Community as Peacemaking
“I suggest a core practice of gathering: embracing the art of togetherness, mindful welcoming, just listening and being present for each other, and responding out of a felt sense of kinship. There is nothing more important. By doing this, we bring calm, connection, and care into our communities and peace to ourselves and others.”
As we pack up the house this month, and enjoy the summer rhythms at Gather, I’m feeling the depth of Community Zen. Kinship and neighborliness – embracing brotherhood, sisterhood, and siblinghood – this is what Community Zen is all about. It is the very heart of our practice. Living in harmony with others is essential to cherishing the gift of having a life. Moving through life together, in all of its knotty details, is “The Great Matter,” and we give it all our attention and effort.
When we actively develop peace, harmony, and healing as our life vow, everyone we meet – at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community, Gather, at our jobs, in our family, or on the streets of our neighborhoods – will feel it. They sense a shift in their bodies and minds, a sigh of relaxation or a moment of happiness. When as a practice community we commit to the art of being present with others, listening to others, and trying to understand others, we develop a powerful mutual awareness that by itself creates healing for everyone. We focus on developing this, dedicating ourselves to this purpose day and night. This is our life’s work, and our vow.
Connecting daily with people from different generations, backgrounds, cultures, worldviews, and life experiences, we encounter challenges and difficulties. It is not always easy to stay connected to people who are different from you. Yet when we do, we also discover beauty, hope, and the miracles of life and moments. Each moment of togetherness builds the future, embodying the essence of peacemaking.
As a community of practitioners, our individual acts of mindfulness, service to others, and our varied chosen lifestyles and careers express the entire sangha, shaping the world community. Through our daily practice of caring attention to body, speech, and mind, our sangha spreads the teachings of understanding and love. The collective energy of the sangha benefits all, like countless points of light or the many hands and eyes of compassion and joy.
Community Zen as peacemaking is an art – the art of gathering, being present, listening, and striving to understand one another’s hopes, joys, fears, and sufferings. Only by understanding and appreciating each other do our actions become healing. Without practicing togetherness, actions are just plain busyness. Busyness is one of the sicknesses of our modern society – Community Zen can be medicine.
Healing actions require letting go of original ideas or viewpoints, allowing actions to be shaped by a relationship. We move beyond a transactional “me helping you” mindset to a shared sense of belonging, where doing things together is energized and enthusiastic. It feels natural.
I suggest a core practice of gathering: embracing the art of togetherness, mindful welcoming, just listening and being present for each other, and responding out of a felt sense of kinship. There is nothing more important. By doing this, we bring calm, connection, and care into our communities and peace to ourselves and others. This is our peacemaking. To achieve peace, we have to embody peace. Peacemaking begins with coming together.
Taking refuge in this jewel of togetherness means embracing a way of life, living as one body, not in doctrines, strategic plans, or charismatic leaders. We move beyond seeing ourselves as separate entities with distinct needs, recognizing that Being, rather than Doing, is our greatest contribution to the community and fosters peace in our aching world. We move beyond notions of “same and different,” avoiding dualistic thinking, comparing, judging, pitying, or criticizing.
Experiencing togetherness expands our sense of belonging, helping us transcend the narrow confines of our individual egos, which contribute to much modern suffering – despair, loneliness, unworthiness, and burnout, undermining relationships, communities, and the Earth. The joy, love, and hope from feeling truly alive and embracing togetherness ignite a flame in our hearts, brightening our lives and those of our community.
The love generated through gathering, listening, and understanding – through shared joys and tears, touching the deep source of life – enables us to experience life, every life, as a miracle, treasured and respected as the most precious gift we have.
May it be so.
Joshin