A note on language: I use the word apprentice rather than student deliberately. "Student" suggests a person who is acquiring knowledge — sitting at a distance from a subject that is being learned — taking notes, accumulating intellectual understanding. That's not what this is. Yes, learning is a part of apprenticeship, but being a student is not the same as being an apprentice. An apprentice is immersed in the work, a part of the work — interwoven with the craft itself, shaped by proximity, formed through practice over time. What changes in this training is not primarily how much or what you know. It is how clearly you are able to manifest who you are. That is apprenticeship.
What this is
Apprenticeship with me is a formal training relationship in the Rinzai Zen tradition.
Apprenticeship is not a course. It's not therapy. The teacher-apprentice relationship isn't a subscription to content nor a membership in a community — although it may be a doorway to all of those things if you choose them.
Apprenticeship is a commitment between a teacher and an apprentice, with real obligations on both sides, entered into consensually, intentionally, and with eyes open.
If you're looking for a different kind of container — a guided conversation rooted in Zen or Buddhism, periodic contact with a teacher, or support for your practice without the full structure of formal training — Zen mentorship is also available. Mentorship has its own shape and value, and it is fundamentally different than apprenticeship.
Zenwest and Monarch — how they relate
Zenwest Buddhist Society is a temple sangha — a community of practitioners gathered around a shared practice, a common liturgy, and the forms of the Rinzai tradition. As Abbot, I have been charged by Zenwest to administer and transmit the teachings, formation, and training. The path into Zenwest membership runs through that administration.
Monarch is the practical vehicle through which I deliver these teachings: the courses, the training relationships, the meeting fees, the booking and payment infrastructure. This arrangement is intentional on both sides. Zenwest's position is that the demands of training — time, cost, and effort — belong with those who seek it, rather than being carried collectively by the Zenwest membership.
Running courses and training through Monarch grants me autonomy over how courses are designed, delivered, and remunerated. The fees — apprenticeship, courses, meetings — are what sustain me both as Abbot and as a human being, and make it possible for Zen teaching to be my primary focus in life, rather than something I do outside of "working hours".
The RAPP — Zenwest's Religious Authorization Policy and Procedure — is the governance framework that defines the full arc of formation and ceremony in this tradition, from beginner through Jukai to Priest. As Abbot, I am responsible to administer it and maintain it. The RAPP path is available to those who are both Zenwest members and formal apprentices.
You can choose to be my apprentice through Monarch without being a Zenwest member — in a formal training relationship, with full access to Dokusan, while practicing on your own or as part of another sangha. But to enter onto the Zenwest RAPP path, both Zenwest membership and apprenticeship are required.
Apprentice (Base)
Entry into formal apprenticeship is marked by the Shokenko ceremony — a teacher-apprentice ceremony that has been part of this lineage for centuries. From that point, you are my apprentice. Not a client. Not a participant. An apprentice.
This relationship asks consistency of you. Not perfection — consistency. Showing up to your practice, to your meetings with me, to the honest work of your own life. The relationship is not contingent on your being good at Zen. It is contingent on your genuine engagement.
From my side: honest teaching. Not comfort. Not cheerleading. I have walked this path for over thirty years and I will tell you what I actually see — in your practice, and in you.
Formal apprenticeship opens the possibility — when you are also a Zenwest member — of the RAPP training path, which is the full arc of formation in this tradition from beginner to Oshō.
Apprenticeship is also the gate to Dokusan — the formal interview with the teacher. This is where the real work of formation happens: not instruction, but direct encounter. It is available to formal apprentices and is what distinguishes this relationship from mentorship or sangha membership.
$75 + GST per month, which maintains the relationship. Individual sessions: $130 + GST per 45-minute session, scheduled as your training calls for.
RAPP Apprentice — Level 1 (Practice Council)
This is the level at which formal RAPP engagement begins — the apprentice has taken the precepts (Jukai), is training in the forms and roles of the zendo and centre, and may be supporting those newer to the path than themselves. One meeting per month is included: Dokusan, formation work, and where appropriate, the introduction of Sanzen — koan practice.
At this level, the apprentice is learning to hold the forms — officer roles in the zendo, supporting practitioners who are newer to the path, beginning to understand what it means to carry the practice on behalf of others as well as oneself. The training relationship intensifies accordingly. One formal meeting per month is the floor, not the ceiling.
$170 + GST per month (1 session included; additional sessions at $130 + GST)
RAPP Apprentice — Level 2 (Elder / Lay Teacher track)
By the time an apprentice reaches Level 2, something has shifted. They are no longer primarily receiving formation — they are actively transmitting it. Elders, Junior Lay Teachers, and Lay Teachers teach courses, lead practice groups, assist at ceremonies, and represent Zenwest in settings where I am not present. If I am away, a Level 2 apprentice may give the Dharma talk. They may be sent to speak at another temple, church, or Zen centre as a representative of this lineage.
That is not a small thing. When someone stands up under this lineage's name, my reputation — and the integrity of the transmission — travels with them. The increased meeting frequency at this level isn't a sign that more correction is needed. It is the oversight that makes responsible authorization possible. Two meetings per month — Dokusan and Sanzen as the training requires — ensures that what is happening in those rooms is known, held, and shaped by the ongoing relationship with the teacher.
