Determining your theme
Your theme must be broad enough to allow for three months of exploration, interesting enough to hold your attention and that of the sangha for the entire ango, and meaningful enough to lead the sangha toward deepening its practice and understanding. It should introduce something new that relates to the practice vision, and it’s up to you to make that connection.
Your theme will also serve as the backbone of your own development as clergy during the ango, so it must be in alignment with your own aspiration as a dharma teacher and offer you space and opportunity to grow as a leader. If you’re thinking of working with a topic you already know well, consider how you will expand and deepen your own skills and understanding in this area, what personal challenges you will take up and how these will make you a better dharma teacher.
Ask yourself:
Review your responses to these questions and look for interesting connections. Don’t be afraid to bring together some strange bedfellows—something really new and exciting could lie in that intersection. Does something seem to be coming together around a particular topic area, practice activity or
collection of elements? Would it be meaningful for the sangha? Is there enough material for eight talks? Will it give you the chance to grow as a dharma leader?
Your theme will also serve as the backbone of your own development as clergy during the ango, so it must be in alignment with your own aspiration as a dharma teacher and offer you space and opportunity to grow as a leader. If you’re thinking of working with a topic you already know well, consider how you will expand and deepen your own skills and understanding in this area, what personal challenges you will take up and how these will make you a better dharma teacher.
Ask yourself:
- What kind of dharma leader do I ultimately want to be? What do I want to be doing, and in what context?
- What are my strengths and weakness as a dharma leader today?
- What skills do I want to develop during the ango?
- How will I work on developing these skills?
- What kind of practice do I find most meaningful myself? To what kind of activities or approaches do I feel drawn in my own practice life?
- What are the deepest questions I have about life and practice? What got me on the path in the first place?
- Outside of practice, what are my three main interests? (These might be related to career, hobbies, volunteer work, life experiences, friends and family, etc.)
- What are my own favorite dharma texts or teachings?
Review your responses to these questions and look for interesting connections. Don’t be afraid to bring together some strange bedfellows—something really new and exciting could lie in that intersection. Does something seem to be coming together around a particular topic area, practice activity or
collection of elements? Would it be meaningful for the sangha? Is there enough material for eight talks? Will it give you the chance to grow as a dharma leader?
