Fragrant Palm Sangha

Message to Friends in Japan

2011-03-17T22:55:00.001+08:00

"Dear friends in Japan, As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died. The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body. An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what's most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. This is the best that we can do for those who have died: we can live in such a way that they continue, beautifully, in us. Here in France and at our practice centers all over the world, our brothers and sisters will continue to chant for you, sending you the energy of peace, healing and protection. Our prayers are with you." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Support Plum Village Thailand

2011-02-21T18:03:00.001+08:00

New Year Blessings from Thay

2011-01-28T19:20:00.005+08:00

"At Home With Yourself"

2011-01-01T08:24:00.009+08:00

New Year's Eve Talk, from the Assembly of Stars Hall of the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France on December 31st, 2010.

"Once we understand the suffering inside ourselves, compassion will arise. If you understand the roots of suffering, understanding will arise, and then compassion. Then you feel at home with yourself. And when you feel at home with yourself, you can help the other person. You can understand his or her suffering better. You have become a home for yourself, and you are helping him or her to become a home for him- or herself."

"In Plum Village we say: without the mud, the lotus cannot grow. That is the non-dualistic way of looking. If we try to run away of suffering, we cannot be happy; if we throw away the mud, there can be no lotus suffering. We should learn to embrace our own suffering, and by doing so we are able to generate joy, peace, and happiness."

"When your mind and body are together, you become settled. Everything is available: happiness, suffering, hell, heaven. The energy of mindfulness helps you to get in touch with the positive elements, so the we can embrace and transform the negative elements. We know there is a close connection between the mud and the lotus. We are no longer afraid of suffering. We learn the art of handling the suffering in such a way that can help create moments of joy and happiness. Even if there are still blocks of pain and suffering in us, we can practice climbing the hill of the century together as a Sangha to generate joy and happiness."

"Suffering is useful. It can help us recognize what is not suffering. Walking meditation like that, together or alone, we make the Pure Land of the Buddha available with every step; we make the Kingdom of God available with every step."

"André Gide said, 'God is happiness,' and, 'God is available 24 hours a day.' I would like to add: If God is available 24 hours a day, it means his kingdom is available 24 hours a day. Don't wait until you breathe your last in order to go to the kingdom, because the kingdom is already there."

"The practice of taking refuge can be a very deep practice. When we take refuge in our breathing, we touch peace and safety."

Chanting of the Plum Village Monks and Nuns before Thay's New Year's Eve Talk, from the Assembly of Stars Hall of the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France on December 31st, 2010.

Made possible by the Plum Village International Online Monastery team.

"Friends on the Path"

2010-12-12T16:50:00.006+08:00

"The practice is to grow some roots. The Sangha is a place to practice for the transformation and healing of self and society. When you are strong, you can be there in order to help society. If your society is in trouble, if your family is broken, if your church is no longer capable of providing you with spiritual life, then you work to take refuge in the Sangha so that you can restore your strength, your understanding, your compassion, your confidence. And then in turn you can use that strength, understanding, and compassion to rebuild your family and society, to renew your church, to restore communication and harmony. This can only be done as a community—not as an individual, but as a Sangha.

If we see a group of people living mindfully, capable of smiling, of loving, we gain confidence in our future. When we practice mindful breathing, smiling, resting, walking, and working, then we become a positive element in society, and we will inspire confidence all around us. This is the way to avoid letting despair overwhelm us. It is also the way to help the younger generation so they do not lose hope. It is very important that we live our daily life in such a way that demonstrates that a future is possible."

Excerpts from "Friends on the Path" by Thich Nhat Hanh

"The Long Road Turns to Joy"

2010-12-02T16:30:00.001+08:00

The Earth is Waiting for You
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Earth is always patient and open-hearted.
She is waiting for you.
She has been waiting for you
for the last trillion lifetimes.
She can wait for any length of time.
She knows you will come back to her one day.
Fresh and green, she will welcome you
exactly like the first time,
because love never says, "This is the last time";
because Earth is a loving mother.
She will never stop waiting for you.

The Welcoming Path
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The empty path welcomes you,
fragrant with grass and little flowers,
the path paved with paddy fields
still bearing the marks of your childhood
and the fragrance of mother's hand.
Walk leisurely, peacefully.
Your feet touch the Earth deeply.
Don't let your thoughts carry you away,
Come back to the path every moment.
The path is your dear friend.
She will transmit to you
her solidity,
and her peace.

