About 3 Jewels Sangha
Sangha is just a community of people practicing meditation, mindfulness, and studying Buddhist philosophy (Dharma) together. It is a group focused on supporting each other in our practice.
Who started this community?
Hello friends, my name is Dale Berkebile. I welcome you to the 3 Jewels Sangha. As mentioned above the point of a sangha is to build a thriving community of Buddhist practitioners. I practice in the tradition of Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh and a style he created which he calls Engaged Buddhism. This is a style he brought to the West with a hopes to help the US (and other countries) to modernize or Westernize Buddhism to make Eastern Buddhist philosophies more accessible to Westerners.
In 2013, my life fell apart. I had a business that was failing, a business partner working to sabotage my business and reputation, I had my first son, and had my car stolen. Anyhow, these 3 things were huge life changing situations and the two traumas led me to a dark depression for 2 years.
Desperately seeking a fix to the mess I found myself in, I tried meditation. I used meditation apps and practiced nearly daily for 5 years or so. Then I started seeking a guru, a monk, or a meditation master to help me improve my meditation or find ways to practice deeper.
It took me 2-years to find a local community. I found the Cultivating Mindfulness Sangha and started attending their group meetings in October 2019. In early 2020 right before the pandemic I was stepping into a small leadership role (facilitation role really, not “leadership” really) and I think I led the first virtual sangha meeting to continue our group meetings at the beginning of the pandemic.
On June 21st of 2020 I took the Five Mindfulness Trainings and received the Dharma Name Collaborative Continuation of the Heart.
In October 2021, I started filling out the paperwork to become a Lay Leader of via the Fourteen Mindfulness Training OI (Order of Interbeing) Aspirancy program. I did an informal pre-aspirancy aspirancy for several months and then in May 2022 I got started on the formal path to become a Lay Leader in the Order of Interbeing.
I feel called to teach and build leaders. I am drawn to bodhisatvas like Avalokiteśvara and Green Tara who are driven to help liberate people from suffering and leverage compassion for all sentient beings. I am just an everyday flawed guy, living life and learning as I go. I am working on my own personal healing and seeking deeper understanding of the buddhist practices.
I want to share what I have learned with you.
Who is this community?
Right now I am building this site to find another way to serve others and help others find the path of healing. When I was in my 2-year search for a “guru” I was participating in several Facebook Buddhist communities. These were not “sanghas” per se but just groups passionate about Buddhism. On October 18, 2019, I started my own Facebook Buddhist group called Buddhist Living: Philosophy, Teaching & Practices Thich Nhat Hanh Dali Lama.
For me this was where I started exploring the idea of “sangha” a little before I found a Cultivating Mindfulness. So this was a small group and just my efforts to share my passion for Buddhist philosophy and my journey as I was finding my footing in Buddhism. I was exploring all the tradition and types of Buddhism as I had no real connection to any tradition at this point.
In March of 2024 I offered the first virtual sangha meeting to members of this community that never seemed to want to explore my in-person local sangha, Cultivating Mindfulness. So it was just myself and one guy. Then I had a few more meetings and it was me and one woman. So small starts but everything starts small. The Facebook group is only 30 members as of this writing.
In November of 2024, I created a new Facebook group solely for the 3 Jewels Sangha. As of this writing there are only 14 members in that group and 3-4 other people interested and/or not on FB. Currently our meetings are on Tuesdays at 9:00 am and are virtual meetings with both local/national and some international members joining from time to time.
We welcome all and will grow as needed to serve the community and the world.
If you know the concept of Martin Luther King, Jr’s Beloved Community, this is what we are trying to create – a safe space to be loving and work on how we can live mindfully and be a positive impact on the world. I am still figuring out what our meeting format is going to look like – in person meetings, virtual zoom meetings, or a hybrid of both. If you want to help me build a community let me know and we can work together to serve your needs.
If you have any questions you can ask us by using our Contact Us page. If you would like to help support our work at 3 Jewels Sangha, we accept Dana (donations) here. This is not mandatory or required in any way, but greatly appreciated to allow us to offer more programming and services to the community and the world. Thank you!