Potluck + Sit
Potluck + Sit
Hello!
Introduction. We're a pan-Buddhist sangha (meditation community) with the values of radical inclusion, generosity and gift economy, shared leadership, shared learning, and collective and expansive liberation. Started in February 2018, we're co-created and peer-led, horizontally-organized, and institutionally-independent. Presently, we meet in-person twice a month in New York City (2nd Sat and 4th Sun of each month), and after meeting weekly over Zoom for 4+ years, we're in process on determining how we gather remotely. This is part of a larger process involving a sangha-wide invitation for reflection and visioning, and collective synthesis and actioning.
In our vibrant community, members share out resources and 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 center Buddhist meditation and honor its Asian lineage, 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 Saturday and fourth Sunday 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 an in-person Potluck + Sit are a 45-minute meditation preceded by a pre-sit offering, 30-min relational practice preceded by guidance (we're currently practicing the guidelines of insight dialogue), and potluck afterwards!
[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 and Gift Economy. 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, Recovery Dharma
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; Awakening Dharma by Larry Yang; 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.
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.