Kiss the Earth
~~~~~~~~~~~
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.

Peace is Every Step
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Each flower smiles with me.
How green, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy.

Moments of ... freshness ... flowerness ...

2010-11-25T10:00:00.004+08:00

A flower represents freshness.

The flower is within you because

you are able to be fresh.

All of us have the capacity of being fresh,

if we have lost our freshness then

we can practice breathing in and out

and restore our freshness.

So flower has flowerness within it.

You also are a flower, and you have your flowerness.

We are beautiful every time we restore our flowerness.

practice "Pebbles Meditation" here.

"Happiness is Here and Now" in HKG

2010-11-01T10:30:00.004+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

and Plum Village International Sangha's

Teaching Trip to Hong Kong 2010

Rekindle "Thay in HKG 2007 Moments" here!

Welcome to Hong Kong, Thay!

More Happy Moments here!

More Happy News here!

Practice from the Heart

2010-10-19T14:37:00.003+08:00

This is a happy moment!

2010-09-28T13:52:00.002+08:00

Welcoming Reception on 13th September

A Warm Send Off on 27th September

"Peaceful Mind Open Heart" in Thailand

2010-08-17T17:08:00.001+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

and Plum Village International Sangha's

Teaching Trip to Thailand 2010

A Day of Mindfulness in Borobudur

2010-08-15T09:18:00.003+08:00

You are invited here!

"Peace is the walk, we walk for everyone"

"Peaceful Mind Open Heart" in SIN

2010-08-04T09:02:00.002+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

and Plum Village International Sangha's

Teaching Trip to Singapore 2010

"Peace is every step" in Indonesia

2010-07-28T21:42:00.001+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

and Plum Village International Sangha's

Teaching Trip to Indonesia 2010

Thay in Malaysia these September Days!

2010-07-13T13:38:00.033+08:00

You are invited these September days in Malaysia

to be in the presence of Respected Thay

and Plum Village International Sangha

Further details here:

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Malaysia

World Buddhist Conference

Article featured in Merit Magazine (福报）

2010-07-02T21:36:00.004+08:00

"We are a Happy Family"

2010-06-17T19:31:00.005+08:00

A Family and Youth Mindfulness Camp

for parents and young people

with Plum Village Monastics

in Hong Kong

Happiness is everywhere ...

2010-05-21T11:18:00.007+08:00

Come and Celebrate the Buddha's Birthday !

Click here !

We all are watering seeds +++

2010-05-15T06:38:00.009+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Malaysia 2010

2010-04-25T09:41:00.057+08:00

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

and Plum Village International Sangha's

Teaching Trip to Southeast Asia 2010

Malaysia is one of the destinations

from September 13th to 27th

You are invited for the following events:

A 5-Day Mindfulness Retreat

An Evening Public Talk in Penang

A Day of Mindfulness Practice

World Buddhist Conference

We present you herewith:

"Experiencing Heaven on Earth"

"Enlightenment is Real and Possible in Every Day Life"

"一起喜悦，如河水般流动"

"念念祥和，時時正念身心安頓於靜鬆中"

"Practising Joyfully Together!"

"民之所向: 一行禅师对我的感召"

"Indulging in the Art of Mindful Living Talk"

"This is A Happy Moment: A personal journey"

"This is a happy moment" (✿◠‿◠)

A Lotus to you, a Buddha to be.

Public Talk and Mindfulness Retreat in Singapore - May 5th to 9th, 2010

2010-04-01T15:41:00.013+08:00

You are invited to come and cultivate joy with us :))

Online Registration available at http://plumvillageasia.org/

A Day of Mindfulness Practice ツ

2010-03-19T15:21:00.023+08:00

We are pleased to invite your participation

for a Day of Mindfulness Practice
with Sister Quy Nghiem and Sister Thiền Nghiem

at Shah Alam Buddhist Society

on 3rd April (Saturday)

from 0900 to 1700 hours

Sister Quy Nghiem will share with us on

"The Four Immeasurable Minds"

"Learning how to handle our suffering

is learning how to recreate happiness in life.

The Four Immeasurable Minds are kinds of fertilizers

offered to us by the Buddha for us to learn how to

use them to transform our suffering into happiness.

Like a good gardener who knows how to

transform garbage into flowers.

With the practice of the Four Immeasurable Minds,

we shall know how to grow flowers in

the garden of our mind and in the garden of human life."

(you are invited to download pdf flyer here)

Together, we breathe and smile :))

Postponed -- A Day of Mindfulness ツ

2010-03-01T09:57:00.020+08:00

We are pleased to invite your participation
for a Day of Mindfulness Practice

Date: 27th March (Saturday), 2010
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Venue: Shah Alam Buddhist Society

For further enquiries, please contact
Bro Canon at 019 217 9933 or Bro Kim at 013 365 1100

A map for you here:

Offering Joy, Relieving Pain

2010-02-12T17:22:00.006+08:00

A Public Talk for You ツ

2010-01-27T08:24:00.009+08:00

We are pleased to invite your presence

for a special Public Talk --

"Mindfulness, Unconditional Love and Forgiveness"

(you are invited to download pdf flyer here)

Date: 8th February (Monday), 2010

Time: 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Venue: Buddhist Gem Fellowship (BGF)
60A, Jalan 19/3, 46300 Petaling Jaya

For further enquiries:
Please contact BGF - Bro Alex Lim at 012 304 3828
or email Fragrant Palm Sangha at mysangha@gmail.com

Map below:

This moment is a happy moment!

2010-01-03T18:07:00.011+08:00

The Great Bell Chant + Discourse of Love

2009-12-16T09:46:00.009+08:00

Listening to the bell, I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve.
My mind is calm, my body relaxed.
A smile is born on my lips.
Following the sound of the bell, my breath bring me back
to the safe island of mindfulness.
In the garden of my heart, the flower of peace blooms beautifully

May all be safe and protected ...

Bat Nha Blessing + Peace is the Way

2009-12-10T22:12:00.002+08:00

Moments of "Joyfully Together" :-)

2009-12-03T16:56:00.007+08:00

Please enjoy more moments here & here:

Prayers for Bat Nha

2009-11-10T04:13:00.002+08:00

Meditation of Joy

2009-10-28T10:41:00.001+08:00

Invitation to "The World We Are" :-)

2009-09-19T23:47:00.000+08:00

Invitation to "Joyfully Together" :-)

2009-08-25T16:16:00.004+08:00

Invitation to "Go As A River" :-)

2009-08-24T07:19:00.004+08:00

Thay in US 2009 Teaching Tour

2009-08-04T12:34:00.013+08:00

"When we have enough insight, we are not caught by many difficult situations anymore. We can get out of difficult situations very easily. When we change our daily lives - the way we think, speak, and act - we change the world. It is important for us to live in such a way that in every moment we are deeply there with our true presence, always alive and nourishing the insight of interbeing." ~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

It's NOW

2009-07-26T09:51:00.003+08:00

"To meditate does not mean to fight with a problem.

To meditate means to observe.

Your smile proves it.

It proves that you are being gentle with yourself,

that the sun of awareness is shining in you,

that you have control of your situation.

You are yourself,

and you have acquired some peace."

~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

The Five Mindfulness Trainings

2009-07-21T20:39:00.003+08:00

Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

True Happiness
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.

True Love
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.

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.

Nourishment and Healing
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.

Sending Energy to You -- Bat Nha Monastery

2009-07-04T12:37:00.010+08:00

Letter from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh to his disciples

LETTER TO THE OFFICIALS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM

ALL WE WANT IS A SAFE PLACE TO PRACTICE!

Blessed One + Interbeing

2009-06-30T12:08:00.001+08:00

A song for you :-)

2009-06-25T22:33:00.000+08:00

Watering the Seeds of Joy

2009-05-30T11:13:00.001+08:00

We Live Love Mindfully :))

2009-05-16T20:45:00.005+08:00

Refuge Prayer

2009-05-11T20:39:00.002+08:00

At the foot of the Bodhi tree,
beautifully seated, peaceful and smiling,
the living source of understanding and compassion,
to the Buddha I go for refuge.

The path of mindful living,
leading to healing, joy, and enlightenment,
the way of peace,
to the Dharma I go for refuge.

The loving and supportive community of practice,
realizing harmony, awareness, and liberation,
to the Sangha I go for refuge.

I am aware that the Three Jems are within my heart.
I vow to realize them.
I vow to practise mindful breathing and smiling,
looking deeply into things.
I vow to understand living beings and their suffering,
to cultivate compassion and loving kindness,
and to practice joy and equanimity.

I vow to offer joy to one person in the morning
and to help relieve the grief of one person in the afternoon.
I vow to live simply and sanely,
content with just a few possessions,
and to keep my body healthy.
I vow to let go of all worry and anxiety
in order to be light and free.

I am aware that I owe so much to my parents,
teachers, friends,and all beings.
I vow to be worthy of their trust,
to practise wholeheartedly,
so that understanding and compasssion will flower,
