Deep Spring Center: Sangha Meeting Notes – 4/21/02

Summary:

22 members of the Sangha gathered at Cassie and Corty Cammanns’ house for lunch and discussion.

We began with open discussion.

We greeted Su Hansen and heard her describe how she saw the work that was facing her.

We reviewed the work of the Task Force examining the financial implications of getting a building. The task force believed that with some additional teaching it would be possible to afford to rent a modest space of around 650 square feet and they recommended that the Board proceed in that direction. The sense of the meeting was to support the recommendation that will be sent to the Board by the Task Force. For further information about their recommendations, please contact the Task Force members directly: David Copeland, Susan Weir, and Pat Shalis.

We had 15 minutes of silent contemplation of what we are interested in getting from the Sangha and what activities we would like to see as part of the Sangha’s functioning. We then discussed our interests and activities we believed would be useful. A number of ideas were generated (listed below).

As a result of this discussion, the Sangha is making three recommendations to the Board:

  1. The Sangha hold quarterly business meetings that include some social time and a couple of hours on the business of the Sangha. The Sangha Development Group, aka the Sangha Building Task Force, (Jack, Anna Marie, Carol and Corty; Cassie Cammann volunteered to be a part of this task group following the 4.21.02 mtg) volunteered to organize these meetings for a period of time. The date of July 28, 2002 looked like a good time for the next meeting. The meeting would be for approximately three hours beginning at 12:30. The agenda will be developed by the Development Group working with the Board, and will include update on progress in finding a building, and further discussion of how we want to operate as a Sangha. The location will be determined in a manner similar to what was done in determining location for the April meeting.
  2. The work of the Finance Task Force and the Site Search Committees be merged in some way to get a clearer focus on spaces that might work for the Sangha and implications for Sangha operations. No recommendations were developed for the Board on composition, charter, or time frames for this work other than that it would be useful to have some recommendations available for the next Sangha Meeting in July.
  3. The Board form a committee to enrich the social and personal connections among Sangha Members. We recommend that the Committee both organize social events that would enable us to interact more fully, and develop mechanisms that enable us to connect with each other more easily (for example a Sangha directory). No further recommendations on composition or charter were made.

A number of other ideas were discussed in the meeting that are documented in the attached Meeting notes.

  1. There were a number of ideas for activities that would benefit the Sangha and its development that individuals and groups could usefully pursue as they have the time and interest. One example of this type of idea was identifying and carrying out Service projects in the community. As people act on these idea it would be useful for them to remember to communicate with the Sangha as a whole so that they help us build our sense of identity.
  2. There was discussion of the desire for further organization of the structure of the Sangha’s teaching offerings to the community to include more on Buddhism, Study Groups, Practice Support Groups, Retreats with talking and more Sitting times. Although we did not discuss it during the Sangha meeting, The SDG believes that this task should be delegated to the Teachers Group for further work.
  3. There was also considerable interest in further clarification of who we are and how we operate. There was not consensus about how to proceed with this issue beyond the steps currently in place. The Sangha Development Group has volunteered to explore ways that these issues can be usefully discussed in future Sangha meetings and to make recommendations on possible next steps to the Board.
  4. Finally, the Sangha Development Group agreed that it would develop notes from this meeting to be sent out to people who did not attend, along with an invitation for people who were not there to provide feedback on their reactions if they choose to do so.

Notes:

These are the flip chart notes as they were presented or developed during the meeting. (Items in Italics are the facilitator’s memory of additional discussion or relevant context.)

