Should Buddhists develop community support?

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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pilgrim
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Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by pilgrim »

Buddha spoke highly of kalyana mitra or spiritual friendship esp for the ordained sangha. Should lay Buddhists develop community support for each other along the lines of theistic religions? This could take the form of developing networking for business, financial support for each other, aid for immigrants, job placements, assistance for new Buddhists, etc. I believe this is absent or at best very weak or neglected in our Buddhist communities.
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Ben
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by Ben »

Why do you think its necessary?
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

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pilgrim
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by pilgrim »

Ben wrote:Why do you think its necessary?
Dana is not necessary, but it is good for the giver and recipient. It develops bonds of community within the lay sangha and its equivalent practice( e,g joint farming of each other lands, village help, community kitchens and childcare, etc)has been part of traditional Asian Buddhist communities for centuries.
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Ben
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by Ben »

Pilgrim I suggest you develop good Dhamma friends. They will not only come to assist you in your mundane activities, but more importantly, will assist you with your supramundane aspirations.
kind regards

Ben
“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Compassionate Hands Foundation (Buddhist aid in Myanmar) • Buddhist Global ReliefUNHCR

e: [email protected]..
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pilgrim
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by pilgrim »

Ben wrote:Pilgrim I suggest you develop good Dhamma friends. They will not only come to assist you in your mundane activities, but more importantly, will assist you with your supramundane aspirations.
kind regards

Ben
Hi Ben,
I have excellent Dhamma friends and I do not need any assistance at the moment.....but that is not the topic. Pls read my first post . I just started a new topic with a very relevant question. Why is your immediate response one of personal hostility?
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appicchato
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by appicchato »

Why is your immediate response one of personal hostility?
Hostility?...whoa...
SamKR
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by SamKR »

pilgrim wrote:
Ben wrote:Pilgrim I suggest you develop good Dhamma friends. They will not only come to assist you in your mundane activities, but more importantly, will assist you with your supramundane aspirations.
kind regards

Ben
Hi Ben,
I have excellent Dhamma friends and I do not need any assistance at the moment.....but that is not the topic. Pls read my first post . I just started a new topic with a very relevant question. Why is your immediate response one of personal hostility?
Hi Pilgrim,

I don't see any personal hostility in Ben's reply but Your original post is really interesting. I think community support would be a very good thing, but the problem is to find the criteria (or requirements) of giving/gaining such support.
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mikenz66
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by mikenz66 »

pilgrim wrote:Should lay Buddhists develop community support for each other along the lines of theistic religions?
Doesn't that happen automatically from people getting together (at Church or at a Wat)? Or am I missing something?

Mike
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retrofuturist
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings,
appicchato wrote:
Why is your immediate response one of personal hostility?
Hostility?...whoa...
Yeah... that did seem a bit of out left-field. I thought Ben's answer was very good and straight to the point.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
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appicchato
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by appicchato »

retrofuturist wrote:... a bit of out left-field.
Baseball Paul?…whoa... :smile:
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mikenz66
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by mikenz66 »

appicchato wrote:
retrofuturist wrote:... a bit of out left-field.
Baseball Paul?…whoa... :smile:
Could have been an Aussie rules field, or maybe League...

Mike
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DNS
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by DNS »

Something similar to the OP idea is co-housing. There have been many attempts to create a Buddhist co-housing, but most have never left the planning stages. There are at least two yahoo forums devoted to the topic. One of them, BuCoHo, had a message from the administrator just the other day stating:
Dear People,
I have been the moderator of BuCoHo since 2001. In that time it has grown to 211 members but has not yet produced a Buddhist Cohousing Community. It takes a core group of 5 fire starters to get going and 25 or more sustainers to finish. I know you are on the list but just don't know how to meet.
To that end I am turning over the management of BuCoHo to Raines Cohen.
I have one of the other groups too, here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/buddhistretirement/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
which also gets almost no activity.

The main problem I see with co-housing is what if one of the members of the community (a Buddhist) wanted to leave and sold his house or condo or townhome (however the community was comprised) and found a non-Buddhist to buy his place? I don't think it would be legal for the community to deny the sale simply because the buyer of one of the homes was non-Buddhist? And then if it continued, before long there could be more non-Buddhists than Buddhists in the Buddhist co-housing community.
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jcsuperstar
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by jcsuperstar »

sure we should have community support, go to your local temples and sitting groups if the members own businesses support them, donate to local temples or sponsor monks to lead retreats if you live where there is no temple but is a local group that meets (yes folks monks will travel to lead a retreat and hey they dont need to be paid just provide the ticket, food and a place to stay!). or hey start a local group, meet at first at a coffee shop or bookstore, make it like a book club. if there are many groups bring them together by organizing a change your mind day. there are lots of things you can do!
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the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
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jcsuperstar
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by jcsuperstar »

pilgrim wrote: This could take the form of developing networking for business, financial support for each other, aid for immigrants, job placements, assistance for new Buddhists, etc. I believe this is absent or at best very weak or neglected in our Buddhist communities.
a lot of this does take place already, many many Thai people when they come to the US stay at temples till they can live on their own, they meet the local Thai community this way and find jobs through them. I've seen this happen on countless occasions. my wife is one example of this, when she came over here she lived for a time in a temple, older members of the community gave her a sizable loan so she could attend university, found her a job and a family even donated a car for her to drive. and she was by no means an exception to the rule, in fact she was one of two at the same time that this was happening for.
สัพเพ สัตตา สุขีตา โหนตุ

the mountain may be heavy in and of itself, but if you're not trying to carry it it's not heavy to you- Ajaan Suwat
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pilgrim
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Re: Should Buddhists develop community support?

Post by pilgrim »

Yea, I apologise for the touchy reaction from myself as I didn't appreciate that the topic was turned back towards me when I had asked for the thoughts and ideas of those here. Anyway, my post was partially a response to this article.

Religion gives salvation for immigrants
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10664624" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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