and I can help living beings
be free from their suffering.

May the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha support my efforts.

Watering The Seeds of Joy

2009-04-30T07:07:00.013+08:00

My mother, my father, they are in me,
and when I look, I see myself in them.
The Buddha, the Patriarchs, they are in me,
and when I look, I see myself in them.
I am a continuation of my mother and my father.
I am a continuation of all my blood ancestors.
It is my aspiration to preserve and continue to nourish
seeds of goodness, seeds of skill,
seeds of happiness which I have inherited.
It's also my desire to recognize
the seeds of fear and suffering I have inherited,
and bit by bit, to transform them, transform them.

I am a continuation of the Buddha, and the Patriarchs.
I am a continuation of all my spiritual teachers.
It is my deep aspirationto preserve, develop,
and nourish seeds of understanding, seeds of love,
seeds of freedom which they have transmitted to me.
In my daily life, I also want to sow seeds of love
and compassion in my own consciousness
and in the heart of other people.
I am determined not to water the seeds
of craving, aversion, and violence in me.
I am determined not to water the seeds
of craving, aversion, and violence in others.

With resolve and with compassion,
I give rise to this aspiration:
May my practice be an offering of the heart.
May my practice be an offering of the heart.

Please enjoy the song here :-)

May our practice be an offering of the heart.

Introduce -- "The World We Have"

2009-04-19T19:15:00.006+08:00

"We do not have to sink into despair about global warming; we can act. If we just sign a petition and forget about it, obviously nothing is going to change. Urgent action must be taken at the individual and the collective levels. We all have a great desire to be able to live in peace and environmental sustainability. What most of us don't yet have are concrete ways of making our commitment to sustainable living a reality in our daily lives."

"If we as members of the human race

practice meditation,

we can transcend our fear,

despair, and forgetfulness.

Meditation is not an escape.

It is the courage to look at reality

with mindfulness and concentration.

Meditation is essential for our survival,

our peace, our protection."

– from "The World We Have"

by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

Walking in the Direction of Beauty

2009-04-09T09:17:00.006+08:00

An Interview with Sister Chan Khong by Alan Senauke and Susan Moon

Sister Chan Khong ["True Emptiness"] is a Vietnamese nun who works closely with Thich Nhat Hanh, and lives in the community of Plum Village in Southern France. In the fall of 1993 she was on a teaching tour in the U.S. with Thich Nhat Hanh, and Alan Senauke and Susan Moon talked with her at Kim Son Monastery in Watsonville, California. We sat together in a grove of cypress trees overlooking the ocean, while gray- robed monks and nuns passed quietly back and forth around us, making preparations for a retreat. (To learn more about Sister Chan Khong's work, read her new book, //Learning True Love//, reviewed on page 43.)

Susan Moon: The amount of suffering that you've seen and worked with is great. One can never do enough, there is always more work to do. And sometimes you even fail at a task: for example, some boat people you are trying to help end up getting tragically drowned. How do you deal with despair in your work?

Sister Chan Khong: It is a matter of survival. Everyone is capable of serenity when nothing difficult is before them. But when there are bombs dropping, you can be overcome by fear and hatred. When our friends were murdered doing social service in Vietnam, we did our best to calm ourselves. We saw that in order to survive we had to walk in the direction of beauty. We were not yet able to love those who murdered our friends, but should we take guns? If we kill the murderer, how about his wife; his wife will be angry at us. And then his son will be angry at us.

When our friends were killed, the last thing their murderers said to them was, "I'm sorry but I have to kill you." We cannot thank those who killed our friends, but we can try to find some good small seed in them.

In the eulogy read at our friends' funeral, we spoke to the murderers: "Thank you for saying 'I am sorry.' We understand that there were pressures and threats on you and if you disobeyed the order to kill our friends, you could have been killed yourselves." After that eulogy, none of our social workers were attacked.

When thousands of boat people were adrift on the high seas, I was filled with despair. I completely identified myself with their suffering, and after many months of meditation, I initiated a rescue project. I rented a fishing boat in Thailand, dressed up like a fisherman, and went out to sea to "fish" out the boat people. Meditation allowed me to transform the garbage, the suffering, in me into a mercy fishing boat. On the seas, I was fearless, even when faced by pirates, and I was even joyful because I knew I was going in the direction of beauty.

Continue reading here ...

Friends on the Path -- "Singa Sangha"

2009-03-23T18:43:00.010+08:00

Introducing Singa Sangha ... I am here for you :-)

THE CLOUD
As a free person I can always come and go

Not caught in ideas of is and is not

Not caught in ideas of being and non-being

Let your steps be leisurely

Waxing or waning the moon is always the moon

The wind is still flying

Can you feel it my dear?

Bringing the rain from afar to nourish the nearby cloud

Drops of sunshine fall from no high to earth below

And the lap of earth touches the clear vault of the sky
~ Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

"Happiness is Here and Now" Retreat in HKG

2009-02-24T21:08:00.003+08:00

Happiness is Here and Now:

A Discourse on Happiness

A Weekend Retreat with Plum Village Monastics

From Friday evening March 27 to

Sunday afternoon March 29, 2009

at The Kadoorie Institute - Shek Kong Centre,

The University of Hong Kong

Yuen Long, New Territories, Hong Kong

Plum Village Teaching Trip in Singapore

2009-02-22T17:28:00.004+08:00

[Retreat Details] [Application Form]

"Wake Up" Events in Thailand

2009-02-14T11:18:00.033+08:00

Youth Retreat : For Future to be Possible
April 25-29th 2009

The Practice of Sangha

2009-01-14T21:55:00.006+08:00

from Friends on the Path: Living Spiritual Communities (2002) by Thich Nhat Hanh

Practicing in the sangha

If you are a beginner in the practice, you should not worry about what is the correct thing to do. When surrounded by many people, we might be caught by the idea, "I don't know what is the right thing to do." That idea may make us very uncomfortable. We may think, "I feel embarrassed that I'm not doing the right thing. There are people who are bowing, and I am not bowing. People are walking slowly, and I am walking a little bit too fast." So the idea that we may not be doing the right thing can embarrass us.

I would like to tell you what is really the right thing. The right thing is to do whatever you are doing in mindfulness. Mindfulness is keeping one's consciousness alive to the present reality. To bow may not be the right thing to do if you don't bow in mindfulness. If you don't bow but are mindful, not bowing is the right thing. Even if people are walking slowly and you run, you are doing the right thing if you run mindfully. The wrong thing is whatever you do without mindfulness. If we understand this, we will not be embarrassed anymore. Everything we do is right provided we do it in mindfulness. To bow or not to bow, that is not the question. The question is whether to bow in mindfulness or not, or not to bow in mindfulness or not.

If you take a step and you feel peaceful and happy, you know that is the correct practice. You are the only one who knows whether you are doing it correctly or not. No one else can judge. When you practice breathing in and out, if you feel peaceful, if you enjoy your in-breath and out-breath, you know you are doing it correctly. You are the best one to know. Have confidence in yourself. Wherever you find yourself, if you feel you are at ease and peaceful, that you are not under pressure, then you know you are doing it right.

The function of the bell in a sangha is to bring us back to ourselves. When we hear the bell we come back to ourselves and breathe, and at that point we improve the quality of the sangha energy. We know that our brother and our sister, wherever they are, will be stopping, breathing, and coming back to themselves. They will be generating the energy of right mindfulness, the sangha energy. When we look at each other, we feel confident, because everyone is practicing together in the same way and contributing to the quality of the sangha. So we are friends on the path of practice.

The sangha is made out of the work of individuals, so we have the duty to help create the energy of the sangha. Our presence, when it is a mindful presence, contributes to that energy. When we are absent during the activities of the sangha, we are not contributing to sangha energy. If we don't go to a sitting meditation, we are not feeding our sangha. We are also letting ourselves go hungry, because we are not benefiting from the sangha.

