Kaishin’s student talk focuses on the mandala model that informs our organizational structure. The mandala comes to us from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which is distinct in key ways from Zen. Within the Tibetan tradition the mandala provides a conceptual model for the energetic and inter-dependent underpinning of the human psyche. Kaishin considers a few questions: How does this model – organized around the individual – function in a community context? How does community behavior from this view resemble a natural ecosystem? More particularly, how does this model provide a perspective that can inform and deepen our practice in sangha, as well as in our daily lives?

This talk was given Sunday, April 23.