October 27, 2025

Cleaning up the Ghost town (what the website and zoom account feels like! swinging saloon doors and lottsa dust, but when you get in the room, the dharma warmth glow fire is lit for all to benefit), if you can’t find a link you expected to still be there please give a shout. Meanwhile the offerings listed are vital and happening. May all benefit, Ah La La Ho

January 24, 2024

What is continuing even when we say goodbye to our amazing administrative staff who guided Bhumisparsha through the structural thicket these last 2 years, and also leave us with an incredible platform to bring our sangha powered sangha over the river of change? Moving into this time without our beloved Eric and Sesalli, we acknowledge, with a deep bow of gratitude, all the love, effort, care and skillfulness they both have poured into our community, allowing it to flourish. Your efforts, so often unseen, were perhaps barely acknowledged as much as they should have been. Please know the ripples of your generous and dedicated work are boundless, and will continue to resonate inside many grateful beings you have touched in Bhumisparsha and beyond. 

As we bow and wave a fond farewell to Eric and Sesalli into their personal transitions, we’re also looking forward to creating and recreating Bhumisparsha in the coming years. We are excited and thankful for the dedication of the tag-team of community members who are creatively working to keep not just the lights on, but the fires burning strong, as we move into the new year and new era for Bhumisparsha. The transition group has brought balance, thoughtfulness, collaboration, and dedication to tending to the future of our amazing community, so it can continue to support each of us all in the messy and gorgeous work of waking up together.  

We encourage you to join us in the re-emergent form of our community, contributing your own wisdom and confusion, so we can continue to cook our goodness together in the stew of sangha we are! Eric and Sesalli have modeled tremendous fortitude, organization, humor, and diligence, and together, though we likely won’t do it with as much grace, we can take on these tasks and mentalities and continue, growing in new directions of our own choosing once we stabilize in our new form. 

We invite you to join the working group email list at info@bumishparsha.org and save the date for our next meeting March 16th. You can catch up with the process via these documents:

***meeting notes from Oct 28- Dec 16, 

*****a recording of December 16 Community Gathering Alotta Love Dec 16, 2023:

September 22, 2023

The Mission Circle and eight members of the sangha who currently participate as space holders met at the end of August in an effort to better support community-wide organizing for Bhumisparsha in 2024 and beyond. These space holders are those outside of the lamas who lead, sub for the lamas, and tech host Bhumisparsha programs. The meeting was an important first step towards clarifying what is required to maintain the current schedule of offerings and how to match organizational needs to resources and volunteers. The intention of this blog post is caring transparency.

The meeting began with a brief sit, introductions, and community agreements; especially inviting folx to practice stepping up/stepping back and encouraging the voices of folx from the Global Majority to speak first to ensure equitable sharing. Attendees shared about what inspires them to be in Bhumisparsha and what values might guide the sangha into 2024. Reflections included radical openness, connection, trust in each other as teachers, fearlessness, powerful teachings, queerness, and the power of practice. 

To reiterate what Lama Justin and Lama Rod have shared, both lamas will continue teaching, including maintaining their offerings that are currently on the Bhumisparsha platform. Whether or not their offerings will stay on the Bhumisparsha platform is still unknown. Whether or not Medicine Buddha, for example, continues via Bhumisparsha could be affected by circumstances such as a pricier Zoom license required for a larger number of participants. In that case the practice might be offered via Lama Rod’s website.

Facilitators and space holders affirmed their availability to support many of the current offerings, including maintaining the Google calendar, monthly Tara practice, monthly Holding Space, weekly Community Dharma Sharing, and Daily Practice. In addition, Community Chaplain Raf Diaz will continue offering spiritual care sessions until August 2024. Ms. Ayesha will continue teaching and offering Community Weaving. It is possible that her practices may be hosted elsewhere depending on financial resources. Potential upcoming community offerings include a book club for New Saints, a monthly sharing and visioning space, monthly shamata practice, a cross-racial communication study sangha, ajikan, and the Seven Homecomings.

Questions regarding financials, fundraising, and organizational status (incorporated or 501c3) were raised and discussed. The Mission Circle shared what information they had available, welcomed the feedback, and suggested continuing the conversation. The Mission Circle reiterated that the financials are available on Open Collective and offered the brief overview of operating expenses shared at the July 20, 2023 meeting. 

Since this meeting, the Mission Circle, Sesalli, and Eric have compiled a list of tasks needed to keep the sangha functioning.

Any questions and comments are invited and encouraged. Please email Shoken (Alex Nelson) at alex.g.nelson@gmail.com. In an effort to give voice to all beings in the community, A private jamboard has been created for all community members to use to reflect on the questions posed at the Mission Circle/space holders meeting linked here. The questions are:

• What inspires you to be a part of Bhumisparsha? 

• Are there any particular values that feel most important to you to elevate as Bhumisparsha moves into the next phase? 

• How do you hope to practice in Bhumisparsha in 2024? What do you need to be able to do so? 

To participate, open the link and choose the sticky note icon from the list of icons on the left side of your screen (it is the fourth icon from the top right below the arrow), and create a sticky note with your share. In order to make space for many shares, there are three pages per question (all beautiful background imagery is from the Bhumisparsha blog lovingly curated by Eric B, Sesalli, and other community members). With awareness of the importance of giving a voice to all dharma siblings, and the impossibility of everyone having a turn at a community-wide meeting, the intention of the jamboard is a space for sharing experiences collectively. Please engage as it suits!

Anita, Leigh and Shoken of the Mission Circle express deep gratitude to daily sit facilitator and tech host Elizabeth Parks Kibbey for contributing this blog post, and the inspiration of the jamboard.

Always Queer, Always Here: Celebration of Resilience

Laws and threats, sometimes in our favor and often not. What is true and has always been true is our existence is not and has never been up to the acceptance or lack of acceptance of others or for that matter ourselves. Let’s come together to share across generations to celebrate ourselves.

Friday June 23rd at 7pm ET - you can join here or on the Bhumisparsha calendar.

Listen in as Lama Justin and Lama Rod discuss freedom, friendship, spiritual community and imagination. This intimate conversation will open up to an opportunity to ask questions about any of the topics raised within their conversation. All of our community is encouraged to join!

Sunday June 25th at  Click Here to Join or find it on the Bhumisparsha Calendar

Embodiment-Based Mindfulness Meditation

Connect with Lama Rod Owens in person and welcome yourself home to the body that sustains you. Embodiment-based mindfulness meditation is a practice of being in our bodies, knowing our bodies, moving with our bodies as it moves through the world. It is breathing with it, hurting with it, and rejoicing with it.

Join Lama Rod as he supports us in gentle and clear guided embodiment-based mindfulness teachings that can invite you back into your body to establish a firmer sense of balance, stability, and connectedness not only to ourselves, but with others around us. Following the retreat, all participants will also receive a segment of the day’s teachings in written and audio format to support you in deepening your practice.

If you have any questions please email programs@lamarod.com

Register & More Info Here!

Announcing a new book by Lama Rod Owens!

Saints, spiritual warriors, bodhisattvas, zaddikim—no matter how they are named in a given tradition, they all share a profound wish to free others from suffering. “Our era calls for saints who are from this time and place, who speak the language of this moment, and who integrate both social and spiritual liberation,” says Lama Rod Owens. “I believe we all can and must become New Saints.” With The New Saints, readers will discover insights and techniques to ignite their inner fierceness and compassion; create a sustainable spiritual practice that serves others and the planet; and embody the virtues of a New Saint.

Click Here to Pre-Order

March 17, 2023

Welcome to the Bhumi Garden newsletter + blog

The Bhumi Garden is central meeting place to learn about things brewing and blooming within our community.

Want to help us tend the Garden?  We are always looking for volunteers to lend their creative style and pragmatic skills for future issues. If you’d like to help, email Eric B, Community Groundskeeper, at eric@bhumisparsha.org:

Want to help plant something in the Garden? We welcome contributions from the entire community! We’d love to highlight your art work, poems, practice reflections, programing (both within Bhumi and beyond), resources, and volunteer opportunities of all kinds. Email sesalli@bhumisparsha.org for more information.

Good Ground

Dear Community, 

It is a joy to introduce the Spring 2023 issue of the Bhumi Garden! 

For those who may not know me, my name is Eric (he/they) and I am privileged to serve as Community Groundskeeper for Bhumisparsha. On behalf of myself, all community organizers and teachers, Mission Circle volunteers, and the entire pantheon of beings and ancestors looking out for us, thank you for making all of this possible. Thank you for enabling whatever learning, healing, and love has been felt throughout this ecosystem over the past few months. Thank you for your donations. Thank you for watching a recording. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for your kindness in these bruising times. Thank you for having the courage to behold your own body-mind; to feel your heart breaking for the world again and again and yet you still muster magic from the depths to touch this Earth and continue caring for beings with dignity and maybe even some joy. Amazing!

My sincere hope is that everyone in this community is able to regard their own practice as being worthy of honor and respect. You all inspired me to compose a bhumi-altar as an offering and heartfelt expression of my love for Bhumisparsha, for everything we care deeply about, and for all the beings we are praying for. May all creations experience themselves as the Beloved, just as they are. May brutal dualities be released. Ma Harriet, please hold this community close! Let rainbow light reign. 

Sincerely,

Eric 

What do we mean by "community", and what does being in community call us to do? In the video below,  Ayesha Ali (she/her/Majesty) shares her intentions as Community Weaver and invites everyone to check out Bhumi’s numerous opportunities for exploring the possibility of community life as an affirming, joyful path toward our shared liberation. See the section below for descriptions, dates, times, and links for these offerings. Stay tuned for info about January’s schedule coming soon!

Whenever possible, Ayesha’s monthly community-wide offering will be recorded and shared for those unable to join. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to stay up-to-date as new recordings are added to the Weaving Community Archive. These offerings are made possible through support from the Bess Family Foundation.

Announcing new weekly Global Majority Sit

This weekly practice session with Ayesha Ali is offered weekly on Thursday mornings from 8-9 am EST for all who identify as BIPOC +/ People of the Global Majority. Click here to join Global Majority Sit every Thursday morning on Zoom.

Global Majority Hangouts

Global Majority Hangouts are offered as a way for global majority +/ BIPOC folks to connect. Join us for our brunch/dinner time together where we might share the gifts of the Dharma, food, song, and poetry. The next North American edition Global Majority Hangout will be March 24th from 7pm – 8pm EST. Click here to join  Global Majority Hangout (North America edition) on Zoom

photo of Ms. Ayesha welcoming you with flowers

Weaving Community: Holding On

The winds of the world blow us away from ourselves and each other. This month the focus will be on the difficulty and the ways to stay connected in light of this reality. ALL are welcome to join our next beloved Weaving Community offering with Ms. Ayesha Ali on March 23rd from 7pm – 8:30pm EST ft. music and spiritual friendship. Click here to find out more and join!