We don't profit from the sangha, and the sangha doesn't profit from us. Don't think that we sit for ourselves. You don't sit for yourself alone, you sit for the whole sangha—not only the sangha, but also for the people in your city, because when one person in the city is less angry, is smiling more, the whole city profits. If we practice looking deeply, our understanding of interbeing will grow, and we will see that every smile, every step, every breath is for everybody. It is for our country, for the future, for our ancestors.

The best thing we can do is to transform ourselves into a positive element of the sangha. If members of the sangha see us practicing well, they will have confidence and do better. If there are two, three, four, five, six, seven of you like that in the sangha, I'm sure the sangha will be a happy sangha and will be the refuge of many people in the world.

Continue reading here ...

Peace is Every Step

2009-01-06T15:19:00.014+08:00

"Fragrant Palms Mindfulness Practice Community"

Plum Village’s International Buddhist Sangha’s first teaching trip to Malaysia was in the year 2006 October and the second trip in 2008 November. After 2007 June, efforts were made by friends who had gone to either Hong Kong or Chiangmai retreat with Thay and the Plum Village Sangha, came home and founded "Malaysia Mindfulness Practice Community" to continue the practices in the tradition of Plum Village.

In November 2008, we had the 2nd presence of Plum Village Sangha visited Malaysia. The delegation was led by Venerable Thich Chan Phap Kham. Upon the request from the sangha member here, "Fragrant Palms Sangha" has been given as a practice sangha name for us. From the collective sangha eyes, we have arrived and transformed into "Fragrant Palms Mindfulness Practice Community". MY Sangha will still be used as a general nick name for Malaysia Sangha :-)

Together, we breathe and smile :))

European Institute for Applied Buddhism

2008-12-20T19:44:00.020+08:00

European Institute for Applied Buddhism

All pictures are from here :-)

We are invited to stay tune for

"Peace is the Way: a Retreat for Young People"

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."

Rekindle November Days

2008-12-03T09:03:00.010+08:00

We are invited to rekindle November days here:

* A Nature Walk with Plum Village Delegation

* "Be Still And Know" Mindfulness Retreat

* Public Dharma Talk at Buddhist Gem Fellowship

* Melaka Day Trip

* Fragrant Palms Sangha Activities

and "learning how to invite the bell" :-)

Fourteen Verses on Meditation

2008-12-01T08:58:00.002+08:00

1. Just as a bird has two wings,
the practice of meditation has "stopping" and "deep looking."
The two wings depend on each other.
Stopping and deep looking go in tandem.

2. Stopping means to be still,
in order to recognize, to be in contact,
to nourish, to heal,
to calm, to soothe, and to focus the mind.

3. Deep looking means to regard in depth
the true nature of the Five Skandhas,
so that understanding may arise
to transform all sadness and pain.

4. The breath and the footstep
generate the source of mindfulness,
which enables one to recognize,
to be in touch with the wonders of life.

5. To calm, to relax the body and mind,
to nourish, to heal,
to protect the six senses,
and to maintain right concentration.

6. Looking deeply into reality
to see the true nature of all dharmas,
meditation helps us to let go
of all seeking, wishing, and fears.

7. To dwell in the present moment,
to transform all habit energies,
to give rise to understanding,
liberating ourselves from all afflictions.

8. Impermanence is nonself.
Nonself in interdependence,
is emptiness, is conventional designation,
is the Middle Way, is interbeing.

9. Emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness
unravel all sadness and pain.
In the daily practice
one is not caught in conceptual knowledge.

10. Nirvana means non-attainment.
Immediate and gradual enlightment are not separate.
Realizing this, one lives with freedom
right in this present life.

11. The basic meditation sutras
such as the mindfulness of breathing
and the Four Establishments of Mindfulness,
show us step by step
how to transform the body and the mind.

12. The Mahayana sutras and shastras
open more grand doors
to help us see the depth
of the original meditation current.

13. There should be no discrimination
between the Buddha and the patriarch school of meditation.
The Four Noble Truths must be based on one another
to make the foundation of transmission and reception.

14. With the support of the Sangha,
one can practice successfully, with ease,
and accomplish quickly
the great aspiration to help all beings.

"Be Still And Know"

2008-11-03T22:30:00.009+08:00

Dear friends,

This November, we present you -- "Be Still And Know" with Plum Village Monastic Delegation :

Venerable Thich Chan Phap Kham
Sister Thich Nu Chan Thoai Nghiem
Sister Thich Nu Chan Hy Nghiem
Brother Thich Chan Phap Tinh

A Nature Walk cum Picnic

Date: 19 Nov 2008(Wed)
Time:8.30am-11am
Venue: Tamna Bukit Jalil, Bukit Jalil
RSVP: metta25@yahoo.com

(Don't wait until it's too late to have a picnic ...)

4 Days Mindfulness Retreat

Date: 20th to 23rd Nov, 2008
Place: Jing Long Shan Temple, Rawang
Further details: here

A Public Talk --

"Be Still And Know: Seeing our inter-being nature"

Date: 25th Nov, 2008
Time: 8pm to 10pm
Place: Buddhist Gem Fellowship

Human is one of many species living on this planet earth. Yet, we have been acting like we are the one and only species, using a lot of natural resources to serve our greeds – in the process destroying living environments of many other species, driving them to extinction. Realizing we are inter-be with other species, we can live in harmony with them. Seeing that we are not separate from other people, we know that our hapiness depends on others's happiness and vice versas. This will bring peace and happiness and make our lives more sustainable. We will go back to our breathing, calming ourselves, and see how the practice of stoping and clear seeing can help us deal with the stress of modern life.

You are invited to come and join us ...

With each step, a gentle wind blows

With each breath, a flower blooms

Thirty Exercises to Practise Mindfulness

2008-10-16T09:33:00.006+08:00

1. The Half-Smile

a) Half-smile when you first wake up in the morning: Hang a branch or any other sign, or even the word ‘smile’ on the ceiling or wall so that you see it right away when you open your eyes. This sign will serve as your reminder. Use these seconds before you get out of bed to take hold of your breath. Inhale and exhale three breaths gently while maintaining the half-smile. Follow your breaths.

b) Half-smile during your free moments: While in a waiting room, or on a bus, standing in line at the post office, or anywhere you find yourself sitting or standing, half-smile. Look at a child, a leaf, a painting on the wall, anything which is relatively still, and smile. Inhale and exhale quietly three times. Maintain the half-smile and consider the spot of attention as your own true nature.

c) Half-smile while listening to music: Listen to a piece of music for two or three minutes. Pay attention to the words, music, rhythm and sentiments. Smile while watching your inhalations and exhalations.

d) Half-smile when irritated: When you realize you are irritated, half-smile at once. Inhale and exhale quietly, maintaining the half-smile for three breaths.

2. Letting Go/Relaxation

a) Letting go in a lying down position: Lie on your back on a flat surface without the support of mattress or pillow. Keep your two arms loosely by your sides and your two legs slightly apart, stretched out before you. Maintain a half-smile. Breathe in and out gently, keeping your attention focused on your breath. Let go of every muscle in your body. Relax each muscle as though it were sinking, down through the floor or as though it were as soft and yielding as a piece of silk hanging in the breeze to dry. Let go entirely, keeping your attention only on your breath and half-smile. Think of yourself as a cat, completely relaxed before a warm fire, whose muscles yield without resistance to anyone’s touch. Continue for 15 breaths.

b) Letting go in the sitting position: Sit in the half or full lotus, or cross-legged, or your two legs folded beneath you, or even on a chair, your two feet touching the floor. Half-smile. Let go as in 2a.

3. Breathing

a) Deep breathing: Lie on your back (as in 2a): Breathe evenly and gently, focusing your attention on the movement of your stomach. As you begin to breathe in, allow your stomach to rise in order to bring air into the lower half of the lungs. As the upper halves of your lungs begin to fill with air, your chest begins to rise and your stomach begins to lower. Don’t tire yourself. Continue for 10 breaths. The exhalation will be longer than the inhalation.

b) Measuring your breath by your footsteps: Walk slowly and leisurely in a garden, along a river or on a village path. Breathe normally. Determine the length of your breath, the exhalation and the inhalation, by the number of your footsteps. Continue for a few minutes. Begin to lengthen your exhalation by one step. Do not force a longer inhalation. Let it be natural. Watch your inhalation carefully to see if there is a desire to lengthen it. Continue for 10 breaths.

Now lengthen the exhalation by one more footstep. Watch to see whether the inhalation also lengthens by one step or not. Only lengthen the inhalation when you feel that it will give delight. After 10 breaths return to your normal pattern of breathing. About 5 minutes later, you can begin the practice of lengthened breaths again. When you feel the least bit tired, return to normal breathing.

