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Bearing Witness: A Zen Master's Lessons in Making Peace
From the co-author (with Academy award-winning actor Jeff Bridges) of the New York Times bestseller The Dude and the Zen Master.
Bearing Witness is a book rich with practical and spiritual wisdom for making peace in our hearts and in the world. Bernie Glassman tells how and why he was moved to start the Zen Peacemaker Order and offers powerful teaching stories that illustrate ways of making peace one moment at a time, no matter how difficult things appear to be. Each chapter focuses on an event or person and demonstrates how a particular peacemaker vow is put into practice. In his practice of engaged spirituality, Glassman takes people into situations where they can experience problems first-hand, into circumstances so overwhelming—such as living on the streets of New York City or meditating on the crime of the century at Auschwitz—that they are forced to relinquish the comfort of their familiar view of the world. Out of these actions have come the three tenets of the letting go of fixed ideas, healing ourselves and others, and bearing witness to whatever is taking place within us and right before our eyes.
Bearing Witness is a book rich with practical and spiritual wisdom for making peace in our hearts and in the world. Bernie Glassman tells how and why he was moved to start the Zen Peacemaker Order and offers powerful teaching stories that illustrate ways of making peace one moment at a time, no matter how difficult things appear to be. Each chapter focuses on an event or person and demonstrates how a particular peacemaker vow is put into practice. In his practice of engaged spirituality, Glassman takes people into situations where they can experience problems first-hand, into circumstances so overwhelming—such as living on the streets of New York City or meditating on the crime of the century at Auschwitz—that they are forced to relinquish the comfort of their familiar view of the world. Out of these actions have come the three tenets of the letting go of fixed ideas, healing ourselves and others, and bearing witness to whatever is taking place within us and right before our eyes.
233 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 9, 2022
The Zen Peacemakers inspire and intimidate me. This is because what the late Bernie Glassman created decades ago takes Buddhist dharma to the level of action, putting teachings into practice with the most marginalized people and uneasy areas of the world. The Zen Peacemakers do Street Retreats, where participants must beg for spare change and food on the streets. They sit in meditation inside the walls of Auschwitz, bearing witness to the unspeakable acts that took place there. They sit with the dying. They start over every day.
This is their story, circa the late 1990's, at least. Some of the Peacemakers featured here continue their work. Joan Halifax continues to share lessons on how to be present with those who are sick or transitioning. My friend Fleet Maull, who created the country's first prison hospice program, now runs programs that reach prisoners, police officers and guards, and others all over the world. And dear Bernie, who died just a couple of years ago, left his legacy with every lesson in this book.
I had to stop reading this book shortly after engaging w/ it the first time as my mom was dying. I picked it up again shortly before my dad passed. I just finished it now after a brief but sobering experience with my own cancer. The book speaks to being with the suffering. It speaks to putting ourselves in the most uncomfortable situations for the sake of benefitting others and stretching the limits of our own spiritual growth. It keeps finding me at all the right times.
I invite you to read this, and to learn about Zen Peacemakers, who are still active, still shaking things up, and still transforming lives (BLM, Indigenous communities, prison work, the climate crisis, homelessness, and much more). Thank you, Bernie.
This is their story, circa the late 1990's, at least. Some of the Peacemakers featured here continue their work. Joan Halifax continues to share lessons on how to be present with those who are sick or transitioning. My friend Fleet Maull, who created the country's first prison hospice program, now runs programs that reach prisoners, police officers and guards, and others all over the world. And dear Bernie, who died just a couple of years ago, left his legacy with every lesson in this book.
I had to stop reading this book shortly after engaging w/ it the first time as my mom was dying. I picked it up again shortly before my dad passed. I just finished it now after a brief but sobering experience with my own cancer. The book speaks to being with the suffering. It speaks to putting ourselves in the most uncomfortable situations for the sake of benefitting others and stretching the limits of our own spiritual growth. It keeps finding me at all the right times.
I invite you to read this, and to learn about Zen Peacemakers, who are still active, still shaking things up, and still transforming lives (BLM, Indigenous communities, prison work, the climate crisis, homelessness, and much more). Thank you, Bernie.
