Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community began in 2017. Since the beginning, Zen-inspired direct service in our local community has been our guiding practice. We support personal liberation, social transformation and spiritual flourishing.
Where You Can Visit Us
On July 1, 2024 we moved from our first home in Cornwall, VT. Our center will open again after renovations to our new home in downtown Middlebury, VT in the spring of 2025. In the meantime, please join us either at Gather on Merchants Row in Middlebury, or online for meditation or one of our many workshops or retreats.
You can send us an email for information: info@breadloafmountainzen.org
For a Zoom link for our daily meditation you can register here.
Visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/VermontZen.
Guiding Teacher
The guiding teacher is Brian Joshin Byrnes, a Zen priest and teacher in the White Plum Asanga of Maezumi Roshi and Zen Peacemakers Order. Read more about Joshin.
Our Vision, Mission, and Values
Our vision: We envision a world where all beings flourish, are honored, and their basic goodness is recognized and nurtured. Our dedication lies in advancing a down-to-earth, accessible Zen practice, deeply rooted in community involvement. We encourage our global sangha to embody the same commitment. Our aspiration is to foster a sense of belonging without othering, and to alleviate the suffering caused by loneliness, alienation, and marginalization.
Our mission: We fulfill our vision in many ways, including:
- being a hub of practice that builds, trains, and supports an active network of Community Zen practitioners;
- offering Zen Practices such as daily meditation, weekly talks, retreats, study and practice groups, bearing-witness practice periods, and teacher-student relationships;
- engaging in social action projects such as Gather, Peacemaker Quilts, Mindful Recovery, end of life companionship, and pop-up projects like Food for Families;
- supporting community ministry and offering direct spiritual care to all who request it; and
- facilitating Bearing Witness Plunges and Street Retreats.
Our values:
- Imagination: We meet the world with creativity.
- Generosity: We reflect the natural abundance of being.
- Ethical Conduct: We act in solidarity, following the Zen precepts without self-importance.
- Patience: We use difficult circumstances to seek spiritual insight and grow in compassion.
- Joyful Effort: We practice propelled by care and love, not by power or force.
- Meditation: We stabilize our shifting mind and heart and cultivate loving awareness.
- Wisdom: We seek insight in all that we do and we learn by doing.
Our Board of Directors:
Colleen Jishu Brown
Brian Joshin Byrnes
Petra Zenryū Hubbeling
Jonas Taikan Leddington
Peggy Kendo Murray
Eisho Sinclair
Emily Taido Strube
