Mindfulness Matters

Mindfulness Matters

Metaphor Monday: Mushroom Circle Sangha

posted by Dr. Arnie Kozak

On a recent Thursday our meditation group gathered in the Exquisite Mind Studio for one of our weekly meditation practices. We sit in a rectangular “circle” around the perimeter of the room. The energy was particularly strong that day.

One of the participants likened us to a mushroom circle and felt the energy moving around our circle. She described the feeling inside of her as Perrier bubbles.
According to Wikipedia, mushroom circles are a community just as people who meditate together are a community.”Hidden in the soil is a huge network of threadlike mycelia. Mushrooms are not individual organisms. Rather, they are just one part of the mycelia lurking beneath the ground.” 

iStock_000001851989XSmall.jpg
The sangha is the community of people who follow the teachings of the Buddha or more generically anyone who engages in mindfulness meditation. When the sangha meets we touch that invisible, underground sense of connectedness that gets obscured by our busyness and the stories of “me” that constantly engage us.

On that Thursday afternoon, the energy that enveloped perhaps came from that subterranean connectedness. In the “middle world” of Newtonian physics we don’t appreciate the interconnectedness of everything. Boundaries appear to be distinct. We appear to be separate entities. But at the quantum level these separations disappear. We are all just one energy with no clear boundaries. Perhaps we get a glimpse of that when we meditate. Whether we actually do, it certainly feels as if we do.

Thanks to Ellie Bryant for providing this wonderful metaphor. Ellie is the author of 


While in Darkness There is Light: Idealism and Tragedy on an Australian Commune and other books. Visit her website www.louellabryant.com



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Related Topics: Buddha 101, Metaphors for Mindfulness
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Comments read comments(2)
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Ellie

posted August 30, 2010 at 11:18 am


Thanks for the nod to my website, Doc K. You were transcendent in leading meditation last Thursday, and I look forward to future Perrier bubbles.



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WorstHorse

posted August 31, 2010 at 12:50 pm


Great Post, Thank you!
I need to find a sangha/group to sit with.



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