=Welcome to Red Maple Sangha

The Red Maple Sangha is a lay community of Buddhist practitioners who share the Red Maple vow and purpose.

We view ourselves within the lay Buddhist tradition rather than the monastic one. We strive to build, support and serve an active lay community of and for Dharma practitioners and their families. While we acknowledge the importance of Awakening within our practice we also acknowledge the necessity of a strong community to enable strong individual practice. We ensure our activities include opportunities for non-practicing family members to enjoy the benefits of community.

We support an open, year-round practice space for anyone, regardless of their faith orientation, who wishes to learn about and practice in a traditional Dharma environment.

While we ground ourselves in the forms and traditions of Japanese Tendai, we are committed to providing a range of practice opportunities to allow all practitioners to decide on Buddhist forms that suit their growth.

We encourage all practitioners who participate in any RMS activity to explore the dharma widely and define a form of practice that suits their energy, understanding and strengths.

The RMS currently holds regular weekly periods of practice on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays in Renfrew, Sundays in Pembroke and regular retreats and workshops.

xxxxxxxxx.............

The entrance to Akashaloka.

..........
The Butsudan in Akashaloka

A Brief History of Red Maple

Dharma groups have often used rural locations in the Ottawa Valley for retreats, without establishing any consistent local practice space. Individual Dharma practitioners, affiliated with mostly Ottawa-based sanghas, have settled in eastern Ontario; but had no local presence.

In 2002, lay practitioner, Ray Innen Parchelo, began a weekly Dharma study group in Almonte called The Turning Wheel Study Group. Then, in 2004, recognizing the absence of any Dharma in rural communities, he founded the Red Maple Sangha to provide the first Ottawa Valley-based environment for the study and practice of Dharma.

By January 2005 a small sangha began weekly practice in Carleton Place. The first practice space was a shared studio space. Later that year, the RMS moved to its own space, named Danaloka, The Abode of Generosity, in honour of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Kannon. From there it grew to offering twice weekly practice periods and a regular series of retreats and trainings.

In 2006, Red Maple decided to extend its commitment to practice into Renfrew County. It began offering workshops and retreats in Pembroke and in 2007 it offered a weekly practice session in Pembroke. In 2007 it established a permanent learning and practice environment, at Akashaloka, the Realm of All Possibilities, in an old log house, just outside of the Town of Renfrew. In 2008 it closed Danaloka to focus on sangha-building in the Renfrew County environs. In 2009, it began bi-monthly practice sessions at Aniccaloka, The Realm of Impermanence, in Pembroke.

xxxxxxx
Our butsudan at Anicca-loka in Pembroke

Today it holds

- thrice weekly Dharma practice (Monday 6.00 a.m.and Thursday 7.00 p.m. and Saturday 8.00 a.m.) and regular workshops and retreats Saturdays at Akashaloka, near Renfrew and Anicca-loka, alternate Sundays, 8.30 a.m., in Pembroke;
- occasional mindfulness workshops;
- an annual pilgrimage walk;
- occasional special events.

for more information on locations and times

Outside the Valley, it has presented Dharma talks in Ottawa, Almonte, Carleton Place, Guelph and Fredericton. All RMS activities are offered to bring Dharma to rural practitioners and their communities in the Ottawa Valley.