In Buddhism, we have three treasures: Buddha, teachers or our own awakened nature; Dharma, the teachings or the truth itself, and Sangha, the community of people who practice and maintain the tradition together. From the beginning of Buddhism, then, community has been considered essential – but in what sense? We may think of Sangha primarily as an impersonal institution providing access to Buddhist teachings and practice. It certainly fulfills that function, but I believe it’s equally important that our Sanghas be welcoming, loving, joyful, mature communities: A place where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.
Quicklinks to Article Content:
Sangha as Community
Our Need for Community
Ways Sangha Can Provide Community as Well as Access to the Dharma
Is It the Role of Sanghas to Provide Community?
A Vision for My Sangha
The Relationship Between Our Physical “Third Place” and Our Online Sangha Members
Episode 327:
Sangha as Community
Thich Nhat Hanh, the beloved Vietnamese Zen master, famously said:
The Buddha, Shakyamuni, our teacher, predicted that the next Buddha would be Maitreya, the Buddha of love. We desperately need love. And in the Buddha’s teaching we learn that love is born from understanding. The willingness to love is not enough. If you do not understand, you cannot love. The capacity to understand the other person will bring about acceptance and loving kindness.
It is possible the next Buddha will not take the form of an individual. The next Buddha may take the form of a community, a community practicing understanding and lovingkindness, a community practicing mindful living.[i]
A Buddha is an awakened being who teaches others, enabling them to awaken as well. According to Buddhist mythology, Shakyamuni was just one in a long line of buddhas helping people liberate themselves. Thich Nhat Hanh is suggesting that perhaps what humanity needs most right now is to come together in beloved community to learn from one another and facilitate one another’s awakening. Rather than looking to an extraordinary and charismatic person for leadership, we need to remember how interdependent we are. Such reconnection isn’t just important for Sangha and Buddhist practice, it’s critical to the survival of humanity.
The kinds of Sanghas we need now may be different than those of the past. Most communities of Buddhist practitioners in the past have been composed largely of monastics. This means they emphasized renunciation, simplicity, silence, and formality. Monastic culture is valued by modern lay practitioners in the context of meditation, retreats, and formal Dharma practice, but it’s a stark contrast to what lay people generally do when they get together to create community. Lay people – especially if they want to engage youth and children in the activities – are inclined toward informality, celebration, uninhibited conversation, good food and drink, and things like music, play, and the creation of beauty.
On the other hand, maybe Sangha as social community isn’t a new thing at all. It’s impossible to accurately summarize how Buddhist communities have manifested over the last 2,500 years, but I think it’s fair to say that in most times and places, there has been a community of lay people associated with any given monastic practice center or temple. Some of these lay people practiced in a way similar to the monastics, but most of them engaged in devotional practices including the support of the monks and maintenance of the temple. Inevitably, the lay community created social connection in all the ways human beings typically do.
I remember attending a Buddhist celebration at a local Vietnamese temple. In addition to monks conducting ceremonies there was abundant food, elaborate decorations, music, traditional dances by the young women of the Sangha, and an exciting parade involving massive dragon puppets. The whole community seemed vibrant and inclusive of whole families. It struck me as a more sustainable model of Sangha than many western Buddhist practice centers follow – a model which often focuses exclusively on what was, traditionally, the most monastic aspects of the tradition.
Traditional social activities in my lineage, Japanese Soto Zen, include choirs singing a beautiful form of religious chanting call Baika, groups studying formal flower arranging called Ikebana, and the production of beautiful, elaborate meals for celebrations. Zen temples in Japan often house pre-schools and are overrun with children much of the week. Because most Japanese priests marry and have families, there is often a temple family present, and it will not be considered unusual to see the priest unwinding with his family over a beer. The temple grounds are usually beautiful and benefit from care and upkeep from volunteers. All of this invites the formation of a community centered on the temple that extends well beyond those interested primarily in meditation and formal Dharma study.
As Buddhism has taken root in the west, convert communities – those composed largely of people who were not born into a Buddhist family – have typically viewed the social environment of traditional temples as incidental to Sangha practice. The presence of people at traditional temples who aren’t doing formal Dharma practice, and activities beyond silent meditation, Dharma Study, and formal practice, are often seen as “cultural” phenomena not directly relevant to the essence of the Buddhist tradition.
