A short teaching extracted from last week’s dharma talk at City Center by Anshin Rosalie Curtis
There’s a famous line in the Lotus Sutra that says: “Only a buddha together with a buddha can fathom the reality of all existence.”
Photo: Clare Hollander
It means that we can’t possibly do this practice alone. We can’t see the truth without others to mirror us and show us the world and ourselves from another angle. What we can see and know through our own bodies and minds is very limited, just a tiny sliver of reality, really. So, we need each other. And Sangha is the field of practice. It’s our home, it’s our community, the place where Buddha and Dharma—teaching and practice—come alive. Without other people there is no practice and no field of practice. We show each other the way.
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Last Saturday, Rosalie spoke beautifully about the importance of sangha at the conclusion of a week-long residents’ retreat at City Center. The retreat allowed residents to spend more concentrated time together as a sangha while the temple reduced its public offerings and focused inward. We extend our sincere appreciation to the wider sangha for your patience and support during this time, and we look forward to sharing mirror time with you again soon—as you return for the public program, a workshop, a meal, or whatever else may bring you to one of our temples.
A complete recording of this talk is available on our live stream site, and in coming weeks it will also be posted as an audio-only file in our dharma talk archives.