After several sessions of the practice of lengthening the breath, your exhalation and inhalation will grow equal in length. Do not practise long, equal breaths for more than 10 to 20 breaths before returning to normal breathing.

c) Counting your breath: Sit in the half or full lotus or take a walk. As you inhale, be mindful that “I am inhaling, one.” When you exhale, be mindful that “I am exhaling, one.” Remember to breathe from the stomach (3a). When beginning the second inhalation, be mindful that “I am inhaling, two.” And slowly exhaling, be mindful that “I am exhaling, two.” Continue one up through 10. After you have reached 10, return to one. Whenever you lose count, return to one.

d) Following your breath while listening to music: Listen to a piece of music. Breathe long, light and even breaths. Follow your breath, be master of it while remaining aware of the movement and sentiments of the music. Do not get lost in the music, but continue to be master of your breath and yourself.

continue reading and practicing here ...

Plum Village Summer Retreat 2008

2008-09-03T15:59:00.002+08:00

Eating for Peace

2008-08-04T20:48:00.009+08:00

We are invited to read -- Thay's Letter to KFC !!

Also here with "Eating for Peace - the Art and Science of Mindful Consumption" ~ By Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

All things need food to be alive and to grow, including our love or our hate. Love is a living thing, hate is a living thing. If you do not nourish your love, it will die. If you cut the source of nutriment for your violence, your violence will also die. That is why the path shown by the Buddha is the path of mindful consumption.

The Buddha told the following story. There was a couple who wanted to cross the desert to go to another country in order to seek freedom. They brought with them their little boy and a quantity of food and water. But they did not calculate well, and that is why halfway through the desert they ran out of food, and they knew that they were going to die. So after a lot of anguish, they decided to eat the little boy so they could survive and go to the other country, and that's what they did. And every time they ate a piece of flesh from their son, they cried.

The Buddha asked his monks, "My dear friends: Do you think that the couple enjoyed eating the flesh of their son?" The Buddha said, "It is impossible to enjoy eating the flesh of our son. If you do not eat mindfully, you are eating the flesh of your son and daughter, you are eating the flesh of your parent."

If we look deeply, we will see that eating can be extremely violent. UNESCO tells us that every day, 40,000 children in the world die because of a lack of nutrition, of food.

Every day, 40,000 children. And the amount of grain that we grow in the West is mostly used to feed our cattle. According to a recent report, of all the agricultural land in the U.S., 87% is used to raise animals for food. That is 45% of the total land mass in the U.S.

More than half of all the water consumed in the U.S. is to raise animals for food. It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 25 gallons to produce a pound of wheat. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,000 gallons of water per day.

Raising animals for food causes more water pollution than any other industry in the U.S. because animals raised for food produce 130 times the excrement of the entire human population. It means 87,000 pounds per second. Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughterhouses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources.

Each vegetarian can save one acre of trees per year. More than 260 million acres of U.S. forests have been cleared to grow crops to feed animals raised for meat. And another acre of trees disappears every eight seconds. The tropical rain forests are also being destroyed to create grazing land for cattle.

In the US., animals raised for food are fed more than 80% of the corn we grow and more than 95% of the oats. We are eating our country, we are eating our earth, we are eating our children. And I have learned that more than half the people in this country overeat.

Mindful eating can help maintain compassion within our heart. A person without compassion cannot be happy, cannot relate to other human beings and to other living beings. And eating the flesh of our own son is what is going on in the world, because we do not practice mindful eating.

The Buddha spoke about the second kind of food that we consume every day--sense impressions--the kind of food that we take in by the way of the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the body and the mind. When we read a magazine, we consume. When you watch television, you consume. When you listen to a conversation, you consume. And these items can be highly toxic. There may be a lot of poisons, like craving, like violence, like anger and despair. We allow ourselves to be intoxicated by what we consume in terms of sense impressions. We allow our children to intoxicate themselves because of these products.

That is why it is very important to look deeply into our ill-being, into the nature of our ill-being, in order to recognize the sources of nutriment we have used to bring it into us and into our society.

The Buddha had this to say: "What has come to be--if you know how to look deeply into its nature and identify its source of nutriment, you are already on the path of emancipation."

What has come to be is our illness, our ill-being, our suffering, our violence, our despair.

And if you practice looking deeply, meditation, you'll be able to identify the sources of nutriments, of food, that has brought it into us.

Therefore the whole nation has to practice looking deeply into the nature of what we consume every day. And consuming mindfully is the only way to protect our nation, ourselves and our society. We have to learn how to consume mindfully as a family, as a city, as a nation. We have to learn what to produce and what not to produce in order to provide our people with only the items that are nourishing and healing. We have to refrain from producing the kinds of items that bring war and despair into our body, into our consciousness, and into the collective body and consciousness of our nation, our society.

And Congress has to practice that. We have elected members of the Congress. We expect them to practice deeply, listening to the suffering of the people, to the real causes of that suffering, and to make the kind of laws that can protect us from self-destruction. And America is great. I have the conviction that you can do it and help the world. You can offer the world wisdom, mindfulness and compassion.

Nowadays I enjoy places where people do not smoke. There are nonsmoking flights that you can enjoy. Ten years ago they did not exist, nonsmoking flights. And in America on every box of cigarettes there is the message: "Beware: Smoking can be hazardous to your health." That is a bell of mindfulness. That is the practice of mindful consumption. You do not say that you are practicing mindfulness, but you are really practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness of smoking is what allowed you to see that smoking is not healthy.

In America, people are very aware of the food they eat. They want every package of food to be labeled so they can know what is in it. They don't want to eat the kind of food that will bring toxins and poisons into their bodies. This is the practice of mindful eating.

But we can go further. We can do better, as parents, as teachers, as artists and as politicians.

If you are a teacher, you can contribute a lot in awakening people to the need for mindful consumption, because that is the way to real emancipation. If you are a journalist, you have the means to educate people, to wake people up to the nature of our situation. Every one of us can transform himself or herself into a bodhisattva doing the work of awakening.

Because only awakening can help us to stop the course we are taking, the course of destruction. Then we will know in which direction we should go to make the earth a safe place for us, for our children and for their children.

Wake Up

2008-07-26T12:01:00.004+08:00

WAKE UP

a buddhist way for action

Wake Up is a community of young Dharma practitioners who want to help their society which is overloaded with intolerance, discrimination, craving, anger and despair.

Their practice is the Five Mindfulness Trainings, ethical guidelines offered by the Buddha; the most concrete practice of true love and compassion, clearly showing the way towards a life in harmony with each other and with the Earth. If you are a young practitioner you are urged to join the Wake Up Movement in your country. We may feel anger and frustration when we see the environmental degradation caused by our society and we feel despair because we don’t seem to be strong enough individually to change our way of life. Wake Up offers us a way to pool our energy and act in synchrony. Let us get together and form a Wake Up Circle in our own town. Our collective practice will surely bring transformation and healing to individuals and society. Let us get in touch with young practitioners from Plum Village, both monastic and lay, to get more support and information.

