Membership

The Sydney Zen Centre is Australia’s original Zen Buddhist community. For over forty years, we have been encouraging and supporting the practice and study of Zen Buddhism, with the goals of helping practitioners awaken to their self-nature and, through wise and compassionate responses, relieving the suffering in the world.

If you are engaged with the Sydney Zen Centre, please consider becoming a member. Membership fees are essential to the functioning of the Centre, allowing us to pay stipends to our teachers, maintain our Annandale city zendo and Kodoji bush zendo, and meet our regular expenses such as rent, utilities, insurance and website.

Membership allows you to participate in the running of the Centre. Membership also provides the benefits of free attendance at all regular scheduled events (i.e. in lieu of the facility fee we request for casual attendance), engagement with our teachers via private interviews, discounts for retreats, and access to Kodoji.

Please note: Fees have been increased for 2023/2024 from last year. 

We offer membership at the following suggested minimum rates:

Standard:
Annual: $550      Bi-Annual: $275    Quarterly $137.50     Monthly: $46

Limited engagement/Concession:
Annual: $300      Bi-Annual $150     Quarterly $75      Monthly: $25

Our financial year is 1 July to 30 June. If you are joining as a new member, please pro rata these fees from the month you join. 
For example:
If you are paying for a standard membership in September, that’s two months after the financial year starts, so you would pay the annual fee ($550), minus two months (2 x $46):      $550 – $92 = $458 to be paid

Standard rates

The suggested minimum standard rates are applicable to those who are actively engaged with the Centre, and whose income (in employment, investment or retirement) is sufficient to make these amounts affordable.

We are grateful to many current and previous members who have been generous with their membership fees.  Sydney Zen Centre is a not for profit organisation with all fees going directly to running the Centre. Membership fees are essential in allowing the Centre to flourish and continue to support practitioners in awakening to their self nature. It simply wouldn’t exist without the generous engagement of members. So, if you have the means please consider increasing your membership above the standard rate.

Limited engagement / concessional rates

These suggested minimum rates apply if your engagement with the Centre, and/or your income, is limited. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to increase your membership fee to somewhere between the Limited Engagement/Concessional and Standard rates.

Whilst the Centre is reliant on membership fees, we recognise that our membership is diverse, and we don’t want financial grounds to preclude anyone from participating.

If you wish to discuss your financial circumstances, please talk in confidence to our Treasurer, Joe Gaebel: joe.gaebel@gmail.com

The Sydney Zen Centre relies on the financial support of its members and visitors.  If you are a non-member participating in our on-line meditation program, we request a facility fee of $5. If you visit our zendo at Annandale for zazen the facility fee is $10.  You can pay this directly to our bank account – details below. Please tag the payment with your name and the letters “FF”.

2023/24 Membership & Donation form

Bank transfers made to:
Sydney Zen Centre     BSB: 062 182     Account number: 1013 7103
Please include your last name and the tag “MMB” in the description line

Donations

We are also very grateful to receive donations from members and non-members to help support the functioning of the Centre. Any additional support you can provide would be very welcome.  If you would like to make a donation, please use the membership form (above).

Community

Sydney Zen Centre would also not be viable without the commitment and voluntary work of many members of the community. We always welcome member involvement in the decision-making and day-to-day administration of the Centre.

If you would like to help or have any ideas, please talk to a member of the Board: Kerry Stewart (Chair) stewartkerry4@gmail.com, Zoe Thurner (Secretary), Joe Gaebel (Treasurer), Julie Robinson, Aeveen Kirby, John McLean, or William Verity.

Privacy

Some Sydney Zen Centre material is publicly available, e.g. via our newsletter and website, and this material often includes names and photos of Sydney Zen Centre members.

If, for any reason, you do not want your name or photo to be publicly available in this way, please let us know so that we can respect your requirement for privacy.

Making a Bequest in Your Will to the Sydney Zen Centre 

For over 40 years the Sydney Zen Centre has grown through the generous efforts and dedication of its members and teachers. Some members have expressed interest in leaving a monetary gift in their Will as a meaningful and lasting way to support the Sydney Zen Centre.

We understand the decision to leave a gift in your Will is an important and very personal one. We strongly advise you to consult a solicitor in preparing your Will so that your wishes are carried out exactly as you intend. 

If you’d like to include Sydney Zen Centre Incorporated in your existing Will, you may simply like to add a Codicil (an amendment to your Will). Codicils are a simple and effective way to make updates without re-writing your entire Will.

You may consider using the following wording as a guide for making a gift to the Sydney Zen Centre. Please note this is not legal advice and should be checked with your solicitor. 

I give and bequeath:

(a) the sum of $(dollar amount); or 

(b) the residue or percentage of the residue of my estate 

 to Sydney Zen Centre Incorporated (ABN 60 955 669 906), 251 Young Street, Annandale, NSW, 2038, in aid of that organisation and for its general purposes, with the written acknowledgement of Sydney Zen Centre Incorporated to be accepted by my executors as a full and complete discharge.”

We welcome you to get in touch with one of our Board members if you would like any support, to talk about ways in which your gift would be used, or if you would just like to inform us of your plans regarding making a bequest to Sydney Zen Centre.