Though “Holding Space” monthly Saturday gathering programs have been happening since November 2020, every month, care and wisdom in the sangha blossom anew within our 90 minutes together.

Each month Ms. Brenda Collins and Leigh Rosenberg host Holding Space as intimate gatherings of Bhumi community members, anchored by a fresh topic for silent or guided meditation, plus discussion around the topic. We’ve visited topics like compassion … to skillfully relating to teachers … to practicing in conversation … and more. We are always inspired by how our sangha learns together and holds space for authenticity with one another as we deepen in our practices.

All are welcome, whether you are new to practice or Bhumisparsha or have been around a while. We meet on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 11am ET/8am PT (but be sure to check the calendar for occasional schedule changes). And if you have a topic suggestion for a future Holding Space, or any questions or feedback, let us know! You can reach Brenda at bcollins12@hotmail.com or Leigh at larosenberg@gmail.com.

A short sermon offered at Union Theological Seminary’s Field Education chapel

By Rafael Diaz, Bhumisparsha Community Chaplain intern

As chaplains and spiritual professionals we’re called to hold people in the fullness of experience—in the darkness and the light, no matter how much we’re tempted to cling to binaries: to be lost in our suffering, to reject and ignore it by only looking at the bright side, or to try to escape from our suffering as soon as possible, reaching for the nearest quick fix. But our role, I think, is to hold our people through all of it. Because the other side of the pain and suffering we’re so averse to is healing. And alongside that healing is the realization that everything in our experience and in ourselves, including the things we don’t want to look at, are all part of a greater whole.

But thankfully, the very reason I think we’re all here, in this particular place, at this particular time, is that we have faith that we’re not on our own: that we can be held, every part of ourselves, the darkness and the light, in the loving arms of Great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, of God and her saints and prophets, in the ongoing revelation of nature itself.

Because we know that when we’re quiet, in our moments of solemnity and sincerity, or even in the greatest despair, love is constantly offering itself to us throughout and within every moment, holding us in the crucible of suffering, leading us toward transformation.

And we know that if we just continue to discipline ourselves toward surrendering to that perfect love, we can be cradled in our suffering always, and not be attached to the light and averse to the darkness, instead bringing them into union for us to walk through our experience free of grasping and clinging. We can create a firm, yet flexible, and tender foundation to help us serve others and hold them in their suffering, to be companions walking through the vast mystery of being. We can build the beloved community we need to heal and lead each other through the multiple crises we know are facing us, to build a world without hunger, homelessness, cages, or borders; someday to be liberated both in our communities and the depths of our very hearts, resting in the primordial purity of mind and the vast spaciousness of love.

Book a 1-on-1 spiritual care session with Raf at www.calendly.com/bhumicare These spaces will currently only be available up to May 10th.

Rafael also has an upcoming event you can join on March 22nd at 7pm ET. More details on the flyer —->

What makes it a Bhumisparsha practice unique? 

Join our three part creative container where we as a community will work on a community led draft of our Bhumisparsha lineage statements and practice philosophy. This container will be active April - June on the first Thursday of each month at 5pm ET. 

If you are unable to attend but would like to include your voice in the project, please email sesalli@bhumisparsha.org by May 1st with an answer to the questions:

• What makes a Bhumisparsha practice?

• What is unique about the way we practice together?

Your answers will be shared with the group as we go through the process of creating this draft together. 

April’s meeting we will be looking at Bhumisparsha’s current and historical writing (like the Vision & Values, Love & Rage, etc) to pull the pieces that resonate.

May we will review the submissions from the community (emailed to Sesalli) and talk together about what makes practice unique, identifying key themes.

June we will work in groups to take all the themes and juicy pieces we have pulled from the previous meetings to write our draft together!

You can join by from the Bhumisparsha calendar, click here to view the calendar page. Also feel free to email Sesalli@bhumisparsha.org with any questions

January 17, 2023

This year is coming to a close and new beginnings are on the rise.  I look forward to 2023 as a year of continued transformation as I continue to do the work that Lama Rod encourages us to do. 

One of my changes is that I have decided to step down as President of the Mission Circle.  I will stay on for a couple of months to assist in identifying additional members for the Mission Circle. It has been most rewarding and some challenging moments, particularly when you are holding space for an entire community, along with the Mission Circle members. The Mission Circle members are all committed to being of service to the entire community. This Community is special in that we all truly come as we are or is working on getting there. I will continue to co-facilitate Community Dharma Gathering and Holding space offerings, and perhaps support in other ways as well.

If you are interested in supporting Bhumisparsha through a Mission Circle role, creating, fundraising, etc., please look for an invitation to apply in the coming weeks. I am also happy to speak with anyone who may be considering if a role like this would be a fit.

Again, I thank you for allowing me to serve you in this capacity and look forward to new opportunities with you.

Brenda Collins

The Bhumi Garden is central meeting place to learn about things brewing and blooming within our community.

Want to help us tend the Garden?  We are always looking for volunteers to lend their creative style and pragmatic skills for future issues. If you’d like to help, email Eric B, Community Groundskeeper, at eric@bhumisparsha.org:

Want to help plant something in the Garden? We welcome contributions from the entire community! We’d love to highlight your art work, poems, practice reflections, programing (both within Bhumi and beyond), resources, and volunteer opportunities of all kinds. Check out our “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form” to learn more about how to contribute.

In this video, Community Weaver Ayesha Ali and Daily Practice Liaison Laura DeSpain reflect on the culture of Bhumisparsha's "Daily Practice" offerings (which have been sustained continuously since Bhumi launched in response COVID-19 in 2020!).

All are welcome to drop in and  practice together as the real, beautiful, messy, and boundless beings we are. Daily practice is held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm EST. For more information and to hop into a session, check out our public calendar.

What do we mean by "community", and what does being in community call us to do? In the video below,  Ayesha Ali (she/her/Majesty) shares her intentions as Community Weaver and invites everyone to check out Bhumi’s numerous opportunities for exploring the possibility of community life as an affirming, joyful path toward our shared liberation. See the section below for descriptions, dates, times, and links for these offerings. Stay tuned for info about January’s schedule coming soon!

Whenever possible, Ayesha’s monthly community-wide offering will be recorded and shared for those unable to join. Subscribe to our Youtube channel to stay up-to-date as new recordings are added to the Weaving Community Archive. These offerings are made possible through support from the Bess Family Foundation.

We are weaving an UGLY SWEATER PARTY on Thursday, December 22 from 6:00pm – 7:30pm EST!  Folks are invited to wear your ugliest  sweater and your biggest smile and, perhaps, a cup of hot chocolate as we come together for connection and fun. This session will be recorded and shared for those unable to join. Click here to join the Weaving Community Ugly Sweater Party on Zoom!

Please enjoy these reflections from Bhumi Community Chaplain Rafael Diaz and colleagues about their CPE (clinical pastoral education) experiences in their respective communities so far this year. In addition to offering 65+ one-on-one spiritual care sessions with folks within and beyond the Bhumisparsha community since September, Rafael was also an invaluable presence during the Resting in the Unseen retreat; holding space for folks as needed while also guiding participants through several grounding practices throughout our time together.

Raf has also recently sent out a request for feedback from those who have booked a spiritual care session with him. If you haven’t booked a session, but would like to offer suggestions for possible themes for group work in the new year, please feel free to do so! (Just mention that you haven’t booked a session, but would still like to offer suggestions in terms of what fruitful group-based spiritual care work could be supportive for the community).

If you'd like to learn more about community chaplaincy and spiritual care, Raf also created a short introductory video for the community (below).

Please enjoy this playlist featuring recordings of special events + "foundational" offerings we've collected since launching our virtual platform in 2020. If you are curious about Bhumisparsha's approach to weaving Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and creative liberation, these recordings are a great place to start.

Lama Rod Owens invites us to lean into challenges arising in our practice. Drawing from a Tantric Buddhist technique known as yidam practice, he introduces one of the tradition's most accessible methods for generating the energy of love. In this practice, the Tantric deity known in Tibetan as Chenrezig (Skt: Avalokiteshvara) becomes a representation of our own capacity for boundless love, opening a doorway into its energy and wisdom. Through this approach, we can begin to relate to this expression of kindness and compassion through a direct experience of our own loving qualities, one of the most skillful ways to hold space for difficult emotions as they arise. These teachings from were recorded during a retreat with Lama Rod hosted by the Catalyst Cooperative Healing in Easthampton, MA in August 2022.

Join Lama Rod for a guided Medicine Buddha practice that can help promote healing for self and others, as well as address social inequities that perpetuate harm.

Please enjoy this archive of our earliest Mahamudra for the People offerings from Lama Justin and Lama Rod. The combination of instructions from the mahamudra tradition and brief sitting sessions allow for effective diving into a daily meditation practice.

An archive of all Community Dharma Share recordings from Crowdcast. Featuring Lama Justin, Lama Rod, and members of the Bhumisparsha community. [link missing]

These recordings are from Lama Rod's monthly "Sunday Service" series. Including Ma Tara, Mahamudra, and relating with ancestors.

The Mission Circle has been very busy for the past few months, with several positive developments to share! We look forward to sending out much more information about what we’ve been working on together, including updates about our financial sustainability, multiple transitions and recent changes, and our emerging sense (it’s exciting!) of what we might be able to build together as a community of spiritual friendship for throughout the 2023-2024 solar cycle. In collaboration with Lama Rod and Lama Justin, the Mission Circle has decided to start practicing a more intentional seasonal rhythm (alongside accompanying organic themes) as an experiment in grounding our shared heartbeats and the structure of our offerings for the year ahead. Much more will be shared in terms of our concrete plans for organizing structure and community development in the next few months, but we wanted to share a sketch of this seasonal rhythm in case it is helpful for awareness.

• Winter Season: December - February (“Slowing”)

• Spring Season: March - May (“Growing”)

• Summer Season: June - August (“Ripening”)

• Fall Season: September - November (“Decaying”)

Our comrades and fiscal hosts at the Open Collective Foundation have requested that we share an end of year update with everyone in the community by December 21st, which we are currently collaborating on! Stay tuned for additional info coming soon.

In the meantime, we are happy to share the following Mission Circle meeting notes from September, October, November, and December. (Big thanks to Leigh R., the Mission Circle’s super-powered note-taker/clerk!)

