Principle: Practice, Not Standing

What this means in practice

Everything a person does here is practice. Membership begins with the Commitments, and from there the ways a person engages are open to everyone: reading a passage, joining a gathering, taking part in Conversations, keeping a Journey, stepping forward as a volunteer or a Circle Host, saving a passage that stayed with you. Each of these is a practice. Each is free, and each leaves everyone on the same ground.

In practice, this means the way you grow here is by showing up, in your own way and at your own pace. The person who reads quietly every day and the person who hosts a Circle stand on the same ground. Both are practicing.

It also means payment stands entirely apart from all of this. Giving is voluntary and leaves everyone's place here exactly as it is. The Commons App is a separate product. What you give or buy is invisible to the community, and what you practice is yours.

A passage

Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.

Source: The Dhammapada, v. 80, F. Max Muller (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10), 1881

A question to sit with

What is one practice I could begin today that would shape who I am in this community a year from now?

A practice to try

Pick one practice from the list: read one passage, join one gathering, post one topic, step forward for one volunteer role, save one passage that stays with you. Do it today. One practice at a time, quietly, in your own way.