Dear friends
As many of you know, this year has been one of change and renewal in the Sangha.
Lama Shenpen has stepped back from her role as Dharma Director, so she can focus more on her writing and teaching, (and in particular this year, preparing for the consecration of Rigdzin Shikpo’s ashes in a stupa) but also to hand over responsibility to myself, while she is still around to support us all in the transition.
We recognised the need to take a deeper look into the way we function as a community, where those strategies that have been developed and to a certain extent, worked well in our pioneering stage of forming the sangha, creating a community and ethos that new students can connect to - those strategies might not be what is needed as we move forward with a new generation of Lamas, teachers, mentors and students.
Over the past six months, we have also brought in a new leadership team, which means we now have a new Dharma Director, new Operations Director and a new Community Director.
This has all happened in the background while, as a sangha, we continue to meet together every day and draw the precious Dharma into the world.
Dharma Director - Myself: Mostly focussed on the spiritual direction for the sangha.
Operations Director - Norbu: Mostly focussed on the practical running of the sangha’s activity.
Community Director - Mebar: Mostly focussed on the interpersonal aspects of the sangha.
This new leadership team is being supported by Lama Shenpen, Jonathan, Tara and Pati, as well as the operations team, which you will be introduced to in the newsletters that will follow on from this.
Since coming out of retreat last year, I have been working with the leadership and operations team and a number of senior students to explore questions such as, how can we best work together? What is the vision for the sangha for the years to come? What changes do we need to implement in order to safeguard the future of the sangha once Lama Shenpen is no longer around to guide us?
This is an ongoing project we are calling Vision Renewal.
We use a model for meetings we call ‘Meeting to receive wisdom’ - a model that helps us to draw dawn wisdom, avoiding the usual to and fro of business-like meetings and helps us to relate to a topic from a place of meditation and openness. It is a way of working we are training all of our senior students in.
Over the coming months, you will hear more about the various areas on which we are currently focussing, but in brief, it is centered around the five certainties that are needed to draw the True Dharma into the world to benefit beings, that are in themselves profound expressions of the Mandala of Awakening:
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The Teacher: In particular, supporting Lama Shenpen, but also to consider the future of the sangha in terms of our other Lamas and teachers.
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The Teachings: How we communicate our path and the richness of the Dharma lineage we hold.
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The Community: The ethos around how each of us helps to create and support the mandala of Awakening.
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The Sacred Place: A vision of relating to, developing, and caring for The Hermitage of the Awakened Heart and the stupa.
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The Time: How to make sure we are benefitting beings now and into the future, and what we can learn from our past.
Often, themes have developed over the course of our meetings, which help us relate in a new or helpful way.
We realised early on that we keep coming back around to three touchstones of what we want to create or make available:
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Enriching (or Abundant) Opportunities to connect with the Dharma in a healthy way
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Authentic or genuine community with which to support inspiration, openness, honesty and friendship
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Demanding or intensive practice for those who would really benefit
When we engage in new initiatives, or want to restructure existing ways of working, in what way do they fit into these touchstones? What does ‘in a healthy way’ actually mean? Who are ‘those who would really benefit’?
These are ongoing discussions and help to keep us on track with our initial motivation of creating a vehicle to transmit the dharma.
Metaphors emerged that better reflected how we think about our connections with the teachings and the place.
We see our path as being engaged in a pilgrimage to the heart, where we gather together as a community, as though around a warm fire, to receive and share the warmth of the living flame of Dharma. We are not a corporation that provides a service that customers pay for, but a meeting in friendship and support, where we can walk alongside and support others.
Our path is not about jumping through hoops, or the ambition to achieve something, or get somewhere. We are not a Buddhist University teaching a dry curriculum - rather, the way in which we gather together, the way we approach the flame is itself an expression of the very truth we are seeking to embody.
Our sacred space, the Hermitage, is also an important pilgrimage site. We are committed to enter into a relationship with the space, taking care of it, like stewards or vigil-keepers, empowering the place with our practice, care and attention. Our vision is to create an enthusiastic and responsible community, who support others to do retreats of different kinds, but also with a wish to go deeper ourselves in whatever way works for each of us. We are currently discussing the long-term vision for the Hermitage and those who live there, and how they relate to the local area.
All of these elements need careful thinking about and planning, and the leadership team is meeting every day, bringing in others as necessary and checking in with senior students before expressing it to the wider sangha. If you hear little snippets of information here and there about the future vision, it might not be the full story, or even a well thought out version of our thinking process. I ask for patience and understanding. What we are doing here can’t be pulled off the shelf.
I trust that we are all in it for the long haul and, as Lama Shenpen said last year, for lifetimes!! We are putting things into place now that will hopefully bear fruit for generations to come.
I will let you all know more about these developments in the coming months, this is just the first of a series of messages, so keep an eye on your inbox for updates on the various areas I mention above.
With gratitude for your ongoing support and practice,
Dashon