Welcome To Open Heart Sangha

Open Heart Sangha, located in the Greater Portland, Maine area, is a sitting and walking meditation group that practices mindfulness in the tradition of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Open Heart Sangha practices meditation to cultivate peace and joy within and around us, as a gift for all of those whom we love and care for. We cultivate our solidity and freedom – solid in our deepest aspiration and free from our fears, misunderstandings and our suffering. Please join us any Monday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the First Universalist Church in Yarmouth, Maine.

Open Heart Sangha is a community of practitioners of the Buddhadharma who come together to strengthen and support our individual practice through meditation, Dharma study, and Dharma discussion.

Our principle teacher and spiritual guide is the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, whose interpretations of the Dharma and personal teachers inspire us and point the way to deeper understanding and true mindfulness.

We practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, and focus our sangha activities on the study and practice of his teachings. However, this does not mean we exclude the wisdom of countless other buddhas, boddhisatvas, and Dharma teachers whose guidance enriches our practice and our lives.

We practice together weekly and offer more extended practice through Days of Mindfulness at least quarterly.  We also seek to participate as a group in visits to Blue Cliff Monastery, to retreats, and to events designed to interconnect the larger community of Buddhist practitioners.

Our group activities reflect our individual commitments to practice compassion, loving-kindness, equanimity, and sympathetic joy.

We are an open and welcoming community for any and all who wish to practice with us, or who wish to explore the Dharma and the practice to determine whether or not they will undertake the practice as a commitment.

We support and encourage one another to take practice beyond the meditation cushion and to practice “engaged Buddhism” in the larger community.  Open Heart Sangha, however, is not a political or social action group.

Respectful of one another’s privacy and the integrity of our practice, we do not use or seek to use the sangha as a means of personal gain or personal advantage, and we consider all matters discussed within the sangha as personal and confidential.