Our beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, coined the word, Interbeing to describe the teaching of the Buddha that all phenomena are empty of a separate, independent existence, each one an interconnected composite of everything else. As Thay says, “empty of a separate self means full of everything in the universe.” Over five years ago when our sangha was founded in Kingston, we borrowed this beautiful word to use as our name. However, as the teaching of Interbeing itself explains, things manifest when factors and conditions are right, and when factors and conditions no longer support that existence, they transform into something else.
The Order of Interbeing was founded more than five decades ago, at the same time the word itself was coined. All local sanghas in the Plum Village tradition are a continuation of Thay’s movement, but over the past five years, our chosen name has occasionally confused newcomers, as well as those already connected to our tradition, because Interbeing, as a group name, truly belongs to Thay’s original monastic community. We do not have a unique name by which to identify ourselves, and this is especially unhelpful for sangha building online.
For our sangha, the pandemic has been a period of survival followed by growth. We have weathered the storm and transformed into an online community of practice for a supportive group of regular participants, from both Kingston and far beyond. This has been supported by intentional actions taken by our Sangha Care Team. In Fall 2020, we made the decision to transition to a shorter name (without “of Kingston”) informally, while pursuing growth online and planning to remain a hybrid online group long term, placing ads on social media to attract participants outside of Kingston. More recently, in Fall 2021 our Sangha Care Team reviewed a proposal to support a new name, and reached consensus that Second Heart Sangha was an inspired and skillful choice.
The phrase “Second Heart” is the namesake teaching of Thay’s profound book, The Sun, My Heart, and closely related to our original name, describing how all living beings, and everything on earth, “inter-are” with the sun, and ultimately inter-are with the whole universe. At the centre of The Sun, My Heart, Thay writes that the sun is everyone’s second heart:
“Look at the immense light we call the sun. If it stops shining, the flow of our life will also stop, and so the sun is our second heart, our heart outside of our body. This immense “heart” gives all life on earth the warmth necessary for existence. Plants live thanks to the sun. Their leaves absorb the sun’s energy, along with carbon dioxide from the air, to produce food for the tree, the flower, the plankton. And thanks to plants, we and other animals can live. All of us — people, animals, and plants — “consume” the sun, directly and indirectly. We cannot begin to describe all the effects of the sun, that great heart outside of our body. In fact, our body is not limited to what lies inside the boundary of our skin. Our body is much greater, much more immense.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun, My Heart
As a new name, Second Heart Sangha
• reminds us of our Interbeing with all life through the sun.
• evokes the universal symbol for love and compassion with the heart.
• distinguishes us from other groups as we continue to build our sangha; In the wider Plum Village tradition worldwide, the name has never been used by another group, and will be unique to us.
• serves as a metaphor for the sangha itself, a second heart we share, which, like the sun, unites and sustains us as a community practicing mindfulness together.
The sun holds a special place for Thich Nhat Hanh. Thay tells us that “the Sun is a Great Buddha.” In many dharma talks, The Sun, My Heart, and other works, Thay speaks of the “Sun of Awareness” in each of us – the inner spotlight of our awareness – our capacity to direct our consciousness and attention, and to shine mindfulness on and embrace all thoughts and feelings, and accept what arises rather than fighting internally with them.
“Throughout your meditation, keep the sun of your awareness shining. Like the physical sun, which lights every leaf and every blade of grass, our awareness lights our every thought and feeling, allowing us to recognize them, be aware of their birth, duration, and dissolution, without judging or evaluating, welcoming or banishing them. It is important that you do not consider awareness to be your “ally,” called on to suppress the “enemies” that are your unruly thoughts. Do not turn your mind into a battlefield. Do not have a war there; for all your feelings-joy, sorrow, anger, hatred-are part of yourself. Awareness is like an elder brother or sister, gentle and attentive, who is there to guide and enlighten. It is a tolerant and lucid presence, never violent or discriminating. It is there to recognize and identify thoughts and feelings, not to judge them as good or bad, or place them into opposing camps in order to fight with each other. Opposition between good and bad is often compared to light and dark, but if we look at it in a different way, we will see that when light shines, darkness does not disappear. It doesn’t leave; it merges with the light. It becomes the light.”
So, our new name is a reminder of both Interbeing and the practice of directed awareness for mindful living Thay teaches, as well as serving as a metaphor for the warmth and light of our community, that unites and sustains us.
At this moment of the Winter Solstice, we see from our vantage point on earth less and less of the sun, but like the sun of awareness, it is always there. Beginning with this moment, we see more and more of the sun, as the days grow longer. We will also see more of the sun in our new sangha name and logo. We have reserved www.secondheartsangha.org and will launch a new website with cheerful colours: red, yellow, and orange and replace the grey and rather solemn local image of Murney Tower with one similar to the classic sun and heart image from the cover of The Sun, My Heart. (Note that our existing address will be redirected to the new location once it is launched, so that no one will miss finding us who has the old address).
The title of Thay’s famous poem, “Call Me By My True Names” also describes the interbeing of us all, as ultimately, although we may appear different and separate from one another, we are not, we “inter-are” the same light of awareness shining in different forms. The true name of our sangha will never change. For that true name is all of our names, the composite of all of who practice together as a community, that dwells in each of our hearts. Our sangha, like the sun – our second heart that we all share – will continue to sustain us, as we continue to be there for one another as a community.
