The three jewels on our path of compassion and liberation are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha shows us it’s possible to liberate the heart and to walk a path of peace, the Dharma offers refuge in the path of practice, and the Sangha is the support and refuge of community.
In these times, it is ever more important to find ways of meeting things as they are, and to practice responding rather reacting from fear, anxiety, despair, hopelessness, and fatigue. In order to live our ideals, we need to strengthen connections with each other and to intentionally share what is in our hearts. We need safer places to reveal what is meaningful and to listen deeply to what is meaningful for one another. These are expressions of the third jewel of the sangha.
To support this sharing, we will soon offer a new form at CIMC called The Way of Council; in other contexts, you may hear these circles called heart circles or sharing circles. This is an ancient form, originating from indigenous cultures to foster compassion, deep listening, and a greater capacity to listen to the sorrow and joys, confusions and wisdom of each other. You don’t have to be extroverted or even to like being in a group to learn and appreciate this form. It is powerful and deeply healing, independent of personalities and conditioning.
I first encountered this form when bearing witness in Auschwitz with the Zen peacemakers. Many elders, including Joan Halifax and Joanna Macy, have used it in their work. CIMC members describe its similarity to the breakout groups practiced in the experienced practitioner’s class over many years, and other CIMC practitioners use this practice in their Kalyana mitta groups. So the form of council may well be familiar to you already.
There isn’t the space here to describe the process fully so I invite you to experience council first-hand on February 28th from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM ET. We will meet in person at CIMC as well as online. On that day there will be a full introduction to the form and the opportunity to try it out with the guidance and support of CIMC teachers.
Why are we bringing the way of council to CIMC at this time? Because we need to shore up our inner resources and learn how to speak and listen with ever greater empathy. I believe this form can hold the distress many are experiencing, and it strengthens our refuge in the sangha. Given the stormy seas of conditions, let’s weather these times together with grace and wisdom.
Narayan