Zen Peacemaker Affiliate
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Sangha Zen Zeist
Our mission is to support people in cultivating awareness, compassion, and inner freedom through the practice of Zen meditation. We offer a welcoming and supportive space where people can learn to appreciate what is, rather than seeking to change or improve themselves. Rooted in a rich Zen tradition, our aim is to make this path accessible and meaningful for modern life.
When did your organization form? January 1, 2011
Tell us about one exciting project, program, or other offering you are currently working on.
In May 2025, Zen Zeist is organizing a Bearing Witness day at Tata Steel in Wijk aan Zee—one of the most polluting industrial sites in the Netherlands. This initiative is part of our Ecodharma Workshop Series and embodies the Three Tenets of Zen Peacemakers in every step. Not Knowing is practiced by stepping into a complex and emotionally charged environment with openness—free from fixed opinions about pollution, industry, or climate justice. Bearing Witness takes form through silent meditation, shared reflection circles, and rituals honoring both the pain and resilience connected to the ecological crisis. Participants sit facing the steel plant, walk through dunes and coastline, and reflect on their own position within the crisis. Taking Action emerges not as direct protest, but as a deepened commitment to life, expressed through collective presence, storytelling, and community building. Participants are invited to engage with nature and each other from a place of gratitude, pain, new vision, and intention—following Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects spiral. The impact is both personal and collective: participants report greater clarity, emotional connection, and a renewed sense of responsibility. This initiative strengthens our community’s ability to act from compassion and interconnectedness, even in the face of uncertainty.
How do the Three Tenets inform your social engagement?
At Zen Zeist, our practice is deeply rooted in these Three Tenets. Not Knowing is cultivated through silent meditation (zazen), which helps us let go of fixed ideas and open ourselves to what is present. We encourage students to meet each moment as it is, without judgment or preconceptions. Bearing Witness takes form in our personal interviews (daisan), listening circles, and shared reflections. We bear witness to our own lives, to the lives of others, and to the suffering in the world with openness and compassion. Taking Action flows naturally from this awareness. We engage in acts of giving (dana), support social initiatives such as education for children in Kenya through the sale of meditation benches, and contribute to sustainability education via our teacher’s work with Stichting Technotrend. Our sangha also supports participants in finding their own way to act from a place of awareness and interconnection.
For more information: info@zenzeist.nl
Our Website: https://zenzeist.nl/
Sangha Zen Zeist -
Zeist, Netherlands