{"id":928,"date":"2014-06-01T14:08:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T14:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web1.dharma.org\/?p=928"},"modified":"2018-08-02T17:49:54","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T17:49:54","slug":"sangha-news-june-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dharma.org\/sangha-news-june-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Sangha News \u2013 June 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

In This Issue<\/h2>\n

This summer issue includes an interview on forgiveness<\/a> with teacher Larry Yang. There\u2019s an overview of IMS\u2019s visioning process<\/a>, and a remembrance of meditation master<\/a> Ven. Sayadaw U Lakkhana, who recently passed away. Learn about plans to improve our Retreat Center dining room<\/a>, and view the easier access to our Ride Share information<\/a>. You can download our latest wallpaper image, and read an article about IMS\u2019s food sources<\/a> for retreat meals. Check out retreat spaces available<\/a> and job and volunteer openings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Practicing Forgiveness, Practicing Connection<\/h2>\n

From Linda Spink, IMS Executive Director: Earlier this year, when teacher Larry Yang was at IMS, I asked him about the importance of forgiveness in our lives. In our conversation, he described a forgiveness practice that helps us release the patterns of our suffering, and become more compassionately connected to the world around us.<\/p>\n

Download or stream this interview<\/a> with Larry.<\/p>\n

Looking to the Future \u2013 A Visioning Process<\/h2>\n

\u201cAs you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.\u201d ~ Author Toni Morrison<\/p>\n

Also from Linda: From time to time over the decades since IMS began, we\u2019ve found it really helpful to explore, in an imaginative yet systematic way, how we might better serve all who come to our centers to sit, teach or support our retreats.<\/p>\n

So earlier this year, we embarked on a year-long visioning process to consider where we\u2019re at right now, and to dream where we might want to be, say by 2020. In the course of this process, we\u2019ll be gathering input from our retreatants, teachers, board members, staff, volunteers and friends. Your collective voices will inform our decisions as we endeavor to turn the most compelling aspirations into wise action.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve identified several areas to focus our dreaming on over the coming year. Some of them are:<\/p>\n

Programming<\/strong> \u2013 We want to understand how our retreat offerings can continue to support and deepen the practice of both new and experienced meditators.<\/p>\n

Diversity<\/strong> \u2013 IMS has already made some advances in bringing greater racial diversity to our community of retreatants, to our board, and among our staff and volunteers. It\u2019s become clear that our next step is to increase the number of people of color serving as teachers and leaders within our insight tradition.<\/p>\n

Facilities<\/strong> \u2013 The generosity of our sangha allowed us to achieve our vision of single rooms for all. Now we\u2019d like to improve our environmental practices and become more sustainable, by reducing our energy consumption and carbon footprint, while increasing our carbon handprint.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll also be looking at what work might be necessary as part of the ongoing care of our buildings, systems and grounds.<\/p>\n

Teachers and Staff<\/strong> \u2013 Without our teachers, IMS couldn\u2019t exist. We want to do as much as we can to support their teachings, and to ensure we have a well-trained, highly qualified faculty for future generations of meditators.<\/p>\n

We also want to continue hiring and retaining staff who value IMS\u2019s work to create a better world, and who appreciate the importance of serving our retreatants.<\/p>\n

In closing, I want to thank all of you who participated in the survey about our retreat offerings that appeared in the last Sangha News. Your responses are already contributing to our thinking. Sometime next year, I\u2019ll be letting you know the results of this visioning process: our future aspirations and the initiatives we\u2019ll undertake to transform them into realities.<\/p>\n

\"Visioning<\/p>\n

IMS News<\/h2>\n

Passing of a Beloved Teacher<\/h3>\n

One of Burma\u2019s revered meditation masters, Ven. Sayadaw U Lakkhana, passed away in early June. Instructed by Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Pandita, he in turn instructed a number of our own teachers and was a precious link in the chain of teachers who first introduced vipassana (insight) meditation to Western students. His presence and depth of insight will be greatly missed. IMS teacher Greg Scharf shares a story from Sayadaw\u2019s first visit to both the US and IMS, in 1998:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, I had the pleasure and honor of serving as attendant to Sayadaw when he came to IMS to help teach the metta (lovingkindness) portion of Michele McDonald\u2019s and Steven Smith\u2019s spring retreat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost days, Sayadaw and I would walk to the meditation hall from our lodgings. At one point, I noticed that Sayadaw was whispering something very quietly as we walked along. As I paid closer attention, I realized that he was saying metta phrases in Pali for all the beings that we happened to encounter en route: squirrels, birds, retreatants. It was such a simple, yet moving, example of the quality of kindness that he manifested so effortlessly \u2013 the external expression of his internal state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sayadaw
Ven. Sayadaw U Lakkhana at IMS (L) and in Burma (R).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A More Peaceful Mealtime Environment<\/h3>\n

As our courses have increasingly filled over the last few years, there are times when the Retreat Center dining room becomes quite crowded. We\u2019re currently in the midst of a two-year endeavor to expand this area and add other improvements. These are all designed to more effectively support the continuity of practice and the tranquility of retreat life at IMS.<\/p>\n

Our plan will:<\/p>\n