WHAT IS A SANGHA?

“Sangha” means “the community of monks, nuns, novices, and laypeople that follow the Buddha’s teachings.” It is our spiritual community–a group of people who are on the same path.  As a Sangha we are a support and a refuge for one another. In fact, Sangha is one of the Three Refuges of Buddhism, along with the Buddha–not only the historical teacher, Buddha Shakyamuni, but also our own enlightened Buddha-nature–and the Dharma, which are the teachings of the Buddha.

SANGHA SITS

Monday, September 14, 2026 

9:00 a.m.  IN PERSON  at The Body Based Mindfulness Center 

and 5:30 p.m. on ZOOM:

MEETING ID: 826 8659 1987==PASSCODE: 065090

AND

Thursday Evening, September 17, 2026 

5:30 p.m. IN PERSON at The Body Based Mindfulness Center

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This week we will read the chapter titled Emptiness in Stephen Batchelor’s book Buddhism Without Beliefs. Bachelor writes, “We may speak of conditions and consequences as though they were things, but if we look more closely they turn out to be processes with no independent reality. The harshness of a barbed remark that haunts us for days is no more than a brief instance isolated from a torrent of events. Yet it stands out in the mind’s eye as something intrinsically real and apart. This habit of isolating things leads us to inhabit a world in which the gaps between them become absolute. The snake in the shed is really there, as sharply differentiated from the frightened person who beholds it as the shards of discarded pottery on which it is coiled.”

THE BODY BASED MINDFULNESS CENTER, WHERE WE MEET IN PERSON ON MONDAY AT 9:00 A.M. AND THURSDAY AT 5:30 P.M., IS LOCATED AT :

1414 N. NEVADA AVENUE 

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80907.

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SEPTEMBER SELF-DIRECTED METTA, KARUNA AND SYMPATHETIC JOY PRACTICE

For the month of September we will practice self-directed  Metta (Lovingkindness or Unconditional Friendliness), self-directed Compassion (Karuna), and this month we will add self-directed sympathetic joy (Mudita). This is three of the Four Divine Abidings. In October we will add the last one, Upeksha (equanimity).

Many of you have said that it has become difficult to remember to remember to practice this daily, and that it is difficult to see the difference between Metta and Karuna. They actually are so much alike in many ways, but metta is wishing for our happiness and compassion is wishing that we will be free from suffering. Mudita is wishing that we experience joy in our own joys. What a concept! 

I have added specific aspirations for both Karuna and Mudita to the phrases below so that they feel more apparent and intentional… albeit a little clunky.

May I be at peace

May my heart be open

May I take joy in my own joy and in my own true being

May I know freedom from suffering

May I be healed

May I be a source of healing in the world

May I know love.

If there’s someone in the sangha you’d like to check in with and you don’t have their email address(es), let me know and I’ll connect you. I don’t want to open the entire list without your permission. 

 INDIVIDUAL DHARMA TEACHINGS

DURING THE WEEK, I OFFER 30 TO 60 MINUTE INDIVIDUAL DHARMA TEACHINGS EITHER IN PERSON OR ON ZOOM. PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR DETAILS AND APPOINTMENT TIMES.

We meet IN PERSON on Monday mornings at 9:00 a.m. at The Body-Based Mindfulness Center, and on ZOOM on Monday evenings at 5:30. We also meet on Thursday evenings IN PERSON at 5:30 at The Body-Based Mindfulness Center, 1414 N. Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80907.