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Home , Ajahn, Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Chah, Buddhadasa, Christopher Titmuss, Mahasi Sayadaw

This Fantastic, Unfolding Experiment

Reflecting on the history of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center, describes the challenges and tensions that have accompanied the movement to bring to the West and the creative solutions that have emerged to meet them.

he – Burma will say, “In Burma we “the Way of the Elders” have always been the carriers T– has a rich history and of the true way,” even though tremendous diversity. Anybody the ascendancy of Theravada who is not aware of that diver- Buddhism in Burma began sity can learn more from my only a few hundred years ago. first book, published in 1976, So, in fact, the history of the called Living Buddhist Mas- Theravada, and the history of ters. Now, they’re mostly dead Buddhism generally, is actually Buddhist masters, so it has a weaving of a number of dif- been retitled Living . ferent strands. You’ll notice that there’s a wide and often contra- This diversity is one of the central dilemmas dictory variety of approaches to dharma practice in my own spiritual life and has deeply informed and liberation. If you go to or to Burma, how I have been teaching and how the dharma at many teachers will say, “We have the pure lineage IMS (Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mas- from the time of the Buddha. We have the original sachusetts) and Spirit Rock have unfolded. I had and the texts. Admittedly, the sutras weren’t many teachers, but the most central were two of really written down for five or six hundred years, the wisest Theravada teachers of the past cen- but we have kept these teachings pure since they tury: one in Thailand, Chah, and one in were brought here very early from .” How- Burma, Mahasi . While they were both ever, if you take a few steps beyond the main cen- considered deeply enlightened, these teachers did ters, you will notice that the countryside in Burma, not agree at all on what enlightenment was or Thailand, and Cambodia contains ancient Mahay- how you attained it. In fact, they disagreed, each ana and temples filled with incredible believing that the other was not teaching the real iconography of the whole range of Buddhist tradi- way to enlightenment. tions. In fact, the various traditions have been When I went to ’s monastery, first exchanging teaching for millennia. Monks in as a layman and then as a monk, the main form of s v e i h n o rc ici

Jack Kornfield trained in vipassana and Theravada Buddhist practice in monasteries in Thailand, Burma, and India. He is one of the original found- a ck o

ers of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. His books include A Path with Heart; Teachings of the Buddha; After the n e a l r i t Ecstasy, the Laundry; and, forthcoming, The Secret Beauty: Buddhist Psychology for the West. This article is adapted from an informal talk he t ris iri p h s gave to Spirit Rock board members. c s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 | | buddhadharma 32 practice was to meditate a moderate amount – two, tion training at these other places. Why don’t you (Above, left) three, four hours a day – and then to practice the go try that and see what happens?” (1904 –1982) dharma of letting go of as you lived in So I went to a Mahasi monastery and trained (Above, right) community. The basic instruction was to quiet with a famous monk, Asabha Sayadaw, who was Ajahn Chah (1919 –1992) your mind enough so that you could see when quite skillful in teaching meditation but neverthe- there was suffering and recognize patterns of greed, less turned out to be a very problematic teacher. I hatred, and delusion when you were entangled in began very ardently, the way young men do, sitting the world, then let them go. Meditation was the and walking twenty hours a day, with minimum means to support and loving-kindness sleep. I did this for nearly a year and a half. With throughout the day so that you could be free in his instruction, all kinds of cool things began to any circumstance. happen. My body would dissolve into light, and When I went to a monastery under Mahasi I had all kinds of classic insights into emptiness, Sayadaw, figure and ground were reversed. There just like in the old texts. My progress in insight wasn’t any community practice; everything focused grew, and my understanding of on silent . Everything you did was in the and emptiness deepened, and I thought, “Wow, I service of one thing: silent meditation. You would know this is what the Buddha meant.” But then meditate for ten, fifteen, eighteen hours a day (like I’d look out from the window of my cottage – he we do on intensive retreat now) in order to have gave me the “nice” cottage near his, because I was certain deep experiences in meditation that would a Westerner – and there he would be, Asabha Say- transform greed, hatred, and delusion. adaw, sitting with his feet up on the table, smoking Now, there were some particular problems in his cigar and reading the paper, belching and yell- each of these systems. The problem I found at ing at the gardeners because they were doing the Ajahn Chah’s monastery was that while he was a wrong thing, and throwing rocks at the dogs to get fantastic dharma teacher, he was not a very pre- them to stay out of his garden. He obviously had cise or detailed meditation teacher. The reason deep meditation experiences, but by temperament was simple: he wasn’t that interested in medita- and character he was a very coarse and, in many tion experiences. If you developed or ways, not a terribly kind person. So I would be get- s

v e entered the jhanas, he could teach you about them ting this refined meditation instruction from this i h n o

rc because he had practiced all the jhanas, but he teacher who really knew how to train the mind, ici a

ck wasn’t really interested in that. However, I was. then I’d look at him and say to myself, “Oh my o n e a l r i t t And after I trained with him for a while, I heard, God, even though I’m grateful, I don’t want to be ris iri p h s c “Oh, there is deeper and more systematic medita- like this person.”

buddhadharma | | s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 33 it seems to have enormously transformative effects on people. Other times people have this moment of experience and aren’t really changed by it at all. Sometimes they’re not even sure what hap- pened. Using this method of practicing, perhaps three percent of the people who went to Mahasi’s The Buddha taught a host of skillful means to quiet the mind monastery would have had such a stream-entry and open the heart and learn to let go, and they have developed into experience. If you have a thousand people practic- many traditions over the millennia. Yet people often latch on to one ing at a given time, that means thirty people would and misunderstand the others. have stream-entry experiences and maybe another hundred would be deep in the progress of insight. A lot of people have really cool experiences, but there are the other 870 who aren’t anywhere near that level. Even so, retreats are amazing. I had fantastic experiences and I learned a great deal from those intensive retreats. The insights and freedom you can touch are very beneficial. Of course when I came back to Ajahn Chah’s monastery, I told him with relish about all of the experiences I had. He just looked at me and smiled and said, “Good.

Jack Kornfield (left) Something else to let go of.” And that was his per- with Joseph Goldstein, 1976 spective. He appreciated the experiences, but even What I saw reflected a dilemma inherent in the if they were a taste of enlightenment, they were models themselves. The model of intensive medi- done. He was interested in whether I could embody tation practice is that you seek to have a certain them moment-by-moment, here and now. profound experience – stream-entry, a taste of nir- At Ajahn Chah’s monastery, his belief and teach- vana – and the idea is that it transforms you for- ing about and stream-entry were different. ever, and indeed there is some basis for this in the He spoke about nirvana as the “unconditioned.” . In this model (I’m not going to say He said at one point, “If you’ve been in this mon- whether it’s true or not, I’ll leave that to your own astery for six months or a year and haven’t entered experience), people were taught that they could the stream, haven’t tasted the unconditioned, I have a profound opening to nirvana, be assured don’t know what you’ve been doing. You haven’t of beautiful rebirths, and then feel like they were been practicing correctly.” If you followed his basically saved and would never need to do retreat teachings correctly, you became mindful of the con- practice again, or at least not very much. stantly changing conditions of sight, sound, taste, U Sayadaw was an example of this smell, physical perceptions, feelings, and thoughts. belief. After very deep training, he became a skill- Through mindfulness practice you began to experi- ful teacher in terms of samadhi and the higher ence how conditioned the world is and how these realms of practice. When Mahasi Sayadaw died, conditions constantly change. was the dharma successor and next abbot To free ourselves, we need to quiet the mind of Mahasi’s monastery. However, there were power through some mindfulness in meditation. Then, struggles in that monastery and U Pandita had to instead of identifying with the changing condi- leave. After this loss, he went on retreat again for tions, we learn to release them and turn toward some deep meditation training. I’m told it was the consciousness itself, to rest in the knowing. Ajahn first time he’d been on retreat in thirty-five years. Chah called this pure awareness, “the original In Mahasi’s model, enlightenment – or at least mind,” and resting in “the one who knows.” stream-entry, the first taste of nirvana – comes in Similarly, Ajahn Jumnian talks about awareness the form of a cessation of experience, arising out as pure consciousness, amattadhamma – the death- of the deepest state of concentration and atten- less, the unborn. The senses and the world are tion, when the body and mind are dissolved, the always changing conditions, but that which knows experience of the ordinary senses ceases, and we is unconditioned. With practice, we discover the s s v e rest in perfect equanimity. We open into that selflessness of experience; we shift identity. We can v e i i h h rc which is unconditioned, timeless, and liberating: be in the midst of an experience, being upset or rc a a ck nirvana. Like , this moment brings a angry or caught by some problem, and then step ck o o r r t whole new way of knowing. But there are a lot of back from it and rest in pure awareness. We let go; t iri iri p p s questions around this kind of moment. Sometimes we release holding any thought or feeling as “I” s s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 | | buddhadharma 34 or “mine.” No problem needs to be solved. We release the whole sense of identification, and the conditioned world is just anicca (impermanent), dukkha (unsatisfactory), and (empty of self) – it has nothing to do with our true nature. We learn to trust pure awareness itself. This is one of the ways Ajahn Chah taught about libera- tion based on the forest tradition. Awakening is always here and now. Practicing this way, your life is transformed. Each of the many different dharma perspectives gives rise to teachers and students who say they know Buddha’s real true way, the very best way to practice. They let you know that others don’t have the right way. You find this attitude all over the Buddhist world, and to some extent it has been imported to America. Often when you visit mon- asteries in Asia, either the teachers or their dis- ciples will say, “Those guys in the other tradition don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. They won’t get you to liberation.” There is a kind of competition between them. But in truth, there isn’t only one or technique that brings libera- tion. The Buddha taught a host of skillful means to “We practice the way it was around the time of quiet the mind and open the heart and learn to let the Buddha,” they ignore the fact that Jack Kornfield (second from the right) at the go, and they have developed into many traditions temples dot their landscapes. Tow Kote Vipassana Center over the millennia. Yet people often latch on to When we started IMS, it was primarily a in Thailand, 1971. one and misunderstand the others. Mahasi-oriented center. I brought in the flavor of The roots of this conflict can be traced to the Ajahn Chah as well. But because Joseph (Gold- moment before the Buddha died, when he said to stein) and Sharon (Salzberg) had done most of Often when you visit Ananda, “When I die, you may abolish the minor their practice through the Burmese lineages of monasteries in Asia, rules.” Alas, Ananda didn’t ask which minor rules. Mahasi Sayadaw and of U Ba Khin, and we shared either the teachers So after the Buddha died, and they had the first this training, this is mainly what we taught. From or their disciples will Council of Elders, Ananda reported that he did not the very beginning we offered the practices of say, “Those guys in ask which rules they could abolish. Immediately, both Mahasi Sayadaw and U Ba Khin, with Ruth the other tradition there was a fight between the disciples who wanted Denison and John Coleman leading retreats. We don’t know what the to adapt by abolishing certain rigid rules and the also asked U Ba Khin’s great disciple Goenka if hell they’re talking ones who said, “Since we don’t know which rules he would come and teach, because Joseph, Sha- about. They won’t to abolish, let’s conserve every single rule exactly ron, and others were very devoted to him. He get you to liberation.” as the Buddha said.” From then on, it’s been an responded in a letter saying, “If you open a center There is a kind of ongoing conversation. In every generation, there and have more than one lineage teaching there, competition between will be those who adapt and those whose role is it will be the work of , and it will be the them. to conserve. We may be those original disciples, undoing of the dharma.” Goenka’s teacher U Ba reborn again in America, carrying on the same Khin believed this. However, his letter came the arguments. day after we signed the mortgage – fortunately, it You can sense the tension that comes from the was too late. clash of different models and beliefs. It happens in In fact, opening the center felt like good karma every religious tradition. There is the transcendent or grace, like we were being carried by the dharma. view and the immanent view. There are those who I love the story of how we got the money for IMS. say God is best known through deep prayer and Three people who had been to India or loved deep mystical experience. There are those who the dharma each put up $15,000, which gave us say God is immanent and everything shines with enough money for the deposit on the $150,000 s

v e holiness all the time. Similarly, there is a tension property. This was $150,000 for ninety rooms, a i h

rc between those who would like to adapt the teach- bowling alley, tennis courts, eighty acres of land, a ck ings and those who would conserve things the a huge kitchen, and all of the furnishings! When we o r t way they believe they were. But meanwhile, every- went to the bank, and the bank saw our name was iri p s thing is changing. When the Burmese or Thai say, Insight Meditation Society – IMS – they thought it

buddhadharma | | s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 35 was the International Meditation Society, founded and inner, form and emptiness were all aspects of by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of the Beatles fame, his teaching. A wise teacher, and a wise center, and they said, “Oh, sure, how much money do needs to offer a whole range of skillful practices, you want?” They lent us the money based on a because people come along at different stages of complete misunderstanding! their inner development, with different tempera- When we started, the first principle that ments, and with different sets of problems. If we we got right – partly out of necessity (or out of limit ourselves to one technique, it will only serve desperation) – was that we would do collective certain people and it won’t be helpful to others. teachings. One can see that the centers that have Diversity of practices is an underlying vision at had the most difficulty have invested all the power IMS that has also been carried through to Spirit in just one teacher. Often that person gets terribly Rock. On our retreats, though we use the basic isolated, and, as you know, many dharma centers in instructions from Mahasi Sayadaw, we also draw the West have suffered in some fashion or another from the teachings and perspectives of Ajahn Chah, , U Ba Khin, and many others. By adopting the retreat model rather than Ajahn Chah’s wise way of communal dharma living, we paid very little attention to the integration or the embodiment of dharma outside of retreats. In the beginning, we had no integration period at all. At the end of the first three-month silent retreat, we just said, “Three months are over; see you later.” Two days later, we saw one of our yogis in her pajamas doing in the general store in Bucksport, Maine. There was no real inte- gration and care. In fact for a number of years, James Baraz, now a teacher himself, ran a kind of halfway house in Berkeley for people coming out of the three-month retreat. It became clear to many of us that we needed to establish a way of practice that was not just focused on retreats, because people would come back after doing a ten-day retreat or a month-long retreat, or due to the misconduct of their primary teacher. even a three-month retreat, and say, “I’m having so When we started IMS, I was twenty-eight, Joseph much trouble integrating what I learned on retreat was twenty-nine, and Sharon was only twenty-one. into the world out here. How do I embody this Front row, from left: , Joseph Goldstein, As Sharon likes to say, “It all happened without practice in my everyday life?” Jack Kornfield, adult supervision!” In our wisdom, combined with After the first ten years at IMS, a group of Jacqueline Mandell-Schwartz. Back row, center: Mahasi Sayadaw. abject terror, we said, “Let’s hold hands for this one, us – James Baraz, Sylvia Boorstein, Anna Doug- Insight Meditation Society, 1979. guys.” And as a result, we created the team teaching las, Howie Cohn, and many others – wanted to model that has saved us so many times. It offers a create a wider dharma stream that focused on much more intelligent way of holding power, espe- more than retreat experience and that would help cially in a new culture here in the West. people embody the dharma in their lives. This was The second principle that we got right – and I the vision that drove a committed group of West was a passionate advocate for this – was having Coast practitioners in the mid-eighties to look at multiple lineages. Even though there was a Mahasi property for a center. We found cheap, beauti- lineage through Munindra, Mahasi Sayadaw, Dipa ful places far out in the country, and some board Ma, and Asabha Sayadaw that we shared at IMS, members thought about buying them. But a bigger it was very important from the beginning that we group held out for a center near the city, where invite other lineages and teachers. So early on we silent retreats, classes, and community could grow invited and Christina Feld- together. Thus Spirit Rock was born. Just as at man – people who had studied with Ajahn Bud- IMS, the founding of Spirit Rock involved some dhadasa, Ajahn Dhammadoro, Ajahn Chah, and amazing karma. For $900,000 we bought almost other teachers. From my own experience, it was a square mile of land in a gorgeous secluded valley healthier for both students and teachers alike to in Marin County (some say it’s a Native American s s v e have access to a range of dharma teachings and sacred site) from the Nature Conservancy, giving v e i i h h rc perspectives. This is an underlying principle at them money to save rain forests in the Amazon. rc a a ck Spirit Rock as well. Another problem we had encountered at IMS ck o o r r t The Buddha is often described as the master of concerning our dharma diversity influenced how t iri iri p p s many skillful means. Gradual and sudden, outer we set up Spirit Rock and how our entire com- s

s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 | | buddhadharma 36 munity has evolved. After inviting Ruth Denison, While we are dedicated to Christopher Titmus, Christina Feldman, Vimalo preserving and sustaining the core Kulbartz, and others to teach at IMS, conflicts teachings of our lineage, we are also periodically arose about the best way to teach, willing to be innovators. Of course, because people were teaching from different per- no matter what we do, we will spectives. We started having teacher meetings to be criticized as well as praised. try to work out our conflicts. Robert Hall was our psychiatrist. He would come in as a friend of the community at that time, before he was a dharma teacher, sit down and listen to the arguments and

problems, and help us sort them out. Jack Kornfield giving a tour of One particularly instructive teacher meeting the land at Spirit Rock in 1993. at IMS involved the center’s first fifteen vipassana teachers. The dharma conflict was most strongly represented by a polarity between two teachers, one more relaxed. But then something else became quite who at that time was devoted to a strict Mahasi clear. If that voice weren’t here, the need for that Sayadaw style of meditation taught in a very sys- voice would be so apparent that it would have to tematic, conservative manner. The other teacher, be supplied by the rest of us. Then Robert invited though equally devoted to the Buddhist texts, was this teacher back in and sent the most conservative more formless and free, in a “Krishnamurti-like” teacher out of the room. He asked, “Now, suppose phase. He valued the radical side of the Buddha’s this teacher – who is concerned about tradition and teachings of liberation: “Throw out the bondage conserving Burmese forms of practice quite strictly of tradition and live in the reality of now.” This – was no longer part of the community. How would conflict had carried on over a number of years. that affect the rest of you?” As I look back, I often find it somewhat amusing, At first we could feel the relaxing of the ten- although sometimes it was very painful and still is. sion. But then several of us said, “If he were not Nevertheless, I think conflict is part of human expe- teaching the traditional perspective that he does, rience, and I’m actually interested in how conflict is we would do more of it because it’s so important incorporated into practice rather than avoided. that people get it. His conservatism allows us to So there were conservative voices that wanted be more creative.” It became apparent to everyone to keep things the way it was done in Mahasi’s in that circle that the approaches of the various retreat center in Burma, and there were voices that teachers complement each other, that we needed said, “We’re in a new culture; we have to adapt each other, that we do best when we represent and be free.” We were polarized concerning how not one particular stream or lineage but rather a to set the wisest direction. At that point Robert or a whole, where we each have a piece Hall did a very skillful thing. He said, “I’d like one to contribute. of the most polarized voices to leave the room. Go This, then, is some of the ground on which out, and we will call you back later.” So the most Spirit Rock was founded twenty years ago. When radical teacher of those who wanted to adapt the we came together in the early years to try to estab- teachings in new ways left the room, and Rob- lish what guidelines and what sense this center on ert said to the group, “Suppose this teacher was the West Coast would hold, we created a vision s s v e v e banished from the community, so that we didn’t statement, which you can still see on our website. i i h h rc rc have him to bother us any more. How would that Spirit Rock is a mandala that includes the practice a a ck ck affect you all?” of intensive retreats and the ongoing embodiment o o r r t t We sat in the circle and reflected on it. Of course, and integration of dharma in all of the dimen- iri iri p p s s without the conflict, our lives would be easier and sions of one’s life. We wanted this whole range. We

buddhadharma | | s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 37 put the Dharma of Liberation in the center of the truths includes the eightfold path, which instructs mandala; surrounding it are the other key elements us in how to live and embody dharma in every part of the mandala: retreats, following a year-round of life through right view, right speech, right action, schedule; study, such as the Living Dharma retreat, right livelihood, right mindfulness, and so forth. Dedicated Practitioners Program, or Steven Batch- Another great principle in our community of elor’s study retreats; hermitage, with forest huts teachers, along with our mandala of practice, is for very long-term practice, which will be exciting that we all have continued to be students. Every when we are able to do it; and right relationship, one of us in the Teachers’ Council here and at IMS cultivating wise relationship with each other, with is dedicated to continuing to practice, both within the earth, and with other beings, following all the our tradition and outside of our own lineage. We steps of the eightfold path. This comprehensive have all studied with many great teachers in other vision provides deep training in practice. It also traditions. Our practice has taught us to value trains practitioners in how to integrate practice depth in the many forms, and we look for skillful into daily life through classes and workshops that means to amplify what we know in our tradition. promote and support wise and compassionate Both at Spirit Rock and at IMS, we want to deepen action in the world. our realization of liberation, our embodiment of Our mandala reflects Theravada Buddhism and it, and then find ways to communicate the dharma the riches of the Buddhist tradition overall. If you we have inherited through skillful means in this look at the monasteries in Thailand and Burma, culture. the retreat centers make up a tiny fraction of the Over the decades, our way of presenting the Buddhist culture. Most of the Buddhist teachings in teachings has matured. For example, in the begin- these Buddhist countries ning we put an empha- focus on generosity, on sis on great striving and Jack Kornfield meets with the service, on right speech, effort, just as we were design committee in 1996 to discuss the architect’s model right action, and right taught in Asia. But we for Spirit Rock’s residential livelihood. The whole learned that, in this cul- retreat center. eightfold path is the way ture, when people use of practice. great effort they tend There is a wonderful to judge themselves or book called Buddha in tie themselves in knots. the Jungle, by Kamala Feelings of unworthiness Tiyavanich. From her and self-criticism create research of , extending back huge problems, so we now use a lot of metta. to the earliest written records of the eighteenth and People get to the same profound levels of insight nineteenth century, you see a very wide range of in a more integrated way. meditation practices in use during that period. You Our range of skillful means has expanded. also read how the forest lineages included healers, During our two-month spring retreat, students educators, schoolteachers, priests, peacemakers, go very deep, and many have the classical inner and meditators; some were soothsayers and oth- transformative experiences of jhana and vipassana ers were shamans who worked with the ghosts and samadhi that come from long-term training. But spirits of the other realm. In most of these monas- the deepening is enhanced by adding metta, by the teries, there were rituals and festivals and dharma spacious attention that comes from Ajahn Chah’s arts, such as painting and music. Other monaster- nondual perspective, and by our understanding of ies trained elephants and some held sky burials. Western psychology. Our retreats now incorpo- There were even monasteries on the Mekong River rate a sophisticated understanding of how to work where the monks used to enter into boat races with with the common kinds of traumas and conflicts one another. There was a wide range of ways in that come up as we open our minds and hearts. which the Buddhist teachings were integrated in To preserve the strength of our tradition, the the community. The monasteries were community majority of our retreats teach vipassana and the centers, education centers, and centers for people four foundations of mindfulness. Many of our in every aspect and phase of their lives. other retreats focus on the (the Someone might look at this and ask, “Where’s divine abodes of loving-kindness, compassion, the Buddhism in that?” If you simply consider the sympathetic joy, and equanimity). Those are our Buddhist sutras, you might say, “I don’t see any- two central streams of dharma practice. The third

thing about elephant training or community cen- stream offers an integration of mindfulness prac- r

ters in the Buddhist texts” or “I don’t see anything tice with other aspects of our dharma vision. These h e l o c at

about Eastern and Western psychology in there; retreats combine mindfulness and yoga, or mind- b isn’t the Buddha’s teaching on the fulness and the creative process, or mindfulness t e p h e n

enough?” And it is enough. But the four noble and loving-kindness and psychotherapy. In addi- s s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 | | buddhadharma 38 tion, we have hundreds of daylongs, which along dharma traditions are learning from one another. with retreats provide the aspect of our mandala In the eighties, our community was one of the first that has to do with integration and how we live. in the West to create an ethics council. Our ethics This would also include our Diversity Program, statement for Western teachers and communities which is committed to the dharma to as has become a model for others. diverse a population as possible; our Program When we established Spirit Rock, our notion for Socially Engaged Buddhists; our Family Pro- was to make the governance more egalitarian than gram, for children and their parents; our Teen and traditional dharma centers. We wanted to have a Young Adult Program; and our Program for Yoga dialogue that would integrate the wisdom of the Teachers. dedicated community, board members, and teach- To keep Spirit Rock connected to the core of ers and guide the center. So instead of setting up our Buddhist tradition, we made a rule that when a pyramid with guiding teachers at the top who people outside our lineage come here to teach make the main decisions for the board to enact, retreats, they would always be joined by one of we set up two bodies – a board of directors and a our teachers in order to connect their teachings to teachers’ council – which have now come together our practice. In this way our core practices of gen- to jointly carry the responsibility and the vision for erosity, virtue, mindfulness, and loving-kindness Spirit Rock for the century ahead. It’s clear to me are complemented by other lineages and skillful that we need a real coordination between teach- means. This practice holds even for masters like ers and community and board members. There’s a Tsoknyi . We respectfully asked him to collective wisdom at the heart of Spirit Rock that teach at Spirit Rock because we highly value his we want to draw from. teaching on . The board, teachers, However, we explained staff, and community that the way our com- members are all long- The Residential Retreat Hall at Spirit Rock Meditation Center munity works is that we term dharma students. in Woodacre, California. try to have visiting teach- We have a joint responsi­ ings relate to our own bility to ask, “How can tradition, and we asked we bring the blessings and if he would be comfort- freedom of the buddha­ able teaching with one dharma to all who come of our teachers, such as to Spirit Rock, and how Guy Armstrong or Ajahn can we sustain this while Amaro. He said, “I love those guys. I love that working together as people who have different monk. Sure, I will teach with them.” So we have views? How can we make a collective of teachers had wonderful retreats with Tsoknyi Rinpoche and and followers and practitioners who share different both and Guy Armstrong on differ- perspectives and yet underneath are really commit- ent occasions. ted to those essential dharma principles?” While we are dedicated to preserving and sus- Our task is to preserve the practices of mind- taining the core teachings of our lineage, we are fulness, loving-kindness, compassion, ethics, and also willing to be innovators, as indicated by our virtuous conduct. We want to preserve the whole willingness to learn from many lineages. We draw eightfold path. We want to foster the deepest wisdom from Western psychology; we have hosted teachings and practices we can to bring awaken- a series of international teacher meetings over the ing to all who practice with us. That’s what will past two decades; we have honored and embraced sustain a healthy center and a healthy dharma the feminine since the early years; we have been a stream, and bring benefit to the world. Our next pioneer in our Diversity Program; and we’ve been step is to more fully support the hundreds of sit- innovative in our teacher training and in our Com- ting groups, kalayanamitta senior-student groups, munity Dharma Leader’s program, a two-and- and community dharma centers that are growing half-year training regimen for senior vipassana around the country with this same open-hearted students who wish to offer classes and daylong spirit. Of course, no matter what we do, we will retreats to their local . We do our best be criticized as well as praised, so all we can do is to deal with our conflict openly, which is a life- stay true to our highest intentions. long process. Our teachers and staff have trained It’s a fantastic experiment that we’re all engaged in council practices and mindful listening. Now in, bringing the dharma to the West. We’ll try our

r many of these areas are being developed at other best, and if things work, wonderful, and if they

h e l o centers. Commitment to diversity is spreading, the seem to be unskillful, then we will stop doing c at b complementary value of Western psychology is them. That’s what’s called wisdom. No matter widely being incorporated, women are becoming how it unfolds, it’s been a blessing and an honor t e p h e n s dharma leaders all over the West, and the major to be part of it all.

buddhadharma | | s u m m e r 2 0 0 7 39