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Why Do We Seek Out Spiritual Community?
I've come across references and statements by people who say their teacher believes that the only reason people come to sangha and seek out the Dharma is to solve problems in their lives, to address discontent. I think that's a very limited view of why people attend church or sangha. I don't think it's accurate to label all sangha members as troubled.
What about seeking spiritual community for its own sake? To be around like-minded people with common values, to enjoy a weekly inspiring teaching, to bask in the energy of group devotion and upliftment, and to share one's own inspired energy and kindness? Is weekly group Dharma practice really little more than a regular visit to the psychiatrist's couch? Do only the troubled and wounded attend sangha, or is there room for the quietly contented, as well, with their own cheer, comfort and compassion to share? What about the social aspect of attending teachings?
Why do you practice the Dharma, and attend sangha (those of you who do so)?
What about seeking spiritual community for its own sake? To be around like-minded people with common values, to enjoy a weekly inspiring teaching, to bask in the energy of group devotion and upliftment, and to share one's own inspired energy and kindness? Is weekly group Dharma practice really little more than a regular visit to the psychiatrist's couch? Do only the troubled and wounded attend sangha, or is there room for the quietly contented, as well, with their own cheer, comfort and compassion to share? What about the social aspect of attending teachings?
Why do you practice the Dharma, and attend sangha (those of you who do so)?
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Comments
I have been there and quite enjoyed the ride grappling the tight rope between suicide and insanity... religion and philosophy sort of saved me.
Now, a healthier and more or less, less insane Alison, I am happy and I try to share it. I enjoy church and Bible class for the talks and watching life everyday reminds me of what I would have missed out on.
That said, I think the meaning of sangha grows or reinvents itself even as practice gains some footing. It's nice to regard it as one of the three treasures -- Buddha, Dharma, Sangha -- but let's be honest: Sangha is not a credible jewel until we make it one. Still, even without having created a jewel, sangha serves many fine purposes ... the group activity that has a strange power; the hinky-shrinky stand-in for what might better be time on a psychologist's couch; the tea and cookies get-together ... or, as my daughter used to say in teen-aged exasperation, what-EVER.
My feeling is that, for all the wild praises that sangha may receive, it's probably better just to leave it alone, keep up a determined practice, and see what happens. With practice, sangha grows all by itself, I think.
I avoided, so I thought, a lot of human interaction when I was younger but it turns out I was just very selective about my tribe. I like the idea of tribes and how we find each other. It may be hair or tattooes or clothing, but there are signals we give off to find our tribe. We have had discussions about amulets and tattooes and other articles to identify ourselves as buddhists, and it makes sense that not only do we want and need human companionship but we also want that with our tribe.
My dad is seeking his tribe of khaki slacks in retirement, I think Iowa has plenty.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_humanity_s_stairway_to_self_transcendence.html
It's a good talk. At the end he sums everything up in ~3 minutes. If you want to just get the gist of it, just watch from 14:55.
why do we do anything at all??
- To be around like-minded people with common values
do you have an unfulfilled need/urge to do so?
Why would we do this otherwise?
couldn't we call this discontent? and to address it would be to address discontent
- to enjoy a weekly inspiring teaching,
do you have an unfulfilled need/urge to do so?
Why would we do this otherwise?
couldn't we call this discontent? and to address it would be to address discontent
- to bask in the energy of group devotion and upliftment,
... same
- and to share one's own inspired energy and kindness?
...same
etc... everyone who is not enlighten is troubled and wounded in my opinion.
why would you attend a shanga if you were enlighten? unless it is to teach.
Why would you hang out in the physic department at the university after you've graduated? unless you are the professor.. ?
Complaining/joking that he wish they would never come back, or would have stopped coming back years ago.
Meaning they would have nothing to learn anymore so no point to visit ..
IMHO, A big part of Buddhism is to overcome our primitive urges/programming that keeps us enslaved.
(to realize whats going on and to then realize we do not need to bend over backward to please random instinctively conditioned urges like animals...)
the main appeal of something like physics is that we are still trying to figure it out.
to understand it.
so you have people from all over the world who come up with new theories and improved ones trying to describe nature.
So the appeal is to try to understand the theories, put them in practice, understand the implications etc...
So you might have a bunch of people in a universities talking about new theories, or someone working on whatever theories etc...
You might also have a whole bunch of people working on the physical applications of the new physics understandings, things like microwaves to cook food...
But for something like meditation, it's pretty much figured out.
Get the meditation stages and realize what it is you can realize.
i think in this context, it is more akin to learning the alphabet. (just requires alot more work to get it done).
Once you learn the alphabet, you usually don't stick around having interesting conversations about it, or listening to interesting talks about it, you just move on with your life using this skill that you now have.
unless of course you are the person teaching the alphabet, or you want to teach the alphabet and you want to learn from other teachers, how they teach it...
you may as well remain involved in the process, although not necessarily in the school, if you are interested in doing research about what is the best way to teach the alphabet to people, or what is happening in their mind when someone learn the alphabet etc...
yet, i think nothing's wrong with simply hanging out at the sangha and using it as a community like people do with church or local community centers... making things happen, setting up charity work etc...
Or aside from meditation just understanding the teachings. Mere intellectual understanding can be attained somewhat easily, if they remain that way then you might as well have learnt how to cook or dance or some other practical skill that could help you out. The process of integrating the knowledge into our minds is the real practice and is the effort of an entire life, if not many lives.
HUH! i just turned 29!!! i'm not even freaking grown up yet!
Many people go to Sanghas and churches for a sense of belonging. It's really rather odd because we want to belong but we miss the obvious and split into these little groups where notions are shared. Then we see that within these groups are also differences of opinion and new sects of differing religions emerge. It's the nature of being unique.
In reality there is only one group and we can't not belong. The universe is my sangha but since there are not too many Buddhists on my daily path, I like to hear dharma talks and recharge with new insight to share.
As far as the sangha aspect of that, some of it's just practical--multiple people want to hear teachings, so they're given at a specific time and place to accommodate that fact. Some days the sangha is two people, some days it's 102.
There isn't conversation during the teachings, so the "social" aspect doesn't apply in the sense of chatting amongst ourselves; but I do love the synchronistic energy of group listening, group chanting, etc. I consider it a social and physical component to receiving the teachings which isn't imperative, but is enjoyable.
It's not dissimilar to the question, "Why make music with others?" There is something about shared experience that we find nurturing. Maybe it's in our DNA, or maybe (as I believe) there really is a different state of mind or consciousness that is achieved by sharing experiences.