practicing mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
Tuesday, December 24 at DBT
Loretta and Marge will share about using our practice to care for ourselves and stay present during the holidays.
Sunday, December 22 at UU
Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you enjoying mindful breaths during this busy season.
I will be reflecting on Thay’s 1996 Christmas Eve Winter Retreat Dharma talk shared in the New Hamlet at Plum Village. Christmas is often described as a festival for children and Thay invites us to consider how the child in us is always alive and maybe we have not had enough time to take care of the child within. Thay says that now we have an opportunity to help the child within us to be born again and again because the spirit of the child is the Holy Spirit, it is the spirit of the Buddha.
Merry Christmas…Joyeux Noel a vous tous!
A lotus for you
Tree
I hope this finds you enjoying mindful breaths during this busy season.
I will be reflecting on Thay’s 1996 Christmas Eve Winter Retreat Dharma talk shared in the New Hamlet at Plum Village. Christmas is often described as a festival for children and Thay invites us to consider how the child in us is always alive and maybe we have not had enough time to take care of the child within. Thay says that now we have an opportunity to help the child within us to be born again and again because the spirit of the child is the Holy Spirit, it is the spirit of the Buddha.
Merry Christmas…Joyeux Noel a vous tous!
A lotus for you
Tree
Tuesday, December 17 at DBT
Dear Sangha,
This Tuesday I will be facilitating, and I would like to ask you what is on your heart/mind that you would like addressed. You can express yourself at the beginning of Sangha, if you want, and we will take it from there. I will do my best to share what would be satisfying and helpful for you as you practice the art of mindful living, as offered in our tradition.
I look forward to being with you,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
This Tuesday I will be facilitating, and I would like to ask you what is on your heart/mind that you would like addressed. You can express yourself at the beginning of Sangha, if you want, and we will take it from there. I will do my best to share what would be satisfying and helpful for you as you practice the art of mindful living, as offered in our tradition.
I look forward to being with you,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
Sunday, December 8 at UU
Loretta will share about how caring for ourselves is a way we care for Mother Earth and we will watch a short video of Thay.
Tuesday, November 12 at DBT
Anita will explore the practice of taking care of anger. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches, "The Buddha never advised us to suppress our anger. He taught us to go back to ourselves and take good care of it."
Sunday, November 10 at UU
Dear Friends,
As I meditate in preparation for facilitating Sangha this Sunday I am coming up with questions.
What is our mind?
How do we educate and train our mind?
What is our relationship to our mind?
How do we cultivate the Mind of Love?
I’m also thinking that what I want to do is to embrace my mind and to be awake to the goodness, truth and beauty of this world and myself.
I look forward to sharing a wonderful exploration with you.
Be well,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
As I meditate in preparation for facilitating Sangha this Sunday I am coming up with questions.
What is our mind?
How do we educate and train our mind?
What is our relationship to our mind?
How do we cultivate the Mind of Love?
I’m also thinking that what I want to do is to embrace my mind and to be awake to the goodness, truth and beauty of this world and myself.
I look forward to sharing a wonderful exploration with you.
Be well,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
Sunday, October 20 at UU
Dear Friends,
Thay has said the purpose of our practice is to enable us to live every moment of our lives deeply. He has also said we already are everything we want to become. This suggests that our problem is a lack of mindfulness of the reality we already are. Thay also teaches us that we suffer from a fundamental delusion that we are separate beings in a world of separate beings, and that what is needed is the insight that we are not separate from anything and everything. This is the meaning of Interbeing. Interbeing is the nature of reality and all that is required of us to live our lives deeply and with the maximum amount of joy, happiness and peace possible, and the least possible amount of suffering, is that we wake up to the reality of Interbeing. Our practice is designed to help us wake up. Grounded in this awakened way of being, we will be able to communicate this possibility to others and to show them the way to true happiness. This is the process of transforming ourselves and our world. Join us as we use our practice to deepen our experience of being alive, soften our defenses, and master the art of being relaxed and free, filled with love and overflowing with joy as we go through our lives. Along the way we will honestly acknowledge and transform our suffering and the suffering of our loved ones and our world. Thay said our practice is a gentle encounter with reality.
