Zen Master Hyon Ja: Sangha (Dharma Note)

Sangha is a community of people sincerely wishing to find their true nature. We pay homage to the Buddha, The Dharma and the Sangha. Each a precious valuable jewel.

Sangha is where all of us together fit. Buddha is your true nature. Dharma is all the things that surround us. Sangha is us. Sangha is a brilliant jewel. Sangha has held together for thousands of years. Coming to the practice means coming into the temple softly to be with each other. Even through zoom or other social platforms, our hearts and minds know that coming together is what we long to do. All animals, insects, plants and human beings come together. We face the joys and the suffering in our lives together.

We vow to pay homage to the Sangha. It is a living thing, and it can easily break. We should protect it with all our might. We must water and feed our Sangha. Just today I saw a short video of our wonderful Zen nuns in Hong Kong giving out 8500 meals. They prepared the food and stood all day giving out lunch packets.

Sangha is precious and needs to be whole heartily supported. At times when we are facing difficult times in our lives, Sangha can support us, call us and care about us. Practicing together—indeed doing things together— is the correct way. At times members of a Sangha lose their way and Sangha can shine the light for them in the dark. At times members become confused. Sangha can gently point out clarity to them. At times we face conflict amongst ourselves and then we can reach out to friends in the Sangha and ask for help.

Everything about Sangha is soft, gentle and kind. For this reason, we must protect the Sangha —-because it is soft and fragile. We face each other within this community and look to see where we can help each other. That is the direction of our practice.

Sangha is also where we can see as if in a mirror, where our personal lives are. We see this in how we interact with others and how we face ourselves when we are in conflict with others.

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