January 24, 2024
Bernie Glassman founded the Zen Peacemaker Order, and this book describes his work and the organization’s basic tenets. Glassman is a Zen abbot, and has lived his teachings for decades in astonishing ways. For instance, he led a five-day meditation / healing at Auschwitz, in an effort to appease the “hungry ghosts” at any scene of horrific violence. He also leads five-day “retreats” on the streets of New York, where participants experience homelessness.
Zen Peacemaking involves three basic practices. The first is “unknowing,” or letting go of all prior attachments and preconceived notions about what the present moment should be. Only in a state of innocence and humility can we truly experience what is happening right now.
The second is to “bear witness”, or to listen very carefully what the people around us are going through. This might be silently, as in just sitting somewhere and noticing people going by, blessing them. Or it might be listening to words or actions. All beings crave someone to witness them, rather than judging or advising them.
The third is to “heal,” which can mean improving an environment, healing our own hearts, or helping someone else to heal. This is what happens when we do the first two steps.
This book reminds me of Peace Pilgrim, who offered us a revolutionary way to change the world by merely walking back and forth across the country with no belongings, eating and drinking only when someone offered her something, and simply teaching peace through her actions. Glassman suggests a way to live where we can transcend ego, and at the same time make a difference. I will be thinking long and hard about this book for a long time, and will re-read it several times to as to absorb its concepts better. Just reading it makes you feel more centered, because of the enlightened and kindly tone of the author. It’s a comfort to be in his presence. This book challenges us to live like Buddhists in a chaotic modern world.
Zen Peacemakers take three vows:
I vow to be oneness.
I vow to be diversity.
I vow to be harmony.
To truly practice this means to recognize the unity of all things, including ourselves, rejecting nothing. Not the misery of a sleepless night in the snow on the streets. Not the pain of witnessing death, or facing our own demise. Rather, it’s about finding joy in letting go of all that separates us from Life and one another. Truly inspirational.
Zen Peacemaking involves three basic practices. The first is “unknowing,” or letting go of all prior attachments and preconceived notions about what the present moment should be. Only in a state of innocence and humility can we truly experience what is happening right now.
The second is to “bear witness”, or to listen very carefully what the people around us are going through. This might be silently, as in just sitting somewhere and noticing people going by, blessing them. Or it might be listening to words or actions. All beings crave someone to witness them, rather than judging or advising them.
The third is to “heal,” which can mean improving an environment, healing our own hearts, or helping someone else to heal. This is what happens when we do the first two steps.
This book reminds me of Peace Pilgrim, who offered us a revolutionary way to change the world by merely walking back and forth across the country with no belongings, eating and drinking only when someone offered her something, and simply teaching peace through her actions. Glassman suggests a way to live where we can transcend ego, and at the same time make a difference. I will be thinking long and hard about this book for a long time, and will re-read it several times to as to absorb its concepts better. Just reading it makes you feel more centered, because of the enlightened and kindly tone of the author. It’s a comfort to be in his presence. This book challenges us to live like Buddhists in a chaotic modern world.
Zen Peacemakers take three vows:
I vow to be oneness.
I vow to be diversity.
I vow to be harmony.
To truly practice this means to recognize the unity of all things, including ourselves, rejecting nothing. Not the misery of a sleepless night in the snow on the streets. Not the pain of witnessing death, or facing our own demise. Rather, it’s about finding joy in letting go of all that separates us from Life and one another. Truly inspirational.
March 8, 2020
Oh, so excellent. What a degree of work the author did in his lifetime. From a Ph.D. in applied mathematics, to work at NASA, to serving as abbot for two big Zen communities, to the subject of this book -- bearing witness to the joys and suffering of humanity, starting an order of peacemakers who help the world in their various societal positions, and holding yearly, homeless, street retreats to bring awareness to the homeless, and to taste, no matter how "virtually", what it might mean to have nothing.
June 12, 2020
While Glassman is a prominent person in my corner of Buddhism, I hadn't read him before, and I've always felt a little confused or suspicious of some of the Zen Peacemakers practices like sitting sesshin at Auschwitz, or street retreats.
