Super Sangha

Wow! Sunday was quite a day, spiritually speaking. Sundays are Days of Mindfulness for me. I try to be mindful and spiritual all day. This time I succeeded. I was a little nervous about the plan. Three sangha members have expressed an interest in becoming members of the Order of Interbeing, like me. I am a co-mentor for them, along with my own mentor, Joanne Friday. I suggested we have a discussion group to discuss the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing. I also invited anyone else who might be interested, but I assumed this would be of interest only to the three aspirants and maybe one or two others. I prepared by reading over some materials and reminding myself that is not about me. I am merely a vehicle for the teachings. I had a wonderful talk with Joanne yesterday, and that helped me. At 3 p.m. it was time to begin. To my astonishment, eighteen people showed up for the discussion. That is more than we have had at a sangha sitting in years. It turns out there is a real hunger in the community for these teachings. I conducted a comparatively formal ceremony with formal rituals (lighting the candle, lighting the incense, invoking the names of the bodhisattva and bowing) to begin the session, and that went very well. It seemed to set the tone just right. The discussion was slow, mindful and meaningful. Many people expressed gratitude that Thich Nhat Hanh is available to us now, and that his teachings include such openness. The First Mindfulness Training, on which we focused tonight, stresses being open to other teachings and doctrines and not being attached to any one doctrine. Several people contrasted this attitude with the restrictive nature of some other religions. There were several references to John Lennon, including "nothing to kill or die for," from his song "Imagine," and the Beatles song "Let It Be."

After 90 minutes we paused for a break and then went into the regular Sangha session, and almost everyone stayed for that. A few others came at that time too. It went very well too. I read a chapter from "Peace is Every Step" about a tangerine meditation, and then we did our own tangerine meditation. It was delightful. Afterwards many, many people thanked me and said it was a transformative, spiritual experience. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude. I felt gratitude for my teachers, my family and my sangha. The sangha spirit was stronger than I had ever felt it before. Occasionally I receive confirmation that I am on the right path. This was one of those times.