Ironically, while many convert Dharma centers may have decided not to continue social activities they identify as merely “cultural” in the countries through which they trace their Buddhist lineage, most have ended up creating their own methods of cultivating social connection and building community. Such methods are appropriate to our cultural setting and time. For example, many Dharma centers maintain a practice place with numerous activities throughout the week. They generally all have an explicit “practice” aspect, but often involve smaller, more intimate “cohort” groups, or incorporate a time to “check in,” when each participant has a chance to speak. Volunteers come to help maintain the premises or the communal library or help with administrative tasks. Sometimes there are potlucks, talent shows, or informal movie nights. The festivals central to the Buddhist tradition – such as celebrating the Buddha’s birth, commemorating his death, or the festival of the hungry ghosts – often incorporate children and joyful aspects of celebration like candy for hungry ghosts and birthday cake for the baby Buddha.
Our Need for Community
I have come to believe strongly that the community aspect of Sangha is central, not incidental, to practice. Especially long-term lay practice, where practitioners aren’t present only for relatively short periods of intensive training or retreat but expect to live their lives as Buddhists in a particular area for the rest of their lives (or at least until life circumstances take them elsewhere). In a stable, mostly-lay Sangha, the creation of community provides an essential foundation for practice, enabling people to go much deeper into the Dharma than they otherwise could. Deep practice isn’t easy; it challenges the ego and asks a person to face their karma and explore the true nature of self. Most people are carrying wounds and trauma from past difficult relationships. A social environment of safety, care, acknowledgement, and joy allows people to heal, relax, form connections, and develop strength for practice.
When I look out at American culture, I see an awful lot of loneliness and social isolation. Family, including intimate partner relationships, is where most of us hope to get social connection, support, and companionship. For many people, though, family relationships are stressful or even dysfunctional. Our family may include a very limited number of people, or our family members may live far away from us. Friendship, the next place we look for social connection, is similarly hit-or-miss in terms of the support it gives. In in the U.S., friendships are often conditional and short-lived, based on a shared workplace or activity. When jobs or interests end, so do the friendships. People are rarely committed to maintaining unconditional friendships indefinitely.
In his book The Art of Community, Charles Vogl describes a community as “a group of individuals who share a mutual concern for one another’s welfare.” He says, [community is] “distinct from a group whose members may share ideas, interests, proximity, or any number of things but lack concern for one another.” At least in the U.S., especially in urban or suburban areas, real community beyond family and a small group of friends is essentially nonexistent (at least for white people, and probably also for people of color who have lost touch with any ethnic or cultural groups they might once have been a part of). In most places we don’t even know our neighbors, despite having lived next to them for years. When we enjoy activities that traditionally have built community – like eating, listening to music, or dancing – we pay to enjoy these things in settings where we are surrounded by strangers.
Ways Sangha Can Provide Community as Well as Access to the Dharma
Modern Sanghas have the potential to fill a massive social void for people who want to practice the Dharma. In addition to providing access to Buddhist teachings and practice, Sanghas can create a “third place” in people’s lives. In his book The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, Ray Oldenburg explains that, “The third place is a generic designation for a great variety of public places that host the regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work.”[ii]
Notably, Oldenburg does not include religious communities in his list of typical third places. This is probably because third places are generally informal and meant to be relaxing. In other words, the serious aspects of religious communities – such meditation, prayer, devotion, formality, or the emphasis on ethical behavior – are not what you usually find in “hangouts at the heart of a community.” Notably, Oldenburg also emphasizes the value of third places being close to and easily accessible from one’s home. Still, if we examine the community that forms in association with religious communities, many of Oldenburg’s characteristics of third places can, potentially, be created within our Sanghas.
I will now share seven of the eight characteristics of “third places” described by Oldenburg in The Great Good Place. I’ll read a descriptive paragraph and then say something about how the characteristic can manifest in Sangha:
1. The Third Place Is a Leveler: A place that is a leveler is, by its nature, an inclusive place. It is accessible to the general public and does not set formal criteria of membership and exclusion… Worldly status claims must be checked at the door in order that all within may be equals.[iii]
Within a Sangha we require only that people are respectful of one another and of the community activities and culture. As long as we keep financial support of the Sangha based on voluntary donation, no one is excluded based on income, lifestyle, or social status. We may have membership, but it is open to any sincere seeker.
