A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name: Sangha as Community (1 of 2)
3/31/202632 min
In Buddhism, we have three treasures: Buddha, teachers or our own awakened nature; Dharma, the teachings or the truth itself, and Sangha, the community of people who practice and maintain the tradition together. From the beginning of Buddhism, then, community has been considered essential – but in what sense? We may think of Sangha primarily as an impersonal institution providing access to Buddhist teachings and practice. It certainly fulfills that function, but I believe it's equally important that our Sanghas be welcoming, loving, joyful, mature communities: A place where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDomyo Burk· Host0:00
[on-hold music] Welcome to the Zen Studies Podcast. I'm Domyo Burk. No new supporting members in the last two weeks. But of course, continued thanks to all of you who support the podcast with recurring donations. All my podcast offerings are free, including my new episodes and my library of over three hundred past episodes, including written versions available at zenstudiespodcast.com. My vocation as a Zen priest and teacher is a great joy, but my income through my Zen center grows very slowly over the years, so your donations support my work, providing forty percent of my income at this point in time, so thank you. On to today's topic, a place where everybody knows your name, Sangha as community. In Buddhism, we have three treasures, Buddha, teachers or our own awakened nature, Dharma, the teachings or the truth itself, and