July 13 - 17, 2025
Coming Home to Our True Heart
Daryl Lynn Ross
Dear Sangha,
We’re reaching out with these words of friendship, solidarity and encouragement at this time of increased chaos and uncertainty in the world. There is an onslaught against democratic institutions in the U.S. and international alliances and treaties, and we are witnessing actions of cruelty and inhumanity towards vulnerable people who count on U.S. support. Some of us are feeling impacts from threats or harm done to livelihood, resources or freedoms.
Collectively, those who value human dignity and inter-relationship with other peoples and the natural world feel devastated as we see this upheaval in the world social order. This kind of destructiveness has occurred in previous times in different ways and places; it’s always devastating on many levels. Indigenous, Black and racialized peoples, immigrants, transgender and queer people, those living in poverty, those historically oppressed and those with exceptional needs are being especially impacted by what is unfolding in the U.S. We are grieved and outraged as well, at the gutting of responses, inadequate as they already are, to the climate crisis.
In forming a connection with True North Insight, whatever it may be, there is likely an aspiration - perhaps to discover or develop inner peace, kindness, wisdom, a sense of wholeness or connection with life. Our life experiences of pain, loss, confusion, feeling oppressed or seeing the suffering of others, have motivated us to try to understand how to live with well-being in this world.
The intention of this letter is to stand with each one of you with love and support, willing to inquire together into how we are each living and responding in this moment. Can we explore how to find a grounding and capacity to defend ourselves and our communities from the impact of dehumanization that is harming us and pervading our shared consciousness. What can we do to respond in a way that benefits our own well-being and that of others who are feeling fear and overwhelm?
Dharma teaching invites us, as we are able, to arrive fully in this moment and open to our bodies, hearts and minds, being present with what is felt and known within the space of open, warm awareness. We can befriend the grief, pain, outrage, fear, or whatever is coming up in our being. Mindfulness, meditation and loving presence help us find the space and stability to care for our emotions, while knowing they are not the deepest truth of this moment. Being with sangha friends in a space of non-judgmental, kind attention supports this activity. It isn’t selfish to care for our own heart/mind in times of chaos; in fact, it’s fundamental to bringing a wise response and compassionate presence to our families, friends and work-mates.
Attending to the goodness of our lives is an antidote to feeling disregarded and disvalued. Creating spaces or circles of coherence, or harmony, within chaos, according to some research, extends an influence beyond those circles into the larger environment. We know from our own experience that non-judgmental, compassionate presence is stabilizing and allows space for creative, authentic response that does not draw from the same kind of energy that is driving destructive change. Reacting with hatred or despair perpetuates duality and enmity.
Grounding ourselves in mindfulness and a heart that inclines toward connection supports emergence of new visions for human community and thriving. In Canada we are supporting our local and national producers and businesses and affirming our collective interests and identity. This doesn’t negate the individual or group identities we also affirm; there’s a sense of responsibility for the greater good which supports us.
Constructive responses in this time of change include engaging in wise discernment, speech and action; changing conversations to not move into despair; nourishing empathy and compassion towards ourselves and others; and strengthening networks of support and service in our community. In this time of upheaval, which might last for an extended period of time, how can we step forward, even in small ways, which are more significant than we might recognize, to affirm respect for human dignity, beauty and sacredness of life and love in all we do?
Equanimity is non-reactivity of the heart/mind based in seeing the conditionality of all things. Events rise and fall based on countless conditions beyond our control. In equanimity we find the place between fear and overwhelm on one hand, and indifference and withdrawal of attention on the other, enabling us to stay open, interested and caring. From this space of kind attention we may discover what we need to do next.
Are there ways in which you are engaged already or are interested in connecting with others in a wise response to this time of upheaval? Please share your activities and visions on our TNI message board through this link. TNI is not coordinating actions; we are offering this gathering space for your networking. Let’s see what emerges!
