Monastic Academy - Discussion
Hi Tom,
Thanks for taking a look and sharing your response. I can see why you might feel skeptical, and it's really useful feedback! You're not paranoid- we are an intentional community based around meditation and spiritual teachings, so that does always risk looking like a cult. But we are a real organization, with a qualified teacher, a team of respected advisors (including Shinzen Young, creator of Basic Mindfulness, and Chade-Meng Tan, of "Search Inside Yourself" fame), and an established track record of doing deep practice and real service to the world.
Soryu Forall, our teacher, has done extensive in several traditions, including Rinzai Zen (under Shodo Harada Roshi) and Ambedkar Buddhism. He started CML in 2008, and our residential program in 2013, which is currently based in Vermont. Take a look at our old website, which will continue to exist as the kind of parent website to the Monastic Academy website - the address is centerformindfullearning.org. CML has had several successful programs - a weekly meditation event and regular one-day retreats serving our Vermont community (you can watch some of these online here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXKkfupAajVC-7cD08hkjw); a software program teaching mindfulness to children in schools (Modern Mindfulness, modmind.org); Mindful City, a partnership with the city of Winooski, VT, to bring mindfulness to the government, schools, and businesses in that city; and, most recently, Work/Flow, our co-working program which welcomes guests to our Center for a month, during which time they can do a retreat with us and work on their own career or projects (http://www.centerformindfullearning.org/cowork).
We'll be launching a second location in California next year, and need to recruit new residents for that. The Monastic Academy website is our attempt to inform and recruit these residents. We hope it will spark interest in people who want to do deep mindfulness practice and also be of benefit to the world, through modalities like entrepreneurship and social activism. That's why the "Apply" choice is so prominently displayed.
Just to answer your particular questions, the program has a $6,000 one-time fee, although we offer substantial financial aid to applicants, so that it is unlikely that anyone would pay the full cost. That is, again, a one-time fee, so you can stay as long as you like, not pay any more, and receive a modest monthly stipend.
We use Shinzen Young's Basic Mindfulness system as a common framework and language of practice, although everyone can and does do dramatically different practices. For myself, my practice has been heavily influenced by Upasaka Culadasa's system; another practitioner here uses a lot of Reggie Ray's materials. Soryu will work with each of us with different techniques and emphases.
Expected service is everything from the standard monastic fare - sweeping, mopping, cooking, weeding - to more involved, project-based learning. Several people here are responsible for running ModMind, our schools program. Others are managing our recruitment efforts, that I mentioned above; some people help manage the finances of the organization. I've worn a lot of hats here, including being an assistant to Soryu as well as doing work on the business development process that lead to our co-working program, but I currently do a lot of logistical work: planning our retreats, managing guests, etc. We all jump in to help as we are able and as it makes sense.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Thanks for taking a look and sharing your response. I can see why you might feel skeptical, and it's really useful feedback! You're not paranoid- we are an intentional community based around meditation and spiritual teachings, so that does always risk looking like a cult. But we are a real organization, with a qualified teacher, a team of respected advisors (including Shinzen Young, creator of Basic Mindfulness, and Chade-Meng Tan, of "Search Inside Yourself" fame), and an established track record of doing deep practice and real service to the world.
Soryu Forall, our teacher, has done extensive in several traditions, including Rinzai Zen (under Shodo Harada Roshi) and Ambedkar Buddhism. He started CML in 2008, and our residential program in 2013, which is currently based in Vermont. Take a look at our old website, which will continue to exist as the kind of parent website to the Monastic Academy website - the address is centerformindfullearning.org. CML has had several successful programs - a weekly meditation event and regular one-day retreats serving our Vermont community (you can watch some of these online here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXKkfupAajVC-7cD08hkjw); a software program teaching mindfulness to children in schools (Modern Mindfulness, modmind.org); Mindful City, a partnership with the city of Winooski, VT, to bring mindfulness to the government, schools, and businesses in that city; and, most recently, Work/Flow, our co-working program which welcomes guests to our Center for a month, during which time they can do a retreat with us and work on their own career or projects (http://www.centerformindfullearning.org/cowork).
We'll be launching a second location in California next year, and need to recruit new residents for that. The Monastic Academy website is our attempt to inform and recruit these residents. We hope it will spark interest in people who want to do deep mindfulness practice and also be of benefit to the world, through modalities like entrepreneurship and social activism. That's why the "Apply" choice is so prominently displayed.
Just to answer your particular questions, the program has a $6,000 one-time fee, although we offer substantial financial aid to applicants, so that it is unlikely that anyone would pay the full cost. That is, again, a one-time fee, so you can stay as long as you like, not pay any more, and receive a modest monthly stipend.
We use Shinzen Young's Basic Mindfulness system as a common framework and language of practice, although everyone can and does do dramatically different practices. For myself, my practice has been heavily influenced by Upasaka Culadasa's system; another practitioner here uses a lot of Reggie Ray's materials. Soryu will work with each of us with different techniques and emphases.
Expected service is everything from the standard monastic fare - sweeping, mopping, cooking, weeding - to more involved, project-based learning. Several people here are responsible for running ModMind, our schools program. Others are managing our recruitment efforts, that I mentioned above; some people help manage the finances of the organization. I've worn a lot of hats here, including being an assistant to Soryu as well as doing work on the business development process that lead to our co-working program, but I currently do a lot of logistical work: planning our retreats, managing guests, etc. We all jump in to help as we are able and as it makes sense.
Let me know if you have any other questions!