2. Conversation Is the Main Activity: Nothing more clearly indicates a third place than that the talk there is good; that it is lively, scintillating, colorful, and engaging. The joys of association in third places may initially be marked by smiles and twinkling eyes, by hand-shaking and backslapping, but they proceed and are maintained in pleasurable and entertaining conversation… Conversation’s improved quality within the third place is also suggested by its temper. It is more spirited than elsewhere, less inhibited and more eagerly pursued. Compared to the speech in other realms, it is more dramatic and more often attended by laughter and the exercise of wit.[iv]
While conversation may not exactly be the “main” activity in a Sangha compared to Buddhist practices, I take joyful conversation to be one of the best signs of a thriving community. Few things bring me more joy than hearing the din of voices during the social breaks that occur in the course of my Sangha’s practice events. Naturally, in uninhibited conversation we sometimes fail to live up to highest aspirations of right speech in Buddhism, but this also gives us the opportunity to work on our expression in the supportive context of Sangha. Buttoned-down, self-conscious speech within Sangha inhibits social connection and generally doesn’t improve the character of our speech elsewhere.
My own teachers encouraged free conversation over meals at the Zen center where I trained, and they talked about how this allowed them to get a much better sense of where people were in their practice than simply listening to what people said within a formal practice situation. I know I stuck my foot in my mouth many a time during such conversations, but the point of community was to show up and be real, not to be perfect.
3. Accessibility and Accommodation – Third places that render the best and fullest service are those to which one may go alone at almost any time of the day or evening with assurance that acquaintances will be there. To have such a place available whenever the demons of loneliness or boredom strike or when the pressures and frustrations of the day call for relaxation amid good company is a powerful resource… Those who have third places exhibit regularity in their visits to them, but it is not that punctual and unfailing kind shown in deference to the job or family. The timing is loose, days are missed, some visits are brief, etc. Viewed from the vantage point of the establishment, there is a fluidity in arrivals and departures and an inconsistency of membership at any given hour or day.[v]
Most Sanghas end up wanting to establish a place of practice of their own, instead of renting or using borrowed space. This allows them to offer meetings at various times throughout the week, or even open hours when members can come and spend time. One model of Sangha space that meets the “accessibility and accommodation” characteristic of a third space is one where the Sangha space includes residents, often the community’s teacher or a monastic, and sometimes a handful of lay people as well. This vastly expands the number of hours in a week that the Sangha space – let’s call it a temple – can be open to members to drop by, practice, share meals, study, or volunteer. At the temple they will almost always run into someone else.
4. The Regulars: … It is the regulars who give the place its character and who assure that on any given visit some of the gang will be there… Every regular was once a newcomer, and the acceptance of newcomers is essential to the sustained vitality of the third place. Acceptance into the circle is not difficult, but it is not automatic either. Much of what is involved may be learned by observing the order of welcome to third places. Most enthusiastically greeted is the returning prodigal, the individual who had earlier been a loyal and accepted regular but whom circumstances had, in more recent months, kept away. This individual is perhaps the only one likely to get more than his democratic share of attention…[vi]
Because Buddhism generally does not encourage proselytizing – trying to get people to become Buddhists or stay committed to Buddhism – Sanghas often err on the side of displaying detachment with respect to the presence of absence of individuals. It’s up to each person whether to show up or leave the community, and we don’t want to pressure anyone. However, it’s human to want people to notice you and care about you, to value you as unique and special. In any supportive community there will be natural affinities, the formation of friendships, affection, and concern about those who have drifted away.
5. A Low Profile: Third places are unimpressive looking for the most part… they are not elegant. In cultures where mass advertising prevails and appearance is valued over substance, the third place is all the more likely not to impress the uninitiated… Third places, that is, are not constructed as such. Rather, establishments built for other purposes are commandeered by those seeking a place where they can linger in good company. Usually, it is the older place that invites this kind of takeover. Newer places are more wedded to the purposes for which they were built… Plainness, especially on the inside of third places, also serves to discourage pretention among those who gather there. A nonpretentious decor corresponds with and encourages leveling and the abandonment of social pretense… The best attitude toward the third place is that it merely be an expected part of life.[vii]
I have been to some beautiful Dharma centers, but, honestly, even the fanciest ones I can think of are still a bit on the funky side. Their real beauty shines through in the way that a community loves and inhabits them. I’ve seen thriving Dharma centers in houses, office buildings, converted storefronts, and old motels. Communities come together to create a space, and participation and a sense of ownership is most encouraged when a Sangha starts with a place that needs some loving care to become an inviting center of practice.
