Sacred West

Level I weekend was amazing. The people who came were a varied bunch, some sitting for the first time, but many with their own histories and practices, not necessarily Buddhist. There were around twenty participants.

George Hasty, also the Center director, was the teacher for the program. He explained things I’ve never heard in a Level I before, and I know it gets subjective when you hear a program again later on, with a broader general understanding of things. But even so.

The participants themselves were the best part of the program. I expected them to be squirming and rebellious after a time, but we all remarked how seasoned they seemed. They sat very still, all weekend, and practiced what they were being taught.

The very best part for me was explaining to one of the participants that George really meant it when he said it was an honor for him and all of us to work with the students. I said that it was their weekend, and their experience, and we were all striving to help make that experience as comfortable and as useful for them as we could.

Now that I’ve seen the work that goes into organizing and staffing a weekend program, feeding people breakfast, lunch, and tea-break, escorting individuals to the private interviews, the reception at the end on Sunday – now that I know what’s involved I’m very appreciative of my own experiences when the sangha took care of me, and created the container for the class to occur in.