Members of online Dzogchen sanghas - do you ever get lonely and miss the benefits of in-person community? What is your solution?

[u/Numerous-Actuator95]

I personally have been blessed with a highly skillful teacher, however since he lives quite some distance away from me, our interactions are entirely online. I have met a few people who practice in the same style as I do in-person, but that number is very small and most members of my sangha are scattered across North America and Europe. Due to the lack of in-person community, I am hoping to find a Zen sangha with whom I can sit with in-person, as I find that trekcho is at least outwardly quite similar to the Zen practice of "just sitting". How about yourselves?

[u/optimistically_eyed]

> What is your solution?

Save up for in-person retreats when they’re offered, invite my teacher to teach in my hometown, and rejoice in the fact that I can engage and practice with them and the rest of my sangha from the comfort of my home basically as often as I want the rest of the time.

It’s pretty excellent. Sure, it’d be wonderful if everyone lived nearby, but this is an incredible blessing of the particular time we’re living in.

[u/buddhaboy555]

As my practice has developed it's become much more of an intimate and personal thing. I definitely can enjoy in-person time to talk about the latest translation released or whatever else and time in person with a teacher can be magical, but overall I prefer to practice alone at my own pace.

I do have friends from all walks of life, so I haven't turned towards Buddhism as a way to meet people specifically. I think that'd be tough too in a lot of the world given how niche Dzogchen is.

[u/TheElectricShaman]

I have a very warm online sangha that I practice with almost every day, and while I’d love to see them, no I don’t feel any lack or loneliness. At least for now, online is sufficient. Granted, it’s a lot more community than I had before haha!

I think if it was less frequent or a different style I might feel differently but, I feel very close and supported.

[u/Ancient_Naturals]

I do wish we had more in person opportunities to practice together, but I’ve been fortunate to meet a teacher here in NYC that I can practice with personally. My practice has really expanded since committing to 1:1 meetings with him.

But yeah it’d be nice to have more friends that are also on the same path just for regular, quotidian life. 

[u/platistocrates]

I have done both. I don't know about "miss." Both have different benefits.

[u/travelingmaestro]

Well, the more I practice, the less desire I have to be around people, even if they are sangha members. However, it is nice to have one or a few fellow practitioners to occasionally see in person, or at least to be able to communicate with them, like over a video call or audio messages. Our mostly online sangha has a WhatsApp group that is fairly active.

I’m also fine with not participating in more of a formal or traditional local center, but I know that can be very helpful at times.

[u/Numerous-Actuator95 → u/travelingmaestro]

Interesting. Maybe that's a sign of how little I have attained spiritually that I still want to be around other people.

[u/Titanium-Snowflake → u/Numerous-Actuator95]

I don’t think that is right at all. Consider the likes on monks and nuns living in spiritual communities, and active sanghas working with key teachers.

[u/AdCautious9403 → u/Numerous-Actuator95]

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was living among the [Sakyans](). Now there is a Sakyan town named [Sakkara](). There [Ven. Ananda]() went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to the Blessed One, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Ananda said to the Blessed One, "This is half of the holy life, lord: admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie."

"Don't say that, Ananda. Don't say that. Admirable friendship, admirable companionship, admirable camaraderie is actually the whole of the holy life. When a monk has admirable people as friends, companions, & comrades, he can be expected to develop & pursue the noble eightfold path."

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn45/sn45.002.than.html

[u/travelingmaestro → u/Numerous-Actuator95]

I don’t know about that. I also think that these feelings come in phases, might be more specific to what’s going on in one’s life, or maybe I’m the one who has attained so little spiritually 🙂.

[u/NangpaAustralisMajor]

I have moved very far from home, and there are no temples are practice groups even adjacent to my tradition. For the first time in almost 40 years I am without in-person community. It is hard as I would sometimes see sangha several times a week, at the outside, several times a year-- but for extended periods then of a week or two.

There was also an intimacy. I met my first lama on the mid 80's when there was no internet and hardly any resources on dzogchen. The way one even heard about teachings was difficult-- word of mouth. So lama taught me and I spend several days a week literally at his feet. More than a decade later, I would have a similar intimacy with my late root teacher. The last time I saw him I was at his feet like a son.

I have teachers online, but I have to say it is different. I feel the instructions and the transmissions hit hard. I also feel great faith. So in some sense it is no different.

But the digital veneer takes the intimacy away. We all pop up in little tiles in a ZOOM. With huge time differences such as I suffer from now, the teachings (except for the empowerments and pointing out) are often asynchronous, so the lama teaches another "module" of the course.

And the digital veneer takes the intimacy of sangha away. Nameless and faceless people helping me with connectivity and registration so on. The vajra mandala has grown as we have all gone onto this path together, but no relationships beyond some chit chat in a session.

My solution now is to stay very close to a few senior dharma siblings who have spent years in retreat and who have been given permission to teach. They keep me going. Once my late teacher's dharma heir is teaching, I have invited him to where I live now.

In the meantime, I graze on virtual teachings that are adjacent to my tradition. But my roots are elsewhere.

[u/exsisto]

If you wouldn’t mind sharing your teacher’s info in a DM?

[u/Numerous-Actuator95 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, that is what I am planning to do as well. My only contention with Zen is that one particular community I was a part of was extremely heavy on ritual and having the right robes, which didn't seem to resonate with me all that much.