6. The Mood Is Playful: Sometimes the playful spirit is obvious, as when the group is laughing and boisterous; other times it will be subtle. Whether pronounced or low key, however, the playful spirit is of utmost importance. Here joy and acceptance reign over anxiety and alienation… The urge to return, recreate, and recapture the experience is there. Invariably the suggestion is made, “Let’s do this again!” The third place exists because of that urge.[viii]
Playfulness may not be something you associate with Buddhist practice, and indeed, as I mentioned earlier, it may seem to be lacking when you focus on the traditionally monastic aspects of the tradition. However, if people truly feel comfortable within a community, their playfulness will naturally come out at times. In addition, the reaction of community members to mistakes is dead giveaway with respect to its underlying culture. How seriously do people take themselves in a religious tradition that teaches us we are empty of inherent self-nature? I felt nothing but pride when, recently, the chant leader at my Zen center completely messed up (due to a cut and paste error, he started chanting an entirely different section from everyone else). He said, “Oops!” Everyone laughed, and we went on.
7. A Home Away from Home: Seeking traits of “homeness,” [Oldenburg says] I chanced upon a volume by the psychologist David Seamon. He set forth five criteria against which “homes away from home” can be assessed… 1) The home roots us, begins Seamon; it provides a physical center around which we organize our comings and goings; 2) Appropriation, or a sense of possession and control over a setting that need not entail actual ownership. Those who claim a third place typically refer to it in the first-person possessive… and they behave there much as if they did own the place; 3) Homes are places where individuals are regenerated or restored; 4) The feeling of being at ease or the “freedom to be.” It involves the active expression of personality, the assertion of oneself within an environment; 5) Finally, there is warmth. It is the least tangible of the five qualities Seamon associates with “at-homeness,” and it is not found in all homes. Warmth emerges out of friendliness, support, and mutual concern. It radiates from the combination of cheerfulness and companionship, and it enhances the sense of being alive.[ix]
It is not at all uncommon for people to experience their Sangha as being one of the first and only settings where they have a “home away from home” in the ways Seamon describes. When a Sangha feels like a home to us, we are much more likely to be able to entrust ourselves to the process of Buddhist practice we encounter there.
Episode 328:
Is It the Role of Sanghas to Provide Community?
Is it the role of Sanghas to provide members with community? Maybe, maybe not. Some Dharma centers, depending on their Buddhist lineage tradition, their guiding teachers, and the views of their senior Sangha members, choose to prioritize traditional study and practice and are likely to see community as a nice byproduct of their efforts. Some will intuitively and naturally facilitate the creation of community without identifying it as a core part of their mission.
I would love to see more Dharma centers and temples consciously commit themselves to cultivating the community aspect of Sangha because, after all, the primary purpose of Buddhist practice is the relief of suffering. How can we fulfill our Dharma mission without acknowledging the prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in modern society? Sanghas can easily and naturally create community in the course of their activities by appreciating the social support and connection they can offer people by providing a “third place” in their lives and emphasizing mutual concern for one another’s welfare.
In addition, Sanghas can recognize and value the community-building aspects of traditional Dharma practice. In The Art of Community, Charles Vogl describes Seven Principles for Belonging, many of which are already part of what most Sanghas do, including:
1. Boundary: The line between members and outsiders.
2. Initiation: The activities that mark a new member.
3. Rituals: The things we do that have meaning.
4. Temple: A place set aside to find our community.
5. Stories: What we share that allows others and ourselves to know our values.
6. Symbols: The things that represent ideas that are important to us.
7. Inner Rings: A path to growth as we participate. [x]
Clearly, most Buddhist communities involve ritual, temple, stories (in the form of our Dharma teachings), and symbols. However, many practitioners, I think, engage these things as part of their lineage tradition or because they are intuitively drawn to them, without giving much thought to how participating in them with others builds strong social connections. (There’s a reason our Dharma ancestors created our forms of practice, and why those forms have persisted through time!) “Boundary” and “Initiation” may sound unfriendly, and “Inner Rings” may sound like fodder for the ego, but the value of these principles simply reflect human nature. If you have been a dedicated member of a group for years but your presence and participation aren’t recognized or valued any more than someone who walks through the door for the first time, it’s likely to give you a sense that the community doesn’t care about you as an individual or appreciate the investments you have made in it.