I look forward to being with you,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
Thay has said the purpose of our practice is to enable us to live every moment of our lives deeply. He has also said we already are everything we want to become. This suggests that our problem is a lack of mindfulness of the reality we already are. Thay also teaches us that we suffer from a fundamental delusion that we are separate beings in a world of separate beings, and that what is needed is the insight that we are not separate from anything and everything. This is the meaning of Interbeing. Interbeing is the nature of reality and all that is required of us to live our lives deeply and with the maximum amount of joy, happiness and peace possible, and the least possible amount of suffering, is that we wake up to the reality of Interbeing. Our practice is designed to help us wake up. Grounded in this awakened way of being, we will be able to communicate this possibility to others and to show them the way to true happiness. This is the process of transforming ourselves and our world. Join us as we use our practice to deepen our experience of being alive, soften our defenses, and master the art of being relaxed and free, filled with love and overflowing with joy as we go through our lives. Along the way we will honestly acknowledge and transform our suffering and the suffering of our loved ones and our world. Thay said our practice is a gentle encounter with reality.
I look forward to being with you,
Keith
True Enlightenment Garden
Tuesday, October 15 at DBT
Tree will share about mindful consumption, especially focused on the impact of media, websites and how screen addiction can highjack our brains. We will look deeply at the Fifth Mindfulness Training to see the connection between loneliness, anxiety and other suffering that leads to losing ourselves in consumption. and practice coming back to the breath.
Tuesday, October 8 at DBT
Thay has written a series of simple “How To” books that are gems to aid us in our practice. Marge will facilitate, sharing some of her favorite teachings from How to Sit.Sunday, October 6 at UU
Pete will share about the eleven guidelines for daily living, based on the insights found in the sutra The Eight Realizations of the Great Beings, from Awakening of the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Sunday, September 29 at UU
Tree will facilitate the recitation of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.
Tuesday, September 17 at DBT
Pete will explore various ways to deepen our meditation practice and cultivate mindfulness, concentration and insight.
Sunday, September 8 at UU
Steve will share leaf meditation.“A leaf can lead us directly into non-conceptual reality.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart
Tuesday, September 3 at DBT
I will use Brother Phap Hai’s book, Nothing To It for guidance as I share about applying the practice in our daily lives. Having knowledge of the teachings and learning concepts is only the beginning of making use of the teachings to transform our suffering and cultivate mindfulness.
Questions for reflection:
How do we apply the teachings and practices to our own life situation?
What teachings are useful to me at this time?
What is alive in me today?
Thanks,
Tree
How do we apply the teachings and practices to our own life situation?
What teachings are useful to me at this time?
What is alive in me today?
Thanks,
Tree
Sunday, September 1 at UU
Lazy Days, Happiness, Dharma Sharing - the Plum Village Tradition in Buddhism
As we meet to build Sangha and increase our equanimity, I look forward to sharing some of the insights I gained by taking part in the Dharma Bum life program earlier this year and from my earlier spiritual experiences in Christianity and Judaism.
In his exile to the West, Thay was able to learn from his new environment and transform key practices from both sides of the world to create a unique form of Buddhism.
Bowing,
Dijana
As we meet to build Sangha and increase our equanimity, I look forward to sharing some of the insights I gained by taking part in the Dharma Bum life program earlier this year and from my earlier spiritual experiences in Christianity and Judaism.
In his exile to the West, Thay was able to learn from his new environment and transform key practices from both sides of the world to create a unique form of Buddhism.
Bowing,
Dijana
Sunday, August 25 at UU
Marge and Tree will facilitate the recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings
Sunday, August 18 at UU
Dear Friends,
At a recent meeting of the Sangha facilitators the question was raised, “How can I deepen my practice.” This brings up the more general question, How do I practice?” This Sunday I want to address the questions, What is the essence of our practice and what are the essential practices that we use to heal and transform ourselves and our world?
I look forward to being with you.
Warmly,
Keith
At a recent meeting of the Sangha facilitators the question was raised, “How can I deepen my practice.” This brings up the more general question, How do I practice?” This Sunday I want to address the questions, What is the essence of our practice and what are the essential practices that we use to heal and transform ourselves and our world?
I look forward to being with you.
Warmly,
Keith
Tuesday, August 13 at DBT
Pete will share the Discourse on the Eight Realizations of Great Beings:
- Awareness that the world is impermanent
- Awareness that desire brings more suffering
- Awareness that the human mind is never satisfied
- Awareness that laziness is the cause of all setbacks in practice
- Awareness that ignorance is the cause of endless cycles of suffering birth and death
- Awareness that poverty creates more hatred and anger, which in turn causes more hatred and anger
- Awareness that all five categories of desire lead to difficulties
- Awareness of the suffering of others — and the great vow to help others to attain release and joy
Sunday, August 11 at UU
Loretta will share part of Thay's talk on "The Pleasure of Sitting and Walking" from the 21-day retreat in 2012 at Plum Village.
