Holding Power Wisely: Ethics, Boundaries, and Care in Buddhist Teaching Relationships

This two-day residential applied ethics workshop is designed for Dharma teachers, teachers-in-training, and others who hold spiritual teaching roles within Buddhist communities. Teachers may also recommend students whose path may include future teaching responsibilities.

Even when rooted in sincere intention and long practice, teaching relationships carry an inherent power imbalance. The teacher–student dynamic can create conditions where vulnerability, projection, emotional dependency, desire, grief, or confusion may emerge—sometimes quietly, sometimes in obvious ways—especially during periods of personal difficulty or transition.

Without a shared language, practical training, and trusted peer support, these moments can grow into boundary violations that cause real harm to individuals, sanghas, and the wider Buddhist community.

What This Workshop Offers

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Understand how power imbalance functions in everyday teaching settings
• Recognize early signs of boundary erosion, transference, and ethical risk
• Explore how care, vulnerability, and authority can become intertwined
• Hear teachers speak openly about challenges they know from direct experience
• Build skill in naming concerns early, before risk remains hidden
• Learn when and how to seek confidential support, both inside and outside one’s community
• Examine the impact of teacher misconduct on students and sanghas
• Develop a network of supportive ongoing guides among fellow attendees
• Explore prevention, accountability, and repair grounded in Buddhist ethics and contemporary understandings of harm

What This Is — and What It Is Not

This workshop is preventative, educational, and supportive. It centers care for teachers as human beings, while also protecting students. The intention is to foster clarity, responsibility, and wise use of power.

It is not a substitute for formal reporting or accountability structures, and it is not a space for public disclosure or exposure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this for?

This workshop is intended for Dharma teachers, teachers-in-training, monastics, senior practitioners with teaching responsibilities, and others who hold positions of spiritual authority involving close contact with sangha members.

Is this for people who have caused harm?

This training is designed as a preventative and supportive space. It is for people who care deeply about ethical integrity and want tools, language, and support to navigate complexity before harm occurs.

Is the space confidential?

Yes. Clear guidelines will be established to support trust and safety.

What is the overall intention of this training?

To care for teachers as human beings, protect students from harm, and strengthen sanghas through honesty and ethical clarity.

Designed as a preventative and supportive space, this training helps teachers protect students, themselves, and their communities—so that practice truly relieves suffering rather than unintentionally causing it.

This retreat ends on Saturday evening. Guests are welcome to stay Saturday night and join the monastery Sunday program.

The Cost to attend this retreat:

Standard Cost: $280

Scholarships are available.

Leaders:

Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi

Lama Lekshe

Laura Jomon Martin

Patrick Bansho Green