Zen Open Circle is a member of the NSW Buddhist Council, is internationally affiliated with both the Diamond Sangha (through our teacher’s membership of the Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle) and the US-based Pacific Zen Institute, as well as with its Australian sister sanghas Sydney Zen Centre, Melbourne Zen Group, Adelaide Zen Group, Zen Group of Western Australia, and Darwin Zen Group.
We see ourselves as forming a warm and supportive community of practice dedicated to exploring the Dharma and actualizing its insights in our own lives, open to all sincere enquirers, and responsive to local neighbourhood needs in the greater community of Sydney.
In this regard, we are intent upon forming committed, supportive relationship with people living in the community with mental health issues – probably taking the form of a Day of Dana, in which we offer ourselves from time to time to a local group for a dedicated day to provide meditation instruction, writing and brushwork, support for life skills, and a celebratory feast that we will cook and serve to participants.
ZOC also routinely donates a significant portion of the funds we raise for our programs to appropriate causes and charities.
