Operation Lemonade and the Lemonade Sangha

Last Saturday (April 4, 2020) we held the second “Open Mike” and created what I am calling the Lemonade Sangha. On Sunday we held the first, and somewhat experimental virtual Dharma class on What Is Cultivation?, which will be discussed in another article. Over 85% of those responding to a poll taken during that class said they wanted us to continue this effort and over 30% were in favor or holding them every week. At least as long as we are sheltered-in-place, I will do my best to hold these sessions at 9:00 am every Saturday as long as you want me to do so. I encourage you to likewise stay connected with your local sanghas and share with us what you are doing.  I am sharing the video we took of part of last Saturday’s session above to give you an idea of what they are like and because the discussion we had is relevant to the class we are now doing on What Is Cultivation?. I don’t think we will do this in the future as it will be difficult to gain permission of everyone participating (we did for this one) and I am afraid that knowing you might be videotaped and shared internationally, might inhibit freely expressing your feelings, insecurities, and ignorance. I believe that by sharing our experiences with the dharma and with the conditions we are all facing can help us make lemonade out of the lemon we know as Covid-19. By the way the twenty emotions I mentioned is from a discourse given by the Buddha Master on the Trip to the East Coast” and has a preliminary title of “Cutting Off the Twenty Dharmas Relating to Ordinary Feelings.” You can see from this video that the sessions are quite informal, sometimes even include us having our breakfast, like I did. This blog has members in 19 countries and is also linked to a bilingual (Chinese & English) more-or-less monthly newsletter of the Holy Vajrasana Temple. The technology that enables us to be connected is amazing, even with its short comings. Zoom is free for 40 minute sections and reasonably priced if you want more features. I can see 25 people per page and can have up to 4 pages for any given session. It works on computers, laptops, tablets, and phones, but the view is limited on phones. Haven’t tested it at 100 members yet, but it works pretty good with 60 plus members reporting from five countries. Nine a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, is a challenge in Asia, but it enables us to connect to both Europe and Asia. CLICK TO REGISTER to participate in future open mikes. The registration requirement is new for the open mike events, but seems necessary for security reasons. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. CLICK for background on April 5, 2020 class on What Is Cultivation? and how to gain access to next Sunday’s follow-up class. CLICK again for more detailed content of what was discussed in that class. I welcome your comments below.