Stay tuned for more info about the following offerings coming in the next few weeks. To make sure you don’t miss any future announcements, click here to subscribe to our mailing list.

Medicine Buddha with Lama Rod is moving to Zoom starting Monday, January 2nd, 2023.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to submit your one-time registration for accessing future Medicine Buddha offerings via Zoom.  

Day-long Protector Practice Intensive with Lama Justin: Saturday, January 14th from 10am to 5pm EST

More information coming soon!

Chenrezig’s Ring of Fire Practice with Lama Rod: Sunday, January 15th from 12pmm to 1:30pm EST

Lama Rod will begin offering a monthly session of Chenrezig’s Ring of Fire. Dates for each month will change depending on Lama Rod’s availability. You can find guided audio instructions for this practice in our Chenrezig’s Ring of Fire playlist.

Monthly “La Hooking” practice with Lama Justin beginning in February: Day/time TBD

Drawing from the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage (which is closely related to traditions of Tibetan medicine) this practice of “hooking back the life force” works with subtle elemental energies and creative visualizations to help sustain the work of personal liberation and collective healing. More details coming soon.

We created this Support + Connect bulletin as a resource for gathering all of the various links and other helpful information that make it easier to navigate through the Bhumiverse, and maybe meet new friends along the way!

Bhumisparsha is always in need of volunteer support! If you are interested in helping out in any aspect of the Bhumisparsha ecosystem, please check out the “Bhumisparsha Volunteer opportunities” document (also included in the Support + Connect bulletin) to get a sense of where we need help and how you might like to offer support in a way that feels good for your current capacity. All help is deeply appreciated! May all beings benefit from the wealth of generosity emerging from this community in myriad ways.

This section of the Bhumi Garden is dedicated to sharing reflections, artwork, dance, poetry, photography, or any other mode of creation and reflection. If it feels good to share, you are very welcome to do so. We look forward to including contributions from the community in next month’s issue of the Bhumi Garden! To submit materials and/or proposals, please fill out the “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form”

Bhumisparsha folks in Oregon

Payne and Cloud are wondering who else in Bhumisparsha might be out in Oregon, specifically the Willamette Valley and Eugene area, and might want to meet up to practice and commune! To connect, you can reach out to Payne at payne.morris89@gmail.com.

Community Outdoor Meditation?

Aleta has proposed creating space for grassroots + community outdoor meditation sessions! If this is something you would be interested in helping to support or organize, reach out to Aleta at withjusticepeace@gmail.com.

A short poem offered by Sarah Siegel (see below)

Representation Matters

We are very happy to spread the good word about the Representation Matters Thangka art series by Kait Hatch. Click here to order your own radically affirming 5 Buddha Family greeting cards while also supporting independant art and mutual aide.

Writing Opportunity

An invitation to the community from Kait Schatch: “Hello lovely humans! One of the faculty from my Chaplaincy training has co-created a new online journal called the Buddhist Justice Reporter, exploring the intersections of Buddhist practice and social justice […] This is a PAID writing opportunity, if anyone on here has something they’d like to pitch for it.”

Lama Rod

Click here to check out Lama Rod’s website and here to donate and support his work as a full-time Dharma teacher.

• The Dharma of Spring Awakening UK Retreat: with Lama Rod Owens, sister sadada, Daniel Sutton-Johanson, River Malloy

• Profile in the reckoningmag.com: LGBTQ Georgians and Allies Round Out AJC’s List of 55 ‘Everyday Heroes’. (See image below)

Lama Justin

Click here to sign up for Lama Justin’s newsletter. Click here to donate and support Lama Justin’s work as a full time Dharma teacher.

• One Year Dharma Immersion: Yuthok Nyingthig Ati Yoga with Lama Justin Von Bujdoss, every Sunday from January 22nd - December 17th 2023

• Here is Lama Justin’s presentation at the 4th Vajrayana Conference on Buddhism in Bhutan, titled “Western Vajrayana; The Complex Dynamics of Tantric Buddhist Spiritual Formation and Meaning Making within the Western Cultural Milieu”

• Lama Justin recently wrote a reflection about the time he spent as a chaplain on Rikers Island for Lion’s Roar: “What I Learned in Hell” (see image below)

Our hope is that this community can be sustained through the heartfelt contributions of those who feel connected to Bhumisparsha and share visions of personal transformation, beloved community, and collective liberation.

Sustaining Monthly Donations

The BEST way to provide that stability is through a monthly contribution that works for you. Click the button to the right to make a sustaining donation:

Global Majority + BIPOC organizing

We  invite everyone who is able to offer direct support for Global Majority + BIPOC organizing within the Bhumi community. Help us enhance and co-create this vital aspect of our visions and values as a collective:

One-Time Gift

One-Time donations are just as vital to ensuring we can meet our budgetary needs for the year. Your gift now will helps fuel Bhumi's practice. Click the button to the right to offer a One-time contribution:

Through our fiscal hosting partnership with Open Collective Foundation (OCF), all donations made to Bhumisparsha are tax deductible as charitable contributions. Click here to learn more.

December 6, 2022

We held our first retreat in years this October 2022 in Atlanta, GA at Neighborhood Church in the Candler Park neighborhood. This 4-day retreat consisted of three days of teachings from Lama Rod, Lama Justin, Ayesha Ali, Karen Nelson and a guest appearance by Swami Jaya Devi.

The fourth day was an open celebration at the park with community that attended the retreat and some that did not. During this time we gave offerings, did a Tsok prayer together and spent time connecting with each other.

A total of 41 of us gathered together in Atlanta (35 attendees and 6 staff). We were able to offer a scholarship and three work trade spots for this retreat. Pricing for this retreat was on a scale of $500 - $150 for a ticket.

Thanks to our incredible community’s generosity and some careful budget planning, we were able to give $2,280 to the  sangha through this retreat. Thank you so much to everyone that purchased a ticket or donated to this retreat! Everyone that donated or attended the retreat received photos and videos of teachings from the retreat as a special gift.

The feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive! A piece of feedback that kept coming up that we will take into consideration moving forward is the desire to eat together. Breaking bread is a beautiful way to connect and perhaps we can have more opportunities for this in the future.

Again HUGE thank you to everyone that attended. Thank you to the Practice Circle that offered valuable insight through the entire planning process!! Thank you to the teachers for their wisdom. Thank you to our small but mighty staff that made it all happen.

Looking forward to the next one!!

August 16, 2022

Welcome to the Bhumi Garden newsletter + blog!

What is the Bhumi Garden?

It’s a central meeting place to learn about the beautiful things brewing and blooming within our community. Specifically, this monthly virtual resource is shared with two primary intentions:

• To share practical information about Bhumisparsha offerings, updates, and resources each month.

• To foster the creative appreciation, nourishment, and celebration of all that is growing and composting in the garden of Bhumisparsha community life.

Want to help us tend the Garden?

We are looking for volunteers to assist in the following areas for next month’s issue (and beyond!) to whatever extent feels good. If you’re interested, please email eric@bhumisparsha.org:

• Web design - making this page as beautiful as our community 

• Editing/Copywriting - contribute to formatting, editing, and reviewing submissions 

Want to plant something in the Garden?

We welcome contributions from the entire community! We’d love to highlight your art work, poems, practice reflections, programing (both within Bhumi and beyond), resources, and volunteer opportunities. We’d also love to include information/updates/images from the remarkable Facilitators and Tech Hosts who make all of our offerings possible. Check out our “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form” to learn more about how to contribute.

Featuring co-teachers Lama Rod, Lama Justin, and Ms. Ayesha Ali.  To learn more and to register click here to head over to the main event/registration page for the retreat. 

connection + ritual + embodied practice

Bhumisparsha is hosting a long awaited in person retreat in Atlanta, GA  from October 26 - 29, 2022! Below is a brief overview of what we are planning (stay tuned for more details about location, housing, carpooling, and other logistics coming soon):

• Tuesday, October 25th will be a small event for those who have volunteered for Bhumisparsha at any point and are attending the retreat. We are still working out the details. More information will be shared closer to the date with those that have registered for the retreat.

• Wednesday, October 26th - Friday, October 28th are the main retreat days! This is a non-residential, urban retreat in the Atlanta area. This year’s theme is “Resting in the Unseen”, it will be a time for us to explore unseen realms and relations, calling us to find rest within spaces that are unknown, unseen and uncontrollable. Lama Rod, Lama Justin and Ayesha Ali will be the main facilitators of this retreat with special guests we will announce later!

• Saturday, October 29th will be a FREE offering open to all members of the community, those curious about Bhumisparsha, friends and family. This will be an informal gathering at the park where we will create a collective altar and enjoy being in physical space with one another.

Call for art! 

We are looking for artists and/or graphic designers within our community to design a digital flier (for promotion and event page) and for retreat t-shirts. We are looking for art inspired by our theme, Resting in the Unseen. These designs must include the name of the retreat (Resting in the Unseen), location (Atlanta, GA), and dates (October 26-28, 2022).

If you are interested email sesalli@bhumisparsha.org by August 19, 2022. There is a small honorarium available for this design.

We are very happy to have Rafael Diaz joining the Bhumisparsha team from September 2022 to May 2023  to support “community chaplaincy” and more for our collective. This arrangement is made possible through collaboration with Union Theological Seminary. Much more information will be coming soon! For now, here is a message/bio from Raf for the community. We look forward to learning and collaborating together this year!

Hi Everyone! I'm Rafael Diaz (they/he) and I'm so incredibly thankful and excited to be formally working with our sangha as a Community Chaplain Intern (or something—I think we're still working on a title!). I'm a householder and seminarian in my hometown of Lancaster, PA, currently studying Buddhism & Interreligious Engagement at Union Theological Seminary. I'm a former community organizer and co-founder of the community organization Lancaster Stands Up, and started seriously studying and engaging with the dharma and spiritual practice more broadly as a source of refuge, rest, and resilience amid the ceaseless struggles I faced fighting for political liberation. I'm currently working towards becoming a chaplain to support people in hospitals, hospice, and movement organizations as a loving listening presence and spiritual companion, doing what I can to alleviate suffering and work toward liberation for all beings. I'm looking forward to holding space for folks in and outside of our sangha, so don't hesitate to reach out!

We have started to include Global Majority Hangouts organized by Ms. Ayesha Ali and friends in our public calendar! Please stay tuned as more hang outs are organized and shared moving forward. The next Global Majority Hangout (US + Europe) will be on Sunday, September 4th. For more info and the Zoom link, click here.

