What Are We Doing Here?
taking stock of this spirit map
Dear Dharma friends,
Sometimes it’s useful to take a step back and reflect on what we’re doing here. This could have many meanings. We could ask— what are we doing here on earth?
Perhaps this brings up existential feelings of feeling small in the scale of the universe. I don’t mean to stress you out. That’s not my intention. But at the end of the year, as the light winds down and we find our winter coziness in the darkness, it is an appropriate time to reflect on such questions.
What are we doing here on earth?
What are we doing with our time?
Recently I was asking the question of myself. This year, 2024, the Year of the Wood Dragon (which is not concluded yet!) marks my first year as a dharma teacher, and the first calendar year of Heart Sangha. We have drawn quite a lot into existence— we sitting in Philadelphia, and we—you— in the formless mandala of Dharma Bites.
Thank you for visiting. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your notes of encouragement, which keep me writing and recording.
I picture you in my mind when I write— did you know? I try and answer your questions and respond to your inquiries in my next dharma talks. We are a sangha, a sacred community, already.
So far the year has seen us meet in person in a beautiful therapist office donated by someone who is not Buddhist, who attends Heart Sangha. We are about to move into a larger, downstairs space that can accommodate retreat.
We have a dharma bookstore and at least twice/monthly talks and meditations. We have this newsletter, where I release a revised version of what happens in person. We are on social media (no small feat— it’s not my comfort zone). We have Kids Sangha once/month. I taught a class introducing newcomers to meditation in the fall. I’ve spoken twice at a local private school in Philadelphia where a meditation club may now be brewing. I’ve taught in my home country. Heart Sangha is expanding to Asia. There will be an online meditation once/month on Zoom. All of this is Gift. All of this is Generosity.
All of you have been holding a mandala in your minds for this to manifest. Thank you. I am holding it in my mind as well.
So much is landing. The blessings of the Buddhist lineages that I hold are raining down. We are living in a shower of abundance. That is what I experience from my seat. I hope you are experiencing that too.
So: why are we here?
Sometimes it might feel like I am marketing Buddhism, like I’ve hung my shingle out of the beautiful church in East Falls, Philadelphia and am trying to get all of you to come inside.
What would the shingle even say? Come inside for delicious cheesecake? We just had gluten free and vegan strawberry lemon cheesecake made by Victoria Lindchan of Earthside Provisions that was yes, astounding. And yes, I have been hyping her food for sure. She is cooking for our one-day retreat on Saturday January 11.
Retreat: come for the food?
I’ve been working with people 1-1 and hearing about folks who learn to meditate from the guy who promises that it will make you 10% happier. I have been curious if it does. The answer, so far, is yes. This is wonderful!
Should my shingle say: come in and be happier?
I know for myself that I meditate to yell at my kids less. Practice helps me be more present in the chaos cyclone of having young kids. We have two energetic, ebullient boys. You can imagine.
Meditation has certainly made me “happier.” It has made me more stable of mind. More peaceful. More grounded. More in dignity with myself. More in friendship with my monkey mind, which was once quite an unbearable place to be, full of self-loathing, criticism, judgement and shame, a toxic stew of girl-form perfectionism raised in self-doubt and unstable, anger-prone circumstance.
Can anyone relate?
But no. That is not what my shingle would say.
It would read, simply: Enlightenment.
Sometimes you have to point a finger at the moon. Sometimes we need to step back and give it like it is. I am not “luring” anyone into Heart Sangha or Dharma Bites. This is not marketing. I am not selling, nor profiting. (Literally, my vows prevent me from doing this).
What is on tap at this humble spigot is enlightenment. It is transcending our dualistic mind that thinks there is a self and the other, which is a form of hatred and aggression. It is transcending pride, or negative pride, which I see a lot in the form of self-loathing. This can be quite gendered. How much permission do we need to give so that we women-formed ones take up space. We spend so much time moving around invisible. Invisible care. Invisible work.
We are here to transcend greed. We live in an incessant WANT culture. I experience a lot of Sesame Street right now. You might think WANT culture is Oscar the Grouch but no. It is Cookie Monster. His model is insatiable and it is rampant.
We are here to transcend jealousy. For some of us our privileges are so great that we spend most of our time in the realm of jealous gods. Instagram is the realm of jealous gods. Better loafers— better shirts. I see them too! The ads are very compelling. We are here to transcend jealousy.
Most of all, we are here to transcend the ignorance that does not know how this path is the path. Dharma is the spirit map to living from the juicy aliveness that is beyond the turbulence of wanting and avoiding.
Let’s say that. Let’s put it out there, honestly, for a moment.
I once saw an exhibit at the Rubin Museum of contemporary artists re-imagining how to represent deities. I have been carrying around the image below, by Losang Gyatso. It is from 2009, titled Clear Light Tara. I leave the image with you.
This is what it must look like— buddhahood.
Imagine it’s all of us, shimmering. Pure light body. Right here.
I wish you safety, warmth, peace and joy as this year transforms into the next.
Love,
Sunisa
Practice Invitation:
On the first Monday of the month at 8am e.s.t. I will lead a 45-minute online meditation. This is in an Asian-friendly timezone.
Sign up to Heart Sangha emails for the Zoom link, or email admin@heart-sangha.org with your WhatsApp number to be added to the WhatsApp group.