Buddhism needs to be recognized as a source of wisdom, a long tradition of the practice of understanding and love and not just of devotion. The spirit of the Dharma is very close to the spirit of Science; both help us cultivate an open and non-discriminating mind. You can join the Wake Up Movement as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, an agnostic or an atheist. The practice of maitri, of loving kindness, the practice of sisterhood and brotherhood, is at the foundation of the Dharma.

When members of the Wake Up Community come together they like to hang out and connect with each other. They listen to a Dharma teaching, participate in a Dharma sharing, recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings and do sitting and walking meditation. The practice helps them to release the tension in their bodies and their feelings, to live more deeply and enjoy more each moment of their daily lives, and to use compassionate listening and loving speech to help restore communication and reconcile with other people, and help others in society to do the same.

Dharma sharings help us to share our practice with each other, to deepen our understanding of the Five Mindfulness Trainings and to find more appropriate ways to apply them right away in our daily lives and so change society in the direction of compassion and harmony. Together we can discover many concrete ways to help, such as:

* offering guided relaxation sessions to our classmates before exams
* organizing sessions of conflict resolution and reconciliation amongst our friends and within our families
* organizing sessions of sitting, walking and eating meditation with our friends and classmates
* helping our schools and colleges to move towards more mindful consumption (for example contacting organic suppliers or setting up fair-trade vending machines)
* promoting Car Free Days
* facilitating Deep Ecology workshops to help us wake up to the situation of the planet
* creating organic vegetable gardens in our schools, colleges, and urban centres
* using the tools and insights of Buddhism to help friends struggling with addiction and dependency
* working together with local charities to help those in need, and supporting aid projects in the developing world

Members of the Wake Up Community can also organise camps and retreats so that many others, young and less young, can come and share the practice of joyful and mindful living, and so we can all nourish ourselves through contact with nature.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings encourage everyone to live in such a way that our Planet Earth will be able to survive for a long time. These Trainings are the foundation of the lives of the members of the Wake Up Movement and represent their ideal of service. Mindfulness, concentration and insight are the energies we cultivate through our practice and that can bring about tolerance, non-discrimination, understanding and compassion.

In the last three decades Plum Village has helped to train many young people in Europe, North America and Asia in this way. Now it is possible to set up Wake Up Circles in each town and country. Please report to us in Plum Village what you are planning to do and what you are trying to achieve. We shall do our best to support you.

You can contact us now with your ideas and any suggestions at wkupnow@gmail.com

You are a continuation of your father

2008-06-24T22:22:00.005+08:00

They tell you that you are the continuation of your father, and they even say that you look exactly like your father; your way of smiling, of reacting is very much like your father’s way. And you know that scientifically you are the continuation of your father, because your father has transmitted himself to you through his genes and so on, so it’s true. Intellectually, you accept that your father is in you, you are the continuation of your father, but sometimes you feel that it looks like you are not your father. Your father is somehow different, and you are different.

Even if members of your family, other people, friends, tell you that you behave and have many habit energies [like your father]: your way of reacting, your way of doing things is very much the way of your father, and yet you don’t feel that you are your father – you are different. This is because you have an image of your father outside of you, and that image is not deep enough. You have not discovered your father deeply enough. You have only an image of your father, a notion of your father that does not represent the totality of your father. That is why you feel that your father in you is quite different from your father outside.

The first reason why you don’t feel that your father outside you and your father inside you are the same is that you have got an image of your father outside that is not deep enough. You have not really seen him in depth, and since you know that your father is also in you, you have a chance to get to know him in a deeper way, so by getting in touch with your father in yourself, you have a chance to understand your father outside yourself better. It’s a very interesting process if you have enough curiosity and determination. It will bring you a lot of energy and joy. Then, the father inside more intimately connects with your mother than the father outside does. Physically and mentally also, your father and mother are not as deeply connected outside of you as they are inside.

These connections are both physical and psychological – that is why you don’t recognise him in you. And then your father inside of you sounds and looks quite different from your father outside because you have had a different kind of environment; you have lived in a different kind of environment. You have received input that your father has not, and if you are a practitioner, then you have transformed your father in you a lot. Your father in you may be more beautiful than your father outside. He’s more calm, more serene. He knows how to do walking meditation, he knows how to breathe in and out and enjoy his in-breath and out-breath, and your father outside does not know how to do this. So your father inside may be more beautiful, more relaxed, more happy than your father outside, because of you, because you are a practitioner – so everything you do is your father’s profit. Every negative thing you do, your father in you has to inherit, and every good thing you do, your father will profit also. And in Plum Village we always say, it’s kind of you to practise for your father, to walk for your father, to sit for your father, to breathe and to smile for your father, and things are impermanent. Maybe your father outside of you is changing, but because he’s not a practitioner, that is why your father in you is changing more quickly, and you are very kind to allow your father to change quickly like that. And your father in you may be more beautiful, more compassionate than your father outside.

Continue reading... here

"Tell your father that you carry him to the future, and he has a good future, and you are very glad about that, This will help him to get along with you and go on the same path."

Plum Village - Youth Retreat 2007

2008-06-22T16:42:00.003+08:00

2008 Wesak International Film Festival

2008-06-09T22:24:00.001+08:00

Mindful Consumption

2008-05-20T17:56:00.000+08:00

Mindful Consumption
by Thich Nhat Hanh
excerpts from For a Future to Be Possible

"Practicing a diet is the essence of this training. Wars and bombs are the products of our consciousness individually and collectively. Our collective consciousness has so much violence, fear, craving, and hatred in it, it can manifest in wars and bombs. The bombs are the product of our fear. Because others have powerful bombs, we try to make bombs even more powerful. Then the other nations hear that we have powerful bombs, and they try to make even more powerful bombs. Removing the bombs is not enough. Even if we could transport all the bombs to a distant planet, we would still not be safe, because the roots of the wars and the bombs are still intact in our collective consciousness. Transforming the toxins in our collective consciousness is the true way to uproot war. . . .

Consuming mindfully is the intelligent way to stop ingesting toxins into our consciousness and prevent the malaise from becoming overwhelming. Learning the art of touching and ingesting refreshing, nourishing, and healing elements is the way to restore our balance and transform the pain and loneliness that are already in us. To do this, we have to practice together. The practice of mindful consuming should become a national policy. It should be considered true peace education. . . .

The practice of mindfulness helps us be aware of what is going on. Once we are able to see deeply the suffering and the roots of the suffering, we will be motivated to act, to practice. The energy we need is not fear or anger; it is the energy of understanding and compassion. There is no need to blame or condemn. Those who are destroying themselves, their families, and their society by intoxicating themselves are not doing it intentionally. Their pain and loneliness are overwhelming, and they want to escape. They need to be helped, not punished. Only understanding and compassion on a collective level can liberate us. The practice of the Five Wonderful Precepts is the practice of mindfulness and compassion. For a future to be possible for our children and their children, we have to practice."

A New Gatha by Thay

2008-04-23T16:13:00.003+08:00

Let the Buddha breathe
Let the Buddha walk
I don't have to breathe
I don't have to walk

The Buddha is breathing
