A Sangha is a community gathering and is explained below.

Here, at Nine Lives Meditation, we celebrate the New Moon together and hold our Sanghas on this day, that varies each month. We set our individual monthly intentions, that we can share and discuss in the group. We will go on to  discuss a single topic related to building our mindfulness self-awareness in this a shared community. The topic for the month will be included in the Nine Lives Meditation newsletter. Such topics include kindness, empathy, friendship, forgiveness, intention, humanity and compassion. 

I moderate each Sangha. 

Community events do not require advance booking. Like our free community meditations, and in line with the Buddhist tradition where no-one is turned away, New Moon Sanghas are also free. Donations of $5.00 or more are most welcome, to contribute in making this possible. To make a donation, click on the button at the bottom of this page.

Please read the Group Commitment Guidelines before signing up for a Sangha.

To receive a weekly reminder the day before, with any extra information that might be useful, as well as the Zoom link, sign up here with your email address.

WHAT IS SANGHA:

Sangha literally translates from both Pali and Sanskrit languages as community. It can also mean assembly or association and dates back to the very earliest days of the Buddha, around the time of his enlightenment where he was living in the deer forest of Sarnath. The Sangha is open to all, including the sun, the wind, rain outside, all plants and animals, basically all of Nature and the Cosmos in which we live. In the Buddhist tradition, the Sangha is the third of the Three Jewels, the first being The Buddha, the second being his teachings, known as Dharma or Damma. 

Sangha is a necessary step to support, through community, those wishing to learn these teachings that cannot be easily self-taught.

The Buddha’s first formal teaching in a Sangha setting was where he established what became known as his first Four Noble Truths: The first is the Truth of Suffering, second is Attachment or The Origin of Suffering,  the third is the Cessation of Suffering through letting go and the fourth he called The Path to the Cessation of Suffering.