Glassman's order's vows of not knowing, bearing witness, and compassionate action are well illustrated here, and I have a much better appreciation for why these practices make sense, and how they fit together.
The presentation of sewing your (literal and figurative) robe is quite powerful too.
Glassman's order's vows of not knowing, bearing witness, and compassionate action are well illustrated here, and I have a much better appreciation for why these practices make sense, and how they fit together.
The presentation of sewing your (literal and figurative) robe is quite powerful too.
January 5, 2019
A touching account of the Zen Peacemakers written by founder Bernie Glassman. The book speaks as the title states to Bear Witness to the experiences and suffering of life in an effort to help bring people together through understanding and compassion. The chapters that illustrate the Zen Peacemaker Bearing Witness retreats held at Auschwitz are incredibly powerful, a bearing witness to great wrongs, and a remembering of those lost to cruelty and intolerance.
February 20, 2022
La prova que el zen no és només contemplació, també acció com a vehicle de transformació social.
Una aproximació a la figura de Bernie Glassman i l'ordre dels pacificadors.
Interessant com parla de conceptes vinculats al zen com el no saber, donar testimoni a través de l'acció i l'activitat social de la seva organització.
Només per la seva experiència en els retirs al carrer, jornades en què el seu grup i ell viuen com persones sense llar ja val la pena la seva lectura.
Una aproximació a la figura de Bernie Glassman i l'ordre dels pacificadors.
Interessant com parla de conceptes vinculats al zen com el no saber, donar testimoni a través de l'acció i l'activitat social de la seva organització.
Només per la seva experiència en els retirs al carrer, jornades en què el seu grup i ell viuen com persones sense llar ja val la pena la seva lectura.
June 24, 2022
My favorite part of this book is this little snippet.... paraphrased here: "acts of kindness are like having a deep well. You take a teaspoon and climb a mountain to fill the teaspoon with snow. Then you climb down the mountain and pour the teaspoon of snow into the well hoping to fill it." Being kind for kindness sake and the betterment of society....
May 24, 2023
Really great book about engaged practice. It makes me want to run out into the world and try to make a difference. My only complaint was that it was a bit repetitive at times, but it was otherwise really wonderful! Bernie Glassman really knows how to whack people in the face with engaged practice, I really respect that.
February 14, 2008
This book was inspiring but still a little depressing. About a man who's qwest is to create peace and tells of a remarkable trip to Germany and the concetration camps. Very inspiring, but it's sad to think about the camps. In the end you do want to do something to make the world a better place.
December 17, 2013
A story of peacemaking inside out; through the stories of Auschwitz, the streets, and the neighborhood.
August 20, 2023
Quick read about eternal truths
In some ways this book told me nothing new. In other ways it opened up the infinite past and all the potential of the infinite future. It did so by helping me consider the infinite present - all the possibilities within us and before us when we listen deeply, stop blaming ( "Not enough ... Time. Resources. Talent. Etc.) and don't confuse our doing with our being. Glassman is a story-teller; and his stories won't let you accept the status quo.
In some ways this book told me nothing new. In other ways it opened up the infinite past and all the potential of the infinite future. It did so by helping me consider the infinite present - all the possibilities within us and before us when we listen deeply, stop blaming ( "Not enough ... Time. Resources. Talent. Etc.) and don't confuse our doing with our being. Glassman is a story-teller; and his stories won't let you accept the status quo.
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June 3, 2025"La paz sólo se puede construir desde los hogares, los colegios, la calle. Es necesario transformar la manera como nos relacionamos con las personas, con los demás seres, con los recursos naturales. Responsabilizarnos de las consecuencias de lo que hacemos y dejar de buscar el lucro en todo lo que hacemos, justificándonos en que el fin es lo que cuenta". -Maestro Densho Quintero, Sensei.
#CienciasSociales #Gāthā #MentalidadJusta #InteracciónSocial #Meditación #Intergrupal
#CienciasSociales #Gāthā #MentalidadJusta #InteracciónSocial #Meditación #Intergrupal
June 30, 2019
Probably one of the best and transformative books I have read in a long time. Bernie doesn't pretend to have the answers, but as he says he starts you asking questions to search for the answer that fits for that moment. It's an active guide to apply zen teachings to your everyday life and "embrace the unknowing".
