Living Together
Vastmind
Memphis, TN Veteran
A little write up by TNH that I thought was nice....
Together-ness is a practice. At the practice center we have a unique opportunity to live closely with friends from many different countries and backgrounds. Together we form one Sangha body, connected by the practice of mindfulness. With our collective energy of calming and looking deeply, it is possible for us to support each other on the path of transformation. This requires cooperation, skillfulness and acceptance. To live amongst each other, we need to cultivate understanding, communication and a willing heart. Let us take the time to get to know the people around us. We have neglected our neighbors for too long.
Sharing our daily life we can encourage each other with our practice and together build diligence and solidity. Sharing a room with others is an opportunity to develop understanding and compassion for ourself and for those we live with. By being mindful of the people we share a room with, we can identify and appreciate their positive qualities, creating an atmosphere of harmony. We know that when the other person is happy, we are also happy...
The greatest gift we can offer our fellow practitioners is our practice of mindfulness. Our smile and our conscious breathing communicate that we are trying our best to find peace within ourselves and we hope to contribute to the peace in the community as well. We should remember to keep communication flowing and our happiness will flow as well.
Gratitude for this room/forum we share. .. 
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Comments
While this is an understandable opening for the fostering of respect and gratitude for the start of a retreat, for an internet audience here.......
I would submit that it is not just the room or the practice center that we share in a practice but existence itself. Together-ness is a challenge to awaken from our identity dream of being separate from everything else. The very softening of a self verses other mentality.
IMO, it represents both a practice and a manifestation of enlightenment.
I always liked the Zen metaphor of the farmer who gathers his potatoes in a burlap sack and tosses them into a local stream ... the potatoes rub against each other and become clean.
I guess part of the reason I like the tale is that it takes into account the less-than-serene head-butting that sometimes attends on the cleaning process.
Or maybe I'm just too crabby.
Good posts both....
Maybe we can soften ourselves deliberately or be softened. Inevitably, we are softened.
@Hamsaka -- Yes, I think that is true. And how much 'deliberate' softening contributes, I'm not sure.
What I mean by deliberate softening (why I didn't just say this in the first place!) is metta practice, for instance. I often hear the term 'softening' being used by the teachers as a method AND as a result of metta practice.