The Touching the Earth
Sangha has now been in existence for nearly four years. We had no idea when we
started how things would develop and what could be achieved, and what started
out as a bit of an experiment has evolved into a healthy, thriving community of
practitioners. In addition to our regular days of mindfulness and evening
meetings, we have also started a steering group to guide and develop ideas
within the group and have just booked the East Down Centre on Dartmoor for our
third annual retreat. Last year’s retreat was fully booked in twenty four
hours, so depending on what happens next year it may be time to find a larger
venue for 2014. Things have evolved very organically and naturally, with lots
of input from many Sangha members and a culture of shared ownership and
responsibility from the beginning.
I was reading ‘Friends on
the Path’ recently featuring essays by Thay and other contributors on the art
of building Sangha. In chapter 1: ‘Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century’
Thay talks about despair being the great temptation of this century, and the
need for Sangha support. We are faced with apparently overwhelming challenges
in the twenty-first century (with environmental destruction and global warming
etc) and the potential to endlessly discuss and blame, sink into despair and become
overwhelmed is indeed tempting. As a
Sangha, we can support each other and be creative in the face of all these
challenges.
What the world really
needs is love and understanding. The Earth herself needs love as well as the
people and all sentient beings living on it, and hopefully our Sanghas can have
love and understanding at their core. As the Touching the Earth Sangha has
developed over the years, I feel love and understanding is being nurtured and
is growing, and the potential within the group has grown to match.
I have been working as a
forest school leader for the last four years, and transmitting a love of nature
and our Earth is, for me, a key element of this work. Working in the woods with
small groups of children, watering the positive seeds in their consciousness
and allowing the beautiful woodland to work its magic is very rewarding. It
truly feels as if I am ‘sowing seeds’ in their minds. I don’t know how these ‘seeds’
will manifest in the future, but it fills me with optimism. I don’t know how
many children I have worked with (from one off days to more intensive six week
programmes) but it must be between 700 - 1000 children. During the forest
school sessions, I encourage the children to practice deep listening during our
sharing circles (it appears loving speech is a bit more of a challenge for
them) which take place at the beginning and end of each session. I have
introduced more meditative activities such as the ‘sound map’ which involves
the child sitting in silence in the wood listening to the sounds around them
(with their eyes closed) and then drawing the sounds on a piece of paper, with
a picture of themselves in the middle (after hearing a bell of mindfulness). The
child learns to be more receptive and in touch with what is. I’m planning to introduce a range of different mindfulness
practices.
I have had an aspiration
to buy woodland either near or in Glastonbury for the last few years as a way
of developing this work. I also thought that a woodland could become a place
for the Touching the Earth Sangha in some way. I could see days of mindfulness
happening in the woods and Sangha members having access to the woods as a
resource - to be in touch with the nourishing and healing elements that a
woodland environment has to offer. I could see a project involving the Sangha,
sharing ownership and working together. We realised we couldn’t afford this
particular dream on our own (and realised that even if we could, we didn’t want to do it on our own). So, when a
two acre woodland came up for sale in the hills near Glastonbury Tor we thought
maybe it was worth putting out the word in the Sangha to see what would
happen…..
Our group met up in LaTerre CafĂ© in Glastonbury for three meetings leading up to the auction. We managed to work out how we were going to manage the woodland if we were successful, and what everyone’s aspirations were for the woodland. We found a solicitor to write up our agreement, and a whole gang of us (eleven in total, including moral support) went off to the auction and put in a successful bid. This all happened in under four weeks from the time of discovering the woodland was for sale. From our first meeting in LaTerre until the auction itself was about a week and a half! Causes and conditions were obviously right for things to manifest.
So, in the spring I expect
I will be setting up my geodesic dome so it can become a ‘Dharma Dome’ in the
woods ready for a day of mindfulness. What could be more Buddhist than
meditating in the woods?
We have quite a lot of
work to do before that will be possible, but I’m looking forward to getting
started on improving the access and putting in a compost loo and fire pit with
seating etc. The first tree we are going to plant is a willow that was given to
me as a cutting by my good friend Chris Madelin shortly before she died. Chris
supported us when we first started the Sangha, and lead the walking meditation
on our first day of mindfulness. I see the woodland as part of her
continuation, and the tree is a continuation of a tree from her garden.
With the rapid expansion
in the number of Sanghas the last few years, there must be many interesting
‘grass roots’ projects being started by Sangha members up and down the country.
I was wondering, for example, how many Sangha allotments there are out there? It
would seem a great way to work together and produce some organic food. There
must be many new and original ways people are Sangha building in response to
the challenges of our modern lives. An interesting change I have noted in myself
is that I have moved away from the model of community where everyone has to
live together in a practice centre. The development of the Touching the Earth
Sangha has caused a dropping away of that particular idea. It’s kind of
obvious, really, that Sangha is all about people and not about anything else.
The Sangha I am part of is meeting my need, and working together we can achieve
a lot.
Kevin Bull
True Flower of Loving
Kindness
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