From the calendar: “This is offered as a way that the global majority in the US and Europe might connect. Join us for our brunch/dinner time together where we might share the gifts of the Dharma, food, song, and poetry.”

We also recently created a donation tier for offering direct support to Global Majority + BIPOC organizing in Bhumisparsha. To donate and support this essential aspect of our visions and values as a community, click here.

Announcing “Community Ethics Studio”: Tuesday, August 30th from 5:30 to 6:45 pm EST.

Our aspirations for the Community Ethics Studio are to offer monthly sessions to support peer-led studying, training, experimenting, and creating within the vast terrain of community ethics, transformative justice, and spiritual practice. Through the Community Ethics Studio, we aim to "put our practices into practice" by embodying and relating fully and creatively to continuous transformations of power, care, harm, and healing.

This first session will be grounded in reflections about the "Conflict Support and Transformation (v.1)" resource. Content and processes for these offerings will be informed by the needs and capacities of those who participate and in the spirit of collaborative leadership.

Questions about the Community Ethics Studio? Please connect with Eric (eric@bhumisparsha.org) or Eliz (elizspy@gmail.com). Click here to join the first Community Ethics Studio session on Tuesday, August 30th from 5:30 to 6:45 pm EST via Zoom.

Announcing “Community Ethics Collaborative”: Beginning September 5th from 10:00 to 11:00 am EST, we’ve also added a weekly gathering for the Bhumisparsha community to collaborate together and help build robust community ethics frameworks, processes, and special projects. The day and time of this gathering is subject to change depending on what works best for folks moving forward!

The Community Ethics Collaborative meets weekly with the intention to improve, enhance, and refine Bhumisparsha's culture of Community Ethics. This space is intended to be more of a working group, while the monthly Community Ethics Studio provides space for learning, training, and study. All are welcome! Click here to join the first Community Ethics Collaborative session on Monday, September 5th from 10:00 to 11:00 am EST via Zoom.

Thank you to everyone who was able to join for our first session of “Welcome to the Bhumiverse!”, an opportunity to connect and help orient everyone interested in learning more about the sprawling ecology of Bhumisparsha. We hope many of you are able to join for our next session on Tuesday, September 13th from 5:30 to 6:45 EST! Click here to to check out the calendar invite for this offering. 

We recently created a new resource to help unify the way we ask for donations and share helpful information across all of our various offerings. Our intention is to start creating the pattern of sharing this resource at the end of each Bhumi offering. Click here to access the new Support + Connect Bulletin.

The next Mission Circle meeting will be Monday, September 12th. We ran into some snafu’s in terms of being able to share Leigh and Ms. Brenda’s summary videos from July and August, so we will share multiple summaries in next month’s Bhumi Garden. Recently, the Mission Circle has been focusing on finding a new treasurer (stay tuned for exciting info coming soon!), as well as discussing how we can start implementing more robust feedback and continuous improvements processes between the Mission Circle and contractors/staff (currently Eric and Sesalli). We have also continued to deepen out understanding of what the Mission Circle does/does not have capacity for in its current manifestation, as well as getting clearer about how we can best support Eric and Sesalli more effectively + efficiently together  as collaborators. We look forward to sharing more updates soon! 

In addition to offering financial resources which sustain Bhumi’s general operating costs, there are many ways to help take care of our community through the gifts of your time, energy, and skill. Here are some specific volunteer opportunities that would be of tremendous benefit for the whole community. If any of these possibilities resonate, please reach out to info@bhumisparsha.org.

Whether you are able to help once for an hour,  if you feel inspired to work on a specific one-time or recurring project, or if you’d like to help but may not know how, your generosity is welcome and greatly appreciated! Do you have skills, knowledge, or creativities to contribute but don’t see them reflected in this list? Please let us know how you would like to support! We are committed to respecting boundaries and not expecting people to give beyond what is offered. Let’s wander through this Garden together at the speed of ease.

• Helping organize our Vimeo page and leverage this platform more effectively, including integrating videos and recordings more meaningfully on our website.

• Assisting with  the maintenance and general upkeep of our Zoom accounts

• Sprucing up the Bhumisparsha website!

• Getting trained as a Tech Host and/or Facilitator for morning daily sits or helping launch an evening practice sit. If this resonates, we will get you in touch with Laura D, Bhumi’s Daily Practice Liaison.

• Helping us create “Welcome to Bhumisparsha” space from the perspective of a new community members

• Creating a very simple, technical support guide for multi-generational community members

• Providing graphic/digital design support for our

  • Mailchimp

  • Blog

  • Event communications

  • Flyers

  • Website

• Supporting our Social Media presence (creating posts for Instagram, posting regularly)

• Hosting a community-led book club or wisdom text study group

• Grant writing and fundraising support 

• Help plan In-person/regional gatherings at Practice Circle meetings

• Providing direct assistance and logistical support during in-person offerings.

• Sharing professional expertise and skillfulness in counseling, chaplaincy, mediation, and crisis response to support community members when needed

• Sharing professional expertise and skillfulness in legal affairs, non-profit management, strategic development, and collaborative leadership.

This section of the Bhumi Garden is dedicated to sharing reflections, artwork, dance, poetry, photography, or any other mode of creation and reflection. If it feels good to share, you are very welcome to do so. We look forward to including contributions from the community in next month’s issue of the Bhumi Garden! To submit materials and/or proposals, please fill out the “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form”

“Within the Brokenness” by Malika Bouhdili

This month, community member Malika Bouhdili shares powerful refections on practice, chaplaincy, brokenness, and freedom. Click here: “Within the Brokenness”.

“Teen retreat flower mandala”, by Eric B.

I was fortunate to serve as a mentor on a teen mindfulness retreat in Michigan (with the amazing team at Inward Bound Mindfulness Education) in July. Toward the end of the retreat, the teens were invited to silently collaborate and compose a flower mandala together. It is my pleasure to share their beautiful composition with the Bhumisparsha community!

July 6, 2022

Welcome to the first issue of the Bhumi Garden newsletter + blog!

What is the Bhumi Garden?

It’s a central meeting place to learn about the beautiful things brewing and blooming within our community. There is so much magic within the Bhumi-verse. This newsletter is an experiment in sharing that magic with each other while also charting growth and change as our community emerges over time.

Specifically, this monthly newsletter + blog is shared with two primary intentions:

• To share practical information about Bhumisparsha offerings, updates, and resources each month.

• To foster the creative appreciation, nourishment, and celebration of all that is growing and composting in the garden of Bhumisparsha community life.

Want to help us tend the Garden?

We are looking for volunteers to assist in the following areas for next month’s issue (and beyond!) to whatever extent feels good. If you’re interested, please email eric@bhumisparsha.org:

• Web design - making this page as beautiful as our community 

• Editing/Copywriting - contribute to formatting, editing, and reviewing submissions 

Want to plant something in the Garden?

We welcome contributions from the entire community! We’d love to highlight your art work, poems, practice reflections, programing (both within Bhumi and beyond), resources, and volunteer opportunities. We’d also love to include information/updates/images from the remarkable Facilitators and Tech Hosts who make all of our offerings possible. Check out our “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form” to learn more about how to contribute.

We invite everyone to comment, share thoughts, and pose questions in the space provided at the end of this blog post. Our hope is that this blog might provide a third space beyond Slack or email to help unify all the different facets of Bhumisparsha’s collective body.

We hope you enjoy meandering through the Garden!

Image: Eight Auspicious Symbols

Medicine Buddha Daylong Retreat: Saturday, July 9th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm EST

Join Lama Rod for this special practice opportunity on Saturday, July 9th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm EST. All are welcome, no experience required. Click here to learn more and to sign up!

Chöd empowerment: Tuesday, July 12th at 7 p.m. EST

Lama Justin will be offering the Chöd Empowerment on Tuesday, July 12th at 7 p.m. EST. The session will begin with a short talk about the practice of Chöd and an exploration of the meaning of “empowerment” in this context, followed by the offering of the empowerment. Please share with anyone who has a heartfelt interested in learn more about the practice of Chöd and the meaning of empowerment in tantric spiritual practice. Click here to join via Zoom.

Community Town Hall: Tuesday, July 26th at 5:30 pm EST

Join us for a Bhumi Community Town Hall on Tuesday, July 26th at 5:30 pm EST. We will be sharing wisdom and insights from our recent Overall Feedback Survey as well as concrete steps Bhumisparsha is taking to implement this feedback skillfully. There will also be time for Q&A, open discussion, and simply hanging out together as a community. This gathering will be recorded and shared for those unable to join on the evening of 7/26. Click here to join the Community Town Hall via Zoom.

Save the Date! In-person retreat in Atlanta: October 25 - 29

Featuring co-teachers Lama Rod, Lama Justin, and Ms. Ayesha Ali. We are still in the early phase of organizing and there will be much more info to come! In the meantime, here is a sneak peak of the emerging schedule:

• Tuesday, Oct. 25: Special day for honoring Bhumi volunteers

• Wednesday, Oct. 26 - Friday, Oct. 28: Non-residential retreat centering the theme of “resting together to heal the three times”

• Saturday, Oct. 29 - Nature, picnic, community alter, and celebration vibes

Update on Global Majority + BIPOC affinity space

We are very blessed that Ayesha Ali has offered to help create affinity space for Global Majority/BIPOC folks within the Bhumisparsha community. She is also helping us remember to move at the speed of ease. We share this update for the general awareness of anyone who might be interested in collaborating to help create these spaces in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned for more!

Also! Check out this recent Washington Post article featuring Ms. Ayesha, Rashid Hughes, and their collaborations via Heart Refuge Mindfulness Community to center experiences and cultures of Global Majority + BIPOC communities in mindfulness practice.

Gratitude

In addition to the generosity Bhumisparsha receives from so many members of our community each month, we are also very fortunate to have received a second gift of $20,000 from the Padosi Foundation. Their generous support since 2021 has made the emergence of our young community possible. From Andrew Merz, Padosi’s executive director: “As someone recovering from spiritual abuse in a Buddhist context, I know firsthand the need for new models of community and truly welcoming and inclusive spaces, and I feel very fortunate to be able to contribute.”  With gratitude and humility, we commit to harnessing this gift toward authentic awakening and the total liberation of all suffering beings throughout time and space.

