This ceremony is an opportunity for us to come together as a sangha, to hear gathas whose aim is to support our practice of peace—both inner and outer, and to be nourished by our shared practice.
It is with much sadness that I am leaving the Bay Area after over 10 years and 4 years organizing Wake Up SF. Sometimes, you have to make tough decisions that put your health first.
As a parting offering though, I am bringing forth a “Call In” (the opposite of the Call Outs we have so many of these days!) to service for the sangha.
Practitioners new and old are needed to keep the practice fresh for the entire four-fold sangha. Whether lay, OI, Dharmachaya or monastic, we can take the time to recommit to our community, to join hands in the spirit of Thay and realize his vision of the Sangha as a Buddha (or was it the Buddha as a Sangha?).
The strength of the Bay Area sangha has been a joy to witness – the largest Road Retreat on the tour! – a community in the midst of flowering.
A few things really stuck with me over the retreat. After experiencing the peace and ease we felt in the urban forest, one person asked, “Is this always available?” Another retreatant expressed how lonely she felt on the path.
These two sufferings are not unrelated. It is much easier to experience the joy of the practice with kalyana-mitta, spiritual friends. Noble friends allow us to give and take refuge at any time. Together, we can create the space for True Peace, True Love and Social Justice in ourselves and in the world around us.
It is just like sitting back-to-back with a friend while enjoying the sunshine and listening to a cool breeze between the trees, much easier for both to be in the present when each has someone to lean on. (If you have back pain, you know what I’m talking about.)
If you weren’t at the retreat in Oakland this weekend, I’d ask that you take the time to listen to Dylan’s speech at the Closing Ceremony. If the recording is poor, it is only because my hands were resonating too much with what he had to say while holding the phone. 🙂
When you sit on your cushion next, please look inside for that bodhichitta, that small voice that calls you to service. I know it is there, if only you would listen. Even if you think you have nothing to offer, be assured that your stable presence and kind words can be more than enough to nurture someone else’s bodhichitta. Over time you can grow that warmth and expand it, until the refuge it creates encompasses you and the sangha. And, if your experience is anything like mine, when the storm comes, the sangha will also be there to provide refuge for you.
As Dylan, Elm, Gary, Steve, Sophie and many others continue the work of sangha-building here in the Bay Area, I know that they will need your help. Young flowers are as fragile as they are fragrant. The sangha needs you now. Will you answer the call?
Sit Walk Listen organizers from the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York City invite you to join us for our final event of the year: a celebration of the people, work, and many hands it took to arrive at this moment.
We pay tribute to the work of Ralph D. Abernathy, Martin Luther King, and so many others of the civil rights movement, the demonstrators and organizers opposing American involvement in the Vietnam-American war, the suffragists who fought for women’s equality, and all of our spiritual and land ancestors that have made it possible for this work to manifest.
We plan to offer guided meditation, movement, and listening circles in an online format so that all of us from the three chapter locations can join together in one gathering. Please find a schedule of events below:
10:00 – 10:25 am // Arriving and welcome
10:25 – 10:55am // Guided Meditation
10:55 – 11:00 am // Movement
11:00 – 11:50 am // Listening circles
11:50 – 12:00 pm // Closing and announcements
12:00 – 12:15 pm // Optional slideshow for whoever wants to stay
Zoom : https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81336943519 Meeting ID: 813 3694 3519 One tap mobile +16699006833,,81336943519# US (San Jose) +13462487799,,81336943519# US (Houston)
Sat Morning, Aug 29–11am-12:30pm PST (ZOOM) Kazu Haga Author, Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm (published by: Parallax Press) Founder of the East Point Peace Academy Trainings in Kingian Non-Violence
Sat Afternoon, Aug 29–2:30pm-4pm PST (ZOOM) Encampment for Citizenship Youth Leadership Program Margot Gibney, E.D. Florencia Ramirez, Author–Eat Less Water Two Youth Interns
Sun Aug 30–2:30pm-3:30pm PST (ZOOM) Summer Healing Concert with Destiny Muhammad, Harpist from the H O O D w/ spoken word poetry >> Thich Nhat Hanh, Call Me By My True Names >>Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, In This Place (An American Lyric) >>Gracias A La Vida (adapted)
This 2-month online course is facilitated by Kaira Jewel Lingo and Hai An. There are 9 racial affinity sanctuary group meetings and 2 community ceremonies. Each week includes recorded teachings and meditations, assigned chapters from the book, additional resources, and an online discussion. Apply here.
Dates:
Saturdays at 8am Pacific/11am Eastern/4pm UK/5pm EU: October 10 and November 7 Community Ceremony for all participants, 90 minutes long, facilitated by Kaira Jewel & Hai An.
Racial Affinity Group Sanctuary Calls, September 13-November 9 Racial affinity group calls are 75-minutes long.
Sit. Walk. Listen in San Francisco has drawn 75-150 people for each of the past 3 weekends.
