Comments on: Some reflections on starting a Buddhist study and meditation group

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 20:56:54 +0000

Tom: Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind. I guess one problem is that I haven’t, even from the start, seen myself as one of the “leaders.” One of the guys who wanted to start the group? Sure. But leader? No.

Tracy: Thank you for the insight into your meditation group! I don’t think I or my professor have made it clear that suggestions from other group members are always welcome. Perhaps I should throw that out, to let them know that if there’s something they want to discuss, to just let us know and we’ll do so.

Taisen: First of all, thanks for the link to the PDF guide. I’ve not read it in full yet, but after taking a quick glance, I think it will be very helfpul.

We actually aren’t meeting in anyone’s living room; we’ve been meeting in local library conference rooms. Just this past week, one of our members became the general manager at a hotel, so we now have access to the hotel’s meeting room whenever we want, as long as customers aren’t using it. I’ve not been to the room yet, but I’m sure it’s nice (not that you need an exquisite room to sit in meditation!)

Bill: Thanks for the idea, I hadn’t thought of that at all. I’ll poke around on their website and see what I can glean from it.

By: Bill Webb

Bill Webb — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:44:07 +0000

As odd as it may sound, go to http://www.aa.org/en_services_for_members.cfm?PageID=100
and download this file.

AA has nearly 80 years of experience of running organizations with no bosses, and you’ll find all sorts of useful tips.

Good luck.

By: Taisen

Taisen — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:13:32 +0000

Hi – I might have something that you’d find interesting: some of the more long-standing members of our local group – the Liverpool Zen Group – put together a guide called “How to set up a Zen sitting group”. You can find it on our website at http://www.liverpool-zen.org.uk/resources/setting-up.pdf. Hope this is of some use.

Don’t know what to say about a study group – it’s something that I’d love to set up for our own group but it requires time and commitment that I just can’t give at the moment – and the core of our group is sitting zen practice. It always requires someone (usually just one person) to take the lead on these things. Hopefully then other people can be encouraged to get involved and so avoid anything too autocratic!

I joined our group at a time when it was starting to expand quite rapidly, and I think that a large part of the reason it grew was that it moved out of someone’s living room and into a fairly large space in the middle of the city that was rented for regular Wednesday evening sessions. There was a definite ‘critical mass’ that was reached when we had about 10 people coming to sit each week (not necessarily the same 10)… it went up to 25-30 pretty quickly after that!

By: Tracy

Tracy — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:22:33 +0000

The group that I meditate and have discussion with was started in a similar way to your group, although I was not there from the start. I thought that I might tell you a little bit about the format of our meetings. The meditation group was started and is facilitated by a University professor and his sister on the campus of the local university (although it’s open to all, not just students). We meditate for an hour (a mix of sitting and walking meditation), and then have a cup of tea and discussion for another hour. The subject of discussion can be suggested by any of the community of meditators in advance to our “facilitator”, or he just chooses something that comes up during the week in his life, and lets us know what subject he has chosen by email a few days before the meeting so that we can give the issue some thought. Very often, once we are discussing something, another subject that someone wants to discuss will come up, and so can be set as the discussion for next week. We tend to discuss practical Buddhism, that is, Buddhism in everyday life, rather than studying Sutras etc.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:48:23 +0000

While I’m not the leader of anything as interesting as a Buddhist study group I have noticed a few things. Being a quiet and reserved individual myself I was amazed at what group mentality can do.

Once you start talking and directing, people will naturally follow. As long as you don’t overstep those hard-line bounds and you keep people entertained and learning there is much they will do without complaint.

You’re the leader, people expect you to lead. They didn’t come to the group expecting that everything will go their way. Don’t be afraid to use that. When the time comes for you to step down someone else will take over and the group will follow that person. Following is easier than leading, so step up and lead and people will follow.