Our teachers

 

	Allan Marett Roshi Allan Marett began his formal Zen training under Yamada Koun Roshi in 1976 before becoming a student of Robert Aitken Roshi. He subsequently studied with John Tarrant, Subhana Barzaghi and other Diamond Sangha teachers. He was appointed an apprentice teacher in the Diamond Sangha in 2011 and received dharma transmission from Subhana Barzaghi Roshi in 2018. In 2019 Allan moved to Adelaide where he now teaches at the Adelaide Zen Group.
	Imelda Carson Imelda Carson started sitting with the Adelaide Zen Group in the eighties. She has served on the committee for several years and has, over time, held the positions of President, Secretary, Membership Secretary and Treasurer. She has been a student of Robert Joyner since 2003 and became a junior teacher studying with Robert Joyner in November 2018. She also has studied with Susan Murphy.
	Robert Joyner Roshi Bob Joyner Roshi is the Adelaide Zen Group’s teacher and based in Adelaide. Bob has received Dharma transmission from Ross Bolleter Roshi in the tradition of the Diamond Sangha (founded by Robert Aitken in Honolulu). Bob Joyner, a student of Robert Aitken Roshi and Ross Bolleter Roshi, is the resident teacher in Adelaide in the Diamond Sangha tradition. Bob gives dokusan (personal interviews) during zazen generally twice a month.
	Steve Wigg Steve Wigg began training under Bob Joyner Roshi and subsequently trained with Imelda Carson and Allan Marett Roshi in the Diamond Sangha. He has also spent several years studying with Patrick Kearney in the Burmese Theravadin tradition. He was appointed an apprentice teacher in the Diamond Sangha in 2022.

All of our teachers adhere to the:

Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle Ethics Agreement

As students of the Way and teachers of the Diamond Sangha, we aspire to right conduct in every aspect of our lives. In this aspiration, we have committed ourselves to maintain the Ten Grave Precepts, and we cannot improve upon them as guides and standards for our thoughts, words, and deeds. The Precepts are open to interpretation, however, so with this Ethics Agreement, we establish a clear and specific set of minimum expectations to which we should hold ourselves accountable now and in the future. We hope that publicly specifying these standards of behaviour will sharpen our awareness of ethical issues, ensure the trustworthiness of the Diamond Sangha, and serve to protect and perpetuate the Buddha-dharma.

We recognize that our work is founded on trust-the trust placed in us, each by our own teacher, to transmit the Dharma faithfully and the trust placed in us by our students to provide them respectful and appropriate instruction. In this document, we concern ourselves explicitly with the latter trust, but we know full well that the two are inseparable; that is, we cannot hope to fulfil our responsibility to transmit the Dharma if we do not endeavour to live up to the Dharma’s ethical implications.

We understand that, in our capacity as Zen teachers, we may fail our students in many ways and to vastly differing degrees. At one end of the range of severity are isolated errors and instances of neglect; it is quite possible, for example, to disappoint a student keenly by forgetting to return a telephone call. While we consider even the slightest failure unfortunate, as fallible beings we will all inevitably suffer lapses of this sort and simply have to be forgiven. The failures that concern us more, and that this Agreement is intended to address, are of greater severity-those that are demonstrably harmful to our students, either to their practice or to their general well-being, either to one individual or to a group. We commit ourselves to refrain altogether from such injurious conduct but especially from any that is intentional, repeated or protracted in duration, deceitfully concealed, exploitative of a student’s trust, or any combination of the foregoing.

To be specific, we commit ourselves:

1. to use our power and authority as teachers to serve the interests of the sangha;
   
2. to recognize the sangha as the highest authority in its own governance and to exercise discretion in our leadership so that we do not unduly influence decisions;
   
3. to treat sangha members, including fellow teachers, with honesty and deep respect, not subjecting them to disparagement, coercive pressure, or undesired attention of any kind;
   
4. to maintain confidences received from students, except as required by law or as explicitly permitted within the sangha;
   
5. to practise openness and inclusivity in our relationships with sangha members, allowing personal affinities a natural place but avoiding destructive favouritism;
   
6. to refrain from sexual interaction with members of the sangha, except within the parameters of a committed relationship and, even then, only with the utmost care to ensure that no one is harmed;
   
7. not to confer teaching authority, and especially Dharma transmission, on our lovers, spouses, siblings, children, employers, or known benefactors, nor to offer such authority as a means to attract, retain, or induce the cooperation of a student;
   
8. to accept economic support (dana) from individual sangha members only when it is freely given, never making it a direct requirement for instruction or attention;
   
9. to join with the sangha in practicing careful stewardship of its resources, not to enrich ourselves by misappropriation of sangha funds or properties;
   
10. to avoid the problems inherent in dual relationships, a Diamond Sangha teacher who works professionally as a psychotherapist will let at least one year pass before (a) offering instruction in the room to a former therapy client or (b) engaging in therapy with anyone he or she has been teaching in the room.

We ask our fellow Diamond Sangha teachers and the sanghas that we serve to help us maintain these standards.