What should we do when we feel overwhelmed by despair: despair coming from inside of us, and despair about the situation of the world? How can we find the energy, the strength to do something about it?

When despair is overwhelming, many of us feel helpless.  It is hard to deal with it alone, but there is something we can do together.  Sangha is very important.

In the teachings of the Buddha, one of the four nutriments is called “volition”. This nutriment is essential to survive hardships. Volition is desire or aspiration, the energy that sustains you.  A healthy desire is to transform the suffering of the world.  Unhealthy desires include fame, power, money and sex.

When we see the suffering of the world, right away we see our own suffering much less.  When we come together, we have a collective aspiration.  We can come together to nourish our joy, our aspiration, our brotherhood and sisterhood.  As our aspiration becomes stronger, we can effect change.

In our SAVOR sangha, we are supporting each other to practice mindful eating, mindful breathing and mindful moving.  Through our collective aspirations, we sustain each other in our journey. We transform our sufferings, which result from unmindful living in a toxic food and media environment. 

Together, we can maintain our wellness and the wellness of our world.

In this video, Thay explains the importance of sangha, the four nutriments, and advises how we can effect change in the world.