The Practice of Community

 

07.22.2022 THE PRACTICE OF COMMUNITY A few months ago, a number of local Buddhist sanghas in my area decided to gather in celebration of Vesak. Also known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima, and Buddha Day, this holiday observed across Buddhist traditions marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of the historical Buddha. The intention was to come together as one community of Buddhist practitioners from different lineages and traditions, bringing us a sense of belonging to the greater community. In the West, we tend to think about Buddhist practice as an individual endeavor. To some extent it is. As we strive to know the true nature of mind – enlightenment, nirvana, liberation – we remain responsible for our own practice. No one can sit on the cushion and meditate for us. It’s up to us alone to walk the path and do the work. However, this can cause our practice to become so individualistic we start to think that if we just do our practice and work on our own stuff, we won’t have to deal with the world. When I think about my practice, I do think about it from an individual perspective. However, I also think about how it relates to others. When I sit down to practice, I open my session by taking refuge, not only in the Buddha and the teachings, but also in the sangha. At the Vesak celebration I attended, the refuge prayer was recited in different languages and styles from all of the traditions present that day. Across Buddhist traditions, we recognize the importance of sangha, of the community of enlightened beings and teachers, as well as the community of fellow practitioners. When we finish our practice, we typically close with a dedication of merit to the benefit of all beings. We’re practicing not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of others. In the Summer 2022 issue of Buddhadharma, I moderated a forum with three BIPOC teachers whose work is focused on making Buddhist communities and Buddhism as a whole more diverse and inclusive. We discussed how attempts at diversity and inclusivity in our sanghas often fall short, how a basic lack of understanding of BIPOC practitioners often renders practice and practice spaces inaccessible, and how assimilation so often passes as diversity. “What stands out for me in BIPOC sanghas is the emphasis on community,” Margarita Loinaz said in our discussion. “The relational aspect, the interconnectedness, and the valuing of our ancestors, the understanding of what comes through the lineage that we’re born into physically and culturally. I feel like the priority within the BIPOC sangha is the relational aspect of the teachings.” Below, you’ll find the forum alongside two other teachings that propose different ways of thinking about community and how we can extend our practice beyond ourselves to include not only our sangha but the greater community of all sentient beings. —Mariana Restrepo, Associate Editor, Lion’s Roar

Forum: BIPOC Buddhism La Sarmiento, Margarita Loinaz, and Carol Iwata discuss the experiences of BIPOC Buddhist practitioners—the obstacles they face, and the contributions they are making. Moderated and with an introduction by Mariana Restrepo. “For me, one of the Buddhist teachings that resonates is the remembrance of our own buddhanature, our own basic goodness, wisdom, and compassion. It’s all already there in every single one of us on the planet. We have this inherent dignity that no one can take away. All these teachings point toward moving through our suffering into liberation. Learning to work with it and transform it is key, especially for those of us who’ve been marginalized, suppressed, or colonized.”

Heal In Community Come together with others, says Arisika Razak, to grieve, heal, and fight for a better world. What can we do when our world, our community, and our hearts are broken? How do we handle the reactivation of intergenerational trauma, when our physical safety, emotional well-being, and mental health are shattered by simultaneously occurring global health crises, pandemics of violence, and seriously escalating environmental disasters?

Omitting None: The Deep Practice of Community The practice of community, says Mushim Patricia Ikeda, is more than including beyond all people, even all beings. It mean including all thoughts, all emotions, all realities — the bad as well as the good. For those of us with a spiritual path and set of practices, who are willing to leave the home of comfortable assumptions, we have now the choice to say yes to virus pandemic and economic collapse. Yes to mass extinctions of flora and fauna. Yes to the threats of Fascism and, speaking for myself, yes to giving up the urgent need to know and control, even as I participate fully in communities of strategic resistance and resilience.

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