The Diamond Sangha is a Western lay Zen lineage founded by Robert Aitken in Hawaii in the mid 1960s. There are now dozens of Diamond Sangha communities across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Chile and England. Authorised teachers in the lineage regularly meet as the Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle – keeping the Dharma strong and clear at its core. In 2025, the Diamond Sangha Teacher’s Circle formed the following statement about what Diamond Sangha communities have in common.

 Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle Statement 

The Diamond Sangha is a lay Zen Buddhist lineage grounded in the heritage of our Chinese and Japanese traditions and drawing upon both major streams of Zen – Sōtō and Rinzai. We work to further the way of practice and realization laid out by Chan and Zen masters down through the ages, and especially by our founding teacher, Robert Aitken Rōshi. 

Communities of the Diamond Sangha are functionally independent and diverse in many respects, yet united in a commitment to penetrating inquiry into the great matter of birth-and-death and to the welfare of all beings, including the mountains and rivers themselves.   We hold that practice and realization must be embodied, not just in the way that we conduct ourselves at temples and training centres, but also throughout our lives — in relationships personal and familial, social and environmental, economic and political.

Other Diamond Sangha groups in Australia and internationally

Read about the Diamond Sangha Teachers Circle Ethics Agreement