Teachings, Training, Teacher

Teachings

The Monastic Academy has it’s roots in the Buddhist tradition but is a non-sectarian contemplative training center.

The training is unique in its integration of traditional monastic practice and modern project-based learning and leadership training.

The core teaching of the Monastic Academy is the integration between Awakening and Responsibility.

Awakening

The integration of both of love and wisdom through the experience of insight. With love, we see all beings; with wisdom, we release our attachment to all perspectives, going beyond our limited views.

We practice awakening through formal meditation practice, silent retreats, and other spiritual practices. The goal of this training is classical enlightenment.

Responsibility

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 others’ perspectives.

We train in responsibility through taking on roles within the Monastic Academy, regular formal leadership training, spending time cultivating our vow (personal project), 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 vow.

Integration

These teachings combine the depth of insight with the power of action. Unlike typical monasteries, the emphasis is on utilizing your insight to take transformative action in the world. Unlike typical non-profits, the emphasis is on realizing the critical role of our own minds in constructing a world of injustice and putting an end to that process through intensive meditation training.

The integration of these trainings create individuals who can transform the world through wise, loving and powerful action.

Training

“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” – Archilochos

This training is 24/7. It has been described by residents and visitors as stern, strict and uncompromising. You will experience discomfort, confusion, and despair. Again and again you will be pushed to the edge of what you believe you are capable of — and beyond.

Why?

The training is designed to create leaders who are capable of transforming the untransformable. Through facing the aspects of mind that appear intractable, and moving beyond them, you gain the power to stand up against systems of injustice that seem to be unmovable and do whatever it takes to transform them. This training is designed to call forth your highest potential for transformative leadership in the world.

Teacher

The head teacher at the Monastic Academy is Soryu Forall.

Soryu Forall has a decade of intensive monastic training, a degree in Economics from Williams College, and extensive experience in social and environmental justice. As a child, Forall saw deep suffering in the world and he knew that he must do something. Forall wanted to face the problem directly, but did not know how. As a teen, upon learning that monasteries are built for such a purpose, he traveled to Japan in order to study suffering and the end of suffering. Forall was ordained in 1998 at Sogen Temple under the tutelage of the Zen Master Shodo Harada.

At the Monastic Academy Soryu dedicates his life to creating the next generation of awakened leaders.