The Origins of the Project

Originally, I had conceived this project long ago as a single book, the story of Appamada, a contemporary Zen community. It began to actually take shape in the fall of 2022. That fall was the start of the first of two Tracking Wonder Inner Circle groups led by Jeffrey Davis, which truly launched this project, energized the writing, and provided support and inspiration for its two first years, in which the first 10 chapters were drafted and laid out. As part of that effort, to provide other perspectives, memories, and reflections I created a studio, where participants could read and comment on the writing as it was unfolding, and contribute their own reflections and images for possible inclusion in the whole. It’s slow work, but very rewarding!

These are my goals for this project:

  1. Provide a record of the evolution and development of Appamada, a unique contemporary Zen community, from its origins as a tiny sitting group, to an established sangha with affiliated sanghas in Madison Wisconsin, Minneapolis Minnesota, Arkansas, and the UK.

  2. Provide an “operating manual” that supports and guides and heartens these sanghas in their ongoing evolution, making wise decisions, acting for the benefit of all beings, and fostering sangha relationships based on the principles and processes we’ve established.

  3. Provide an introduction to Appamada for newcomers.

  4. Offer resources, ideas, inspiration, and scaffolding for other small spiritual communities so that they can evolve and grow as healthy ecosystems for spiritual development, both individually and collectively, as a community.

I am immensely grateful for the support and encouragement of my teaching partner, Flint Sparks, Jeffrey Davis, and studio participants and contributors, listed here.
Click here if you would like to offer support for this project.

About the Project Director and Lead Author, Peg Syverson

Peg has been studying and practicing Zen since 1966. From 1990 until 2011, she was a student of Joko Beck, who originally authorized her to teach. From 2001 to 2006, she also trained with Flint Sparks at Austin Zen Center in the formal Japanese tradition of Suzuki Roshi, and was ordained as a Soto Zen priest there in 2004. She had formal priest training in residence at Austin Zen Center and at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Clatskanie, Oregon, under the guidance of the Abbots, Jan Chozen Bays and Hogen Bays.

In March, 1995, Peg had launched a Zen sitting group based on Joko's model, initially called Live Oak Zen Meditation group and later named Ordinary Mind Zen-Austin. The group met once a week on Sunday mornings at Live Oak Unitarian Church, and then after "camping out" in several other locations, finally moved to its present location at 913 East 38th St. in September 2005, when it was formally incorporated as a 501 (c)3 non-profit.

At that time we were able to expand the offerings to include daily morning meditation, Wednesday evening meditation, classes, one-day sittings, inquiry group, and retreats. In 2006, with Joko's authorization, Peg began formally teaching and offering individual practice discussion. She was delighted when Flint Sparks joined the her as a senior teacher a year later. In May, 2009, Ordinary Mind Zen-Austin officially changed its name to Appamada. You can read more about Appamada at the website, appamada.org.

In 2014, Peg received Dharma Transmission in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, with Kosho McCall. In 2022 Flint Sparks received Dharma Transmission from Peg.

She also trained and has been certified in Right Use of Power, Appreciative Inquiry, Spiral Dynamics, Internal Family Systems, and Hakomi, a psychotherapeutic model described as assisted self-study in mindfulness.

Peg is also an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin, in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing. She taught courses such as Zen Rhetoric, Non-violent Rhetoric, Information Architecture, and Knowledge Ecologies, for undergraduates and graduate students. She was also the UT Director of the Computer Writing and Research Lab and the Undergraduate Writing Center, which provides one-on-one consultations for 11,000 student writers each year.