Honey Locust Sangha
Omaha Community of Mindful Living
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CTC Minutes August 2022



On August 21, 2022, the Care-Taking Council (CTC) for Honey Locust Sangha of Omaha assembled via Zoom. Present were 8 of the 9 members: Patrice Watson facilitated (with her usual balance and aplomb). With Mike McMahon, Mike McGann, Mark Watson, Jim Cox, Catherine Stremlau, Tina Ray, and Juanita
Rice taking notes. We missed our sibling* Dave Watts.
First we listened while Patrice read the prayer for a harmonious meeting and had a short sitting meditation, after which we checked in. Noteworthy news was Patrice’s Covid-Negative test (after 18 days) and Juanita’s Blue-tooth speaker which gloriously boosted her into the hearing-enabled.
I might as well say right now that these were the high points of the two-hour meeting. (Just kidding.)
 
Here was the agenda:
1. Final thoughts on the spring retreat 
2. Treasury update. The current balance as of 8/17 is $3390.38 (PayPal, $671.94, US Bank, $2718.44) 
3. Sangha Monday night meetings: comments on the current format / discussion of changes if indicated 
4. Policy on encouraging Dana / how much money does a sangha need? Also should we have a budget? 
 
Here was the meeting: 1. Final thoughts on the spring retreat 
The second agenda item, however, was self-contained so we might say we got through 50% of the agenda. But items 3 and 4 weren’t even tabled. 
 
LEST THAT BE DISCOURAGING, spending two hours on one agenda item was fully justified as we realized the real discussion was backing way up to the substantive issue of why we have Days of Mindfulness and Retreats.  First, we do surveys so we can evaluate our planning to prepare for coming years. 
There were  17 survey responses of 35 retreatants, a significant percentage especially given that we had neglected to send the survey out in a timely manner.
SO ACTUAL ITEM 1: Survey for 2022. The survey results were overall very good, with one item standing out: thinking more carefully about introduction to, and reminders each day for, Noble Silence at the next retreat.
ACTUAL ITEM 2: Room sharing.  Covid restrictions this spring made us careful about room sharing and it was noted that the unshared room was experienced as a bonus for at least some CTC. At Creighton Retreat Center there is a real limitation of space so that if we insist on separate rooms we restrict the number of retreatants and we pay a premium price for each retreatant.  In the past applicants had a choice of single or shared accommodations but we asked everyone who wanted a single unshared room to say that there were special circumstances for the request although we did not ask for them to articulate their reasons.  For next year, if we are back to normal, there will be a price differential for single or shared rooms: we agreed to make the single room option available in needful cases and to discuss issuing a “scholarship discount”. 
ACTUAL ITEM 3:  Planning next year. Jim Cox was part of the planning this year and he volunteered to chair the planning committee for next year.  He will send out an invitation to the sangha at large for volunteers for it. Mike McGann and Tina Ray also volunteered to serve with their experience planning this year.  The plan is for future surveys to be sent out immediately following the retreat, without long delay.
ACTUAL Item 4: Dharma Teachers. Looking ahead, we have reserved the Creighton Retreat Center again next May and made a payment deposit: the dates are May 11 (Thursday evening) through May 14 (Sunday afternoon).But we do not have a teacher scheduled for next spring, 2023, and it is already late for contacting a Dharma teacher for 2023, especially if we are thinking of Michael Ciborski, who is usually in great demand and requires advance scheduling. The last several years we have almost automatically alternated Brother* Michael and Sister* Terry Cortes-Vega and/or newly ordained Dharma Teacher BK (Brian Kimmel) to whom we were introduced while he was in training with sister Terry.  Before that, Brother* Chan Huy was an intimate part of the forming and formalizing of Honey Locust Sangha. (*See a “PS” for discussion.) Today the conversation turned on again evaluating our need for perhaps another exploration of available Teachers. After much free-floating (and anxiety-producing) circumlocution we made several significant decisions:
A.     It would be salutary to acknowledge our white-dominant sangha(s) and look at the advantages that might accrue from conscientiously seeking a BIPOC teacher (Black Indigenous or People of Color).  Larry Ward was specifically suggested; several CTC members have previous experience with him and Peggy Rowe (they teach as a team), and/or have attended zoom retreats with them.  The Sangha Book Study Group chose his book America’s Racial Karma for their reading last year.  Of course, BK also identifies as BIPOC/Gender Dysphoric*.
B.     Moreover, it adds good perspective to realize that if we invite a new Dharma Teacher to visit us, we are not just “hiring a speaker.”  We are wanting to explore a new relationship; we are almost asking a teacher for a date.  Perhaps a long-term relationship with the sangha.  We need to approach the task not as a shopping trip but as a Prom Date, at least a coffee date.
So Action Item 1: Mark has a history of contacting Michael Ciborski and will ask right away if he is available for May 2023.  And if not, would he be able to come May 2024?
2: Mark will report back to the Retreat Planning Committee. At that point Jim, as committee chair will contact Sister* Terry for 2023.
3.  Whether or not Michael Ciborski* or Terry Cortes Vega* is available for 2024, we are resolved to begin to explore options for a new alternate Dharma Teacher in the future—whether that is 2024 or 2025.
4. Mike McMahon will do some initial investigation expressing interest in the Lotus Institute (Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe).
5. We will expressly think about pursuing diversity as issues and choosing teachers personally.
6.  And if neither Michael Ciborski or Terry Cortes Vega is available for this coming spring, 2023, we have confidence that we can “do it our own damn selves.”  (Thank you, Poohbah Jim.)
 
And with time expired (12:30-2:30) we adjourned.
-------------------------------------
“PS” See ** in minutes.  For some of the same reasons as motivated the rewriting of Plum Village Mindfulness Training 3 (see revision June 15, 2022 by the Plum Village select committee), this writer of these minutes for today is skating around the tradition of necessarily attributing gender to our Dharma teachers: viz, “Brother Michael” or “Sister Terry.” It is meant generally as an honorific, indicating a status in our Mahasangha. However, the new teacher with whom we are most familiar, BK or Brian Kimmel, has stipulated not using the pronouns of gender for “themselves”; so not “he/him” nor “she/her” but “they/them.” In passing, we noted that “Brother  BK,” then, was inappropriate language. And we are therefore faced with the question of automatically using gendered descriptors (“brother, sister”) or, let us say,  we are offered the opportunity of examining ways in which traditional language privileges binary gender assumptions.
In our own Honey Locust sangha, several members specify the pronouns they use to refer to themselves, asking that we use gender-neutral pronouns (“they/them” and not “she/her” or “he/him.”  If we truly wish to endorse and support our loved sangha mates who feel that their “perceived gender” does not necessarily accord with “he” or “she,” we must begin to turn this boat.  Some months ago, maybe a year or more, a Honey Locust OI/Facilitator shared a video interview with a former Plum Village monastic who disrobed (left the monastic life) partly for reasons associated with not feeling that their gender orientation was fully supported and recognized. 

It's new, it’s awkward, it’s potentially revolutionary and maybe risky. Many people who are Gender Dysphoric, or who reject dualistic and judgmental gender labeling, have good reason to wish for express reassurance that the sangha, the dharma, the buddha belong to them as well as to everyone else. This will be a long and fruitful discussion.So I am including a Gender Unicorn flow-chart unbidden by the rest of the CTC because I am feeling cantankerous and tired. I dare you:
https://transstudent.org/gender/
 
The Honey Locust Sangha / Omaha Community of Mindful Living is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All funds donated help to fulfill the mission of practicing and raising awareness of the mindfulness practice in the Thich Nhat Hanh / Plum Village tradition.

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