Nourishing our Sangha Body
Dear friends,
Welcome to Going As A River Edmonton Sangha, and thank you for signing up for our Newsletter!
Please note that we have recently launched a new website. If you haven’t already, please feel free to explore and share the link: https://www.goingasariver.org/
For our first 5 weeks together, we will practise online.
We will then meet in-person weekly on Fridays from 7-9pm Nov 25 – Dec 16 at Yoga Within Studio. We will then break over the holiday season and reconvene with ongoing in-person weekly practice on January 6th at Yoga Within.
Oct 25 – Nov 18 (Online Program)
During our first 5 weeks of online practice together, we will practise with Nourishing our Sangha Body. We will practise with the meaning of sangha and what it is to build and to nourish sangha.
Thây reminds us that “ if we are a drop of water, then we will evaporate halfway. But if we go as a river, we will surely reach the ocean. “
When we practise going as a river in the Plum Village tradition, we practise being in spiritual community – in sangha. We take refuge in the third of the Three Jewels and we engage in the practice of the second Dharma seal, which is the practice of non-self.
Oct 21 - In the first week of practice, we will listen to a Dharma Talk by Senior Plum Village monastic, Sister Annabel on the Second Dharma Seal and the practice of ‘Going As a River’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWpZsG88K4M (59:00 - 1:17:00)
Oct 28 - In our second week of practice, we will watch a Dharma talk by Thây on ‘Taking refuge in the sangha as a practice’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjgdvEkz4i4 (1:06:45 - 1:29:30)
Nov 4 - Our third week of practice falls on the first Friday of November, so we will recite the 5 Mindfulness Trainings together and share about our practice with them - in the context of sangha.
Nov 11 - In the fourth week of practice together, we will watch a Dharma talk by Thây on ‘Dharma body, Sangha body,’ where Thay speaks to the various ‘bodies’ that we practitioners have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDZu9kptiW4
Nov 18 - Finally, in the fifth and final week of online practice, we will watch a Dharma talk by Thây about ‘Sangha as the Beloved Community’ and a dream that he shared with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, stemming from their time together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idHSeRRTQ_8
Please contact us to receive the Zoom Link to join us in practice.
Dana
Going As a River Sangha is a self-sustaining non-profit community. Sangha members are invited to practice dāna to help nourish and keep the sangha body alive. Dāna is a practice of generosity - each offering nourishes and supports our own practice as well as the sangha’s.
The first most precious form of offering of generosity is our presence and practice. Our practice is a treasure to the sangha, as it benefits the sangha as much as it benefits us individually. We are each a single cell in the sangha body, so our own happiness is also the happiness of the sangha.
The second offering of generosity is our service. Please let us know if it is available to you to offer service in support of the sangha. You are invited to let the Caretaking Council know by emailing goingasariver@gmail.com
The third offering of generosity is by offering financial support, to help sustain the sangha’s operational and administrative costs, such as: practice space rental, Zoom fees, website hosting, print materials, incorporation of association status etc..
Suggested dāna is $5-20 per weekly practice session, which can also be offered on a monthly basis (for example $20-80 per month).
Everybody is welcome and nobody will be turned away for financial reasons. Please offer what is available to you, those who can offer little are supported by the offerings of those who can offer more. Financial dāna can be made via clicking here.
All forms of offerings of generosity are welcome with gratitude!
With gratitude from
The Caretaking Council