Dear friends,
This Sunday June 28 from 10:30am – 1pm, friends from the Bay Area mindfulness communities will be gathering at the “Remember Them” monument in Oakland (Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park, at 19th & Telegraph) to honor and support black lives. You are invited to join us.
Dear siblings, these times are a great call for change.
As mindfulness practitioners, we can breathe for others who cannot. Let’s bring the practice of peaceful compassionate nonviolence to the streets; to listen, to follow, and support black people.
As Thich Nhat Hanh once said: “Nonviolent action, born of the awareness of suffering and nurtured by love, is the most effective way to confront adversity.”
Together we can walk in peace, love, compassion, and awareness.
One big step is to commit to a life guided by fierce, compassionate, and wise principles. We offer this guidance in our Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The Sugarplum Sangha at Mariposa Institute is offering the opportunity to explore and to commit to these trainings during our upcoming 21-day retreat from June 7-28. Those interested in the trainings are not required to attend the retreat; they can participate solely in one or both the following offerings:
1. Those wanting to explore and discuss the trainings may do so with Dharma Teacher Karen Hilsberg, in two sessions: Thursdays June 11 and 18, 5:00 – 6:00 PM PDT
2. Those interested in making the commitment to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, or in renewing their commitment, may do so during our formal ceremony, scheduled for the Summer Solstice: June 21, 7:00 AM PDT. All community members welcome to join, space is limited to 100, those receiving the trainings will have priority.
The Venerable Thich Tu Luc, transmission master for Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, will be presiding over the ceremony. Monks, Nuns and Lay Dharma Teachers of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism will also be in attendance. You are also welcome to witness and support the community of aspirants during this ceremony.
The ceremony is offered as a gift. Any donations will be given to the Hayward Compassion Meditation Center.
Sunday, June 14th, 8am-10am Pacific/11am-1pm Eastern
Join Kaira Jewel Lingo and Sr. Hai An in this two-hour, online Zoom event to mindfully honor Juneteenth – the historical moment when Union soldiers announced the end of slavery in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. We will reflect on the history of Juneteenth and the legacy of slavery in light of the pandemic and offer space to grieve the recent murders/lynchings of African Americans. The facilitators are a biracial woman of African descent and a white woman. Through guided meditation and discussion in identity groups, we will practice mindfully opening to our pain so that we may heal our ancestors and ourselves, and move toward compassion and justice for all.
We welcome people of all racial identities to explore how this historical legacy of slavery and it’s transformation impacts all of us and how we can take part in racial healing.
Please register in advance using this link so that we can prepare the breakout groups according to your self-identified racial identity. This information will be kept private and used only for the purposes of this call. The call will begin and close together with the middle divide into separate groups for BIPOC and white folks.
The Zoom call information will be sent to you after you register.
There is no fee for this event. You are invited to offer a donation to support the teachers/facilitators via PayPalhttps://www.paypal.me/KairaLingo or Venmo (@Kaira-Lingo).
It is with a heavy heart and a fair amount of anger that I write to you today. While maintaining my quarantine, I am doing what I can do raise the voices of those unheard. To write. To listen. And be a little indignant.
With a bit of surprise, we had planned to have Keith serve as the facilitator in June. He is a member of the Still Water Sangha in St. Paul and has previously participated with the Blooming Heart Sangha in Minneapolis. It feels like a gift that he leads on Sunday.
Please join Order of Interbeing Members and Aspirants in our monthly recitation of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. This event takes place on the 1st Sunday of each month at 6:30am (Pacific Time).
To my white friends in the practice, like me, I’m sure you were sickened by the callous killing of George Floyd, only the most recent. Alternating waves of anger, grief, feelings of powerlessness, sometimes numbness, and resolve have been flowing through me.
Black friends tell me that what they want from white people is mainly two things–for us to show up for racial justice, and to do racial education and healing work among ourselves and with our fellow white folks. This is our invitation and our spiritual challenge. This is Dharma work. The Dharma doesn’t promise comfort but it does promise liberation.
One step is to recognize and embrace the range of emotions inside. I find this is best done with the care and support of others. Over the years in various settings, I have facilitated white awareness/eliminating white racism work with white people, including myself. Just this week I published a piece in *Medium* called “Honor and Relief in Healing Our White Racism <https://medium.com/@jbellminder/honor-and-relief-in-healing-our-white-racism-cdf020408335>” which will fill in the back story if you wish to read it.
I would like to invite all Plum Village practitioners who identify as white to join together for a 90 minute *“Deep Listening Circle on Healing Our White Racism.”* We will explore our suffering, upset, broken-heartedness around race in a safe setting, and separate from our friends of color. We will practice deep listening in pairs, small dharma sharing groups, and whole group reflections. Obviously, 90 minutes is a beginning but insufficient time, so there will be an optional continuation of these Deep Listening Circles for those who wish.
