Compassionate Ocean Sangha
A Community of Heart
Sangha meetings and classes
Thursday, 31st July, 8pm
Dear Compassionate Ocean Family, please join Tony, Dipika and Adam for another beautiful Thursday session.
We will have our usual breakout groups where you can enjoy meeting and sharing your experiences with others. Our question for reflection is: "What practices make me feel part of the Sangha?"
Monthly Theme:
The Second Dharma Seal of Plum Village: Go as a river
A Sangha is a community of people – monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen – who are walking together of a spiritual path. The essence of a sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony and love. … A Sangha is a place for us to transform and heal, for ourselves and our society (Thich Nhat Hanh, Joyfully Together: the art of building a harmonious community.)
Thay uses two images as metaphors for the sangha – it can be river, or, a he does in Chapter 1 in Joyfully Together, Thay also describes a sangha as a sacred forest. He says that each member of the Sangha is a tree standing beautifully alongside the others. Each tree has its own shape, height and unique qualities but all are contributing to the harmonious growth of the forest. Just as individual trees need the forest to survive so we also can use the strength of the sangha to support and protect each other. A river also needs the drops of water to grow and move.
Over the next few months, as we practise with the Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village, we will also look at how they relate to the Three Buddhist Seals or how the Three Seals relate to the Seals that Thay has given us. In the Four Seals of Plum Village, Thay has given us the extra one of suffering (more on this in the Third Dharma Seal of Plum Village.)
Friday, 1st August, 8pm
Evening Meditation
You are warmly welcomed to join Rose, Julie and Sarah for a guided sitting meditation with Rose , walking meditation and a reading "Joyfully Together' by Julie.
Monthly Theme: Being Sangha Builders
Sangha building is the most precious work a monk, a nun or a layperson can do (Joyfully Together, p8).
A true Sangha doesn’t arise automatically. It is the product of the work of many individuals. The collective energy is made up of the combination of many individual energies (9). That makes a Sangha that is strong and solid. We don’t hide in the Sangha to avoid responsibilities. When you are present with the Sangha in mindfulness, you automatically contribute more energy to the Sangha and the Sangha becomes stronger. When you are absent from Sangha activities, you are not able to contribute your living energy to the Sangha and the Sangha does not profit from your energy (9).
Relating to the Dharma Seal of no self:
Nothing has a separate existence or a separate self. Everything has to inter-be with everything else. … We all have the capacity of living with nondiscriminating wisdom but we have to train ourselves to see in that way, to see that the flower is us, the mountain is us, our parents and children ae all us (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, p134)..
Saturday, 2nd August, 8pm
Dear COS Family.
You are warmly invited to join Jenny, Maggie and Adam for another lovely Saturday Session with a topic question for the whole group to share followed by a guided meditation.
Monthly Theme: Being Sangha Builders
Sangha building is the most precious work a monk, a nun or a layperson can do (Joyfully Together, p8).
A true Sangha doesn’t arise automatically. It is the product of the work of many individuals. The collective energy is made up of the combination of many individual energies (9). That makes a Sangha that is strong and solid. We don’t hide in the Sangha to avoid responsibilities. When you are present with the Sangha in mindfulness, you automatically contribute more energy to the Sangha and the Sangha becomes stronger. When you are absent from Sangha activities, you are not able to contribute your living energy to the Sangha and the Sangha does not profit from your energy (9).
Relating to the Dharma Seal of no self:
Nothing has a separate existence or a separate self. Everything has to inter-be with everything else. … We all have the capacity of living with nondiscriminating wisdom but we have to train ourselves to see in that way, to see that the flower is us, the mountain is us, our parents and children ae all us (The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, p134)..
Over the next few months, as we practise with the Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village, we will also look at how they relate to the Three Buddhist Seals or how the Three Seals relate to the Seals that Thay has given us. In the Four Seals of Plum Village, Thay has given us the extra one of suffering (more on this in the Third Dharma Seal of Plum Village.)
Sunday, 3rd August, 8pm
Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings
As Thay has shared, "The Five Mindfulness Trainings have their root in the Five Precepts offered by the Buddha. They have been expanded and updated so that they represent a way to bring mindfulness into every area of life. Rather than hard and fast rules, they offer us a framework to reflect on our actions, speech and thinking so we can create more happiness for ourself and for the world around us".
The session will be facilitated by Ruth, Lena and Rose.
If you feel you would like to read out one of the trainings in future recitations please email compassionateoceansangha@gmail.com