Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

Sangha Life Committee

CIMC’s Sangha Life Committee is a Board Committee with representatives from CIMC’s Affinity Groups, Members-at-Large, and the Board of Directors. Our mission is to attend to matters that sustain and care for all members of CIMC’s Sangha and support the flourishing of a diverse and inclusive dharma center. We engage in this work on behalf of the entire community.

Mission

The mission of the Sangha Life Committee is to:

  1. Provide an avenue for community members to become active participants with teachers, staff, and leadership in guiding the growth and development of the Center and the sangha
  2. Work towards having the diverse needs and perspectives of all members of the CIMC community heard and respected
  3. Create more avenues for relationship building and communication across the different identities and individuals that gather at CIMC
  4. Promote a welcoming and inclusive spiritual community actively working to learn about and address the needs of all current and future CIMC practitioners, regardless of the underlying causes and conditions.

More specifically with regards to point (4): Race, class, age, gender, sexuality, culture, language, education, life stage, physical and mental abilities, proximity to the Center, access to and facility with technology, and many other conditions can impact how much individuals benefit from the Center as a contemplative refuge. In aspiring to create a refuge for all who can benefit from the Buddha’s teachings: we acknowledge that our individual, relational, institutional, and societal conditioning creates suffering for ourselves and others at CIMC; we take responsibility for our contributions to this suffering; and we commit to liberating ourselves and our community from this conditioning through awareness and action.

Vision

We aspire to create opportunities for sangha members to listen and relate to one another.

We envision a Center where wisdom, experiences, and tools are shared across Community Groups.

Even in a community that is welcoming and inclusive for all, there can be a real benefit to connect with those whose experiences of the world are like one’s own, to more deeply understand and learn to work skillfully with one’s conditioning.

SO THAT through this emergent process, we realize the mutual and interconnected nature of our personal and collective liberation.

If you have any input or questions for the Sangha Life Committee (SLC), please reach out to office@cambridgeinsight.org with “for SLC” in the subject line.

Our vision is to create more spaces and avenues for relationship-building and communication across the different identity groups and individuals that gather at CIMC. We aspire to create opportunities for sangha members to listen and relate to one another and through this emergent process, realize the mutual and interconnected nature of our personal and collective liberation. In addition, as our community comes to a greater understanding of its shared concerns (particularly ones that have been left on the margins), members can become active participants with teachers, staff, and leadership in guiding the growth and development of the Center.