The Buddha is walking
I enjoy the breathing
I enjoy the walking

Buddha is the breathing
Buddha is the walking
I am the breathing
I am the walking

There is only breathing
There is only walking
There is no breather
There is no walker

Peace while breathing
Joy while walking
Peace is the breathing
Joy is the walking

~ a new gatha by Thay, shared in the Mindfulness Bell Magazine Issue 47

Thay's Proposal

2008-04-15T22:00:00.002+08:00

ZEN MASTER THICH NHAT HANH TALKS TO ITALIAN TELEVISION ABOUT TIBET

When the Plum Village delegation led by Thich Nhat Hanh had just landed in Rome for 14 days of Public Talks, retreats and other events, the demonstration of 600 Tibetan monks on the occasion of the 49th year of the movement to oppose the yoke of Chinese rule was on its eighth day. The capital of Tibet, Lhasa, had been cut off from all outside contact by Chinese tanks, armoured cars and military. The repression by the Chinese forces was bloody and the corpses of hundreds of victims, most of whom were Tibetan youths and Buddhists, were lying everywhere on the streets.

During his stay in Rome Thich Nhat Hanh was interviewed on Italian television about the situation in Tibet. Thây made two main proposals:

1. The European parliament should call an extraordinary meeting on the situation in Tibet and send a multi-national delegation to Lhasa and all other parts of Tibet, which have witnessed suffering due to the occupation. The delegation should listen deeply to the suffering of both sides and make a report to the countries of Europe and North America.

2. The European and North American countries should intervene to make it possible for H.H. Dalai Lama to visit Tibet, give teachings on the Buddhadharma and organize retreats just as Thich Nhat Hanh has been able to go back to Vietnam to teach the Dharma. If Thich Nhat Hanh has been allowed to return to Vietnam to teach, then China should allow H.H. the Dalaï Lama to go back to Tibet to teach. The people of Tibet and the Chinese people need to be in touch with the wonderful presence of H.H. Even if H.H. were only to teach the Dharma and encourage the preservation of the Tibetan culture and were to say nothing about politics, it would bring enormous happiness to the people of his homeland. If pressure from western countries enabled Thich Nhat Hanh to go back to Vietnam, then similar pressure could enable the Dalai Lama go back to Tibet.

During the interview, Thich Nhat Hanh also suggested that the government of Vietnam should allow the organizers of the International Wesak Celebration –due to take place in Hanoi this May- to invite H.H. Dalai Lama to attend. This would bring a great deal of happiness to Vietnamese Buddhists and would also show that Vietnam has a very different standpoint about Tibet than does China. Thich Nhat Hanh also told Tibetan Buddhists not to give up hope because Vietnam had in the past been under Chinese rule for nearly 1000 years, but had finally been able to reclaim her independence.

During a press conference of 27th March in Naples, Thich Nhat Hanh repeated what he had said to the Italian television earlier; namely that he was ready to go to Tibet with H.H. Dalai Lama to support H.H. and teach the Dharma to Tibetan Buddhists with H.H. if he was granted a visa to do so.

Pray for Love and Peace for Tibet and China

2008-04-12T08:51:00.005+08:00

Pray for Love Campaign

Further Resources:

Tibet: Proving Truth from Facts

Tibet Support Group Grampian

Tibet Justice Center

The Lives of Tibetan Children Under Chinese Rule

Earth Peace Treaty

2008-03-17T12:42:00.003+08:00

"Earth Refreshing" Greetings

2008-02-05T08:11:00.002+08:00

The Sixth Mindfulness Training: Deer Park

2008-01-14T17:07:00.000+08:00

"Aware of the suffering and degradation brought about by the unsustainable use of material resources on the Earth, we are determined to find ways to use resources with mindfulness and a clear view to long-term effects of their use on ourselves and on future generations. Knowing that collective suffering such as global climate change, deforestation, water scarcity and the pollution of the air, soil and water arises from the daily actions of human beings, we are committed to transforming our way of life in order to bring about peace and harmony within our family, our local communities and ecosystems, and the world."

May the day be well

2008-01-01T11:46:00.000+08:00

Happy 2008 :-)

2008-01-01T10:45:00.001+08:00

Mindfulness Affirmation

2007-12-03T11:05:00.000+08:00

Five Contemplations

2007-11-28T11:40:00.000+08:00

This food is a gift of the whole universe,
the earth, the sky and much mindful work.
May we eat in mindfulness so as to be worthy of it.
May we transform our unskillful states of mind
and learn to eat in moderation.
May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.
May we accept this food to realize
the path of understanding and love.

Another revised version:

This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard work.

May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.

May we recognize and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.

May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet and reverse the process of global warming.

We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our sangha and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.

Blessings from Thay

2007-11-22T12:18:00.000+08:00

"Going without Arriving" ...

2007-10-26T16:20:00.001+08:00

Going Without Arriving

In our daily lives, we usually feel pressured to move ahead. We have to hurry. We seldom ask ourselves where it is that we must hurry to.

When you practice walking meditation, you go for a stroll. You have no purpose or direction in space or time. The purpose of walking meditation is walking meditation itself. Going is important, not arriving. Walking meditation is not a means to an end; it is an end. Each step is life; each step is peace and joy. That is why we don't have to hurry. That is why we slow down. We seem to move forward, but we don't go anywhere; we are not drawn by a goal. Thus we smile while we are walking.

Trouble-Free Steps

In our daily life, our steps are burdened with anxieties and fears. Life itself seems to be a continuous chain of insecure feelings, and so our steps lose their natural easiness.

Our earth is truly beautiful. There is so much graceful, natural scenery along paths and roads around the earth! Do you know how many dirt lanes there are, lined with bamboo, or winding around scented rice fields? Do you know how many forest paths there are, paved with colorful leaves, offering cool and shade? They are all available to us, yet we cannot enjoy them because our hearts are not trouble-free, and our steps are not at ease.

Walking meditation is learning to walk again with ease. When you were about a year old, you began to walk with tottering steps. Now, in practicing walking meditation you are learning to walk again. However, after a few weeks of practice, you will be able to step solidly, in peace and comfort. I am writing these lines to assist you in doing that. I wish you success.

This World Contains All the Wonders of the Pure Land

To have peace and joy and inner freedom, you need to learn how to let go of your sorrows and worries, the elements that create unhappiness. First of all, notice that this world contains all the wonders you could expect to find in the Buddha Land. It is only because of our veil of sorrows and worries that we cannot always see these wonders.

I always think that I like this world even better than I would the Pure Land because I like what this world offers: lemon trees, orange trees, banana trees, pine trees, apricot trees, and willow trees. Some people say that in the Pure Land there are valuable lotus ponds, seven-gem trees, and roads paved with gold, and that there are special celestial birds. I don't think I would like these very much. I would rather not walk on roads paved with gold and silver. I wouldn't even use roads that were lined with marble here on earth. Dirt roads with meadows on both sides are my favorite; I love pebbles and leaves covering the ground. I love bushes, streams, bamboo fences, and ferries.

When I was a young novice, I told my Master, 'If the Pure Land doesn't have lemon trees, then I don't want to go.' He shook his head and smiled. Maybe he thought I was a stubborn youngster. However, he did not say that I was right or wrong. Later when I realized that both the world and the Pure Land come from the mind, I was very happy. I was happy since I knew that lemon trees and star-fruit trees exist also in the Pure Land, with dirt roads and green grass on all sides.

I knew that if I kept my eyes open in mindfulness and my steps at ease, I could find my Pure Land. That is why I do not let a single day pass without practicing walking meditation.

Further reading here: "A Guide to Walking Meditation"

Messages from Thay

2007-10-22T01:28:00.001+08:00

http://www.plumvillage.org/HTML/news/letterfromThay.html

"Arranging Flowers"

2007-09-14T12:16:00.000+08:00

We arrange flowers because we want life to be beautiful. When we know how to arrange flowers, then we know how to be with ourselves and people around us, because we are all flowers. As we arrange flowers, we arrange ourselves.

To make a flower arrangement, first you need to find a flower. Perhaps there is a garden or a field where you can pick a flower. When you pick a flower, you can show your appreciation for its presence, for its beauty, by saying "thank you" and smiling to it. Do this before picking it and also after picking it. Put it in a container of fresh water immediately, so that it will be nourished right away.