Agenda:

12:00    Get together
1:00      Open discussion
                    building exploration
                    New Office Manager Introduction
1:30     Framing of interest exploration
1:35     Contemplation
1:50     Identification and quick prioritization
            (We decided not to prioritize when we reached that point in the meeting.)
2:30     Recommendations for next steps
2:55     Review/reflections on the meeting
3:00     End

Suggested Ground Rules:

List of DSC activities provided as a thought stimulator:

Interest Exploration:

Interests Activities that could fulfill the interests
Learning to Meditate Classes
Barbara and Aaron
Sittings (Sunday)
Sittings other times than Sunday
Sangha sharing
A monthly all day
Retreats
Sunday evening sittings
Regular discussions of our practice (some with a teacher and some without)
Learning to teach meditation Practice retreats
Practice Dharma talks
Learning Buddhism Retreats with talking and processing
Workshops
Sangha Days
Study Group - discussion of readings, topics, etc.
Learn Sutras
Dharma class - what are the teachings and what is the language
Support Groups and support for living your practice
Keeping in touch with each other and giving/receiving help from each other Have a mechanism that makes it possible for people to develop "Practice Buddies", "Mentoring Buddies", and individuals who can be available to pair with newcomers to the Sangha should they desire it.
Having fun together
  with noise and food		 Parties
Nurturing ourselves to make it easier to give to others  
Staying light  
Clarifying our values as a Sangha Code of Ethics - have one that is for the Sangha, not just one for the teachers (or perhaps expand the teachers ethics for the Sangha, or incorporate the teacher ethics into a Sangha Ethics Code)
Doing together- building common experience through doing service together Having Sangha Service Projects - we could brainstorm possible projects in a future Sangha meeting - one idea was having a group that would support a Nursing Home Cassie is familiar with
Integrate the people in the Sangha more effectively Quarterly Large Group Sangha Meetings
Support individual practice  
Bring Loving Kindness to the world through service Community projects
Teaching is a service to the community
We need a way to organize this
Caring for each other and supporting our well being We need ways to provide physical, emotional and financial support for Sangha members who are in need of help
Fun Chanting
Community Create smaller groups (four to eight?) on a temporary basis who meet together so that people within the Sangha can get to know each other better
Develop ways for us to manifest ourselves as a whole Overall Sangha coordination and identity creation activities
A directory of Sangha members and how to contact them (perhaps with other information)
Who we are statements (some are already in draft form)
A list of who is on the Board (it was noted that this information is on the newsletter)
A place to find a listing of the committees that exist, what they are chartered to do, and who is on them
Clarification of who we are and how we operate Clear and available statements of our Vision, Values, Communication Processes, Governance Structure, and By-laws
A quarterly business meeting of the Sangha
Advance Notice
Membership (discussion made it clear that this is a complicated issue that has been considered but not satisfactorily conceptualized as yet)
Infra-structure
An integrated calendar - readily available
Getting needed resources Fund raising activities
Marketing/Outreach Communication/Awareness
Sangha is family - a home away from home Use our Sangha as a place of Practice
Have Day-care/child-care when we have Sangha activities (appreciation was expressed that it was available for this meeting)
Have a policy about sharing information about members - Thanks was expressed to the board for not distributing the membership list to others
Having Aaron involved - People viewed this as an important part of the activity of the Sangha that may not have been fully identified in the list above

Summary of Areas where Sangha Activities were desired:

Summary of Conclusions:

The Sangha Development Group agreed to prepare notes from the meeting for purposes of communication with those who could not attend or are interested. There was some discussion of including a simple questionnaire to find out people’s level of interest in participating in the Sangha and the Group will see what it can do in this direction.

Final Notes:

A contact list is being created from persons who have participated or had wanted to but couldn’t in either of the two 2002 sangha meetings. The SDG is intending to make one more mailing to the broader Midwest mailing list with the minutes from the Sangha meeting and a request that individuals who would like to continue to receive notification of Sangha meetings and the notes from these meetings let us know so that they can be added to the Sangha meeting contact list. The list will be available sometime in May.

As details get worked out, the maintenance of the list would be eventually turned over to the office administrator. The list is being distributed to those persons who share information and is to be kept confidential. This list may serve in developing some kind of sangha directory.

Lastly, we think the name "Sangha Development Group" is a more representative description of the work we are doing, and we recommend that we use this in replacing the name "Sangha Building Task Force".