With love and reverence for the Refuge of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha
TNI Board, Guiding Teachers and Organizing Committee
Dear Sangha,
As we write this statement, more than 35,000 people have been killed by Israel's assault on Palestine. These numbers do not capture everyone under the rubble. Many more people continue to die of starvation. As a Dharma organization, we are called to respond to the devastation of Gaza and to add our voices to the global demand for a permanent ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be provided to Palestine.
We learn from our tradition that “In this world, hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible.” (Dhammapada 3-5) As we call for an end to the ongoing massacre, dispossession, and dehumanization of the Palestinian people, we also lament the killing of over 1,200 Israelis and the abduction of some 240 people as hostages last October 7. We have watched in distress as these Israeli deaths have been used as justification for terrible violence. Jewish ancestral trauma has been weaponized, while generations of occupation and apartheid in Palestine have been erased or minimized.
We reject Islamophobia and antisemitism; we grieve past and present wrongs rooted in colonialism, oppression, discrimination, and injustice. We wish for justice, as well as for peace and safety, for Arabs of all faiths and Jews - in the Middle East and around the world. We advocate for dialogue, deep listening, understanding and reconciliation. We call for basic human rights and dignity for all.
In these past months, we've engaged in reflective dialogues within our sangha, with those seeking refuge in community. In our BIPOC sangha, we have heard how witnessing the siege of Gaza has retraumatized those who have experienced displacement, war, and colonization. We have also heard from Jewish sangha members who are distressed by the rise in antisemitism and polarization; they seek connection, clarity, and wisdom in the face of ancestral trauma.
As a sangha, we are one body, and together we are a living expression of one of the Three Precious Jewels. We are interconnected and interdependent; we affirm the values of wisdom and compassion among all our beloved sangha groups.
We recognize that this message might feel inadequate to some or activating to others. Our intention is to speak from truth and compassion, encouraging mindfulness and skillful action, fostering empathy, healing and mutual respect. Let us continue to learn and unlearn, striving towards a world where Palestine is free, and all beings may live free from fear and oppression.
With friendship, compassion and solidarity,
True North Insight Board and Guiding Teachers
Our Commitment to Unraveling Oppression
True North Insight seeks to be a sangha where all human beings, with no exceptions, can heal, bloom, shine and experience freedom.
Vision
The Buddha taught that the Dharma is nature -- it belongs to no one and to everyone. True North Insight seeks to be a sangha where all human beings, with no exceptions, can heal, bloom, shine and experience freedom. As we speak, we are waking-up to our responsibility to build a sangha that removes all hindrances to this vision -- including in our leadership, our teaching teams, our retreat and class schedules, our communications, and in our registration processes.
True North Insight Commits
True North Insight is committed to dismantling racism and oppression. We have made a start towards building a Sangha that reflects the aspiration of a truly inclusive Sangha, but we know that we still have a long road ahead.
Here is our update on our commitments stated earlier this year:
• We have 50% BIPOC teachers on our retreat schedule.
• We are offering a weekly BIPOC sitting group and an annual BIPOC retreat.
• Our community teacher training program is comprised of 30% BIPOC students.
• Most of TNI’s white teachers, board members, staff and facilitators are working with the book Me and White Supremacy as a collective.
• We have offered two white awareness caucus groups for our sangha, one in English with TNI facilitators Coral Short and Ryan “Twinkle” Backer, and one in French facilitated by Pascal Auclair and K Laspruce.
• We are constantly seeking to update the resource list on race and will be integrating greater aspects of equity and inclusion in time. (resources are available on our Equity & Inclusion page - see link below).
We encourage all who are able to donate to our Inclusion Scholarship fund to help the teachings and retreats be more accessible to Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour, as well as other marginalized groups, and to our fund to support BIPOC initiatives to flourish. As Dharma teacher Lama Rod Owens cautioned, "if we don't do our work, then we become work for other people."
Waking up to the impacts of racism and other systemic forms of oppression, and the responsibilities that come with privilege, profoundly supports sila, the ethical action upon which the Dharma rests.
We all need the presence of many voices and perspectives in an equitable and inclusive community, because we are interdependent, and the liberation of each one of us is bound together.