Guiding Principles

We dedicate ourselves to evolving the experience of aging. We view this time of life as an unprecedented opportunity for self-realization, learning, giving and growth. We support one another to live mindfully, cultivate joy and meet change with curiosity and courage.

We honor each person’s authentic path. We recognize that the experience of living and aging, with its opportunities and challenges, manifests in individual ways. We accompany each other through this process without judgement, and with love and acceptance. Our community welcomes and benefits from diverse beliefs, practices and life experiences.

We acknowledge and celebrate the interrelatedness of all beings. We help each other live our most awakened lives by focusing on the connections between us. We mindfully tend our relationships with
residents, their families, the staff and our neighbors by engaging in widening circles of listening.

We provide opportunities to express our nature through spiritual practice. We understand wellness to include care for the body, mind, heart and spirit. We offer time and space for silence, daily meditation,
teachings, spiritual companionship, solo retreats, work practice and communal meals, as well as traditional Zen rituals.

We attend consciously to aging, sickness and death. We build our capacity to meet these realities individually and as a community through training in mindfulness and contemplative care. We measure the health of our community by valuing the wellbeing of everybody, including caregivers and staff.

We make decisions with an awareness of how our actions impact the earth. Our activities flow from our deep connection with and responsibility to the natural world, in recognition that it is not separate from us. We commit to environmental stewardship built on clear, measurable objectives and outcomes.

We pay warm-hearted attention to everyday life.

We create and maintain physical spaces that reflect the simplicity, stillness and beauty of each moment. We respect the objects that live in our physical spaces and mindfully care for them.

We honor food as a gift and remember how it comes to us. We cultivate and express gratitude for the many beings of the earth, sky and sea who provide us our daily nourishment. We support the vitality of our bodies and the earth by growing food, acknowledging its sources and making conscious, informed decisions around the meals we prepare, serve and eat.

We co-create our community and share responsibility for the health of its resources. We use interdisciplinary teams and consensus-building in the decision-making process to consider the people who will be affected by our choices. We recognize that our ability to live in accordance with our principles depends on the wellbeing of all of our resources—including people, land, buildings, finances and community agreements—and we collectively care for them with transparent, human-centered practices.