Creating a safe space in our sangha is essential to ensure that all of our friends along the path can practice together in harmony with joy and understanding in their hearts. Joyful Mountain Sangha aspires to be trauma-informed and we hope to create trauma sensitivity as an integral element of our sangha culture. We aspire to be a sanctuary for members who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA+, or members of another marginalized social group. We fully support the ARISE Sangha’s contemplations on the Five Mindfulness Trainings and encourage our members to study and observe these in an effort to bring more awareness to systemic injustice, privilege, and power. Below are some invitations to consider when attending our sangha meetings.
Finally, we recognize that mindfulness and Buddhism are no substitute for medical psychological and psychiatric support. We will do our best to support each other’s healing journeys, however they might manifest.
- Freedom: We are free to discuss our personal lived experience at all times. We are free to make whatever accommodations we need to make our practice work best for us. For example, we recognize that it’s okay to turn off our cameras and mute our audio if needed. We aspire to always respect each other’s freedom of choice.
- Kindness: When participating in dharma sharing, we aspire to remember who we are speaking to. We recognize that certain topics like violence, abuse, and injustice can trigger past traumas. If we bring up these topics, we aspire to do so with care and compassion. We recognize that the sangha is listening to us deeply and we acknowledge that we have a responsibility to speak mindfully and compassionately.
- Spaciousness: We aspire to create space for each other’s suffering with compassion and love in our hearts.
- Inclusivity: We aspire to embrace and celebrate the uniqueness of different people’s experiences. We aspire to avoid making assumptions about each other, whether regarding one’s gender identity, past experiences, beliefs, or other aspects of their existence. We aspire to remember that we cannot fully understand what it’s like to be anyone else. We aspire to look deeply into our inherent biases in order to cultivate more openness, compassion, and understanding in our hearts.
Finally, we recognize that mindfulness and Buddhism are no substitute for medical psychological and psychiatric support. We will do our best to support each other’s healing journeys, however they might manifest.