About Clear Mind Zen West
History and Affiliations
Clear Mind Zen West Lineage
Clear Mind West is a Zen School in the lineage of Dogen Zenji, Matusoka Roshi, Shozen McGuire Roshi, Daiho Hilbert Roshi and Shoji Sorensen Roshi. The emphasis is on engaged Zen practice to manifest the Bodhisattva Vow.
With the retirement of founding abbot Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi, the Clear Mind Zen School is transitioning to a regional affiliate model. Clear Mind Zen West is comprised of the students and Dharma heirs of John Shoji Sorensen Roshi. Shoji Roshi is based out of the foothill region of the Sierra Nevada Mountains outside of the Sacramento Metropolitan area.
Affiliations
Order of the Clear Mind
Clear Mind Zen West is an affiliate of the Order of Clear Mind which was started by Harvey Daiho Hilbert Roshi. The Order of Clear Mind is an affiliate of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
The Order of Clear Mind Zen school was started with a vision of engaged Buddhism with an emphasis on street practice, bearing witness for peace, and community service with vulnerable populations.
Both Sides / No Sides Zen Community
A sister Sangha to Clear Mind Zen West.
The Both Sides / No Sides El Paso Zen Buddhist Center is a community of people who come together to practice the dharma in the Soto Zen Buddhist tradition. They offer instruction and practice of zazen (sitting meditation), one-on-one instruction with a teacher, dharma talks, weekly services, retreats, workshops, study groups, and engaged outreach. They are a group of householders, women and men who work and go to school, taking our practice off the cushions and being fully engaged in our various communities.
Their zendo is situated in a unique binational / bilingual community, thus their name, Both Sides / No Sides Sangha. All of them live and work on the U.S./Mexico border, but their practice is to experience all there is as one – one land composed of two countries, one place of desert and mountains with a river running through, one people of multiple ethnicities and languages, one planet in one solar system among others, one in the great vastness of everything, boundless.
