Won't you be my Sangha?

I recently read about the concept of Sangha (Sanskrit for community). We tend to compartmentalize the people in our lives.  Those we know at work, friends that we do active things with, others that go to movies with us, etc. It's inevitable tthe people around us will automatically fall into different groups according to their relationship with us and the activities defined by that relationship.

A Sangha is a community that is very important to spiritual practice. According to Dr. Lilian Cheung, co-author of Savor - Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, 

 Building a healthy community is very important to our practice. Within this caring community we are liberated from our perceptions of separateness. We are free to share our practice, our reflections and ourselves, openly. This nurturing environment allows us to let go of judgment and misperceptions because we know that in this group, there is positive company, love and support.

I'm going to be honest - I need this. I am growing so fast spiritually, and I need people in my life that will support, accept, and nurture me as I grow from spiritual infancy to maturity.

So how does one go about building a Sangha? The people over at plumvillage.org have laid it out pretty well:

Building a Sangha is like planting a sunflower. We need to be aware of which conditions will support the flower’s growth and which conditions will obstruct its growth. We need healthy seeds, skilled gardeners, and plenty of sunshine and room to grow. When we engage in Sangha building, the most important thing to remember is that we are doing it together. The more we embrace the Sangha, the more we can let go of the feeling of a separate self. We can relax into the collective wisdom and insights of the Sangha. We can see clearly that the Sangha eyes and hands and heart are greater than that of any individual member of the Sangha.

We have the opportunity to help build our Sangha in every moment, by participating in activities of the Sangha and contributing our energy and insights. To sustain our own practice when we leave the practice center, we need to know how to build a Sangha. Let us be active in establishing connections with those around us. When we realize our true nature of interbeing, we naturally seek to connect with others by sharing our practice and seeking the support and guidance of our fellow practitioners.

Thay instructs us to be energetic in the practice of mindfulness. The past is finished and the future is uncertain, only in the present can we discover the miracle of life. Living in this spirit, we are already valuable members of our Sangha. We will know how to engage in the continuous process of building a refuge for many beings.

Thay encourages us all to be Sangha builders, following the footsteps of the Awakened One, who was a great Sangha builder. When we are able to live and practice in harmony in a small community, we can then share this harmony with the larger Sangha, our family and friends, our co-workers, and our co-practitioners. When there is joy in the practice of Sangha building, then we know that we doing it correctly.

All I have to say to that is - happy building!

My grandfather was a dairy farmer and my grandmother grew up on a farm, picking cotton. While I have no interest cotton, I do find myself fantasizing about homemade jam, chopping wood and harvesting my first crop. I can’t drop out of life, buy a cabin and live like it’s 1802, so I’m devising a plan for a Suburban Utopia.  A plan that will hopefully bring us a little closer to where we ultimately wanna be. It looks something like this:

1.     Clear out the flower bed in the backyard . Level the ground. Build planter boxes. Begin our own veggie/herb garden. (this will also include building some kind of fence to keep our doggie children from pigging out on our hard work before we can)

2.     Purchase some sort of cargo trailer for our bikes so that when we do need to go to the grocery store, we can save gas (less pollution!), get some exercise, and enjoy the time together doing things the semi-old school way.

3.     Compost!

4.     Create pleasant conversation areas in both our front and backyards. Luckily this is the one thing we’ve already started.

5.     Configure our one car garage into a homey woodshop that’s both functional and inviting.

6.     Inside of the house although things are pretty awesome as they are, I wanna make our craft/work room more functional; continue to turn our bedroom into a romantic and relaxing retreat; and work on over all organization.

7.     Recycle!

8.     I’m learning to cook so another must-have would be a working recipe book of tasty and healthy meals made from whole, unprocessed foods.

9.     Let’s face it. Our dog children are wild beasts. They do what they want, when they want…god love them. I have this idyllic picture in my head of hiking with the dogs right by my side…off leash.  Right now that ain’t happenin…so first things first – time to buy head collars and “master the walk” as Cesar Millan says.

10.  A clothesline for the back yard to save costly energy and use our own energy instead

11. I need a place to go to meditate. So I want to build a little zen area indoors and outdoors

12.  Look into the cost of installing a woodburning stove. Just for the hell of it.

As you can see I’ve got enough to keep both Leah and myself busy for the foreseeable future. And since Leah works full time and goes to school, we’ll need to proceed at a snail’s pace. That’s ok with me. Eckhart Tolle, one of my favorite spiritual teachers bases his teachings around staying in the moment, the “NOW”. It’s fine to plan for the future but the final result of your plans should not be more important than the process you take to get there. Otherwise you’ll be living for the future and missing the present moment. I absolutely agree with him and I’m absolutely looking forward to the process. I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about Eckhart soon. I have lots to share. Until then - m 

(see pics of undisciplined dog children above)

Mosey on - the art of living slow

People at work joke that i'm slow at everything. I walk slowly...if i were a cow, yeah, i suppose i would mosey. I never get overly concerned about how something is going to get done last minute, i just put my head down and start doing it. I've been voted person least likely to freak out in case of emergency. the thing is i'm not concerned about getting there first. i'm not in a hurry. i have a certain amount of time here, and i just wanna soak up the journey. when my time is up i'll just mosey on to next adventure.

A year in a life

"The more spiritual you are the more ordinary you are...the more unspecial you become. What is a spiritual life? Chopping wood, hauling water." - Eckhart Tolle­­­­

Today I am 34 years old and over the past year of my life, I have begun awakening. What do I mean by awakening? I mean the awareness that my physical form is simply a shell that houses my true self - the soul.  I know that I am not the things I do; not the things I have; not what others think or say about me. I am a spiritual being having a human experience.  When this human form dies, the real ME will continue. Energy does not go away – it changes form. Over the past year I’ve become much more aware of how I treat those around me and how I exist on the planet.  This has led to an interest in living sustainably inorder to lesson my footprint. My fiancé and I are researching how to begin an urban garden in our backyard (god help the dogs if I ever talk Leah into letting me have a goat!) I spend my days thinking about chicken coops, how to quiet my mind, how to actively listen to my best friend and how to provide compassion to the walking souls I share this existence with.  I am the happiest I’ve ever been…so I’m thinking there is something to all this stuff I’ve been reading, doing, learning…all this awakening. That’s why I wanted to share with you guys.  If I can be happy just by changing my thoughts and my way of being in this world, anyone can.  How amazing is that?