2019 Planning Committee Members

Vimalasara Mason-John (Triratna)
Jogen Salzberg (Zen)
Grace Song (Won)
Karma Yeshe (Vajrayana)
Kim Allen (Theravada)

Inquiries: please email us at 2019PC@genxdharma.com.

The 2019 conference

This year’s conference will be held from June 12-16 at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, OR. Registration is open, and is by invitation and application; please see the Inclusion Considerations below for more detail.

Our theme this year, Ethical Transformation, is captured by the phrase “where the rubber meets the road.” Our aim is to look deeply into the role of ethics in Buddhist teaching and practice across traditions in fresh and open ways. In addition to ample opportunity to connect with one another once again, interactive presentations on the Ethical Transformation and Ethics and Enlightenment will anchor our time together. In addition to topics selected by the sangha, we will have the opportunity to discuss the impact of ethics in specialized contexts during breakout groups. We hope everyone will come away with both broader and deeper perspectives.

Other details:

The original April 30 registration deadline is extended to May 14, 2019.

All participants should plan to arrive by 5:30pm on June 12. Activities officially end Saturday night, June 15th. Breakfast will be served on Sunday, June 16th, which is otherwise a travel day. The nearest major airport is Portland International Airport (PDX). Shuttles will depart PDX at 1pm and 3:30pm June 12 for Great Vow. On June 16, shuttles depart Great Vow for PDX at 7am and 10am.

Great Vow Zen Monastery has dormitory style lodging which will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis after registration closes. Camping is also available for those who wish to do so. Meals are healthy and vegetarian, and various dietary restrictions can be accommodated.

The fee is on a sliding scale from $200-$350 per person, and includes lodging, food, and round trip shuttles between Portland International Airport and Great Vow Zen Monastery at the beginning and end of the conference. Additional financial assistance is available.

How we identify and organize ourselves

The GenX Buddhist Teachers Sangha Conferences strive to meet the ever-changing landscape of Buddhism with integrity and to support ourselves as a community of emerging teachers. There has been nearly unanimous agreement from past conference participants to keep the gatherings as intimate as possible and focused on committed and active Buddhist Dharma teachers.

Even with these agreements, we recognize that there are many “grey areas” in the field of who to invite, such as how long someone has been practicing/teaching, the depth/level of practice, and whether or not to include teachers in the secular mindfulness movement. It is our intention to meet the questions at hand with as much care, transparency, generosity, and humility as we can.

Inclusion considerations

• Buddhist teachers born between 1960 and 1982.
• Active Buddhist teachers from a lineage that takes refuge in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha).
• People whose main or primary activity is teaching the Dharma (with students and through leadership of a sangha, temple, retreats, or other Buddhist center).
• People who have actively been teaching the Dharma for at least five years as an authorized teacher. People of non-dominant racial, ethnic, gender, sexual identity, abilities, or economic status need only have two or more years of actively teaching the Dharma as an authorized teacher, and are highly encouraged to apply.
• Teachers who are accountable to someone other than themselves.

As a community, we honor the diversity of forms of practice and how the Dharma can be brought in a myriad of forms to the world. However, our purpose for this gathering is to create a supportive community for Gen X Buddhist Teachers in which we can learn from each other across lineages.

Therefore, in order to maintain some sense of shared experience, the gathering does not especially encourage MBSR/secular mindfulness teachers, therapists who use mindfulness in their practices but are not Buddhist teachers, people who are new teachers but outside the age range of Gen X, board members/executive directors of Buddhist centers (mainly doing administrative work), and so on.

Our intent is to create a supportive community for GenX Buddhist Teachers with as much diversity as possible in terms of tradition, gender, race, sexual orientation, and other factors. This conference is actively seeking teachers of non-dominant racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual identity, and monastics to attend.

Participation in the GenX Buddhist Teachers gathering is by application. Previous conference attendees who continue to be active teachers are invited to attend again. We also invite new applicants who meet the above mentioned criteria to submit an application (send us email if interested).

Thank you for your interest in attending the 2019 conference.