Practicing with no sangha

Jakob

I've attended several lectures and debates about buddhism, a few years back, and recently i've been reading a lot again. I've practiced mindfullness meditation from time to time, and I've attended Karma Kadjy meditations on the 16th Karmapa.

At the moment I am re-reading "the heart of the buddha's teachings" by Thich Nhat Hanh. I find it lovely and try to understand as much as possible.

The question I am getting at is; can one practice without the support of a Sangha? - There are no real centres in the part of the country where I live, and most of my time is set of for studies, my girlfriend and our two daughters (5 years and 7 months respectively). The only time I feel I have, is when I'm home alone. As a side question, how do I obtain the knowledge needed to practice, from where? - I have no problems with watching, listening or reading about guidance.

Best regards
Jakob

BrotherBob

Jakob wrote: »

I've attended several lectures and debates about buddhism, a few years back, and recently i've been reading a lot again. I've practiced mindfullness meditation from time to time, and I've attended Karma Kadjy meditations on the 16th Karmapa.

At the moment I am re-reading "the heart of the buddha's teachings" by Thich Nhat Hanh. I find it lovely and try to understand as much as possible.

The question I am getting at is; can one practice without the support of a Sangha? - There are no real centres in the part of the country where I live, and most of my time is set of for studies, my girlfriend and our two daughters (5 years and 7 months respectively). The only time I feel I have, is when I'm home alone. As a side question, how do I obtain the knowledge needed to practice, from where? - I have no problems with watching, listening or reading about guidance.


Best regards
Jakob

Hi Jakob,

I imagine studying and practicing with 'The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching' until you know it thoroughly will lead you to a very good place.

I know a man who lives outside Homer, Alaska who connects with a Sangha and Dharma Teacher of Thich Nhat Hanh's 'Order of Interbeing' by Skype regularly for support.

I recommend contacting the Order and seeing if you may make a similar connection from where you are. http://www.orderofinterbeing.org/

:):)

PietroPumokin

the sangha is one of the three treasures so it is extremely valuable, and almost indispensable. fortunately, we have the internet nowadays which facilitates the presence of sangha for anyone who temporarily cannot connect with a physical sangha. but if you are able to take refuge in buddha and dharma, the other two treasures, the spirit of the sangha, i would say, is in a way contained in those two, because the three are interdependent.

Jeffrey

Yes. However I will add that maybe you should consider trying to travel to a center some time for a retreat. Or see if there is a teacher somewhere who would be willing to keep up to date with you by phone, post, or e-mail. I have received a lot of encouragement and dharma advice online. I do wish that I could go to the retreats of my teacher in person to receive transmission directly, but all I can do is honor that desire in my heart and feel a connection to all the people such as yourself who have the motivation and leisure to practice dharma but they just weren't fortunate enough to be near the teachings.

Anupassī

I think it really depends on the amount of introversion or extraversion present in the current form of personality. Except for one-way contact with the teachings of several Ajahns (in the form of audio) and reading the suttas, and occasional discussion with a single friend, I study the Buddhadhamma essentially alone. The personality traits I currently "have" are strongly inclined towards introversion, so it's the best way to observe things in my case.

Floating_Abu

Jakob wrote: »

I've attended several lectures and debates about buddhism, a few years back, and recently i've been reading a lot again. I've practiced mindfullness meditation from time to time, and I've attended Karma Kadjy meditations on the 16th Karmapa.

At the moment I am re-reading "the heart of the buddha's teachings" by Thich Nhat Hanh. I find it lovely and try to understand as much as possible.

The question I am getting at is; can one practice without the support of a Sangha? - There are no real centres in the part of the country where I live, and most of my time is set of for studies, my girlfriend and our two daughters (5 years and 7 months respectively). The only time I feel I have, is when I'm home alone. As a side question, how do I obtain the knowledge needed to practice, from where? - I have no problems with watching, listening or reading about guidance.

Best regards
Jakob

Dear Jakob, yes of course it is. Use what resources you have available to you.

Metta,

Abu

Dazzle

Hi Jakob and welcome.

In the Buddhism for Beginners section there is a thread for online Dharma talks which might be helpful to you.

http://newbuddhist.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4465

I also suggest that to begin with you start with the core teachings of the Buddha.

'What the Buddha Taught' by Walpole Rahula for example.

You can also find suttas from the Pali Canon and various related articles at the Access to Insight website.

I also recommend the What-Buddha-Taught website for a variety of teachings and audios. Also lots of info on websites of the Thai Forest Tradition.

Regarding practising alone, that's fine - but I think it might be good if you could arrange for a day or a weekend outing to a centre or monastery even just once or twice a year, in order to investigate and maybe seek some offline meditation instruction and feedback.

Kind wishes,

Dazzle

.

Jakob

Wow, so many helpfull responses! - thank you so much everyone!

- I'm pretty sure I will be posting more questions in here presently. I guess somehow the absence of a physical sangha, or center, has been a hindrance for me getting really started. But as somebody wrote, only do it, and so I will