MEMBERSHIP POLICY REVIEW GROUP
Minutes of June 5, 2004
This was the third meeting of the Membership Policy Review Group.
1 NEXT PHONE CONFERENCE MEETING: Saturday June 19. Call-in number is 1-831-600-1000. Access code is 1110811. Times: 9am Pacific, 10am Mtn., 11am Central, noon Eastern, 1pm Atlantic, 5pm BST, 6pm CEST. Please note: the previously scheduled phone conference for July 3 has been cancelled.
2. REVIEW OF MEMBERSHIP WORKING GROUP’S ACTIVITIES: The Working Group is busy completing their written project which will be submitted in early July for review by the Mandala Governing Council in preparation for the 7/28 - 8/1 meeting at SMC. Mary expressed the hope that a draft of this document would be ready for the review group to read prior to June 19th, so we can discuss it at the next review group phone conference. She will email this draft to all review group members. The document will contain a) a history of membership development in North America and Europe, b) a description of current membership practices in our Mandala, and c) a distillation of the essential issues/questions related to membership.
3. DISCUSSION: The Review Group conversation today was perky, personal, honest and informative. I think everyone really enjoyed an open forum for the discussion of various issues, including those below:
The role of the teacher in our Mandala. What to tell new members about the Sakyong, how to attract new members when the Sakyong is experienced as less accessible than other teachers in other sanghas. Is acknowledging SMR as your teacher necessary to being a member in our Mandala? What is our view about students who study with other teachers outside the Shambhala Buddhist community - can they be members? What is our view about students who don’t want to acknowledge any teacher - can they be members?
(Illustrative story # 1 from today’s meeting: One member shared that at Sutrayana seminary she was having doubts about entering the Vajrayana. She had never met or spoken to the Sakyong, and therefore felt especially unsure about accepting him as her guru. She mentioned this to the Acharya leading the seminary, who offered to meet with her and the three or four other students who had approached him with similar concerns. Word got around about this meeting, and 60 seminarians showed up for the discussion.)
Possible ways that our Mandala alienates potential new members by appearing cultish and generally weird: a) military model related to kasung forms often off-putting and frequently not explained to new people, b) non-existent or unskillful explanations regarding shrines, chants, lineage, how we make decisions, who we are in general, c) fanfare and protocol around how we relate to our guru/ king, d) the fact that we even have a king, e) senior students who seem cold, inaccessible, burnt-out, bitter and stuck in the past, and who do not relate to incoming students.
(Illustrative story # 2: A totally new person came to a recent large public teaching by one of the Acharyas. Unaware of our convention that senior students have pre-assigned seating in the front rows of the shrine room, this hearing-impaired woman went straight up front and took a seat. Before long, in comes the “advanced student” who was assigned that seat. The woman was asked to vacate the seat, and to sit further back. )
Money follows trust. Importance of clarity and total straightforwardness in how we describe our Mandala, and who we are, to potential members. Underlies the importance of clarity regarding membership issues, because people will not join or support something financially that they don’t trust and understand.
Our membership policy should reflect why people actually come to our doors. People come to meditate and settle their minds. Further practices beyond shamatha-vipassana could be encouraged but not expected or required in a healthy group culture. There should be an open look at how cultural status is often correlated with levels of practice.