Our Mission
To transmit the teachings and practice of Soto Zen Buddhism by cultivating compassion, love and wisdom.
Our Vision
We are a Soto Zen Buddhist sangha sharing the practices of zazen meditation, mindfulness, reflection and ethical living. We seek to relieve suffering by the skillful use of Buddhist teachings and the generous acceptance of all beings. We honor the ancestors and traditions of the past while we adapt to the needs of current practitioners and future generations. Our shared intention is to cultivate authenticity and integrity in our own lives and in the larger community in which we live. Our hope is to engage in wise and compassionate activity for the benefit of all beings.
Statement of Inclusivity
Dharma Rain acknowledges that suffering is a human condition made worse by bias and prejudice toward people based on race, ethnicity, income, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and other traditionally marginalized identities.
We acknowledge the individual and collective impact of privilege, bias, and prejudice in our own sangha and within American Zen. We commit to address our structural inequities as an institution.
We welcome and affirm all who come here to seek the Way and celebrate our differences while harmonizing the one and the many.
Guiding Values
Transformation and community: We acknowledge the importance of both depth and breadth in our practice lives and recognize that over one’s life different lessons and sources of nourishment are needed from the temple and sangha. We emphasize the central place of zazen and the transformative power of student-teacher relationships, and periods of intensive practice. We also emphasize the importance of connection with sangha, with maintaining the precepts, and with bringing practice into our relationships outside of the sangha.
Thorough commitment: Practice needs to be integrated throughout our lives. We operate the institution in an ethically sound, socially mature, environmentally sustainable, ecologically sensitive, and fiscally responsible manner. We strive to model the Dharma in how the organization operates and communicates.
Accessibility and inclusion: We strive to make the Dharma available via many pathways and to a diverse spectrum of people, guided by the understanding of the importance of Way-seeking mind. We have made an explicit commitment to equity and openness, and we attempt to minimize obstacles that people encounter in their search for the Dharma.
Honor lay and monastic paths: We value the interdependence of lay and monastic approaches and appreciate a container that makes the rigor of monastic forms accessible to lay practitioners. Each approach is valid and can lead to the same liberation, and each approach benefits from engagement with the other.
Some documents that may be of interest include: