Lesbian Buddhist Sangha - spiritual friendship and support
We know that the dominant expression of Buddhism and Buddhist practice is not a feminine expression and certainly not lesbian. As Buddhism moves to the west it is not only encountering Western ideas and culture, but women’s and lesbian issues. In order for women’s and lesbian expression of Buddhism to emerge, there needs to be a quiet and safe place for our questions, intuition and wisdom. Together we take refuge in our potential to awaken. We take refuge in the teachings. We take refuge in our Lesbian Sangha, which provides us spiritual friendship and support.
Our tradition is based on the practice of mindfulness and loving kindness. Mindfulness is the examination of our experience through calm and focus awareness. Mindfulness, when strengthened, gives us the ability to see things as they really are. In the seeing comes deep freedom and peace. Learning to relate to our experiences from a place of stillness enables one to begins to accept all of life with increasing equanimity and balance. Life is seen as a constantly changing process. This deepening of the awareness process is called insight. Loving kindness meditation gives us the ability to hold ourselves. Both mindfullness and loving kindness meditation supports us to live our lives with compassion and wisdom, in deep connection with all of life.
Sangha Gatherings
We meet every Tuesday. The Sangha meets on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm, at the Epworth United Methodist Church, 1953 Hopkins Street, Berkeley (just north of the Alameda). On 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesdays, 7:30-8:30 pm, a mini-sangha meets without a teacher, at the home of Anna Barnard, 438 66th St., Oakland (east of Telegraph Ave.) Bring your zafus. Chairs are available and both the church and home are wheel chair accessible. We sit for 30 to 40 minutes. At the church Carol guides meditation followed by announcements, dharma talk and mindful discussion. We often invite guest speakers, and members speak on topics of interest to us all. Sometimes we have potlucks and socializing after the meeting. The Sangha is open to all lesbian, bisexual, trangendered and questioning women.