It is possible to create a warm, fully human community within a Sangha without compromising the quality and depth of our Dharma practice. It’s bound to be a bit noisier, messier, and worldly-life focused than a monastic training setting or silent retreat, but any drawbacks of these qualities are well balanced with benefits. Such benefits include a more welcoming practice space, increased trust and ease among Sangha members, a higher degree of integration between formal Dharma practice and people’s everyday lives, connection and healing for practitioners suffering from loneliness, social isolation, and trauma, and a resilient community that can come together to face difficulties.
A Vision for My Sangha
Right now, my Sangha is in the process of purchasing a large home that we hope will serve as a Zen center as well as a parsonage residence for me and my husband. There are many practical things that need to fall into place for this to become a reality, including fundraising, applying for a conditional use permit to operate a religious institution in a residential zone, and replacing the roof, but we are feeling hopeful. (If you feel moved to donate or pledge to our capital fund, or want to see pictures of the property we are looking to purchase, visit brightwayzen.org)
When I close my eyes and imagine what my Sangha can create together once we have a place of our own, what I see is my dream come true. Dharma centers come in many shapes and sizes, and all of them have their place when it comes to supporting people, but from the beginning of my vocation as a Zen priest I’ve been drawn to a particular vision: The residential-scale Zen center, nestled in a neighborhood, functioning as a hub of community activity throughout the week. In addition to the main practice events of the week, I envision:
- A handful of people gathering for early morning meditation, chanting, and breakfast
- Cohort groups within the Sangha gathering at various times
- Offering space for a Dharma-based recovery group
- Sangha members coming to spend a night or two when they are in town or want to have a short retreat
- Members having a sense of ownership of the place – helping to care for it, beautify it, and contribute to it, and feeling free to come by and meditate, study, or volunteer throughout the week
Choosing a residential-scale place instead of an institutional space (or waiting until we can afford something bigger) is deliberate. It will naturally limit the size of the Sangha. This isn’t meant to exclude anyone but hopefully will keep the community at a modest size so everyone has a chance of knowing everyone else. The biological anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar proposed in the 1990’s that the ideal size of a human social group is around 150, based on his research into the relationship between primate brain size and average social group size. There have been a widely varying range of “ideal group size” numbers proposed by others over the years, but clearly there is, as Dunbar proposed, a “cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable relationships.”[xi] To aim at a modest size means prioritizing intimacy over trying to make the Dharma available to a maximum number of people. The latter can be a noble goal – it’s just not one I feel called to fulfill. I feel more inspired to create a “third place” kind of Zen center, and it’s not surprising that those who have been attracted to practicing with me feel similarly inspired.
Already, in our rented location, my Sangha is a warm, happy community. That doesn’t mean, of course, there are no interpersonal issues or that everyone feels blissful all the time. Despite the inevitable imperfections and challenges found within any social group, the vast majority of my Sangha members, when asked why they attend, will rank the community as being at least as important as the teacher, the teachings, or formal practice – if not more important. What’s essential about this is that people value community as a context and support for practice, not instead of practice. Honestly, if someone happened along who just looking to hang out with people, they probably wouldn’t stick around long. The Sangha is still focused on practice, including long periods of silent meditation, retreats, ethical behavior, ritual and ceremony, and studying sometimes-obscure Dharma teachings. You’d have to be pretty selective to only show up to the fun stuff.
My vision for a Zen center can be summed up as a core of deep, traditional practice held within a welcoming, inclusive, compassionate, supportive social community. Few things, to me, describe the character of such a community as well as the song, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” which you may recall as the theme song to Cheers, the American ‘80’s sitcom about a steady cast of characters who regularly congregate at a bar in Boston. Written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo, the song may have corny connotations for those of us who grew up watching Cheers, but the sentiments of the song ring deeply and poignantly true to me. Here [in audio version] is a sweet cover by Clinton Hill, an acoustic guitarist I found on YouTube (https://youtu.be/wpDCdLGAaxg?si=lFBeV07b_nFb2LQL):
Where Everybody Knows Your Name (YouTube with lyrics)
Lyrics by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo
Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.Wouldn’t you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.You wanna go where you can know,
people are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name.
