Our Jewel

Last nght we said a fond farewell to one of our number, Anna, who has been a valued and much loved member of our sangha for nearly 3 years. Anna has been here in sunny liverpool sudying and now it is time for her to spreading her wings, again, and return home. This has brought home something which I think I may have taken for granted, our Sangha. We go for refuge to the three jewels, the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha, our ideal, our inspiration is what we strive to be like and to obtain enlightenment just like him. The Dharma, the truth and the teachings is what we will use to course down the path to enlightenment. The Sangha the spiritual community, the collective of individuals who are striving towards enlightenment. Out of the three the Sangha is probably the most physically tangible, where there every Tuesday, we run and support meditaion and Buddhism courses, we go on retreat together and keep in contact, some times daily. But it dosent end there, we join with other sanghas, and by its very nature become one larger Sangha. Then through nation wide retreats we extent our sangha further and further. With the realization that our Sangha is the Sangha, the world wide collective of Buddhists, going for refuge to the three jewels, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, Tuesday nights are a jewel there right there amongst us!