$265 + GST per month (2 sessions included; additional sessions at $130 + GST)
Ordained Training (Novice, Junior, Priest)
The ordained path — entered through Tokudo, the leaving-home ceremony — is the deepest commitment the tradition offers. It is not a package to be selected. It is arrived at through the relationship, through discernment, and at my invitation.
The monthly apprenticeship fee remains a baseline — at minimum the Level 2 rate. Meeting frequency beyond that, and any additional costs, are determined in direct conversation between us. Sessions are $130 + GST each. The RAPP requires participation in all communal practice unless given leave — this is formation as a way of life, not a monthly subscription.
If you are discerning the ordained path, bring that conversation directly to me.
On commitment and communication
Becoming an apprentice means entering a reciprocal relationship — and reciprocal relationships have obligations on both sides.
Life moves. Finances tighten. The path takes unexpected turns. An apprentice's circumstances will change over the course of a training relationship — sometimes significantly. None of that is a problem. What matters is that it is communicated.
If money gets tight, say so. If something in the relationship isn't working, name it. If your path is shifting and you're not sure this is still the right direction, bring that conversation to me rather than letting it quietly dissolve. The relationship can weather difficulty. It cannot hold what it cannot see.
Ghosting — going silent, missing sessions without contact, letting payments lapse without a word — is not a neutral act. It has a real impact on a teacher who has made a real commitment. The same standard applies in return: if something on my end is affecting the relationship, you will hear about it directly.
This is not a contract clause. It is the basic dignity of a genuine relationship — the willingness to stay in honest contact even when it is uncomfortable.
For apprentices on the RAPP path
Apprentices who have been authorized to a position within the RAPP — who hold a title, who are offering peer meetings, who carry any form of representation of this lineage — carry an additional responsibility.
If you find yourself wanting to step back from that role, the expectation is that we meet, we talk it through honestly, and we arrive at a mutually understood path forward together. This is not about holding anyone to a commitment they can no longer keep. It is about honouring the weight of what was entered into — the people who may be in your care, the sangha that has recognized you, the lineage you have been authorized to represent.
A clean exit is always possible. It simply requires a real conversation first.
Practice and the intensive context
Dharma talks — in their public form — belong to anyone who shows up. Within intensives, they belong to everyone in the room. The teaching from the seat is not rationed by relationship.
Dokusan — the formal interview between teacher and apprentice — is available to my formal apprentices. This is not a restriction imposed arbitrarily. It is the actual structure of how Zen training works. The interview is where the real work of formation happens, and it requires the formal relationship to hold it properly.
At intensives — Zazenkai, Sesshin — members who are not formal apprentices will have the opportunity for peer meetings with senior apprentices. These are not a lesser version of Dokusan. They are a different function: pastoral care, a check-in, a place to be seen during intensive practice. They also serve a safety function — intensive practice can be demanding, and no one in the room goes unseen.
Sesshin Dharma talks are for those present. Recordings are made available as podcast afterward — the teaching reaches beyond the room, but the intensive container itself belongs to the people who are in it.
On financial exchange
The rates above are set clearly and held clearly. This is intentional.
The old model in many Zen contexts — and in Zenwest's own past — placed the teacher's livelihood in the hands of community generosity. That model creates a hidden distortion: a teacher who cannot afford to lose apprentices cannot always tell them the truth. The new model separates those things. The rate covers the relationship. What I can offer from that place is honest teaching, not teaching shaped by financial anxiety.
Dana — the practice of offering — is welcome here. It comes after the basic exchange is honoured, not instead of it. If, having paid your membership, your session fees, your event costs, you find yourself wanting to give more — you are warmly invited to do so. That is dana: generosity from surplus and gratitude, freely given.
On capacity, and the waitlist
Apprenticeship is held to a small number — twelve — whether or not an apprentice is on the RAPP path. This is not a marketing scarcity. It is the honest shape of the work. Formation happens through real time and real presence: dokusan, the interview, the ongoing relationship. Twelve is roughly what one teacher can hold at the depth this asks — an old number for a circle of formation, and about what the interview room allows at an intensive without thinning the time each person is given. I hold it at twelve, and review it as I go.
When the twelve are full, there is a waitlist — but it is not a queue. A place is not held by who asked first. When a spot opens, I invite from the list by fit, readiness, and relationship: whether the work is right for you and you for it, whether the ground of your practice is ready, and whether we have built enough between us for me to know. That last one is worth naming plainly — relationship is built through contact over time, and someone meeting me as a mentee is already building it.
The way onto the list is the consultation. And mentorship itself is not capped: there is always a way to be in relationship with this teacher and this practice, whether or not a formal apprenticeship spot is open. The door to relationship is never closed. Only the number in formal apprenticeship is held.
How to begin
The first step is a conversation. Book a free 30-minute consultation, whether you are unsure which path is yours or already ready to enter apprenticeship. Nothing is decided in advance.
Teàrlach Eshū Kilgour, Oshō — Abbot, Zenwest Buddhist Society