welcome - we are an inclusive community consisting of people from many different religions and backgrounds.

My name is Chris Starbuck, sometimes known also in the Buddhist world as Zang.  I'm the Steward of the circle here, and in the first year or two I'll be taking a strong role in guiding and shaping its development.  After that, the Circle will become self-governing, electing a Steward every couple of years to help support it but ideally learning to make decisions collectively.

My own background is in both Buddhism and in Islamic meditation, having practiced for over 20 years.  In the Zen Peacemaker Circles I study with Barbara Wegmueller from Switzerland, herself a senior student of Bernie Glassman.

We'll be keeping this blog as a kind of community history, the story of who we are and where we come from - I'll invite people coming along to write blog entries regularly...

May all beings be happy!

Chris Zang Starbuck