Peacemaker Circles UK

We held the Manchester Zen Peacemaker Circle in Howard's house again this month, an international gathering of English, Germans, Spanish and French! We began with a guided relaxation and a check-in circle to catch up with how we all were, then Dannie led a study seminar on the introduction and first chapter of Bernie Glassman's book 'Infinite Circle', a commentary on the Buddhist "Heart Sutra" scripture from a Zen perspective. We've collectively chosen to study this book together so we all have a shared language in the group, since we're not all from a Zen or even Buddhist background. We had a wonderful shared meal as always together, then had a period of mindfulness meditation and some zazen mediation. John then gave a talk on a form of Christian meditation called the "Jesus Prayer", a very old practice coming from the Eastern Orthodox Church, and he led a short period of practicing this together too. We held the final Council Circle outs...

We're pleased to let you all know that Roland Wegmueller from Switzerland will be coming to lead a meditation retreat in Manchester from Friday evening on 26th June till the afternoon of Sunday 28th. Roland is a Zen Preceptor and Dharma Holder in the Zen Peacemakers lineage of Bernie Glassman and Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He began his spiritual career whilst leading an immunisation program in Africa- the locals invited him to train as a native West African shamanic healer. Returning to Europe he trained together with his wife in the Sufi lineage of Irene Tweedie, before meeting Bernie Glassman on one of the early Zen Peacemakers Auschwitz retreats. He has been a personal student of Bernie now for many years, learning especially the Peacemaker Circle approach to Zen, and studies Zen koans with Genro Sensei, another of Bernie's senior students. Roland has been involved with organising the multi-faith Auschwitz retreats for many years now, and is currently involved in taking the A...