A seat in the community
Become a member
RIM is a refuge we create together: a place for learning, practice, and honest friendship. Everyone is welcome, from all backgrounds and phases of life. Come as you are.
What membership means
Membership may not mean here what it has meant to you elsewhere. There are no dues; like everything at RIM, membership is freely offered. There is no attendance requirement and no role to fill, and nobody tracks how often you come. Joining says one thing: this is my practice community, and I would like a seat in it.
If you are quiet by nature, you may be carrying the question many of us carried in: will I have to be social? You will not. The heart of what we do together is sitting in silence, side by side. Nobody will ask you to share, to mingle, or to be anyone other than the person who walked in. Some of the steadiest members of this community are also its quietest. Presence is enough.
So why practice with others at all? Because the work of this path is inward, and it goes better in company. A room of settled people settles you. Other people’s honest difficulties teach as much as their calm. And over time, without anyone forcing it, the people you sit beside become what the tradition warmly calls friends on the path. The Buddha’s own attendant once guessed that such friendship must be half of the spiritual life. The Buddha corrected him: it is the whole of it.
That is what we mean by community. Friends who support one another’s practice: each of us releasing what gets in the way, each of us strengthening what serves, for our own lives and for the people and the world our lives touch.
Community Care Agreements
These four intentions are all we ask of members. They are directions to hold, not requirements to be graded on. We return to them as a practice: honestly, and with room to begin again.
- Care for YourselfWe care for the conditions that help us see clearly and take responsibility for our own path. Teachers and community offer support, and the walking is ours to do.
- Care for OthersWe care for one another through our presence, speech, and actions. Guided by goodwill, we listen deeply, speak truthfully and kindly, and seek not to cause harm.
- Care for RIMRIM is held through dana, the practice of mutual generosity. Financial support meets the center’s practical needs and keeps the teachings freely offered. Time, care, and sincere presence in practice and learning nourish the life of the sangha. We trust each person to discern what is possible; no one is expected to offer in every way, and belonging is never measured by what or how much one gives.
- Care for Our Shared VisionWe let wisdom and compassion inform our actions, lessening suffering and nurturing well-being in ourselves, one another, those we love, and the world we share.
Create your member account
If you can hold these intentions with us, we would be honored to have you.