August 12, 2021
So incredibly hard to read; a zen teacher takes people to Aushwitz, among other concentration camps, to bear witness to what had happened there - he details their meditations and intense activities. On these retreats on becoming peacemakers, transformation and deep learning happens.
December 21, 2018
Mudou minha vida. Me fez entrar pra Ordem. Me fez entrar pro Templo. Me fez fazer romaria à Auschwitz. Nada foi igual pra mim depois de ler o Bernie.
December 31, 2020
Lots of things to think about and take away from this read. Good peacemaker lessons from Auschwitz to prisons. I will go deeper.
February 8, 2025
Glassman's analysis of relating to others, and life, is the key. The title says it all: Bearing witness to who and what is in front of you. We bear witness to our own preferences, aversions or clinging, in various situations, and bear witness to the emotions, the smells, the chaos, etc. In this, by being observant first and foremost, we bring our "best" to the proverbial table. In his approach, as a Zen master, I draw similarity Tibetan acharya Pema Chodron ... the two seem to essentially say the same thing in slightly different words. And where Chodron's work tends to go more to the personal, recognizing and "sitting" through pain and chaos, small or big, within our psyche, Glassman brings it more to our relating to others, as well.
For me the most significant, lasting focus was that of homelessness. His words and approach have had the effect of tearing down the mental walls I have built over a lifetime in being to the seemingly growing number of homeless and disaffected around our community. I can never just walk by a homeless person without either relating to them specifically, or at a minimum recognizing their humanity as preeminent.
For Glassman, to place to begin to effect change is to bear witness to suffering. We don't bear witness with the goal of making change, rather the bearing witness IS the change. We don't walk into a room of strangers with our agenda and start moving things about ... first we listen and observe inwardly and outwardly, to gain awareness of all relevancies including, again, our own hesitancies and impulses.
Glassman's exploration takes him to Auschwitz and the streets of NYC. Some of us - probably most if not ALL of us - don't have to take one step out our own door to practice bearing witness to the suffering of others. Whereas he is not unlike the Buddhist anthropologist, sampling this unique approach in the harshest of scenarios, so many of us can benefit from seeing how to bring this life changing approach to the terror that may define certain aspects of our own lives and families.
The book, unfortunately, alludes to a pseudo-biographical account that was, evidently, later discredited as fraudulent, related to a supposed holocaust survivor....Glassman wouldn't have known that at the time this book was written. Its inclusion, nonetheless, upset me quite a bit, but for the fact that I could imagine real scenarios just as tragic.
For me the most significant, lasting focus was that of homelessness. His words and approach have had the effect of tearing down the mental walls I have built over a lifetime in being to the seemingly growing number of homeless and disaffected around our community. I can never just walk by a homeless person without either relating to them specifically, or at a minimum recognizing their humanity as preeminent.
For Glassman, to place to begin to effect change is to bear witness to suffering. We don't bear witness with the goal of making change, rather the bearing witness IS the change. We don't walk into a room of strangers with our agenda and start moving things about ... first we listen and observe inwardly and outwardly, to gain awareness of all relevancies including, again, our own hesitancies and impulses.
Glassman's exploration takes him to Auschwitz and the streets of NYC. Some of us - probably most if not ALL of us - don't have to take one step out our own door to practice bearing witness to the suffering of others. Whereas he is not unlike the Buddhist anthropologist, sampling this unique approach in the harshest of scenarios, so many of us can benefit from seeing how to bring this life changing approach to the terror that may define certain aspects of our own lives and families.
The book, unfortunately, alludes to a pseudo-biographical account that was, evidently, later discredited as fraudulent, related to a supposed holocaust survivor....Glassman wouldn't have known that at the time this book was written. Its inclusion, nonetheless, upset me quite a bit, but for the fact that I could imagine real scenarios just as tragic.
July 13, 2009
Got this from a friend. Still grateful he sent it.
February 12, 2012
This is getting far enough back that I have trouble remembering it. . .
August 2, 2014
Life changing.
Read
August 26, 2016Very moving book about Glassman's experiences with socially engaged Buddhism.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews