The Role of Spiritual Community

The role of the spiritual community in contemporarylifeJanuary 6, 2013As we begin a new year, I thought we might want to reflect on the role of a spiritualcommunity such as Appamada in contemporary life.1.support and encouragement on the spiritual path⁃It is difficult to live a life in accord with our deepest spiritual principles andaspirations. We come together to support each other in this adventure.⁃Our teachers help us continue on a path that is sometimes filled withconfusion, doubt, and struggles and offer teachings that, hopefully, illuminatethe way⁃We learn to live in harmony with those who are different from ourselves, andwith circumstances that are constantly changing, and often not to our liking⁃We learn to work together for a larger good, beyond our own self-centeredinterests and preferences⁃We learn to be fearless in realizing our own aspirations, and in facing theresistance and opposition we find both in the world and in ourselves2.a moral foundation for a life of clear thought, speech, and action. We are offeredan opportunity to examine our own motives, and to learn about the motives ofothers, so that we may live a life that is truly in accord with our aspirations forwisdom, compassion, and liberation, for ourselves and for others. Such a life iswell-described in the Buddha’s four noble truths, the six paramitas, the twelvefold chain of dependent origination. The spiritual community is a reservoir ofteachings and care we can return to for nourishment and refreshment andguidance as we travel together.3.A particular kind of offering to the world, an offering that holds a mirror up to theworld so that collectively, we can see more clearly where our hindrances toliberation are, where our destructive conditioning is causing suffering, where ourunseen patterns and habits are functioning to blind and delude us. We candiscover the structural violence that exists in systems and societies, theinequities that need to be addressed for the well-being of the whole.4.A platform for action, both individual and collective, for the relief of suffering andthe liberation of a world bound in suffering.---5.A beacon in the world, that illuminates a possibility, a way of living that supportslife, encourages and cares for those who struggle, fosters creativity andimagination, demonstrates wisdom and compassion, and points to liberation.We have come to realize that the difficulties that beset the modern world will not beresolved by a lone hero, or a brilliant scientist, or even the President of the UnitedStates, no matter how well-intentioned. While we wait for someone to arrive and solveour difficulties, or for some magical transformation, or some decisive event, the world isburning. The number of crises is multiplying as well as the scale of destruction theycause. Furthermore, these are hybrid crises. Global climate change is a biochemicalissue, an economic issue, a political issue, an environmental issue, a geographicalissue, and even a psychological issue. There will be no single discipline or domain of lifeuntouched by it, no single discipline or domain to resolve it. The same hybrid complexitycan be found in the proliferation of weapons at every scale, in the education system, inhealthcare, in the political system, in the enormous, unconscionable income inequalitywe face.The great Zen master Gerry Garcia once said, “Somebody has to do something, and it'sjust incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.”Well it is pathetic, and why? Because we believe we are helpless, without the skills andknowledge to make a difference. We believe we are alone in the world, withoutresources. We believe we are powerless, and in the process, concede our power tothose who are all too happy to confirm those beliefs. We believe we can secure our owncomfort and safety even as the world around us disintegrates. Our worlds grow smaller,and we try not to know about all that is happening outside our own small realm. Manyare in quiet despair, which is precisely where certain interests would like us. In thatmood, we buy and buy anything which will bring us comfort, safety, and a feeling ofpleasure, no matter how fleeting. This is how Starbucks created an empire. The Buddhadescribed this in the story of the father and the burning house.In order for us to mobilize our energy and attention for the enormous work that liesahead of us, we need to awaken out of the dream of our own helplessness,powerlessness, and isolation. This is the work of Buddhism. I can’t tell you what you willdo with your fully awakened wisdom and compassion but I can tell you that you will notdo it alone. Everywhere, people are waiting, like sleeping beauty, for the love and visionthat will bring them fully into life, into their power and full expression of humanness.Everywhere people are looking for allies in the healing of the world and its brokenness.---This is our work in the world now. This is what we must do, and we must do it together.We must learn to listen to each other, to include and work with those whose beliefs andworld views are very different from our own. It will require a huge commitment and arefusal to attach to our own preferences or to particular outcomes. The way is arduousand long and filled with very real dangers. No one can make it alone, and no one cantravel the whole distance. We depend on each other and we support each other inwaking up and growing up, so that we will have companions for the journey, and so thatothers can continue this evolutionary process far beyond us.To remind and inspire you, I’ll share with you Joanna Macy’s words about the ShambalaWarrior prophecy: P. 60 in Coming Back to Life.You may have ideas for engaging others in this community collectively. I hope you do!Many spiritual communities are involved in prison work, in hospice care, in work withchildren and families, in grief support. The sangha care group and clearness committeeare great examples. The question isn’t whether you will get involved in serving the world,—you are bodhisattvas, after all—but how. Please feel free to use the communitylistserve to connect with others who may share your interest—and don’t give up!This community is dedicated to fostering the qualities of mind, of heart, and of body thatenable each of you to find where and how you can come together with others for therelief of suffering and the liberation of all beings. You can’t know now, just what this willdemand of you, just where it will take you, so you must begin in ignorance and confusionand doubt. I can’t do this for you, and I can’t tell you how or where you will do it. This isour bodhisattva vow. This is what the world is crying for, just as it has cried out in everyage and in every culture. We come together to support each other in taking thismomentous step to meet the world that awaits us, when we wake up and grow up andturn toward life as it is.And that is spiritual community.