Here is a link to my first Dharma Talk on The Inner Sangha which I offered on February 22, 2026:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84208320093?pwd=ProbeaBraYjxH4t15U1LUgpeBTaPgd.1

Here are my notes from the talk:

“Today is February 22, 2026

We are gathered on Zoom for our Friends on the Path Day of Mindfulness with Dandelion Acres.

Today, I would like for us to explore the area of our internal Sangha.  As we practice the Bodhisattva path as an Order of Interbeing Minister, we understand one of our primary roles is that of “Sangha Builder.”  In order to best build our external Sanghas, I believe, we must first attend to our Inner Sangha.

Other Teachers have spoken about our internal Sangha, most notably for me is that Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe Ward have a series of YouTube videos available to gain their perspective on the subject.  You may also benefit from watching a YouTube video from Dharma Teacher Valerie Brown.  Finally, in Thay’s Poem, “Please Call Me By My True Names,” he reminds us that we are all comprised of an inner Sangha of all the elements of creation.

I would like to share my understanding of internal Sangha based upon my study and deep looking.

What I mean by our internal Sangha are the relationships and interactions of the various aspects of what we believe our Self to be. In Buddhism, are egos are impermanent and only shadows composed soley of 5 temporary processes (aggregates):

1. Body
2. Sensations
3. Perceptions
4. Thoughts and emotions Mental Formations
5. Consciousness or Awareness

 When I start talking about aggregates, aspects, subpersonalities, or voices – I am simply offering a tool for understanding what we call self or ego.  I suggest you use this tool if you find it helpful and set it down as soon as the tool becomes a barrier to you.

We practice with our inner Sangha so that we can understand our true Self and so that we develop our inner Sangha skills so we can be more skillful in supporting the outer Sanghas that we practice with.

It is important to remember that we are not talking about dividing or splitting your ego – mainly because the ego does not exist independently.  Also, we are not looking to create an existential mental health crisis where we develop a split from reality.  In fact, our task is to observe and seek to understand who we really are in the life we are living to become great friends with reality!

Our egos are composed of our ancestors’ perceptions of experiences and their DNA, our contemporaries’ perceptions of experiences and their DNA, and strangely, our progenies’ perceptions of experiences and their DNA and our own perceptions of experiences.  

To begin, let’s recite the 5 Remembrances,

“I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health. There is no way to escape having ill-health.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

I inherit the results of my actions of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation.”

In the last of the 5 Remembrances, we are reminded of the karmic law.  This is a good place to begin with our exploration of our Inner Sangha.

We might imagine our conception of who we are as a variety of voices in our head that represent our various aspects or as they have been called subpersonalities.  Those subpersonalities may be thought of as “karma carriers.”  An event occurs, we perceive that event, and based upon our perceptions we act – remember we act based upon our perceptions more than on the specific event.  These perceptions and resultant actions may be considered as the roots of our subpersonalities.  

These subpersonalities are self-developing meaning the subpersonality begins with the first event then the next time a similar situation occurs the subpersonality gets activated engaging in the same perception and resultant reaction, reinforcing the subpersonality and “making it stronger.” Stanislav Groff, in his book on LSD Psychotherapy, talks about the self-developing and reinforcing aspects, he called “coex systems” arising in awareness from many subjects being debriefed during clinical sessions.

Karma is not something imposed upon us by some divine creature that keeps a scoresheet.  I believe, Karma is passed down when it remains unrecognized and misunderstood as subpersonalities.  Karma can also be passed down intergenerationally as the subpersonalities are passed down.

For those of you interested in Western psychology, you may wish to reference Jungian Theory, Voice Dialogue or Psychosynthesis as psychological theories that explore these aspects of self.

All of these voices exist both inside of our psyche and in the outside world of our environment.  This may explain why sometimes when you meet someone on the street you are inexplicably drawn to them and they feel much more familiar to you than the short time you have known them warrants.  Or, when you see someone else in the environment and you feel revulsion or even hatred and all they did was pass you on the street without smiling!

In order to make peace with our Karma and begin to deconstruct all the systems we create to keep reliving our Karma, me need to understand this inner Sangha made up of both what we may call helpful friends on the path as well as friends on the path that distract us from realizing our true Self.

I believe this is an amazing practice of discovering the subpersonalities that seem to animate our lives.  By recognizing they are of our own making, we can be free to respond to new situations rather than simply reacting with the habit energies of our subpersonalities.

So let’s begin looking inside of ourselves to see who we recognize, but first we have to ask permission.  Hal and Sidra Stone in their book on Voice Dialogue discuss the need to seek permission from the part of ourselves they called “The Protector or Controler.” The Protector/Controller has a job to protect the integrity of the ego at all cost.  The Protector/Controller attempts to organize and arrange all the various subpersonalities while also protecting the structures created from outside forces – like you working on “Self-Improvement” or practicing a “Spiritual Exploration.”

You may think of the Protector/Controller as a guard standing outside the doors to a castle.  The Protector/Controller has developed along many generations and different forms down the evolutionary pathway of self-awareness so the Protector/Controller can be very knowledgeable and powerful as they protect the ego.  

It is important to remember that the Protector / Controller is not the total ego, but just one of its aspects, voices, or subpersonalities.  Also, please remember, the Protector / Controller is intrinsically neither good nor bad – they are simply doing the best they can to maintain the equilibrium they know.

So to begin, let’s set our intention.

Our intention is to get to know, understand, and love the subpersonalities of our ego – not to destroy.  

If we are not clear that our intention is benign, the Protector / Controller becomes very energized and will do ANYTHING to protect the ego.  Anything includes creating suffering in our own life and the lives of those around us to protect the ego and the egoic balance.