The Relationship Between Our Physical “Third Place” and Our Online Sangha Members
With all this talk of community building and a physical “third space,” I need to address how it relates to our online Sangha, which we call our “Cloud Sangha” – people who don’t live near Bright Way Zen (which is in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, on the west coast of the U.S.) but who participate with us via Zoom. As I described in Episode 206 – Dirt Zendo, Cloud Zendo, One Sangha: Buddhist Community in the Digital Age, Bright Way Zen is committed to facilitating as full a Sangha experience for people in our Cloud Sangha as possible. Our meetings are fully hybrid and Cloud participants can be seen and heard. They ask as many questions as people in our “Dirt” (physical) Zendo and often lead chants or give talks. Half of our pledging members and nearly half of our board of directors are non-local Cloud participants.
When our Sangha included a goal to purchase a home of our own in our most recent strategic plan, I expected at least some Cloud members to object, or at least for them to be unsupportive or disinterested. After all, purchasing a place involves a lot of time, energy, and money – and how will it benefit them? It doesn’t matter to the Cloud Sangha where we are when we host our Zoom meetings, does it? I was surprised that the Cloud Sangha was every bit as enthused as the local Sangha about getting a place of our own. They appreciated the benefit to the Sangha as a whole, and loved the idea of having a home, a “third place,” even if they might never be able to visit it in person.
Charles Vogl (The Art of Community) addresses how online communities are enhanced by occasional in-person activities and even a having a physical space:
A well-built and well-managed online community can be great, but even at its best, it still doesn’t provide the same high level of connection and feeling of belonging as meeting offline can. I [Charles Vogl] discussed this with Stu McLaren, who founded WishList, which powers over 42,000 online membership sites. He also coaches many companies on building online communities. Even he believes that the most powerful thing an online community can do is create offline friendships. He encourages every community to create at least one annual offline event that members can join. He also understands the power of inviting individuals to a temple where they can meet their community and share stories, learn from one another, and celebrate successes.[xii]
Sometimes Bright Way Zen Sangha members come to visit the Dirt Zendo who have, thus far, only practiced with us in the Cloud. We avoid saying we are now interacting with them “face-to-face” or “in-person” because both of those terms can describe the surprisingly intimate interactions we have already had with them, via Zoom. Instead, we say that they are “appearing in 3D” or “getting Dirty” for the first time. Unabashed joy and delight are expressed as people go over to hug a new arrival we have previously seen only in a box on a computer screen. I love to think of such visitors from the Cloud showing up at our Sangha’s new home, being able to stick around and enjoy a communal meal or roll out a sleeping pad and stay overnight. Our Cloud members love that idea too.
I will close with some words from the Buddha himself:
…Ven. Ananda went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, “This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie.”
[The Buddha replied] “Don’t say that, Ananda. Don’t say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path.”[xiii]
We might be inclined to think that the Buddha was speaking only of having serious, austere, detached, and dispassionate teachers and fellow practitioners around you to guide your practice and keep you on the straight and narrow. It’s true that he specified you ought to seek admirable friendship as opposed to relationships with people who discourage or mislead you. However, I think the Buddha was a pragmatist and meant to include basic human warmth, affection, and a sense of community when he described “the whole of the holy life.” After all, the translator of this passage, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, is experienced and widely respected, and he chose to include the English word “camaraderie.” Camaraderie is a spirit of trust, goodwill, and familiarity existing between friends or people closely associated in an activity or endeavor,[xiv] and synonyms include intimacy, togetherness, fellowship – and even cheer, gregariousness, conviviality, and jollity.[xv]
Endnotes
[i] From Thich Nhat Hanh’s closing remarks to over two thousand people attending his Day of Mindfulness at Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, in October 1993. (From the Spring 1994 issue of Inquiring Mind (Vol. 10, No. 2) © 1994 Inquiring Mind and Thich Nhat Hanh, https://inquiringmind.com/article/1002_41_thich-nhat_hanh/
[ii] Oldenburg, Ray. The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community (p. 55). Berkshire Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
[iii] Ibid, page 64.
[iv] Ibid, page 67.
[v] Ibid, page 74.
[vi] Ibid, page 76.
[vii] Ibid, page 80.
[viii] Ibid, page 82.
[ix] Ibid, page 83.
[x] Vogl, Charles . The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging (pp. 31-32). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.
[xi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Dunbar
[xii] Vogl, Charles . The Art of Community: Seven Principles for Belonging (p. 74). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.
[xiii] “Upaddha Sutta: Half (of the Holy Life)” (SN 45.2), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.002.than.html .
[xiv] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/camaraderie
[xv] https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/camaraderie
