Potluck + Sit

Hello!

Introduction.  We're a Buddhist meditation community that values inclusion, shared leadership, collective liberation, and generosity.  We're institutionally-independent, co-created and peer-led, and horizontally organized.  We currently meet in-person twice a month in New York City, and after meeting weekly over Zoom for 4+ years, we're in process on determining how we gather remotely.   We've been convening since February 2018.

We also have a vibrant Google Group rich with resources members share out, and we meet as inspiration strikes: be that over Zoom for book club or in-person for plays, protests, and performances.  Everyone is empowered to share, propose, and organize anything.

Open arms meditation.  We welcome everyone of all meditation backgrounds and experiences.  People have meditated for the first time ever with us while others have sat extended retreats or are certified meditation teachers.  While we are Buddhist centric, we're non-denominational and welcome all meditation traditions and faiths.

How it works.  If you're in the Greater NYC area, you are warmly invited to attend our in-person gatherings.  We currently meet on the second and fourth Sundays of every month at 11am.  We meet all over the city: every month, in a generous act of hospitality, a different host offers their home.  No one is ever charged to attend; we ask only that you bring a vegetarian potluck dish as offering.  

The main beats of any Potluck + Sit are a pre-sit offering, 45-minute meditation, mindful speaking and listening, and discussion — with potluck afterwards if meeting in-person!

[Note: We are currently on pause for our weekly gatherings over Zoom on Saturdays at 11am Eastern.]  Everyone is invited for our weekly meetings over Zoom; they're every Saturday at 11am Eastern.  Folks join from all over and across different time zones.  Each week, a different person leads and facilitates.  

Our values:

• Radical Inclusion.  We're proud to be a diverse crew, and we vow to uphold a sense of safety and belonging for all, including members from underrepresented communities.  We seek to be a source of refuge from systemic oppression.  We strive to be an anti-racist community.

• Generosity.  Potluck + Sit exists on the basis of generosity and the gift economy — the facilitators who guide each Zoom session, the hosts who welcome us into their homes, the potluck contributions by all who attend, and the resources forwarded to the Google Group.

• Shared Leadership.  Potluck + Sit is a co-creative act driven by everyone in the community together.  We are a peer-led sangha and there isn't a meditation teacher -- we all teach each other, and we all learn from each other.  We are flat and grassroots, and our sangha grows in beautiful and unpredictable ways because each member is empowered to lead, make proposals, and offer their unique contributions to shape the community.

• Shared Learning.  We're avid about sharing in learning; whether you've returned from retreat or finished a book, you're welcome to share what you've learned.  In addition to meeting in-person and over Zoom, we use our Google Group to stay connected and share resources about meditation or related subjects like justice and liberation.

• Collective and Expansive Liberation.  None of us is free until all of us are free.  The paths to liberation are manifold.  We center the liberatory technology of meditation — but we also honor the value of art, and we are committed to social justice and ecological healing. We have shared in literature, theatre, dance, and film together.  We have marched on the streets for love and justice, protested against war, sat for peace, practiced somatic healing from racial trauma, and held memorials and vigils for anti-Black and anti-Asian violence.

Some inspirations and influences:

• Organizations: The Buddhist Action Coalition, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Zen Peacemakers, Tzu Chi, Buddhist Global Relief, Movement Generation, East Point Peace Academy, the Poor People’s Campaign

• Books: The Buddha's Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi; Radical Dharma by Rev. angel Kyodo william, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah; My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem

If you're interested in joining, please email <potluckandsit at gmail dot com> and share a little about who you are, your meditation background or practice, your interest in Potluck + Sit, and something you might wish to organize or lead within the group (no worries, you won't be held to this!).

May all beings be safe.  May all beings be healthy.  May all beings be happy.  May all beings live with ease.  May all beings be liberated.