Building a Sangha from scratch šŸ˜‰

Thank you @JavieršŸ™!

1 Like

Yes Iā€™ve thought about attempting to become more of a regular and so on, but its a really big community of thais that I donā€™t know and my introverted self is not inclined to that at the moment. Most of the events on their site are cultural events with food music etc and Iā€™m just into Dharma study and meditation in English. So it would take a lot of effort and time, which I just do not have at the moment as a new father. So alasā€¦

5 Likes

My condolences! :laughing:

8 Likes

After going through all the suggestions and comments, what I think is, first of all you will have to organize a place for a small gathering or congregation.
Then start a regularly meet the known few who are interested in meditation.
Those who participate can bring some drinks (and snacks) and share with others.
Make the sessions short at the start, may be one hour.
Once you all feel that it is time for personal guidance, you can look for a teacher. He/she may be a lay or ordained person.
There is a well established Vipassana organization spread all over the world and I am one of the beneficiaries of this pristine practice.
If interested, you may visit https://www.dhamma.org/
They conduct off-center programs in any location other than their established locations.
Wish you all the best!
With metta.

2 Likes

Thank you so much @Sumanatissa! The question is which is the best way I can find "the known few who are interested in meditation :meditation: "ā€¦:grin: But Iā€™ll figure it out! :pray:

2 Likes

How our Buddhist group was born here in Serbia is that I made mail list on Yahoo and started posting Buddhaā€™s quotes, sutta translations, links and anything else interesting for someone wanting to know more about Dhamma. At the same time I advertised the list at various forums related to spirituality, meditation etc. Soon people started signing up for the list and also contributing with their own posts. Step by step the list grow to 200+ people and rhe most active members I get to know personally too. This gave us idea to register as a group of citizens named Theravada Buddhist Society ā€œThe Middle Wayā€ back in 2009. Than we started inviting monks from Ajahn Chah tradition to come and lead meditation courses. All went very well and somehow grow organicslly that in 2017 we opened the first Buddhist monastery in the whole Balkans. Two years later, in May this year we also regestered (after 2 unsuccessful attempts) as a religios community, so now Buddhism is officially recognized religion in Serbia. So it took some 20 years of my life, but these are also the happiest years, meeting many wonderful human beings and being able to build something valuable with the.
So you may try the same. One never know what a planted seed can grow into.
Much Meta!

22 Likes

Thank you so much for sharing :slight_smile:

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu

:anjal: :dharmawheel:

7 Likes

Congratulations! The hard work is paying off.

6 Likes

How wonderful to hear this story. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. :slight_smile: :pray:

6 Likes

Thank you so much @Brankoo! This was so helpful and spiring :pray::clap::clap::clap::clap:

6 Likes

This is really really great. The zeal, the effort, and most of all not taking setbacks as a discouraging factor.
With a lot of metta.

7 Likes

Thank you all for the encouraging words. Itā€™s a great journey and I enjoy every step of it.
Hope to see at least some of you in our monastery in Serbia. :grinning:

9 Likes

What an inspiring story. Sadhu!

5 Likes