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Support the Lay Zen Teachers Association

Help sustain the teachers who bring the Dharma into everyday life.

For Zen practice to flourish in the modern world, it needs teachers who meet students exactly where they live — in homes, workplaces, and daily life, not only in monasteries. The Lay Zen Teachers Association exists to support exactly these teachers: women and men formally entrusted to teach in their Zen lineages, who have chosen to offer that teaching as lay people.

We're a small, dedicated sangha of peers who gather to support one another's teaching, develop forms that carry the Dharma faithfully into lay life, and foster dialogue across lineages as we navigate what it means to teach Zen in the contemporary West.

We're now recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization — which means your gift is tax-deductible, and it also means we can grow our capacity to support this work for years to come.

Your donation helps us:

• Sustain peer support among lay Zen teachers, so no one has to navigate the challenges of teaching alone.

• Develop and preserve forms that express and transmit the Dharma faithfully in lay practice, honoring tradition while meeting the needs of lay life.

• Convene our annual retreat and gatherings, where teachers across lineages come together in practice and dialogue.

• Support educational activities addressing the real questions that arise in teaching and practicing Zen outside monastic walls.

• Welcome the next generation of lay teachers into a community that can hold and mentor them.

A gift of any size makes a difference.

Whether you're a member, a friend of LZTA, or simply someone who values what lay Zen teachers offer the world, your contribution — of any amount — directly sustains this work.

Thank you for supporting the teachers who bring Zen practice into ordinary life — where most of us actually live it.

The Lay Zen Teachers Association is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.