Tuesday, August 6 at DBT
Thay writes in How to Relax, “You don’t need to set aside special time for resting and relaxing. You don’t need a special pillow or fancy equipment. You don’t need a whole hour. In fact, now is a very good time to relax.” When we are stressed, we are not only less happy and less productive, we make those around us unhappy as well. We will ponder ways to relax and to use our practice to stop, relax, reduce tension, and come back to balance.- Marge
Sunday, July 28 at UU
We will hold a "Shining the Light” ceremony for our sangha friend, Tree Whitney. This is a part of her process of preparing to be ordained into the Plum Village’s Order of Interbeing during the upcoming retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery. This is a special occasion in the life of our sangha, and you are invited to bring a snack item, if you wish, to share after the gathering. Please read this invitation to the event and the background on shining the light on someone’s practice.
Tuesday, July 23 at DBT
Tree will share about looking deeply into the reality of the Five Skandhas, also known as the five aggregates.
Sunday, July 21 at UU
Dear friends,
I look forward to sharing tea meditation this Sunday. Tea meditation is a time to be with the Sangha in a joyful atmosphere, when we can share our happiness in being together. Practicing tea meditation is to be truly present with our tea and our friends. We can dwell happily in the present moment, despite our sorrows and worries. During tea meditation we can water the seeds of happiness, joy, understanding, and love in each other.Bowing and smiling,
Anita
Tuesday, July 16 at DBT
This Tuesday we will have the opportunity to study, practice and share about The Five Awarenesses. The heart of Thay’s teaching on continuation is contained in them. They are often a part of Plum Village wedding ceremonies and a great teaching for growing understanding, inclusiveness and harmony. As Thay says, Acceptance does not mean being passive or condoning injustice. Acceptance is to calm down and see the situation clearly. By living and practicing awareness we bring peace and joy to our lives and the lives of those around us.
We are aware that all generations of our ancestors and all future generations are present in us. (bell)
We are aware of the expectations that our ancestors, our children, and their children have of us. (bell)
We are aware that our joy, peace, freedom, and harmony are the joy peace, freedom, and harmony of our ancestors, our children, and their children. (bell)
We are aware that understanding is the very foundation of love. (bell)
We are aware that blaming and arguing can never help us and only create a wider gap between us; that only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow. (two bells)
Thanks,
Pete
We are aware that all generations of our ancestors and all future generations are present in us. (bell)
We are aware of the expectations that our ancestors, our children, and their children have of us. (bell)
We are aware that our joy, peace, freedom, and harmony are the joy peace, freedom, and harmony of our ancestors, our children, and their children. (bell)
We are aware that understanding is the very foundation of love. (bell)
We are aware that blaming and arguing can never help us and only create a wider gap between us; that only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow. (two bells)
Thanks,
Pete
Sunday, July 14 at UU
Steve will share about The Three Doors of Liberation: emptiness, signlessness, aimlessness
Sunday, July 7 at UU
This Sunday I will facilitate on Right View from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation.” Right View is the first practice of the Noble Eightfold Path, and can lead to a deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Our teacher, “Thay" says that at the base of our views are our perceptions and the Buddha advised us not to be fooled by what we perceive when he stated “Where there is perception, there is deception.” Most of our perceptions are erroneous and therefore cause most of our suffering. Until we see clearly, our wrong perceptions will prevent us from having right view. Touching reality deeply and knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves is the way to liberate ourselves. We water the seeds of right view when we practice mindful living.
In gratitude,
Tree
In gratitude,
Tree
Tuesday, June 18 at DBT
Dear Friends,
WHY DO WE SUFFER?
We suffer from habits of mind.
Our practice is to train our minds, so we do not create suffering, so we create joy, happiness, peace, wellbeing, the mind of love, enlightenment, Nirvana, etc. We can subsume all of these under the label WELLBEING, the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, which is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is our path, our practice.
Understanding our mind, we know when our habits are creating suffering and we know not to let that continue, and we know how to respond and change to creating habits that generate wellbeing.
We will practice the Art of Living, as Thich Nhat Hanh has called it, together, and create habits of wellbeing, for ourselves, our loved ones, all of human kind, the earth and all beings.
