How could you uphold the Dhamma without a nearby Sangha?

The Watercooler
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Good night people, I hope you’re doing fine.

Don’t get me wrong on this one: the Sangha is very important, I know. But how could you keep upholding the Dhamma without a Sangha? In my particular case, I live in a place where there’s no Buddhist temples (nearby nor far), nor people following the path of the Buddha. What I do in that scenario is reading the Dhamma and reflecting on it, but I’d really like to discuss the Dhamma face to face with a good peer. I know we have internet and forums (if not, I wouldn’t be writing here), but I’d really like to follow the path of the Buddha with somebody else; that’s my craving (jk :sweat_smile: ).

That’s it for now. I hope to learn something valuable from you. May you all have a great and happy week!

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How could you uphold the Dhamma when there's so much hatred around, especially in close groups?
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Make a local Buddhist society, there is likely other closet Buddhists around you who thinks that they are the only Buddhist around.

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In 2005 I saw a notice in a Buddhist magazine that someone in my area was looking for other Buddhists for an exchange. Although at that time, I had a group not too far away (in France, not in Germany where I was living; which still today I consider my “Buddhist family”), I called the number given in that advertisement out of curiosity. It turned out I was not the only one!

We now have a small but dedicated group who is meeting regularly once a month since 2005, with occasionally new members joining and others leaving. One of the original 5 has already passed away, two others are so ill that they can’t come any more, among them the initiator of the group. We are currently six who come more or less regularly, and we all very much appreciate that we can do this!

Edit: I have to correct myself, we are actually seven, but the seventh doesn’t come very often.

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I don’t think you need a sangha around you to uphold the Dhamma. It can help, sure, but its not like you can’t successfully practice alone.

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Thank you Venerable, I did attend the once a month German meditation, last time on Metta. Unfortunately I cannot attend the session regularly.
Still I feel that even if there is no local Sangha nearby, the fact that knowing there are i-Sanghas and also Sanghas around and they are practicing and sending Metta, that helps me a lot. I am disabled, so visiting a Sangha is difficult, but joining a group of i-Sangha helps enormously. Each of us needs to see what works for us, to quote Venerable Vimala’s words.

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And on the flip side, even practicing in a monastic community is not a guarantee of progress. The EBT proof of that is with Devadatta and all the other monks who went off the rails even when the Buddha himself was alive and leading the Sangha.

Which isn’t to say that we should not seek out community in real life.

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Thanks for your time friend, truly appreciated. I’d like to know what “I-Sangha” stands for, as that’s the first time I hear the word.

Good day!

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Hi, thanks for your time. I remember a sutta from the SN (can’t remember the exact number) where the Buddha address 30 monks, I think, who would live in the wilderness and still had defilements; there, the Buddha taught that the “tears shed during this transmigration are greater than the four oceans”. Something like it.

The reason why I mention this is that your comment reminded me of that sutta, and I found impresive how even the monks of that era would have defilements.

If somebody knows which specific sutta is that, I’d like you to address it.

Thank you!

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I think this is the sutta you’re thinking of.
SN 15:3

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That’s something that is organized by the friends around Tilorien Monastery in Belgium. There are different online activities. Most things are in English, but once a month there is a meditation in German language.

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Yes this is true, and of course you can get communities that teach things the Buddha never would have. The “eternal citta” types come to mind.

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First I’d like to say there’s so many fascinating aspects of Dhamma. I have developed more of a homesteading mindset through my practice over the years. Refraining from the basic unwholesome actions in a way frees us to focus our attention on the subjects pertaining to dhamma. Growing plants and vegetables and reaping the rewards of nurturing life has given me a lot of satisfaction. Studying and memorizing suttas has also been a fun and rewarding past time. Practicing new precepts and a new way of living has been an adventure.

I will say that once I found a teacher I resonated with, I have dedicated my lifestyle to be a part of that community by finding a new job nearby, showing up regularly to join in cooking and offering dana and helping with maintaining the property. Slowly I have dedicated my life to the dhamma more and more. The opportunity we have to practice and meet a good teacher is rare, but worthwhile for this life and future lives.

Good luck on your journey, and I’m happy to share my practice if you have any further questions. Feel free to PM me.

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That’s the link to the internet sangha. You have all the information on how to join on the site. We meet several times a week by zoom and there is also a Djalma discussion group once a week. Participants from all over the world.

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Hello!

Thanks for sharing so openly, @Javier6 .
Everyone’s conditions are quite different, so all I can share was what worked for me back then. I hope this is useful.

From 2012 to 2015, I lived in Mumbai, India with my wife (we adopted two cats while there). Back then, the internet connection was really bad and slow in India (now it is very fast and very cheap). While Mumbai did have a Buddhist community, these were Marathi/Hindi speakers from the Dalit group (historically, many of these were followers of Dr. B.R Ambedkar, and converted to Buddhism when he did), and there was no English speaking Buddhist community in Mumbai that I was aware of.

I was already following Ajahn Brahm from 2010, and BSWA had already started putting their talks online. I was (and still am) also a Singapore Buddhist Fellowship member. All of these were not available in Mumbai, except through online resources.

So I started developing a routine on the weekend, of using Saturday night to download audio clips of Dhamma and Sutta classes: I would literally click on the BSWA website’s download button, and then go to bed.

The next day (Sunday), I would use the afternoon to listen to the talks I downloaded, frequently while reading the relevant Sutta at the same time.

Through this method, I went through most of the Majjhima Nikaya in my 3 years in Mumbai. It was a blast: I really enjoyed myself, because it felt no different from being at Dhammaloka (you hear Eddie asking his questions online and in the recordings, too! :smile:) or Bodhinyana monastery. I particularly love the talks of the first 10 MN suttas given by Ajahn Brahm in 2011, during the Vassa.

In addition to this self-study, my wife and I decided to do an annual meditation retreat with Ajahn Brahm: that was my other source of contact with the Sangha.

But truth be told, the main way to uphold the Dhamma without the Sangha is to keep your sila.
If you can have samma sankappa in your actions by body, speech and mind all the time, you’re already upholding the Dhamma. :slight_smile: If you don’t do that, reading all the suttas and listening to all the Sangha teachers in the world will not help.

I hope this reply to you is helpful, and wish you health and happiness!

with much metta,
PJ

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I just want to share a big thank you. This comment opened up new windows for me, indeed! I’ll try to develop a routine as well to interact with the Dhamma and the Sangha via online, as you did.

To add my personal perspective, I enjoy reading the suttas at night from In the Buddha’s Words by Venerable Boddhi everyday (or as much as possible, as life takes me to different journeys). I also listened to BSWA, but I couldn’t maintain that habit for long time; maybe now is the time to do it…

But anyway, thank you!

May you be safe and happy too!

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Check out the online interviews, talks and zoom groups of the Clear Mountain Monastery Project of Seattle. They have a reading group and practice group as part of their community.

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You can find them on this forum too, here’s the main post about the sutta study group, Mission Majjhima:

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