Community ethics + care

Celebrating the One Year Anniversary of the Community Ethics Project

It’s been almost a year since the Community Ethics Project (CEP), coordinated by Sadada Jackson and supported by many members of our community, culminated in a community-wide event on July 10th, 2021. For our first issue of the Bhumi Garden, we are happy to highlight the fruits of this beautiful expression of collective inquiry and moral imagination. Click on the image to the right to view a summary of the CEP. You can also check out the beautiful video distillation of the CEP below, or click to view the full recording of the CEP community gathering. Thank you to everyone who helped make this project possible— especially for Sadada’s leadership and Nikki Pressley’s graphic design skills!

Supporting shared language around conflict support & transformation

We are happy to share this Conflict Support and Transformation (v.1) resource with the community. This is a living document building from the efforts of Repa Trinlay and many other community members. While there is much more work to be done to cultivate robust processes of conflict transformation and community ethics throughout the fabric of Bhumisparsha, we hope this pithy resource provides fertile ground for future growth. We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Aspirations for Community Ethics Studio offerings

While still very much in the earliest stages of conceptualization, we want to name our aspiration to begin organizing regular (monthly or bi-monthly) Community Ethics Studios for the purpose of studying and training together in the arts of community ethics,  transformative justice, and accountable spiritual practice. More to come! If you are interested in supporting Bhumi’s ongoing work to strengthen our capacities for robust community ethics and care, please reach out to Eric at eric@bhumisparsha.org

Images: Machig Labdrön

Throwing it way back to the “Healing the Heart of the South” Retreat, Thomasville, NC, December 2018

Photo by Eric B. Minneapolis, MN, 2022

Graphic Design by Nikki Pressley

If you’re feeling nostalgic or asking yourself “Bhumisparsha what and why?”, then check out our Emerging Visions, Values, and Strategies document (see image, right). This resource from 2020  is outdated in most ways, yet it continues to help express the beating heart of Bhumisparsha’s vajra-dreams for personal transformation, beloved community, and collective liberation. We look forward to collaborating to create “v.2” of this resource in the future.

What kinds of norms and practices guide the ways we gather together as a community? Take a look at Bhumisparsha’s Community Guidelines to get a feel. (These agreements were forged collectively in the crucible of the earliest days of the pandemic.)

Sign up our Mailchimp to receive periodic announcements and updates 

Subscribe to Bhumisparsha’s public calendar to access the most up-to-date information about our scheduled offerings, including updates about changes, cancellations, and links to join our offerings.

We use Slack as a a virtual space for collaborating, creating affinity spaces, sharing session recordings, and general communications. Click here if you’d like to join Bhumi’s Slack space.

If you’re interested in learning more about Tech Hosting for Bhumisparsha offerings, you can start  by requesting to join our “Bhumi Tech Hosting Community” Google group!

View our transparent finances on our Open Collective page

The next Mission Circle meeting will be Monday, July 11th. Our main priorities this month will be finalizing our search for a new Treasurer to join the Mission Circle, discussing how to approach enlisting the services of an external accountant, grant writing/fundraising opportunities, and deepening our strategic planning efforts. Each month, we will share a video from Leigh and Ms. Brenda summarizing the previous month’s Mission Circle meeting. Click here to access a video summary of the June meeting (Passcode: IZf2U&y3). (Please note that the upcoming donation Ms. Brenda mentions in the video has been received from the Padosi Foundation. See the “Gratitude” entry in the  “Announcements: July 2022” section above).

An update and note of transparency from Eric, Transitional General Coordinator: I sincerely apologize that the process for bringing a new Treasurer onboard has taken longer than anticipated. That will be one of my main priorities this month, as this role is vital for the financial health and sustainability of our community. I’m continuously learning how to more skillfully allocate my 15 hrs/week in ways that balance the need to accomplish our strategic commitments alongside my ability to respond to various needs (sometimes expected, sometimes unexpected) that emerge throughout the course of an average week. I’m also committed to communicating openly and transparently when my sense of what is possible in a given time-frame doesn’t vibe with reality! Thank you for your grace and understanding as I continue learning how to dance with the rhythms and subtitles of Bhumi community life. It’s a dance I appreciate more and more deeply every day. <3

The Practice Circle is inviting new members!! If you're interested or know someone that may be, please send me an email at sesalli@bhumisparsha.org.

The Practice Circle meets on the 1st Thursday of every month (July 7th) from 5pm - 6:30pm ET. We support the creation and maintenance of ways we practice as a community. We spend time dreaming up what practice in our community can look like and creatively addressing concerns that may arise within practice spaces/processes. In this season the Practice Circle will be focused on supporting in person gatherings for our community. If you are someone interested in hosting or helping plan small regional to larger community gatherings we'd love to have your voice in the space.

You are invited to be a committed member for 6 months + OR to just be added to the calendar invite + emails so you can join whenever you are able. All are encouraged to join! Email me if interested!

• Helping organize our Vimeo page and leverage this platform more effectively, including integrating videos and recordings more meaningfully on our website.

• Assisting with  the maintenance and general upkeep of our Zoom accounts

• Sprucing up the Bhumisparsha website!

• Getting trained as a Tech Host and/or Facilitator for morning daily sits or helping launch an evening practice sit. If this resonates, we will get you in touch with Laura D, Bhumi’s Daily Practice Liaison.

• Helping us create “Welcome to Bhumisparsha” space from the perspective of a new community members

• Creating a very simple, technical support guide for multi-generational community members

• Providing graphic/digital design support for our

  • Mailchimp

  • Blog

  • Event communications

  • Flyers

  • Website

• Supporting our Social Media presence (creating posts for Instagram, posting regularly)

• Hosting a community-led book club or wisdom text study group

• Grant writing and fundraising support 

• Help plan In-person/regional gatherings at Practice Circle meetings

• Providing direct assistance and logistical support during in-person offerings.

• Sharing professional expertise and skillfulness in counseling, chaplaincy, mediation, and crisis response to support community members when needed

• Sharing professional expertise and skillfulness in legal affairs, non-profit management, strategic development, and collaborative leadership.

Donation opportunities

In financial terms, our hope is that this community can be sustained through the heartfelt contributions of those who feel connected to Bhumisparsha and share visions of personal transformation, beloved community, and collective liberation. The BEST way to provide that stability is through a monthly contribution that works for you. Click the button below to make a sustaining donation:

Sustaining Monthly Donations

One-Time donations are just as vital to ensuring we can meet our budgetary needs for the year. Your gift now will helps fuel Bhumi's practice. Click below to offer a One-time contribution:

One-Time Gift

Through our fiscal hosting partnership with Open Collective Foundation (OCF), all donations made to Bhumisparsha are tax deductible as charitable contributions. Click here to learn more.

This section of the Bhumi Garden is dedicated to sharing reflections, artwork, dance, poetry, photography, or any other mode of creation and reflection. If it feels good to share, you are very welcome to do so. We look forward to including contributions from the community in next month’s issue of the Bhumi Garden! To submit materials and/or proposals, please fill out the “Bhumi Garden Monthly Submission Form”

“Closing & Opening”, 2018, collage on paper, 8 in x 10 in by Sesalli Castillo 

Sunflower Study: May-June 2020 by Eric B

(A heads up for nervous systems that need it: this entry briefly references George Floyd, the Uprisings in Minneapolis, and an experience of depression. It concludes with images of a blooming sunflower)

Standing on my porch, fire was everywhere. Flames at both ends of the block, Wells Fargo roasting over there, the gas station’s cinders, “Did you hear what’s burning down over there?”. Everyone in the streets boiling, seething, despair. All I could hear in that place in my head where I can’t control things or make anything stop was Him calling “Mama” over and over and a sense that something has died in me that is gone forever and is never coming back. I was nihilism and furry and weeping on my porch holding a garden hose in case our house or a neighbors house caught fire because Minneapolis was wailing, burning, and that garden hose made me feel like there was still something I could do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, to fix, fix, fix, fix…

The summer of 2020 was intense for me in all my conditioned specificities, and maybe I’m not alone in that feeling. And I know, that you know, that we all know, that intensity is still here. I went through a period of not being well. Maybe you did, too. Maybe you still are. Maybe I still am, too. For a while all I could think about was how I really needed Tara to be real and that she needed to come save me right $&#!^%& now and praying to God that all this talk of Dharma and awareness was really worth something because I had my doubts. It was a good day when I could get out of bed and wander through our little yard. One day a Sunflower started growing and I knew that the most important thing in my life in that moment was to study this Sunflower; it’s growing and way of being. I took pictures everyday and tried to listen to what it was teaching me about how to be alive in this brutal world. This collage is an expression of gratitude and devotion for the existence of this Sunflower. They helped me remember what matters most, that it can never be lost or destroyed, that it is worth continuing, and that it saturates with more love than I am capable of holding in my head all at once and maybe that is why it hurts so much sometimes. So here is my prayer: May the blessings of this Sunflower and all creations who, by simply existing, testify to the power and holiness of being, never diminish. Right now, in this very instant, may all beings experience unreasonable and indestructible love. Jai Ma!

News and upcoming events with Lama Rod

From Heartbreak to Liberation: A Three-Part BIPOC Online Gathering. Tuesdays, July 5th, 12th & 19th, 2022 from 7:00pm-8:30pm ET

Take Space, Breathe, Retreat: A Half Day Online Meditation Retreat for BIPOC. Saturday, July 23rd, 2022 from 10:00am-2:00pm ET

Click here to sign up for Lama Rod’s mailing list

Click here to donate and support Lama Rod’s work as a full-time Dharma teacher

News and Upcoming events with Lama Justin

Death and Dying Retreat at Pure Land Farms, July 20 - 27

“Resting into the Mind Beyond Time & Being Consumed by Dharma”, an interview with Lama Justin for the Love and Liberation podcast with Olivia Clementine 

Teaching and transmission of the Tsogle Rinchen Trengwa. In July ,the session for this teaching and transmission will occur on Monday, July 18th at 7:00pm EST. Click here to join this special offering on Zoom.  

Teaching on Flight of the Garuda, by the great yogin, Shabkar. This text will be taught monthly until it is finished. Click here to join the next session on July 30th at 11:00am EST.

Click here to sign up for Lama Justin’s newsletter

Click here to donate and support Lama Justin’s work as a full time Dharma teacher

May 24, 2022

Opportunities for Supporting the Bhumi Community

Volunteer as Treasurer:

help nourish our shared resources

Dear Treasured Bhumi Folk,

Bhumisparsha is in need of a treasurer! The Mission Circle (currently consisting of Brenda Collins, Leigh Rosenberg, Lisa Hoff, and Transitional General Coordinator Eric Busse) are writing to see if you have the interest/capacity to offer support in this much needed volunteer role. 

