When the Center closed over two months ago, most of us were also confined to our homes. I wondered how I would be able to continue to share the Dharma. I had never before been drawn to online teaching. The energy of being in the meditation hall together, physically present, has always inspired my teaching and it was hard to imagine otherwise.
Also, other than a few IMS board and guiding teacher meetings—during which I would call in because I couldn’t figure out how to use my video camera—I had no previous experience with Zoom. I didn’t even particularly like the phone.
This was my situation until March 12th when CIMC closed its doors, along with the other dharma centers where I have taught for decades. I became aware that it was necessary to quickly learn how to offer the Dharma online; there would be no other way to have contact with my beloved community. Some have expressed surprise at how comfortable I seem to be online. However, it’s surely not because I am suddenly loving technology or transforming into a technological whiz.
It is simply the Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. The Dharma asks for responsiveness and we are all responding. I have been so pleased to see how so many of you have risen to the occasion and learned what you’ve needed to learn to join the classes, affinity groups, interviews, and retreats that are currently being offered by CIMC.
The Dharma is always in the present, always now. Zoom is our current vehicle and I feel as connected to you as ever. There is even a kind of surprising intimacy that some of you have reported and that I sense as well. The teachings of the Buddha have been transmitted in an unbroken current for the last 2,600 years and they remain unbroken during this tumultuous time. This is a cause for great joy.
Perhaps what has surprised me most is that a retreat on Zoom is a real retreat. The first time I taught an online retreat, I realized that all of the usual dharma qualities of any retreat I’ve ever taught in the last 35 or so years were happening in all the usual ways. By lunchtime on the first day I thought to myself: this is a real retreat! Gradually, people’s energies grew more collected and insights began to occur. To me as a teacher, it wasn’t significantly different than being in the hall. Because I have such immense confidence in retreats, this is wonderful news.
There are unexpected benefits to being online. A fair number of yogis who moved away from the Cambridge area, or are no longer able to come to the Center because of disability or age, are now able to rejoin the CIMC community. It is wonderful to see you again! Those I’ve had the privilege of offering retreats to at other centers in different parts of the country, are now able to participate in CIMC programs. As well, to practice at home while connecting with the teachings on Zoom is a potent way to close the gap between practice in the meditation hall and practice in one’s everyday life.
Yes, of course we will be happy when we can once again safely enter our beautiful building and practice together in the hall. But let’s be happy now for what we have, instead of waiting to be happy at another time. CIMC is not just a building. It is a vision, an ethos, and a community. It is you and all of our teachers. It is our dharma brothers and sisters, and it is our incredibly hard-working office staff. It is all of us together, doing our best and succeeding in continuing to practice in these extremely difficult times.
Thank you for contributing your presence to our community. Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for trying something new and thank you most of all for the sincerity of your practice. It means the world to me.
Missing you!
Narayan
P.S. I am aware that not everyone is able to access programs online. I hope we can find a way to bring you in and leave no one behind.