Building a Sangha – Dharma Talk Given in Raleigh, NC July 31, 2011
This post has been edited some from the original to remove names of individuals.
Good morning! I would like to thank all the folks here in Raleigh for a wonderful weekend. Last night we spent time together with families and fiends who are either practicing the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra or who support family members who are practicing. We had a wonderful dinner and I was able to meet many new people who are striving to practice the Buddha Dharma and realize an enlightened life. Today we gathered here to celebrated the Lotus Sutra this morning by reciting the sutra and chanting Odaimoku together.
It has been several years since I first was contacted by folks in the Raleigh area. There were several people in the area who were lonely and desired others to practice with them. You could say that they truly understood the importance of and missed practicing with a community of fellow believers. I know today there are many of you who are watching this live stream from many other remote locations. There are folks who participate in our stream from way down in Key West, Florida, in the Miami area, now even Puerto Rico has a family that joins us. We have folks of course in South Carolina in the Spartanburg area, and the mountains of North Carolina. There is Ashley who is here today who joins in from the Wilmington area of NC. There are a couple of folks in the Washington DC area and in New York. Occasionally we also have folks join in from Great Britain, and South Africa. And today since I am here in Raleigh, the folks who live and practice at the temple are joining us online to experience what many of you experience every week. Our temple services go all over the place to support many people in a variety of areas.
In my many conversations with folks who live remotely from the temple probably the question I am asked most often is about building a Sangha, about cultivating a community of people with whom to practice the Dharma with. You all truly understand the value of practicing with others of like minds.
Since you all know the benefit of a Sangha and most genuinely desire a Sangha or community to practice with let me move on to how we build a Sangha. First of course you should work closely with a teacher, that can be me if you are interested in practicing in the Nichiren Shu tradition or some other Nichiren Shu priest of your liking.
That taken care of you need to attract people to your Sangha. This isn’t as hard as it sounds though it isn’t easy either and it does require determination and perseverance. Thich Nhat Hanh in his book Friends On The Path says;
“It’s like the thesis of the popular American movie Field of Dreams (based on W.P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe): ‘If you build it, they will come.” But remember, even in Field of Dreams ‘they’ did not come running as soon as the little baseball field was built. The baseball players came in ones, twos, and threes; the neighboring Iowans were skeptical; and it took a long time to see and understand the baseball field for what it really was.” Page 60
So too, our struggle to build Sanghas and spread the Dharma of the Buddha will be difficult. But I’ll tell you here, people building Sanghas in their communities is the only way the Buddhism will spread. As you know I am only one person and can only really be in one place at a time. The folks here in Raleigh have worked hard over several years gradually building a small practice group. It isn’t easy and they can tell you people didn’t come flooding in. There are times when it is discouraging and at times it seems there are set backs. I experience the same thing at the temple. It has been four years; growth has been good and steady. There were and are times when it has been just myself and others when it has only been myself and one other person. There is no easy way except through consistent and persistent effort.
You may wonder about your own abilities, thinking I am not a priest, how can I build a Sangha. It may be on some level none of us is a qualified as we may wish to be. I am not the perfect candidate to build a Sangha or start a temple. I am not particularly smart, nor am I young, and many other things that could be held up as making me unqualified. Still we must try if we truly wish to carry out the Bodhisattva vow to save all other beings even before ourselves. Continuing further with Thich Nhat Hanh; “If our aspiration in starting a Sangha is to make mindfulness practice available to others on a consistent basis in a caring way, to transform suffering and stress, and to create a spirit of sharing and mutual learning and growth – rather than to become a famous celebrity Buddhist or self-help guru on the lecture circuit – it is possible for us to succeed. The intentions of genuine Sangha-builders are described this way in the poetic Avatamsaka Sutra:
Not seeking objects of desire or positions of authority,
Wealth, personal enjoyment, or fame,
It is only to forever annihilate creatures’ miseries
And to benefit the world that they arouse their will.” Page 60
I have known people who have wanted to start a Sangha who have done so out of a desire to have a position of authority or to have people look up to them as something special, so far they have all failed miserably and have moved on. If you seek these things you will be disappointed because people will see through those things. Depending on how clever you are it may be longer before people see through you but they will eventually. The people I have known have not been that clever and so have failed and become discouraged and have moved on to some other scheme.