 Background: Thus far Lama Rod has held this role, but we need to replace him for a few different reasons. One is a desire to adopt best practices in limiting potential abuses of power by having one of the Lamas as a treasurer. We also need someone who has greater availability to be more hands-on in helping us cultivate a sustainable financial future for our community.

Details: One of the most practical roles the treasurer will embody is as an “Administrator” on our Open Collective page where all of Bhumisparsha’s finances now live. Our fiscal hosting relationship with Open Collective Foundation (OCF) reduces the administrative burden around most financial processes (i.e. managing how people get paid, transparency, processing donations, tax preparations, etc.). However, as an emerging collective we need someone who is willing to assist by lightly monitoring our Open Collective page, contributing to regular reporting processes for the community, providing financial wisdom as opportunities arise, and supporting the broad sustainability of our shared resources as a community. The treasurer will also become part of the Mission Circle and participate in monthly Mission Circle meetings. In total, this position entails an average commitment of 5-6 hours of volunteering per month.

Beyond that, the nuances and responsibilities of this role will be clarified in collaboration with the Mission Circle and Eric Busse, based on interest and capacity. Additional aspects of this role may include: collaborating to create budgets, advising the Mission Circle around working with an accountant, assisting with future external audit, and supporting fundraising.

The person who fills this role does not necessarily need professional bookkeeping experience, as we will be exploring the viability of contracting with an accountant or bookkeeper. However, we are looking for someone attentive to detail and with an interest in strategic development, administration, and financial management. Past experience is a plus, but anyone with the matching skills and capacity for wise sangha leadership is encouraged to apply! The treasurer will also be supported by the staff and existing volunteers as they lend their wisdom and experience towards our shared vision of awakening and collective liberation.

If you are considering applying for the role but need more information or have questions, please reach out to Eric Busse at eric@bhumisparsha.org and he will connect with you. Feel free to also share this invitation with a friend or colleague who you think would be a great fit for the position! To be considered, please send an email communicating your interest, relevant skills, and experience to info@bhumisparsha.org by Monday, June 6th.

In love and Sangha,

Brenda Collins, Mission Circle President
Leigh Rosenberg, Mission Circle Clerk
Lisa Hoff, Mission Circle Member
Eric Busse, Transitional General Coordinator and Mission Circle Member

Join the Practice Circle:

support transformative spiritual practice

The Practice Circle is inviting new members!! If you're interested or know someone that may be, please send me an email at sesalli@bhumisparsha.org.

The Practice Circle meets on the 2nd Thursday of every month 5pm - 6:30pm ET. We support the creation and maintenance of ways we practice as a community. We spend time dreaming up what practice in our community can look like and creatively addressing concerns that may arise within practice spaces/processes.

In this season the Practice Circle will be focused on supporting in person gatherings for our community. If you are someone interested in hosting or helping plan small regional to larger community gatherings we'd love to have your voice in the space.

You are invited to be a committed member for 6 months + OR to just be added to the calendar invite + emails so you can join whenever you are able. All are encouraged to join! Email me if interested!

Excited to welcome you! - sesalli, Practice Circle Coordinator and Teacher-Student Liaison 

May 21, 2022

Dear Bhumi Community,

As we continue our transitional process of reflection, refinement, and clarification, we want to be open and transparent in sharing the status of our collective resources. So, on behalf of the Mission Circle, we would like to communicate with you about some of the challenges we are facing financially. 

Monthly Expenses and Income

Our monthly expenses are as follows:

• Transitional General Coordinator (currently Eric Busse, 15 hrs/wk): $1,920/mo

• Practice Circle Coordinator & Teacher-Student Liaison (currently Sesalli Castillo, 10hrs/wk): $1,250/mo

• Technology: $271/mo on average for Squarespace (website), Zoom and Zoom cloud storage, Acuity scheduling, Google Workspace, Vimeo (video hosting), Crowdcast, and Loomio. Some services are paid monthly and some annually.  Of these, the largest expenses, on average, are Zoom ($67/mo) including meetings and cloud storage, Crowdcast ($62/mo), and the website + Google Workspace ($46/mo).

• Stipend for Lama Justin: $1,000/mo

  • Payments to our Co-founding Teachers have been made on the basis of their expressed needs. Beginning January 2022, Lama Justin requested a stipend of $1,000/mo to support his spiritual teaching, facilitation, and advisory services on behalf of the Bhumisparsha community. This request came as he left his previous full-time job to focus on teaching the dharma. Knowing our financial situation, he recently suggested withdrawing his request for funds, but the Mission Circle opted to continue paying this stipend to support him in sharing his gifts with Bhumisparsha. Lama Rod has repeatedly expressed that he does not currently need or want regular compensation for his work with Bhumisparsha, since he has other income streams. Of course, Lama Rod may express a need for such compensation in the future, and we want to be able to honor that request if and when it’s made. 

Our monthly income from recurring donations on our Open Collective page as of May 19th, 2022 is $1,529/mo. Our fiscal sponsor, Open Collective Foundation (OCF), takes 5% of our donations in exchange for key financial and administrative services, leaving $1,452/mo for Bhumisparsha.

We are fortunate to have received a promise of $20,000/year for 3 years (2021-2023) from a family foundation. Bhumisparsha received the first of these $20,000 gifts in December 2021. We are scheduled to receive the second gift in December 2022 followed by the third gift in December 2023. 

In 2021 Lama Rod generously donated $10,000 to sustain a monthly stipend for the role of Practice Circle Coordinator and Student-Teacher Liaison, of which we have $2,501 left to distribute. We would like to continue this position once that stipend runs out, given the great value the position has had for our community. 

In total, our current monthly expenses are $4,441/mo. As mentioned above, our income from recurring monthly donations is $1,452/mo ($1,529/mo minus OCF's 5% administrative fee). This means we experience a deficit of $2,989/mo. The occasional grants and larger donations described above offset some of this, but we are definitely spending down funds faster than they are coming in. Including grants/larger donations, recurring monthly donations, and other one-time donations, Bhumisparsha currently holds $8,499 in total assets (as of May 19th, 2022, please see our Open Collective page for the most up-to-date information).

501(c)(3) Status Update

We also wanted to be clear about our organizational structure at this time. Over the last few years, we had been moving towards full status as an independent 501(c)(3) religious non-profit. Early this year, it became clear that we do not have the resources or stability to support that process at this time, and we decided to return to the model of fiscal sponsorship. We may resume our application for 501(c)(3) status in the future, but for now fiscal sponsorship is the most nourishing arrangement for our newborn community. Under the arrangement with OCF and the 501(c)(3) status they extend to us as a collective, donations made to Bhumisparsha as of March 2022 are fully tax-deductible as charitable donations for US residents.

Additional Thoughts

Our primary intention in writing this letter is not to solicit money. However, if Bhumisparsha is supporting your path toward liberation and you have the capacity to start or increase a sustaining monthly donation, it will be gladly accepted. Knowing that the community’s generosity is ultimately what will sustain this organization, our goal is to be frank and transparent about where we are at as a community. Bhumisparsha runs largely on volunteer effort, and the way we have operated has not always been sustainable for our volunteers and participants. We recognize the need to operate at an appropriate capacity, not over-committing or under-resourcing. This is the work not just of the Mission Circle but of our community as a whole, since we aspire to be a non-hierarchical organization where we all benefit and are accountable to each other. 

We are brainstorming about another community fundraising drive, pursuing grants, seeking additional large donors, asking more regularly for donations during our offerings, and exploring some events with charges (always with options for those who can’t pay much or anything). We will certainly do what we can with our current paid staff and volunteer capacity. At the same time, we recognize that these endeavors cannot happen effectively unless we have funds to pay people to help make them happen. In alignment with our liberatory and intersectional values, we want to be able to support people for their labor rather than relying so heavily on the unpaid labor of volunteers.

We also recognize that our "build it as we fly" model has its advantages and its challenges. Some of the challenges have been disorganization, lack of follow through and lack of clear accountability that have, at times, caused hurt and harm. We also know from the recent feedback survey and conversations with fellow community members that many people who have accessed teachings and community through Bhumisparsha have been profoundly nourished and inspired. An ethical, thriving, and resourced community could be of tremendous benefit to beings. 

We will continue as the Mission Circle to refine our structure and think critically. We want to continue to be transparent about what's going on. We welcome ideas, perspectives, participation, and feedback from folks who have the capacity to share with us. We welcome the involvement of those who feel committed to helping us reach our community aspirations. And we welcome learning what needs to change, and how, in order to inspire deep transformation in line with community care and accountability. If you have any questions or comments that you would like to share, please feel free to contact Eric at eric@bhumisparsha.org and he will get in touch with you soon. 

Sincerely,

Brenda Collins, Mission Circle President 

Leigh Rosenberg, Mission Circle Clerk

Lisa Hoff, Mission Circle Member

Eric Busse, Transitional General Coordinator, Mission Circle Member

P.S. We will be sending out a revised invitation for the role of Treasurer soon! For those who are interested, this would be a terrific way to help Bhumisparsha cultivate the sustainability of our shared resources. More to come!

May 6, 2022

Dear Bhumisparsha community,

Bhumisparsha is in a phase of learning and reflection. As we continue to seek the best next direction, it’s important for us to have input from as many people in the community as possible. We’ve created an overall feedback survey to gather insights and establish some shared ground to support us as we move forward. We would be honored to learn from your experience! Here is a link to the survey (we will also be sharing this link on Slack many times over the course of the month):

https://forms.gle/SM4x63USp9NME6Mz5

We appreciate you taking a moment to share your experience, as this information will help us deepen in wisdom, clarity, and skillfulness. Specifically, information from this survey will be used to inform the Mission Circle’s upcoming strategic planning efforts.

Please feel free to answer any questions that feel relevant to you and skip any questions or portions that don’t. Be sure to share this survey with a Bhumi friend or at a practice you lead! We ask that all feedback be submitted by Monday May 30th, 2022.

If you would prefer to offer feedback in a different medium, or if there is anything you’d like to convey that is not quite captured here, you can email info@bhumisparsha.org and Eric will get in touch with you.

Sincerely,

Brenda Collins, Mission Circle President
Lisa Hoff, Mission Circle Member
Leigh Rosenberg, Mission Circle Clerk
Sesalli Castillo, Teacher-Student Liaison & Practice Circle Coordinator
Eric Busse, Transitional General Coordinator, Mission Circle Member

November 13, 2021

This conversation between Trinlay and Leigh was a deeper exploration of several areas of our current Bhumisparsha structure, to help us move towards a first draft organizational structure proposal in the coming weeks. (That future proposal will then move through the process outlined in the previous post.) 

