The San Francisco Black Indigenous People of Color Insight Meditation Sangha
An insight meditation community (sangha) for self-identified people of color in San Francisco.
Established in 2016.
Founders & Teachers
This Insight Meditation Sangha was founded in 2016 by Victoria Cary and Tara Mulay to support self-identified people of color in San Francisco in learning and sharing in the dharma in community with other people of color. As core teachers, along with Devin Berry they have held space and supported the development of a strong community of individuals as well as opportunities for guest teachers of color to shared dharma talks and guide sits. In Spring of 2018, after Tara and Devin relocated the sangha welcomed Nils Heymann and Louije Kim as core teachers along with Victoria. In 2020 we moved online and and now we are supported by Victoria Cary and Guests.
About this Sangha
SF POC Insight Sangha Agreements for Wise Speech
Borrowed from EBMC’s Agreements for Multicultural Interaction, SF POC Insight Sangha will use the following Agreements for Wise Speech:
Practice Self-Focus - Attend to and speak about your own experiences and responses rather than what others have shared
Move Up/Move Back - Take note of who is speaking and who is not
Practice Mindful Listening - Try to avoid planning what you’ll say as you listen to others
We meet on Zoom
Our Sangha meets from 6:00pm - 7:30pm weekly on Zoom.
Dana
The teachings are offered freely, otherwise they would not be the teachings - and both our core teachers and guest teachers view their work as a labor of love. As such, no one will ever be turned away if they cannot pay dana.
However, transparently as the caretakers council we have a $105 fundraising goal for each week to ensure we keep the sangha going and that reason is two fold:
Compensating our guest teachers for their truly amazing work with us each week. As people of color our work is always a labor of love and we are often undervalued and under compensated. As such, the council has decided that each guest teacher should receive a minimum of $60 for their time with us.