Jeffrey Butts Reporting, Virginia Beach, VA
One year ago this month, our Virginia Beach sangha became the latest DTO sangha, joining a flourishing network of other sanghas spread throughout the country. Although we have an existing sangha thriving here, members of our sangha welcomed the development of the Dharma Teacher Order.
In our inaugural year last year, we had the honor of being visited by Venerable Thich Tri Hoang. He shared his time entreating us to the Dharma and introducing us the Dharma Teacher Order and its mission. Upon his departure, we were set with the colossal task of initial implementation of the DTO into our existing Sangha–that meant spreading the word and gaining interest, getting volunteer coordinators, establishing meeting times, etc. With the aid of early interest, we had enough momentum to get things unpacked right away. Indeed it was miraculous that within only a couple of weeks after Venerable/s visit that we were held an interest meeting and eventually held our first class. (more…)