Note: In this post you’ll see a number of timestamps, marked (00:00:00). As we develop our process with these blog posts, we are playing around with using these timestamps as footholds to let readers make their way more easily from the sections outlined in the meeting notes to the corresponding moments of discussion in the recordings. Take a look below and check it out. 

The summary notes below include discussions of: 

• Mapping out paid positions. 

• Looking at communication across the General Circle. 

Anyone who wishes may watch the meeting in full (about 90 minutes) at https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/DF1OPqH5VEaSc_EsQKG7_opS9obY5S4CmVNyvztpxq00R7M5fXlYpbF9-nMx5TAp.tlQx0H1LdGlBNOY1 Passcode: #?fjK4Ef

1. Paid Positions  (00:48:40)

In our last meeting we identified a need to bring together our circles model with a structure which identifies the roles of our paid personnel, allowing us to map out the specific  lines of communication, fields of responsibility and structures of accountability.

Using a Google Jam Board we laid out some of the key operational roles initially identified in Ms. Brenda’s structural proposal, as well as several others, and began mapping these onto our existing circle structure. (See Jamboard slide 1) That is, our existing circle structure with the addition of a Community Ethics circle, and the relocation of the Fundraising circle from under the purview of the Mission circle to that of the Resources circle. These changes were outlined in Alex’s structural proposal. The roles we identified can be loosely divided into two groups.

 1) The roles of paid coordinators, who bottom line each circle, ensuring that the work is done to accomplish the specific tasks of their respective domains. This would include Coordinators for:

-Resources Circle

-Community Ethics Circle and Conflict Resolution processes

-Student Teacher Liaison, who is presently coordinating the formation of the Practice    circle

 2) Essential support functions, not tasked with circle coordination but which require a certain level of task specific expertise essential to the operations of the organization.  (00:35:30)

-Someone to manage grant writing in the fundraising circle

-The role of marketing and communications, whether that be held by a single staff member or a designated volunteer group.  

- A programming development manager for the Practice Circle  (00:57:20) (01:19:50)

- Paid administrative functions such as Payroll, bookkeeping, audits.  

NOTE (pertinent but not in video): While it is clear that we do not have the means to immediately implement all these roles as paid positions, there are some ideals laid out in Bhumisparsha structure proposals That would help us move in this direction.**

This leads us into our work for the following meeting:, prioritizing and listing which positions need to be implemented first, and which can be developed as we move along.  

2. Communications across the General Circle (1:00:00-- 1:05:30--1:07:30) (01:25:00--01:29:20)

This work around circle coordinators and critical functions leads us to our next question. What is the flow of communication/ coordination between these groups? 

One of the main points raised in Option 1 of the  Bhumisparsha structure proposals is that Members of the General circle would be “mostly be STAFF/PAID positions, and possibly a few volunteers occupying significant operations roles.” This means that the space of the General Circle would shift from its current format of volunteers “linked” from their respective circles into the General Circle, organized around a paid General Coordinator, to a smaller group of the paid Circle coordinators and essential roles each representing the domains over which they are responsible.

We brainstormed possible ideas around how this group cou.ld potentially coordinate meetings and execute tasks.

1) Opting for frequent, small, cross circle, task specific meetings and or the formation of temporary committees lead by individual circle coordinators (A.K.A Get shit done meetings)

• Small agendas which then become more actionable within the time allotted for the collaborative work space of the meeting.

• Avoiding the creation of an infinite “To-do lists” 

2) Holding occasional “All circle meetings” of circle coordinators as the place for report backs, and big picture discussion. 

• Creating a distinct time and space in which to hold “meta” discussion, apart from operations meetings. 

In considering this potential new arrangement, some key issues come to light.

In this model the coordinators of the various circles would no longer be primarily volunteers, but paid staff capable of holding a larger share of the logistical load, and therefore a corresponding share of the overall vision for operations. If so then what is the role of the General Coordinator, who previously served as the coordinating function of the General Circle and was responsible within that circle for carrying that load while coordinating the efforts of volunteers? 1) Would there still be a need for a General Coordinator? 2) If not, who would keep track of ongoing programing and operations needs outside of the temporary committees? We will begin our next session by returning to these questions. 

See how ideas are unfolding on the Google Jam Board. 

———————————————————————-

** In “Section II. Compensation and Power: Staff and Volunteers” Bhumisparsha structure proposals states:

• Offering compensation and/or paid positions for unfilled roles and to volunteers in key roles.

• Allowing each of the people in these roles to choose the rate at which they require compensation. This could start at $0 or low as anyone wants, or up to a particular cap. Hours could also be agreed upon.

This would make it possible to offer initial stipends towards the development of these key roles, and or ask current volunteers what they would need in terms of compensation to begin to take on aspects of these key roles with the stated aim that they are to later be developed into paid positions with commensurate responsibilities and compensation.

November 5, 2021

Alex, Leigh and Trinlay met on October 29 to continue fleshing out ideas around Bhumisparsha’s organizational restructuring.  The summary notes below include: 

A. Possible ways to streamline our current sociocratic circle model

B. Two structural models reviewed today

C. Updates to proposed process of ratification of a new structure

In addition, anyone who wishes may watch the meeting in full ( about 90 minutes - use Passcode: 4#gCLE7+ )

A. Possible ways to streamline our current sociocratic model

In discussion about how we might rework and hybridize our sociocratic circles model, some possible ideas that we talked about could be:

• Employing several part time positions to staff needed roles

• Keeping the general and mission circles, but clarifying and streamlining 

  • Mission circle to oversee- budget, major policy decisions, structural decisions

  • General Circle would be mostly paid staff overseeing the day-to-day

• Position of General Coordinator (linking Mission and General Circles) to be revised - opens up allocation of resources for other paid positions. 

• Inclusion of Conflict resolution space run by Bhumisparsha Chaplains and volunteer  Community Ethics Project (CEP) members - this could be funded by CEP budget

B) Two structural models offered for review and consideration.

• Ms. Brenda Collins Organizational structure: Possible Organizational Structure.docx
  Takeaways--

• A more traditional management/organizational structure highlights who reports to who and uses the position of managers/ supervisors to streamline communications and decisions between departments. Establishing clear and efficient lines of communication.

• Includes lamas as permanent members of the board.

• We wondered, in what ways can these mechanisms be used in combination with our current circle model, which more strongly emphasizes collaborative and discursive space, but in which lines of communication/accountability are less clear?

Questions—

• Lamas are proposed to be the Board of Directors in this proposal. Is this a viable way to work the positions of the teachers into our organizational structure? Do they want this?

• How many positions are paid in this model? (Note: just two: an Operations Manager and current Teacher-Student Liaison) 

• Is a volunteer coordinator role viable as an unpaid position? Could some or all volunteer coordination fall to the coordinators of each circle or committee?

• How does this model interact with some of the existing groups (like Resources circle) not included in the model?

Discussion —

• What would effective and appropriate structures of accountability and oversight look like, in particular for paid staff?

• One idea is that paid coordinators would function as “bottomliners” rather than “overseers,” for the collaborative work of the circle. Do they then hold responsibility for managing volunteers within their circle?

• Who would the circle coordinators be accountable to? Who supports them? Who do they go to with concerns, or who can others go to with concerns about them? (27:32)

2. Alex’s revised circle model Organizational Structure Proposal 2021: Alex

Takeaways —

• Look at separate advisory roles for Lamas outside of the Mission circle. In this proposal, the lamas would link  1) to the Mission circle through Mission circle President and 2) to the Practice circle through Student Teacher Liaison.

• Create a permanent Community Ethics circle to make space for CEP, Conflict Resolution processes and other operations coming out of CEP.

• Move fundraising from under the direction of Mission circle to the Resources Circle alongside Tech.

• Looking at the two models, there is a need to bring together our circles model (which shows group functions and overlapping domains)  with a structure which identifies the roles of our paid personnel (lines of communication and accountability). 

Questions —

• Where is the role of paid staff in this model? This proposal would see paid staff as linking members of circle connecting to General Circle, including the possibility of a payed coordinator for the Community Ethics circle, and the Student Teacher Liaison as the payed coordinator for the Practice Circle

• What building blocks can we put in place and move forward with in terms of paid positions in our organizational structure?

C) Notes/ update to process of ratification of a new structure:

We discussed tweaking a proposal we had taken to the joint Mission/General circle group around the community process for adopting our new structure. The original proposal was (in addition to these public blog posts throughout):

• Step 0: Trinlay/Alex/Leigh take all the feedback and ideas from the earlier General/Mission joint meeting, plus Ms. Brenda's ideas, plus anyone else's, and synthesize a draft structure proposal. 

• Step 1: Run this draft proposal by the Lamas to be sure it reflects their needs and desires. Tweak as needed.

• Step 2: Share the new proposal with everyone who has served in a circle (past or present members of General, Mission, Tools/Resources, Fundraising, Community Ethics) to check for consent and objections. Where there are true objections, try to integrate/tweak the proposal so all who are weighing in can get to a place of "I can live with this enough to try it!"

• Step 3: Post this same proposal on the website/blog for the community to see.

• Step 4: Hold an open community meeting, in which we describe the proposal and process to-date, and seek any comments, questions, concerns. This will not be a decision-making meeting, but informational/consultational, and to surface any major concern missed.

• Step 5: Hold a community ratification of the proposal (with some threshold to pass, TBD)

We received some feedback that this process would take a proposed structure to the 

Lamas too soon, without ensuring enough input from circle members. We also learned that Lama Rod would be on retreat all of November. So we changed the process proposal for more feedback earlier in the process:

• Step 1: Trinlay, Alex, Leigh draft an initial structure proposal, based on all feedback so far. Share it publicly on the news/blog and with circle members (includes lamas). (Nov)

• Step 2: Seek feedback from past/present circle members on the draft asynchronously and, with scheduled meetings to publicly address any key issues tha have been identified in the recorded meetings with Trinlay, Alex, Leigh. (The wider community can continue to give feedback via the blog) (mid-late Nov)

• Step 3: Trinlay, Alex, Leigh meet with the Lamas to ensure that the current proposal meets their needs/desires; identify any needed changes. (early Dec)

• Step 4: Tweak the draft based on feedback received in Steps 2 and 3. (early Dec)

• Step 5: Put the new proposal to past/present circle members (including lamas) for a vote to surface consent or objections. Where there are objections, attempt to tweak the proposal again to get everyone to a place of consent, if possible. (mid Dec)

• Step 6: Hold an open community meeting, in which we describe the proposal and process to-date, and seek any comments, questions, concerns. This will not be a decision-making meeting, but informational/consultational, and to surface any major concern missed.