I look forward to being with you.
Smiling,
Keith
Universal Emptiness of the Heart
True Enlightenment Garden
WHY DO WE SUFFER?
We suffer from habits of mind.
Our practice is to train our minds, so we do not create suffering, so we create joy, happiness, peace, wellbeing, the mind of love, enlightenment, Nirvana, etc. We can subsume all of these under the label WELLBEING, the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, which is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is our path, our practice.
Understanding our mind, we know when our habits are creating suffering and we know not to let that continue, and we know how to respond and change to creating habits that generate wellbeing.
We will practice the Art of Living, as Thich Nhat Hanh has called it, together, and create habits of wellbeing, for ourselves, our loved ones, all of human kind, the earth and all beings.
I look forward to being with you.
Smiling,
Keith
Universal Emptiness of the Heart
True Enlightenment Garden
Sunday, June 16 at UU
You are warmly invited to join us for a modified version of the Buddhist Ceremony for the Deceased.
We will be honoring the life of our beloved sangha member, Craig Cavins, whose physical body died on April 29th. While we will no longer feel his physical presence, he will continue in our hearts and minds. We will read some poetry of Thay’s, do sitting and walking meditation, sing some songs of practice, and have an opportunity to share our experiences with Craig or reflections about impermanence and living fully in the present moment.
All sangha participants are welcome, even if you didn’t know Craig. Our lives are all impermanent, and the messages to be shared at sangha are relevant to all.
We will be honoring the life of our beloved sangha member, Craig Cavins, whose physical body died on April 29th. While we will no longer feel his physical presence, he will continue in our hearts and minds. We will read some poetry of Thay’s, do sitting and walking meditation, sing some songs of practice, and have an opportunity to share our experiences with Craig or reflections about impermanence and living fully in the present moment.
All sangha participants are welcome, even if you didn’t know Craig. Our lives are all impermanent, and the messages to be shared at sangha are relevant to all.
Tuesday, June 11 at DBT
Last Tuesday Marge shared about impermanence, one of Buddha’s core teachings and one of the Dharma Seals. This Tuesday we will continue with an opportunity to explore the nature of non-self.
Peace,
Pete
Tuesday, June 4 at DBT
Marge will share on impermanence, one of the 3 Dharma Seals, key teachings of the Buddha.
Tuesday, May 28 at DBT
Heather will share movement meditation and a guided grounding tree sitting meditation.
Here is a song, Standing like a Tree.
Here is a song, Standing like a Tree.
Tuesday, May 21 at DBT
Anita will share from Sister Dang Nghiem's book, Healing, about how "Shining the light of awareness on our mental formations can help us learn to choose not to speak and act on the levels of liking or disliking, wanting or not wanting"... but rather through the mind of love with understanding and compassion.
Tuesday, May 14 at DBT
Pete will share Thay’s offering, Nourishing Happiness from "Chanting From the Heart.” It is an inspiring guide for mindful living and encouragement for a deep and directed practice that nourishes gratitude, well being and the deep happiness that can be harmoniously present with all of life’s challenges.
Tuesday, May 7 at DBT
Reflections on how we can use the practice in our daily lives
For those of us who were at Deer Park last weekend, either as part of the Sangha retreat or the Day of Mindfulness, I invite you to share an insight that manifested for you while at Deer Park, something that you have been able to carry with you beyond the monastery. We were deeply nourished by a Dharma Talk by Brother Phap Hai. I will continue his message by reading from his book Nothing to It.
Donna
For those of us who were at Deer Park last weekend, either as part of the Sangha retreat or the Day of Mindfulness, I invite you to share an insight that manifested for you while at Deer Park, something that you have been able to carry with you beyond the monastery. We were deeply nourished by a Dharma Talk by Brother Phap Hai. I will continue his message by reading from his book Nothing to It.
Donna
Sunday, May 5 at UU
Practice Basics to Arrive Home
How can we use our basic practices of sitting meditation, walking meditation, and mindfulness to arrive home, in the here and now? Our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, said “I have arrived, I am home" is the shortest Dharma Talk he had ever given. How can we use our Plum Village practices to be truly established in the here and now, and to embrace life with all its wonders and challenges? I will facilitate this Sunday as we contemplate using our practices to be more fully present to whatever is happening at any moment.
