Lotus Circle Community
The Lotus Circle Community is a global circle of committed practitioners within Shining Bright Lotus Meditation Society. It is open to those who are committed to study and who wish to continue walking the Bodhisattva path in everyday life, supported by a community of shared vow.
The Lotus Circle will serve as a sangha of students of the dharma that choose to investigate, in a communal manner, the skills and techniques necessary to be of service of awakening for all beings. In order to serve others, it is necessary to look beyond the traditional Buddhist and Zen teachings to contemporary scholars who have refined and deepened our understanding of meditation techniques and pastoral counseling.
Key Areas of development
Becoming a skillful meditation teacher
Embodying pastoral counseling skills
Deepening Spiritual Intelligence
Deepening personal practice and commitment to the dharma
Deepening depth of koan understanding
Lotus Circle Events
Program Structure:
Monthly study sessions will be led by Ekai Joel Kreisberg in conjunction with senior teachers at SBLMS. Utilizing small and large group program design, this program will serve as the basis for ongoing training in emotional koans and Mondo Zen Facilitation.
Studies will consist of leading textual inquiry that fosters a broad perspective of Zen training utilizing a modern understanding of spiritual growth, emotional intelligence and Buddhist principles and praxis. All texts are available as audio books. We will be working with roughly one text per month, in three month terms each year.
Meditation instruction will use The Mind Illuminated as the template for a complete perspective of meditation.
Participants will be expected to meditate for a an hour daily.
* Lotus Circle Community is required for Mondo Zen Facilitation Certification and clergy training at SBLMS.
We are a dispersed community, with members living across different geographies and life circumstances, united by a shared commitment to living a life committed to the precepts, bearing witness, and supporting one another as each person weaves practice into the fabric of daily life. We do this through ongoing opportunities for personal and collective practice, study, service, and reflection.
Fall Schedule 2026
September 20 - 10:00 am - 1:00 pm - The Mind Illuminated, Yeats and Immergut
September 25 - 9:00 am - 10:00 am - Lotus Circle Council
October 18 - 10:00 am - 1:00 pm - Untangled, Koshin Paley Ellison
November 15 - 10:00 am - 1:00 pm - Integral Spirituality, Ken Wilber
December 23 - 9 am - 10 am - Lotus Circle Council
Course Fees
We ask that members support the life and work of SBLMS through a monthly financial contribution. We suggest $108 per month, but ask only that you give according to your means and circumstances. https://donorbox.org/sblms-membershp
Suggested Reading List
Fall 2026: - September - November
The Mind Illuminated, Culadasa John Yates PhD, Matthew Immergut PhD, Jeremy Graves
Untangled – Koshin Paley Ellison
Integral Spirituality – Ken Wilber
Winter 2027 – January – March
Attuned – Thomas Hubl
Already Free – Bruce Tift
Through Forests of Every Color – Joan Sutherland
Spring/Summer 2027– May - July
The Finders – Jeffrey Martin
Everything is Workable – Diane Hamilton
Casting Indra's Net: Fostering Spiritual Kinship and Community - Pamela Ayo Yetunde