• Step 7: Hold a community ratification of the proposal (with some threshold to pass, TBD)

Our recorded meeting ended there. Comments encouraged below.

March 29, 2021

Hey everyone!

This is Repa Trinlay, writing to you as the clerk for the General Circle. (# sociocraticfunctions)

In an effort to bring greater transparency and accountability to the decision making processes unfolding here within Bhumisparsha, members of the General Circle --Jessie Rothkuo and myself-- have been working to transform our meeting notes into a short digest available for you to read here on the Bhumisparsha Blog. The aim is to keep sangha members informed about the ongoing deliberations, projects and decisions being carried out in response to the diverse needs and activities of our growing community. As this is the first installment of our General CIrcle Digest, it has taken us some time to figure our formatting and get approval on the process from everyone involved. So now that we have the ball rolling it will just take a bit for us to get up to speed and get our most resent meeting notes posted here on the blog. Stay tuned!

Have questions or input? 

Feel free to leave a comment or chat us up at info@bhumisparhsa.org

GENERAL CIRCLE 02/14/21

• Report back from Mission Circle

  • Budget

    • The Circle discussed how Bhumisparsha is generating revenue and how it is getting distributed to continue sustaining the growth of the organization. 

    • Currently, we are spending more than we are collecting through sustained donations. The majority of our current budget supports the General Organizers position (Alex Rodriguez) and the Community Ethics Projects ( Sadada + co organizers). Additional expenses include use of Loomio/ Slack/Squarespace ( Bhumisparsha website).

    • We currently have two sources of funds: Staff salaries are covered by donations during the Sun and Moon cycle, and the monies going to the Community Ethics Project come from the grant from the Hemera foundation. 

  • Mission circle is also looking for a bookkeeper and is moving forward with formatting an employee handbook.

• Debrief the community meetings on February 12/13

  • The meetings were a great success in terms of making a public presentation on the Sociocratic model. The circle wishes there was more time to sit and work with people through questions. 

  • The short turnaround for the event in terms of planning exposed obvious rough edges. We planned for structure but not for content. Liber and Kim made the day with the quality of their presence.

    • There were frictions arising due to a sense of “compression” around time needed to gather volunteers and execute. There had not been a formal planning meeting, and some volunteer roles were filled at the last minute. Opportunities for communication and clarification across various groups got muddled in the process of moving quickly.

    • How do we intentionally move slower? How can we be more creative in controlling the pace at which we would like to work, live, and practice together in this community?

• In particular, tensions within members of the General Circle arose around the implementation of versions of Community Guidelines: the Community Guidelines generated initially by DL and #Guidelines Slack channel, the former Core group’s edited version of that, and the revised Mindful Space Holding Guidelines crafted by and for BIPOC spaces.

  • Moving forward: What are the “official” community guidelines for use in Bhumi spaces?

  • Where are the Guidelines explicitly presented within the community?

    • Ex- affinity spaces (with BIPOC revisions reserved for BIPOC spaces), Daily sits, Larger public presentations via Crowdcast, and spaces used for community discussion and collective inquiry.

  • Post meeting update-- Leigh informed the circle that Community Guidelines had never been finalized. They were up for a final round of revision at the time of the split of the Core Organizers circle into Mission and General Circles. 

  • In progress: Revisit the Guidelines for community approval before posting the finalized version to the Bhumisparsha home page via Blog post. 

    • Question: does this fall to the General Circle as our responsibility or can this be delegated to the newly created Safety Protocol Circle ( which is still being assembled)

• Check in on new practice leader letter

  • A letter has gone out from the Mission Circle (and the Lamas) inviting several community members to step into the role of practice leaders. They are being invited to offer new material arising from their own inspiration and explorations in addition to establishing supportive programs for new practitioners and leading current Deity meditations.

  • Sadada Anjana,Ayesha,Brenda,Jos,Karen N, Karen Z, Marina have accepted the invitation.

  • Kimberly, Payne,Rachael,Rashid,Trinlay are still getting back to us.

  • Where we are in the process:

    • We are waiting to hear back from lamas about how they want to proceed.

    • We are deciding how we as the General Circle want to be involved in helping to organize and meet these needs.

  • Some Circle members feel frustrated. That it feels like we are putting the cart before the horse… again. 

  • Our community survey has shown us that there is a desire for some sort of foundational programs or a more guided sense of curriculum (specifically around the Buddha dharma). We also have the creation of the Practice and Action Circle on our agenda. The circle is considering having these practice leaders involved in that conversation. 

  • We have shared the desire to be more intentional about the calendar. Not just in terms of overwhelming tech with new things, but also how we were choosing to plan our calendar and what we as Bhumisparsha are going to focus on offering.

  • There is also a little fear about the arbitrariness of practice leader selection, the intentions and process seem unclear. One member would like to know that there is a process for nominating or recommending people to step forward as practice leaders in the future.

  • The circle should consider turning this into a proposal in order to make things more actionable and grounded.

• Action Items Before Next Meeting

  • Process for the clerk and Space Traffic COntroller to publish notes and give updates via Bhumisparsha Blog posts to support transparency and accountability.

  • Gather update on the safety protocol circle.

• Agenda Items for Next Meeting

  • Explore the creation of other circles: Practice & Action Circle, Resources Circle, other?

    • Draft a proposal around organization of Bumisparsha’s educational/foundational programs and new practices.

  • Discuss a possible upcoming REST course w/ Rashid Hughes.

December 8, 2020

As the year comes to a close this month, Bhumisparsha’s organizing team has been taking stock of the remarkable changes we’ve seen in our community since this time last year, when we were preparing to host our first “Touching the Earth” weekend retreat in Atlanta, USA. Since then, we have grown into a vibrant translocal sangha gathering regularly online and doing all kinds of things together—from the Moon Cycle in April to the Kumbha Mela 24-hour practice extravaganza in August and our Community Day gatherings this fall, alongside vibrant self-organized spaces for facilitators, tech hosting, ancestor work, antiracist affinity groups, and regular ongoing practice offerings.

Bhumisparsha’s organizing team has also undergone some significant shifts in recent months, especially since our official incorporation in September as a Religious Nonprofit Organization registered in the US Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Last month, the six individuals who had been meeting as the Core Organizers—Brenda Collins, Rod Owens, Leigh Rosenberg, Alex Rodriguez, Repa Trinlay, and Justin von Bujdoss—adopted bylaws for the organization and set into motion a shift towards a Sociocratic model of organizing our internal work, dividing into a “Mission Circle” (which serves as the organization’s Board of Directors and is responsible for the biggest-picture decisions that affect the organization) and a “General Circle” (which sets policy that impacts the community’s day-to-day activities). Alex and Brenda serve in both circles, with Justin, Leigh and Rod rounding out the Mission Circle and Repa Trinlay in the General Circle. After this “cell division”, the General Circle also invited Karen Nelson and Jessie Rothkuo to join and support its work for the remainder of this year.

If you’d like to learn more about Sociocracy, the governance and facilitation framework behind this shift, the good people at Sociocracy for All have created this useful short introductory video: [see below]

In the year ahead, one of the General Circle’s priorities will be to establish “Department Circles,” small groups to whom responsibility for different areas of organization are delegated, each linked to the General Circle through two shared members. Our initial aspiration, shown in the diagram below, will create three additional circles to tend to Practice and Action, Community Care, and Resources: [image on left]

And in the meantime, of course, Bhumisparsha will continue as an ongoing experiment, with sangha members encouraged to self-organize around meeting our needs and tending to our inspiration as we deepen in the practices. Our hope is that this new emerging structure will continue to build itself up to meet the inspired organizing that is already taking place, allowing for a better flow of communication, trust, and resources as we continue to grow. We welcome any questions or suggestions you may have about where to go from here. And if you’d like to be a part of one of these circles as we expand next year—or know someone who would be a great fit—we’d love to hear from you. To reach out, simply send us an email at info@bhumisparsha.org

September 22, 2020

What does our community look like, and what some of the hopes, dreams, and challenges before us? In July 2020, Bhumisparsha community members were invited to complete a community survey, and 78 people responded. Read the report findings and recommendations, released September 22, 2020.

A very warm THANK YOU to each and everyone who participated in the survey!

April 5, 2020

As the Bhumisparsha community prepares to offer the upcoming Moon Cycle Intensive, we are also happy to announce the publication of our Statement of Vision and Values. We have been working together on preparing this as our emergent sangha has taken shape in recent months; many thanks to its lead author, Bhumisparsha Core Organizer Eric Busse, for shepherding it into this final form!

Bhumisparsha Statement of Vision and Values

November 11, 2019

Bhumisparsha is excited to  announce that our Founding Teachers will lead our first weekend nonresidential retreat, “Touching the Earth: Authenticity in Troubled Times,” from December 20-21, 2019. Lama Rod Owens, co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation, and Lama Justin von Bujdoss, author of Modern Tantric Buddhism: Embodiment and Authenticity in Dharma Practice, are eager to continue to the work that began last year at Bhumisparsha's inaugural retreat, "Healing the Heart of the South through the Practice of Chod" held in Thomasville, North Carolina in December, 2018.

To apply, please fill out this form and one of our Core Organizers will get back to you shortly. For more information, see the workshop page or contact Brenda Collins at bcollins12@hotmail.com.

December 26, 2018

From December 13th to the 16th Lama Rod and Lama Justin and 21 participants gathered at the Thomasville Buddhist Center in Thomasville, NC for a 4 day Chod retreat. The retreat was a powerful way to explore working with racism, whiteness, patriarchy, identity and the ghosts (many still very much present) of the the way racism still haunts not just the South, but American culture in general. Engaging in the practice of chod, Medicine Buddha and various contemplation practices including visiting a local cemetery, practice went deep.

A special thanks to Bushi and Christine and their family for hosting us at Thomasville Buddhist Center, and gratitude for Repa Trinley (Harrison Holmes) for serving as chant master and offering a mentor role to fellow retreatants, and to Eric Busse for his work as organizer and smoother-of-rough-edges around a retreat laden with a tremendous amount of stirred energy and emotion. A heartfelt thanks also goes out to Stephanie Barnes, who played an instrumental role in helping to ready the space.

This inaugural retreat was an appropriate way to launch Bhumisparsha. It was clear that a new kind of sangha was being co-created - aspects of the retreat felt as if new ground was being touched upon. We look forward to the way the seeds of clear intention planted during this retreat will bear fruit.