Meet Joan Amaral of Zen Center North Shore in Beverly

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan Amaral.

The Zen Center was established in 2012 when Myozen Joan, after training for 15 years at San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Monastery, moved back to New England to help her dad complete the last three years of his life. Working with a handful of townspeople in Marblehead, she launched the first incarnation of the Zen Center in a haunted house in Old Town between Gen Glover’s mansion and a safe house which protected fleeing slaves during the Civil War. Zen Center’s founding goal was and continues to be to make the teachings and practice of meditation freely accessible to a diverse population across the North Shore of Boston and regionally throughout New England. After two years in residence at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Marblehead, they secured a dedicated space for practice in Beverly where they continue to offer ongoing opportunities for the study and practice of Soto Zen Buddhism. The foundation of the Zen Center is built on the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha’s teachings. Their primary practice is zazen – just sitting. They sit zazen to express their true nature, bright and awake. They offer a sanctuary to those who wish to find connection, purpose, and equanimity in the midst of their busy, complex human lives.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Hahaha! It’s been scenic. Twisting, precarious, with magnificent views (which means terrifying drop-offs).

Struggles: how to uphold a specific teaching, crystal clear, without falling into dogma. Despite what you read about these days, “mindfulness” and meditation will not necessarily make you more productive or even calmer. It’s really bad for business to tell people that. But in truth – and most people are actually not up for the truth, it’s too much work – it is self-empowering to say that this is a practice. You must walk the walk, find your own way, and express enlightenment according to YOU. Enlightenment does not come from outside, and it does not necessarily support a capitalistic economy that is rooted in achieving goals.

Please tell us about Zen Center North Shore.
ZCNS is devoted to the study and practice of Japanese Soto Zen Buddhism – under the leadership of Myozen Joan Amaral, an ordained Zen priest and dharma heir in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi of San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California. It is rare to find this kind of training on the North Shore. People usually go to a big city – San Francisco, New York, Boston to some extent. ZCNS offers the teachings and practices of meditation to a wide range of people through classes, retreats, and workshops, as well as daily opportunities for sitting and walking in meditation together. We have been able to maintain a daily practice schedule nonstop for over six years now, all donation-based.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Taken the money from that guy who wanted to take me on as a project. And trusted that I could maintain my sovereignty. I say that, but I really do value my struggles. That’s where the learning happens. It’s not learning a particular thing necessarily – I’m still as stupid as ever – it’s more about self-faith. I trust the process, and I treasure the craziness. It makes for a good story, and that inspires people and keeps a certain spirit up in the world.

Contact Info:

• Address: 123 Park St
  Beverly, MA 01915
• Website: www.zencenternorthshore.org
• Phone: 7817185455
• Email: info@zencenternorthshore.org
• Instagram: zencenternorthshore
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarbleheadZenCenter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZCNorthShore

   
Image Credit:
Tracy Myers
Pamela Zombeck

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