Program

Roshi Bernie Glassman

Bernie Glassman was born in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York. His parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe and he grew up in a Jewish family with a strong socialist orientation. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Bernie went to work for McDonnell-Douglas in California in 1960 as an aeronautical engineer, concentrating on space flight. He also obtained a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from UCLA at that time.

In 1967, Bernie began his Zen studies with Taizan Maezumi Roshi, Founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles, as well as with some other well-known Japanese Zen masters. He became Sensei Glassman - Maezumi Roshi's first Dharma Successor - in 1976.

After receiving Dharma transmission, Bernie moved back to the Bronx in 1980 to establish the Zen Community of New York in Riverdale. Being concerned with issues of social action and the integration of Zen practice with everyday life, Glassman founded the Greyston Mandala, a network of community development organizations providing a variety of services in southwest Yonkers.

Today, what is known as the Greyston Mandala, consists of several successful social-economic ventures:

* The Greyston Bakery, a $4 million business venture which hires and trains local Yonkers residents to make baked-from-scratch cakes and tarts as well as the brownies contained in Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream products. Currently, the bakery employs 70 people.
* The Greyston Family Inn renovates and manages apartment buildings for formerly homeless and low-income working families. It has successfully developed 176 units of permanent housing for families and single adults. In addition, the program provides childcare and a wide range of supportive services.
* Greyston Health Services operates Issan House, a 35 unit housing facility for individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and the Maitri Center, a day health program providing medical services and alternative treatment to people with AIDS, with an on-site child care center. The combined facilities, in a former Catholic nunnery, provide a full spectrum of health, rehabilitative, counseling and complementary services.
* The Greyston Garden Project has brought together neighborhood residents, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens, to create five beautiful and bountiful gardens on formerly blighted plots of land.

All elements of the Greyston Mandala draw on their Buddhist roots and take a holistic approach, paying attention to both the whole person and the whole community. Fostering both self-sufficiency and a sense of the interdependency of all life, Greyston helps people envision their own path to long-term change and productivity.

In 1995 Bernie Glassman received inka, or the final seal of approval, from his teacher and became known as Roshi Bernie. He also served as Spiritual Head of the White Plum Lineage, founded by Maezumi Roshi, and as the first President of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association of America. He has 18 successors (8 whom he empowered as Zen Masters, Roshi, and 10 whom he empowered as Zen Teachers, Sensei) and a large Dharma Family.

In January of 1994, while leading a Bearing Witness street retreat in Washington DC, Roshi Glassman conceived of the creation of an Order of Zen practitioners dedicated to the cause of peace. Subsequently, the concept was broadened to become a global, multi-faith network. The Peacemaker Community, focusing on the integration of spiritual practice and social action, was co-founded by Bernie Glassman and his late wife, Jishu Holmes.

In 1999 Bernie founded the Order of DisOrder, a spiritually based order of clowns. Bernie Glassman teaches and travels, giving talks and workshops on spiritual practice and peacemaking, and leading the street retreats for which he is well known. He serves as visionary for the Peacemaker Community, shepherding its continuing growth and development as a global, multi-faith network of peacemakers.

He is the co-author of On Zen Practice I & II, The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment, and Instructions to the Cook (Bell Tower, New York, 1996) which describes his vision and work with the Greyston Mandala. Bearing Witness (Bell Tower, New York, 1998), deals with peacemaking and engaged spirituality. His most recent book is Infinite Circle.

BOARD PARTICIPATION AND SERVICE

* The Temple of Understanding
* White Plum Sangha
* Soto Zen Buddhist Association
* Aids Interfaith National Network
* Social Venture Network
* Westchester Interfaith Housing Corp.

HONORS AND AWARDS

* 1991 Best of America Award for Social Action (US News & World Report)
* Ethics in Action Award, Ethical Culture Society of Westchester
* E-chievement Award, E-Town, Tom's of Maine
* Man of the Year, Westchester Coalition of Food Pantries