Smiling,
Marge
Sunday, April 28 at UU
Heather will facilitate the recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, including some of the ceremonial chanting (Incense Offering, Touching the Earth, Opening Verse, The Heart Sutra, The Three Refuges, Closing Verse) in the Plum Village tradition.
Tuesday, April 23 at DBT
Earth Day is everyday!
Heather will share from Thay Phap Hai's A Buddhist approach to consumption, which includes the Four Nutrients and the Eighteen Realms of Being.
For Earth loving tips, visit the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation and the Earth Holder Community.
Sunday, April 21 at UU
Steve will share about the Ānāpānasati Sutta (Discourse on the Full Awareness if Breathing)
Tuesday, April 16 at DBT
Karen will share about mindfulness of the mind, the third of the Four Establishments of Mindfulness.
Tuesday, April 9 at DBT
Thay offered Fourteen Verses on Meditation, based on Buddha’s teachings, as a summary of the practice in our tradition. Pete will explore a few of them in verse and guided meditation.
Illustrations of the Fourteen Verses by our illustrious friend, Thay Phap Ho.
Deer Park monastics (including Thay Phap Hai, Sister Su Co Bich Nghiem, and Thay Phap Ho) offered a series on the Fourteen Verses that are available on the Deer Park Dharmacast.
Sunday, April 7 at UU
Dave Kenneally, previous monk at Deer Park Monastery, will be facilitating sangha, with the support of Marge. Dave will share on the power of attention, discussing some of the different kinds of attention, how to strengthen them, and how this kind of training can improve the quality of our lives.
Tuesday, April 2 at DBT
In The Sun My Heart, Thay wrote “Around us, life bursts forth with miracles – a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, rain-drops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere.” Marge will guide us in contemplating the miracles we experience when living in awareness, in mindfulness.
Tuesday, March 26 at DBT
Tree will share about mindfulness, challenging dynamics and strong emotions.
Sunday, March 24 at UU
We will contemplate parts of the Discourse on the Eight Realizations of the Great Beings, a Buddhist scripture on simplicity, generosity and compassion. Marge will focus on the aspects of this sutra that address simple living.
Here is a chant of the sutra.
Tuesday, March 12 at DBT
We will have a chance to study, practice and share about what Thay and Buddha have described as the “Five Faculties” and the “Five Powers.”Here is a Dharma talk by Phap Huu that discusses them and they are also presented in “The Heart of Buddha’s Teaching” for those who may be interested.
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Pete
Tuesday, March 5 at DBT
Heather will share about mindfulness of the body in the body, the first of the Four Establishments of Mindfulness.
For further reading: Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Here is a guided meditation (starts 3 minutes in) from Thay Phap Hai that we will practice with.
For further reading: Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
Here is a guided meditation (starts 3 minutes in) from Thay Phap Hai that we will practice with.
Tuesday, February 26 at DBT
Donna will share about taking care of strong feelings and will read from Thay’s book “Fear”
Sunday, February 24 at UU
Sabina will facilitate pebble meditation set to music by Brother Freedom and used as an expressive dance meditation. If time allows, she will also share about stopping and not-stopping.
Tuesday, February 12 at DBT
Keith will share about how we cultivate our compassion to relieve and transform our own suffering and the suffering of others.
Sunday, February 10 at UU
Marge will share about the Lunar New Year parallel verses offered to us:
Harmony in our home
Joy in the world
Tuesday, February 5 at DBT
Harmony in our home
Joy in the world
Here is the Joyfully Sharing the Merit chant.
Tuesday, January 29 at DBT
Karen will share about the fourth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings: Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.
Sunday, January 27 at UU
Tree will facilitate the Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, which may include some of the ceremonial chanting (Incense Offering, Touching the Earth, Opening Verse, The Heart Sutra, The Three Refuges, Closing Verse) in the Plum Village tradition.
Tuesday, January 22 at DBT
The Sangha will contemplate using gathas (simple verses, practice poems) to guide meditation practice. The Plum Village website says “Gathas are short verses that help us practice mindfulness in our daily activities. A gatha can open and deepen our experience of simple acts which we often take for granted. When we focus our mind on a gatha, we return to ourselves and become more aware of each action. When the gatha ends, we continue our activity with heightened awareness.” I will facilitate and share how I use gathas in my daily sitting meditation, and I will hand out several that I have written. The Plum Village app has many gathas, and they are labeled “Practice Poems”.
Bowing to you,
Marge
Bowing to you,
Marge
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