With this intention and attitude of curiosity, take a few mindful breaths and focus your awareness on your inner voices.  Rather than trying to silence them or move the voices out of the way, simply become aware of the cacophony of words, emotions, and sensations that are present inside of you.

Move through the various voices and simply practice looking deeply without assigning value or judgement.  Imagine that each voice has a body of some type.  Some voices may have human form, other animals, others still may be mineral, or god-like, and some may even appear to have monstrous form.  Practice equanimity in meeting each aspect of yourself.  Take the time to really look at each subpersonality…what does each look like?  How does each one sound?  Does each have a distinctive smell?  What is going on with your body as you face each subpersonality?

Take the time to look into the shadows for those subpersonalities that are hiding.  May sure to look into caves and ponds along your way.  Remember each subpersonality is a part of you and you are safe and free to explore- simply avoid trying to destroy or harm any part of your ego.  

Some subpersonalities may consume a lot of time and focus from you…don’t fight it, simply smile at these parts and move on when you are ready.

After a while you may become aware of a subpersonality that is always watching you.  A subpersonality that may be reluctant to speak with you, but always has you in sight.

Slowly approach this subpersonality, knowing that it may be the Protector/Controller for your ego.  Take you time to really inspect your Protector/ Controller.  Reassure them that you are not here to harm or destroy.  Remind them that your intention is to observe and understand.

Communicate with your Protector/ Controller.  Ask about them without judging the responses.

When did the Protector / Controller come into being?

Ask them what their role is.

What is the greatest fear of the Protector/ Controller?

What makes your Protector/ Controller happy?

What makes your Protector Controller angry?

Ask your Protector / Controller if they trust you?  If not, ask them why.  If they do trust you, ask them why.

Take a moment to thank your Protector / Controller for their work to protect you.  Send love from your heart to this part of yourself that always has your well-being as their priority.

Offer a goodbye bow to your Protector/Controller for the time being and slowly allow your awareness to return to where you are sitting.  Know that you will remember what you need to remember from this experience.  

Feel free to move your body to let out any pains or tightness.

Not take a few minutes to jot down your experience.  Take the time to write down any detail that stands out even if it seems insignificant.

This is the basic practice of observing for understanding the various subpersonalities we carry.  I suggest you begin each session with setting your intention then checking in and sending appreciation to the Protector / Controller.  Once permission is offered, you may look deeply into other subpersonalities.

 As you go deeper into your exploration of subpersonalities, you may want to look for these beneficial subpersonalities.  Don’t worry if you don’t find all of them immediately, they will develop as you continue to deepen your practice.  And, as you develop these subpersonalities in your internal Sangha you may find them manifesting in your outside Sangha as well.

Examples of these internal subpersonalities may include:  the Thich Nhat Hanh that lives inside of you, or the loving relative that offered you calm comfort when you needed it, or the friend that used to sit with you at lunchtime when no one else would.  

In the Sigalovado Sutra, the Buddha identified 4 types of friends we benefit from as we practice for our own journey to Enlightenment.

Sigalovada Sutta

1. The Helper (Upakāro): Guards you when negligent, protects your property, acts as a refuge when afraid, and provides double what is requested in tasks.
2. The Enduring Friend (Suhado): Remains constant through good and bad times, keeps secrets, shares their own, and will not abandon you in misfortune.
3. The Mentor/Counselor (Atthakkhāyī): Restrains you from wrongdoing, guides you toward good actions, teaches what you do not know, and shows the path to happiness.
4. The Compassionate Friend (Anukampako): Does not rejoice in your misfortune, delights in your good fortune, prevents others from speaking ill of you, and encourages praise of your good qualities. 

Once you are proficient with studying and understanding your beneficial subpersonalities, it may be time to practice equanimity in studying your more challenging subpersonalities.

Please remember our intention is neither to eliminate nor destroy any subpersonality.  We practice with our more challenging subpersonality to understand their purpose and to provide them the loving kindness they need to heal, become stronger, and transform not to eliminate them.

It is very important to check in with your Protector / Controller very clearly so that they understand your intention.  Just move slowly with great compassion.

In the Sigalovada Sutra, the Buddha talked about some of the most challenging characters to our path to enlightenment.

 Sigalovada Sutta

1. “The taker can be identified by four things:
   1. By only taking,
   2. Asking for a lot while giving little,
   3. Performing duty out of fear, and
   4. Offering service in order to gain something.
2. “The talker can be identified by four things:
   1. By reminding of past generosity,
   2. Promising future generosity,
   3. Mouthing empty words of kindness, and
   4. Protesting personal misfortune when called on to help.
3. “The flatterer can be identified by four things:
   1. By supporting both bad and 
   2. good behavior indiscriminately,
   3. Praising you to your face, 
   4. and putting you down behind your back.
4. “The reckless companion can be identified by four things:
   1. By accompanying you in drinking, 
   2. roaming around at night, 
   3. partying, and 
   4. Gambling.”

So you see, this practice of observing and learning to recognize the different voices that make up our personality helps to break down the belief in an independent non-changing ego.  By practicing to understand the myriad of voices that make up our experience we do not have to cling so tightly to our limited understanding of a permanent unchanging self.  

You may wish to start a journal for your subpersonalities where you can write about them, draw pictures of them, or even write poetry or songs to them to help you perceive without judgement and offer loving- kindness to wherever it is needed.

This practice of freeing our self identification to only one or two voices reminds us of a saying among those who practice self-understanding, 

“Those aspects of myself I identify with or cling to…control me; those aspects of myself that I understand are only illusions of self or from which I can disidentify from become tools I can use to bring more joy and happiness to me and those around me.”

Maybe this concept can be summed up more succinctly by one of Thay’s famous quotes, “Are you sure?” 

Please Call Me By My True Names

Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow—
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am a mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am also the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up
and the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.