Photo credit: James Wainscoat via Unsplash
Monday, September 23, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
Dear Thay, dear Sangha:
This week, we will meet Monday evening, Sept. 23, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, Sept. 25, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, Sept. 27, from 12-1PM EDT in person.
Bea will facilitate. She shares:
Listen to a short video talk by Thay on how to live in community
What does community mean to you and, most importantly, how do you show up in community?
The last chapter of the online course Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet offered by Plum Village is dedicated to creating communities of resilience. In one of the videos, Brother Pháp Dung introduces the concept of community as a verb: to be in community. He says that community offers us the chance to practice every moment precisely because community is not perfect, as They pointed out in this short talk.
If we think of community as a verb, then there is an action involved. Community is not static. It is ever-evolving, changing and shifting – just like a flock of birds in the sky that keeps on expanding, contracting, and realigning. Brother Pháp Dung says that the community is reciprocal. I asked myself, what does this mean exactly? I think he means that community is a constant give and take. Sometimes, we take more from it and other times we step in and give more.
For the last ten years, this Sangha has been my spiritual community. How have I shown up in my community for the past decade? I have not always been consistent, and I most certainly have received way more from my Sangha community than what I have given.
For example, during the pandemic, my Sangha brothers and sisters carried a heavy load. They had to adapt to a new way of showing up in the virtual Sangha world. I, on the other hand, had a very hard time showing up like that. I am a people person, and I do not do well in the virtual world. My job went virtual at the start of the pandemic, and I struggled to stay sane. I could not imagine doing an online Sangha at the end of an online day.
For many months in 2020 and 2021, I went MIA, but the Sangha was still my beloved spiritual community. With time I came back to it. I got engaged again. I discovered that the morning online Sangha was a bit easier for me than the evening one. Slowly, I started to show up more and give more. What a blessing Sangha is.
Brother Pháp Dung says that community is a source of nourishment and that taking turns in community is one of the benefits of shared responsibility. We don’t always have to lead or be on top of things. Others will step in when we need support and help, and we can be there for them when the time comes. This is what the second body concept is about. I am supported by your presence at my side. I am comforted in the knowledge that you are there for me and that you have my back.
In the short video on community, Thay says that in community there are people with solidity, compassion, and insight. If we live in a Sangha where everyone is perfect, everyone is a Bodhisattva, it would be impossible to practice because we would not be able to grow and to transform!
What is your experience of community and of yourself in community? How is community a verb for you?