LOS ANGELES SHAMBHALA CENTER

Shambhala Center Los Angeles held a community meeting on Sunday, 22 June 2003. Following a reading of the Sakyong's "Treatise on Society and Organization," people broke into small discussion groups to provide feedback for the Shambhala Congress.

Most items that came out of these discussions seemed to fall into two general categories:

1) concern about the lack of a cohesive community and feelings of isolation and

2) requests to define the "stem" or organization (both local and S.I.) and how it functions.

Lack of cohesive community

The greater Los Angeles area is geographically spread out with not much sense of community. It is a "car culture" and doesn’t' seem to have a core. This provides a unique challenge for the Shambhala Center in that members of the center coming from different directions may live as much as 50 miles apart. Location has been a difficult subject to work with in our search for a new center.

• How could we revitalize the deleg system? It hasn't seemed to work here in the past.
• What can be done to promote a feeling of connectedness rather than isolation?
• There seem to be many "sub-sanghas" (VCTR students, people with varying levels of practice, Shambhla). This promotes a feeling of being in or out.
• How can we get the larger sangha involved in practice/non-practice activities?
• How do we provide more opportunities to come together (new and senior students) in a relaxed informal (or formal) setting outside of programs? There are not enough opportunities to come together on a regular basis.
• How can we care for people we don't even know? How can we find out when people in the sangha are in need?
• How can we improve communication on a local level?
• What is the individual's relationship to Shambhala Society? What do we have to offer each other beyond sharing programs and center activities?

Define the "stem." What are the functions of the organization?

• How does this analogy work on the local level?
• How are center director’s chosen?
• What is the history of our center?
• How are new members oriented to the center?
• Can there be a straightforward understanding of finances…from local to S.I? There seems to be competition for funds by different areas of S.I.

Other questions:

• How can we welcome children and families (besides Children's Day)?
• Is there a way to integrate Shambhala Art into other programs?
• How can we form better connections to other centers in our region? (Claremont, Ojai) and reach out to fledgling groups in Arizona, the general SW and N. California areas?
• Concern over using "divination" as a guide for making decisions (re: Eva Wong).
• Clarification of S.I. selling off physical property assets. What is the policy about these assets? …including SMC timeshare possibilities?

The scribe for one of the SCLA discussion groups that met to give input for the Congress just e-mailed me her carefully written notes. I am passing them along intact to be added to my previously e-mailed questions & concerns.

I would like to note that, especially with the earlier list, I felt a strong urge to edit since some items seemed (to me) more appropriate for the congress than others. However, the people who participated in these discussions put forth a great deal of effort and I ultimately decided to send their input in a somewhat raw and unedited format. I leave it to others to sift through the comments and determine what may be of value.

Yours in the Vision of Shambala Buddhism,

Marilyn Moore
SCLA Council Secretary and Acting Director

Addendum:
ROUGH SUMMARY OF A GROUP DISCUSSION

The session moved through a few themes.  The first began with the Center in relation to the whole of LA---the idea of expanding, of greater outreach, spreading teachings.  The outreach was not just to individuals, greater diversity, but also to multi-religious groups.  It was one person's sense that in LA people were really seeking "community" more than in other urban areas.

Another thread brought in had to do with the quality of relationships---of treating each person with respect; making room for everyone---"loosening our minds around the edges."  What is better for the group as a whole?

From a reference to how hard it was to do the work of the center, a discussion of celebration and community took place.  Reference was made to the Regent's encouragement to have a lot of parties and to Rinpoche's statement that without a sense of celebration, why break out of the cocoon?  How do you create that sense of celebration and community?  Experiences of visiting teachers, seminary, dathun, Mid-Summer's Day were mentioned as times when a sense of celebration, community and caring for each other was palpable.  There was a question about the importance of container for this to happen.  Also the observation that work was a part of the experience.  At a practical level, instilling a sense of celebration, could affect how people perceived the work to be done for the Center's programs, etc., give a greater sense of ease. 

At the end, we began to talk about what was meant by "community".   Some phrases were: congregation of individuals; to care for each other; to encourage and protect; using the Buddhist sangha as a guide; commonality; community of vision.

Final question:  Can we take on more?

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