Why Be a Member?

What Membership Can Help You Do

  • Cultivate a Practice of Generosity.  Giving is an important way to express gratitude.  Our unique and irreplaceable presence contributes to the community, and the community holds dear and supports our own spiritual growth.
  • Develop a Sense of Ownership.  Cast your vote at annual meetings, and on other communal decisions.
  • Support the Very Real Financial Costs.  Help maintain an engaged Zen Center in Cambridge as well as on-line programming.
  • Attend All Regular Practice Sessions, Discussion Groups and Saturday Zazenkai for Free.  Attendance at all regularly scheduled programming is included in your membership.

What Your Membership Supports

  • A vibrant Central Square location in Cambridge as well as on-line programs.
  • Multiple sesshins throughout the year, including financial aid for those unable to pay the full cost
  • Diverse programming in Zen study, as well as racial, social, gender and environmental justice
  • Training of teachers and students in our lineage traditions

What Are Others Saying About Membership?

When asked what GBZC means in their lives, here are what some of our members had to say:

“GBZC offers a generous spirit of tolerance for inevitable error.”

“Here I learned that an opening of the heart is not always neat and convenient . . . The heart opens via breaks and bursts . . .I’m so grateful to just sit somewhere with this understanding, and to know that every other beating heart in the zendo is opening too.”

“GBZC wants the world to come into the zendo, and for us to go out into the world.  I appreciate that permeability in the formation of the Persons of Color and the LGBTQIA+ sitting groups, and the anti-racist work done in the Turning Toward circles . . . “

Application and Payment: See How to Join

If you have any questions, please contact the Board Clerk at [email protected].