Whether you choose to put out some advertisements or not is up to you, but I do not feel that to begin with it is necessary, and can in fact become a burden. At the temple we did that for a short while and our results were limited. Occasionally people did come but most often the results were small. Of course we have a physical building, which I’ll admit is a big advantage when people go looking for a practice community. But to begin with it may be easier to just share you feelings with friends and see which ones seem receptive. Perhaps it is a co-worker, or perhaps it is a waitress or clerk in a store or restaurant. You can share your beliefs in a very casual non-threatening way.
I am sure you all have met people who have found it easy to confide in you, to tell you about their problems or their dreams. Maybe we have even met people who have expressed an interest in learning more about Buddhism once they found out we practice. At first they may not be comfortable coming to your house to practice but you can meet them at a coffee shop or diner and chat with them over some beverage in a low-key non-threatening way. You can give them some literature which you can always see me about helping you with, or you can print something off the blog and share with them. Over time they may be more willing to come chant with you and begin to learn to recite the sutras. Over time you can slowly build a group of like-minded people to chant and practice together. It doesn’t have to be complicated.
It does require consistent effort, and effort done with great joy. After all you have a wonderful opportunity to share the Dharma with other people; what greater joy can there be? Don’t be discouraged though if at times your efforts do not seem to be paying off. There will be times when even with your best efforts no one will show up. Remember each person lives a complicated life, just as you do. You have made a commitment to the Dharma, something they may not have done yet; so be patient and compassionate. This isn’t about you really it is about sharing the Dharma. If you can really treasure each person, those who show up and those who do not then when you see any one of them you will be able to express your great joy and celebrate their lives freely as Buddhas. They will know whether you are harboring a grudge so try to cherish each person no matter how they are able to practice. Again it isn’t about you, it is about them. Folks come to a Sangha for the same things you seek to build a Sangha for; they come for nourishment and support, learn to treasure their presence as a gift!
Since we want people to join in practicing the Dharma because it is good and will benefit them we have to be conscious of our own excitement.
“Sangha development sometimes ironically occurs in inverse proportion to its leadership’s overt zeal to build it. This kind of overt zeal is a ‘wear on your sleeve,’ missionary-type ambition to change the world, to convert…” page 62
It is this kind of zeal that will ultimately drive people away from a Sangha, they will feel uncomfortable and they will feel that there are unfair and un-Dharma related expectations being placed upon them. So we need to always keep in mind our joy at having them practice the Dharma even if only one time. Keeping in mind the gift they give us by taking the time to hear the Dharma is precious and we should cherish it for what it is. They are not obligated to us, but we are to them.
“True field builders don’t become discouraged. They just practice. They make sitting and walking meditation available to those who find them to be skillful means to transform suffering, and are happy to do it. That is all. They don’t worry excessively about where other Sangha members are, or fret how they are not contributing. The ‘missing’ Sangha members may be engaging their mindfulness practice with a needy loved one, with a sick friend at the hospital, or with a lonely child, utilizing skillful means they learned from the Sangha…You cannot force your insight on others. You may force them to accept your idea, but then it is simply an idea, not a real insight. Insight is not an idea. The way to share your insight is to help cause the conditions so that others can realize the same insight – through their own experience not just hearing what you say.” Page 62
There is much more I would like to say about this very important subject of Sangha building, however today I have talked long enough. I will be sharing more on this subject in the coming weeks, but today I have given you an important thought to consider.
I encourage all the folks in outlying areas to consider building their own Sanghas. This doesn’t need to be some huge effort but should come about naturally as a part of your day to day practice. Let it come naturally as an expression of the profound joy you experience in chanting the Odaimoku. Let us work together to spread the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra.
Thank you all again for joining in today’s service.
