This training is designed to create leaders who are capable of transforming the untransformable.
Through facing aspects of mind that appear intractable and moving beyond them, you gain the power to stand up against immovable systems of injustice and do whatever it takes to bend them towards justice.
The training calls forth your highest potential for transformative leadership in the world.
The core teaching of the Monastic Academy is the integration of Awakening and Responsibility.
“We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
- ArchilochosAwakening
The training of awakening is the integration of both of love and wisdom through the experience of insight.
With love, we see our relationship to all beings; with wisdom, we go beyond all perspectives and points of view.
We train in awakening through formal meditation practice, silent retreats, one-on-one interviews, solitary cabin retreats, silent meals, chanting, and other spiritual practices.
The goal of this training is classical enlightenment.
Responsibility
The training of responsibility is the integration of love and power through the act of service.
With power, we hold to and use our own perspective; with love, we see from others’ perspectives.
We train in responsibility through taking on roles within the Monastic Academy, regular formal leadership training, non-profit work, role rotation, peer-coaching, grounds work, cultivating our vow, and the practice of service.
The goal of this training is the capacity for true leadership, powerful action, and living in accordance with one’s deepest sense of purpose.
Ecology of Practices
Buddhism
We draw strongly from the Buddhist tradition, using chanting, meditation, sutra study, and the eightfold path to guide our practice.
Circling
Interpersonal meditation brings light to relational dynamics, helps us learn to speak honestly, and strengthens relationships.
Bio-Emotive
A shared emotional processing framework helps us support each other in identifying and resolving emotional blockages.
Community & Ethics
Living in community with a commitment to ethical precepts acts as a mirror for seeing ourselves more clearly. We see the ways we hide from the world and we learn to show up more fully.
Embodiment
In stillness we bring awareness into the space of our bodies, and in movement we express what we discover within. Embodying and integrating this wisdom, we learn to take clear action in the world.
Ways of Seeing
The way we experience the world depends upon the views we hold. We learn to drop views which cause harm, and take on views that help us live vibrantly and fulfill our deepest purpose.
A Day In The Life
We begin with chanting and meditation at 4:40am each morning, followed by an hour of exercise and silent breakfast. From there, we move into either non-profit work or intensive practice until lunch.
We do chores together after lunch, and then have a few hours of free time to practice on our own, spend time together, and stay abreast of the world.
In the evening we have another period of either non-profit work or intensive practice, and we come back together for meditation at 7pm each evening, followed by chanting, which ends around 9pm.
Schedule
In any given week, the Monastic Academy is observing either a work period (a “Responsibility Week”) or a retreat (an “Awakening Week”). During Responsibility Weeks we focus primarily on running the non-profit. During Awakening Weeks we focus primarily on deepening our individual and collective practice.
The schedule below is a general outline of each day. This changes periodically as we find more effective and compassionate ways of living, learning, and growing together, and as we adjust structures to better reach our goals. Certain activities on the schedule, however, such as meals or meditation periods, are highly consistent.
