THE PEACE ROOM PROJECT QUARTERLY ~ Winter 2019

The Peace Room Project Quarterly is a publication in which we will be sharing our personal stories of the actions we, as a sangha, are taking to spread and encourage peace within ourselves and in the world in which we live. Here you can connect and share your experiences of practicing peace and bringing more love and wisdom into your daily lives, and you can read of the work others are doing to promote peace in their lives and on our planet. These stories will illustrate the embodiment of Adya and Mukti’s vision to “explore how peace, wisdom, and compassion can be incorporated into the ways that we relate to one another, as well as our relationship to the many profound challenges and demands of modern life.”
 
The time seems ripe to highlight and give voice to peaceful movement among us. Every movement we make toward peace is a like a stone dropped in still water, sending out endless ripples to the farthest bank—here we can watch the effects of the stones dropped in the waters of our everyday lives. And here, perhaps, will be a place to become inspired—not only by the teachings of Adya and Mukti, but also by the experiences and good work so many of us are doing every day.
A Message from Adya

The Peace Room Project is a platform for spreading and encouraging peace, both within ourselves and in the world at large; a platform for engaging others to share and participate in their own journey of manifesting more peace and love in a world that seems to be very much in need of peaceful, wise, and loving ways of living and engaging in this precious life. ~ Adyashanti
Stay in the Peace Lane
by Jerilyn Munyon, Executive Director, Open Gate Sangha

The biggest act of compassion starts within. When the self is no longer seen as a problem, this is the peace that passes all understanding.  ~Adyashanti               

Since I started my current job at Open Gate Sangha 16 years ago, each day I drive to the office on a risk-filled mountain highway named one of California’s most dangerous roads, often encountering hazards ranging from curvy-dangerous to rainy-treacherous. Before taking this position, I had promised myself I would never commute “over the hill” as it is called, but that promise quickly disappeared when I found my perfect job working for Open Gate Sangha. The good news: I got my dream job! The bad news: I would be swimming through an alligator-filled moat twice a day to keep it—at least that is how I felt.
 
The very first week of commuting, I made a decision to “drive outside of time” by staying at 50 m.p.h. no matter what. Whether heading to a meeting at the office or picking up our son at daycare at the end of the day, my practice was to stay at 50 m.p.h. or, as I began to see it, the “speed of peace.” I decided to not let the pressures of my life intervene with my plan, even when arriving late for daycare pickup cost five dollars a minute, and, almost worse, the added pressure that being late insured—a lecture from the daycare director about being on time. Imagine me, an adult woman, feeling five years old, sitting . . .

Finding Peace and Joy in Volunteering
by Leslie Erickson

For much of my life, I’ve not considered myself much of a volunteer. I married, raised three children into adulthood, earned a few degrees, worked full-time, and tried to find some time for myself along the way. That last bit was elusive, as my days were packed full with obligations and activities. However, as I look back, I see that volunteering was indeed a big part of what I did. From coaching my children’s sports teams to running the school’s booster club concessions, from being an officer for a women’s golf league to serving on various community boards, I had been giving my time for years.

As the years progressed and my life situations changed, my objects of altruism shifted, along with the available hours I could give. I found myself with the luxury of being able to take a few months to volunteer in Yosemite, living in a tent surrounded by massive granite walls and sleeping under whispering pines. I spent a month hauling long-distance hikers back and forth from the Pacific Crest Trail and . . .

What is Your Story of Peace?

How are you manifesting more peace and love in the world? In what ways are you exploring practicing peace and bringing more love and wisdom into your daily life and the lives around you?
 
In keeping with our expanded vision for the Peace Room Project—as a social outreach platform for spreading and encouraging peace, both within ourselves and in the world at large—we are inviting members of the sangha to tell their personal stories of peace. If you would like to contribute a story of peace for consideration to be published in the Peace Room Project Quarterly, we welcome short submissions of 200–500 words.
 
By submitting your story of peace, you agree to allow it to be edited as deemed necessary by the Open Gate Sangha publishing staff. Let us know your full name (for our reference), and how you would like your story to be signed. Not all stories will be published. 
 
Email your submission to publications@opengatesangha.org .

 Thank you, and we look forward to hearing your story of peace!
Meditation Mondays Reminder

In March 2018, we began coming together globally for weekly meditation on Mondays. For almost two years now, many of you have joined us every Monday at 2:00 pm Pacific time for 25 minutes of silence, or you have simply known that when you meditated on Mondays, no matter what time it is locally, you are connecting with others from all over the globe and adding to the possibility of peace in our world.

Coming together is simple—join us by sitting in silence for 25 minutes every Monday, wherever you are. We will post a free guided meditation from either Adya or Mukti in each Peace Room Project Quarterly that you can download and use if you choose to. There is also a link to a guided meditation available Mondays on Adyashanti’s home page.
 
Join us and be part of the great wave of peace that the Peace Room represents for all of us!
How Your Generous Donations are Used

Open Gate Sangha’s Peace Room Project was developed in 2017 to build a new, larger studio in which to video and record our broadcasts and to hold our online courses and programs. The vision we held—Building Community through Peace—was met with an amazingly generous outpouring of heart, artwork, and contributions from our sangha. The studio is finished, and this year alone it has been home to many free broadcasts, Adya’s 2019 online retreat, and Mukti’s recent online course.

As we focus on our Peace Room projects for next year, we invite you to join us in spirit or, if you are so moved, through a donation. Below are just a few ways we use your generous gifts:

·      Offering scholarships for online retreats and courses
·      Making free audio and video teachings available
·      Broadcasting Adya’s and Mukti’s teachings to our world sangha
·      Providing support to our Gathering Hosts and bolstering efforts to grow our Gatherings community

We thank you for your support and for being a part of our sangha, and we wish you the very best in the upcoming new year.
Quan Yin, Sacred Archetype of Peace

“Be what you are—the whole world is waiting on you and depending on you.” ~ Adyashanti
 
The bodhisattva Quan Yin (also spelled Kwan Yin, Kuanyin; in pinyin, Guanyin) represents the work we do in the world—the outer expression of enlightenment. Even her name reflects that outward expression of love she embodies—it is the shortened form of a name that means “One Who Sees and Hears the Cry from the Human World.”
 
As Adya says, enlightenment is the dialectic of inner and outer: “Both sides of the spiritual instinct need to be expressed—being never touched by the world and being totally immersed in the world.” The archetypal image of the Buddha, on the one hand, represents the inner journey, the diving within, and the essence of the enlightened being that is never touched by the world. Quan Yin is the expression of enlightenment that is fully immersed in the world. She is the bodhisattva, the one who dedicates herself to the work of tending to those who still suffer, to the work of bringing enlightenment to the world.
 
May we strive to embody both sides of the coin of enlightenment, because, as Adya points out, the whole world is depending on it.

If you notice, in many of Adya’s broadcasts, Quan Yin sits just behind his left shoulder, adorned with a flower of peace.
About Our Teachers

Adyashanti and Mukti are spiritual teachers based out of Northern California. Both teach throughout North America and Europe, offering talks, weekend intensives, silent retreats, online live video broadcasts, and online retreats and courses.

Open Gate Sangha supports the teachings of Adyashanti and Mukti by making them available to all who sincerely yearn for peace and freedom.
Volunteering: If you are interested in volunteering for Open Gate Sangha, please read more on our Service page and fill out our online form.
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