You might think that you need many flowers to make a flower arrangement. But in fact, even without flowers, you can make beautiful arrangements. All you need is a branch from the ground, dry leaves, a rock, a feather, or some sand. Thank them as you thanked the flower, and sit down and start arranging them.

Arrange the things you have chosen in such a way that there is peace and harmony among them. If you breathe and smile while you are arranging them, the feeling of peace inside of you and inside the arrangement grows. But if you just throw the various items together without care, when you step back and look, you won't see peace because the different pieces are fighting each other.

When you arrange flowers, you also arrange the space in between and around the flowers and other items. Space between flowers creates a sense of freedom in us and in the hearts of people looking at the arrangement.

Flower arranging takes time. There is no need to hurry. Rushing defeats your purpose. Allow yourself enough time so that you stay very present during the process. That way, your flower arranging will create beauty and peace, and will be enjoyed to you and everyone else.

~ from "A Pebble for Your Pocket", page 45.

"Touching The Earth"

2007-09-06T14:34:00.000+08:00

In Plum Village we do a practice called "Touching the Earth" every day. It helps us in many ways. You too could be helped by doing this practice. When you feel restless or lack confidence in yourself, or when you feel angry or unhappy, you can kneel down and touch the Earth deeply with your hand. Touch the Earth as if it were your favorite thing or your best friend.

The Earth has been there for a long time. She is mother to all of us. She knows everything. The Buddha asked the Earth to be his witness by touching her with his hand when he had some doubt and fear before his awakening. The Earth appeared to him as a beautiful mother. In her arms she carried flowers and fruit, birds and butterflies, and many different animals, and offered them to the Buddha. The Buddha's doubts and fears instantly disappeared.

Whenever you feel unhappy, come to the Earth and ask for her help. Touch her deeply, the way the Buddha did. Suddenly, you too, will see the Earth with all her flowers and fruit, trees and birds, animals, and all the living beings that she has produced. All these things she offers to you.

You have more opportunities to be happy than you ever thought. The Earth shows her love to you and her patience. The Earth is very patient. She sees you suffer, she helps you, she protects you. When we die, she takes us back into her arms.

With the Earth you are very safe. She is always there, in all her wonderful expressions like trees, flowers, butterflies, and sunshine. Whenever you are tired or unhappy, Touching the Earth is a very good practice to heal you and restore your joy.

~ from "A Pebble for Your Pocket", page 44.

More "Touchings of the Earth" Practices here:

The Five Earth-Touchings

The Three Touchings of the Earth

Touching the Earth: Manifestation, Presence, and Love

Touching the Earth: Living in the Present

"Touching the Energy of the Bodhisattvas"

2007-08-02T16:16:00.000+08:00

From "Touching the Energy of the Bodhisattvas," a dharma talk given by Thay on December 21, 1997 in Plum Village:

"We bring all our body and mind to one point, and we are in touch with that energy. Our hands are like a lotus bud, we touch our forehead: "With all our brain". We bring our hands down to our heart and we are in touch with our heart: "With all our heart". It means we take our brain, we take our heart, and then we put our two hands out to the side and touch the earth. And when our two feet, our two hands and our head are touching the earth we turn our hands upwards very straight, to show that we don't retain anything, we haven't held back anything of ourself. And we open the doors of our soul, of our body, all the cells in our body, in order to receive the energy of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, which is already in our body, so that it can circulate in our body. And as we touch the earth we breathe in and out three times to look deeply. While we are on the earth we need to be really there, we need to follow our breathing, we need to allow the energy of the Buddhas, the bodhisattvas, the ancestral teachers to manifest. And after we prostrate like that we will be a different person. After three breaths in and out there will be a stopping of the bell, and at that point we turn our two hands around to put them on the earth, and we stand up.

When we are prostrating our forehead should be touching the floor, and our two hands and our two feet should be touching the floor. We should be as close to the floor as possible, we should not leave any space between our body and the floor. And we have to let go of everything. We have to surrender ourself and not hold anything back which we consider to be "mine". All my inferiority complexes, my pride, everything I think that I am, all that I think my value is I let go of it and I become emptiness, and then the door opens and the energy of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas and ancestral teachers can be transmitted. If we keep our pride, our inferiority complex , that we have achieved this, we have achieved that, if we hold on to our anger, our hatred when we are touching the earth, then that stiff shell is still there and the prostrating has no fruit. So we have to let go of everything and then our body and our mind can be open. When our forehead is touching the earth and our two hands are touching the earth we open our hands to show that we are not hiding anything, holding anything, we have let go of everything. And our two hands have to be straight, opened up (and some people lift their hands up a little bit) to show I am not holding anything, I have wholly let go of everything, all my ideas about myself. And then you can join the stream, the spiritual stream or the life stream of your ancestors. Because we are cut off from that stream when we are lonely and caught in ideas of ourself...

Buddha Sakyamuni represents our aim, our point of arrival; that is, the absolute, the upward direction. There are two directions, Buddha represents the upper direction, and Mara represents the lower direction. There are moments in our life when our body and mind are going in the direction of Mara, when we are sad, when we are worrying, when we are going in a non-constructive way. For example we see on the table a very tasty dish. We have enough clarity to know that if we eat that dish we will receive unpleasant consequences. We know that very clearly. Our wisdom knows that if we eat that tonight we know what will happen. But there is another force which says: "Go on, eat it, what happens afterward will happen, there's always a medicine you can take." So there is a difference between the two. Wisdom says: "You shouldn't eat that." And then the other one says: "Why don't you eat it, go on, have it, let's live the present moment." And at that moment we can choose whether we go in the upper direction or the lower direction, it's up to us. And it depends whether we have the energy of mindfulness, whether our body and mind are together, because that will give us the opportunity to go in the upper direction. But if our mindfulness is weak, then we don't have the force to go in the upper direction. And sometimes we go backward and forward all day long.

We have a bodhisattva whose name is Manjushri.... Manjushri is Great Wisdom, and... he can be symbolised by an eye, the eye of wisdom. Manjushri is the eye of wisdom of the Buddha. As far as history is concerned it may be different, but as far as the ultimate dimension is concerned we should know that the element of Manjushri is the element of wisdom in Buddha Sakyamuni. So Buddha Sakyamuni and Manjushri are the same. And when we touch the earth before Manjushri we are turning also toward our own capacity to wake up and become Buddha. The object of our prostration is not the statue of Manjushri on the altar. The object of our prostration is to be in touch with the element of Manjushri which is in us, that is, the wisdom of the Buddha. "With one mind I bow down before Manjushri, the bodhisattva of Great Wisdom." And we see clearly that we are going in the energy of Great Wisdom when we do that, and our Right Mindfulness helps us to be in touch with bodhisattva Manjushri.

We have another bodhisattva whose name is Avalokiteshvara. Avalokiteshvara symbolises another hand of the Buddha, and that is the hand of love and compassion. We can say that Avalokiteshvara is Buddha, Avalokiteshvara is the hand of love of the Buddha, because the Buddha is complete love and understanding. Usually Avalokiteshvara is symbolised by an ear, because Avalokiteshvara has the capacity to listen to the suffering of people, to understand, and to find them and help them. When we prostrate to Quan The Am (Vietnamese for Avalokiteshvara) we are in touch with the energy of love in ourself. We see we have the capacity to listen deeply, to love and to understand. First of all to listen to ourself, to hear ourself and love ourself. Because if we cannot understand and love ourself how do we have the energy to love and understand others. So these sources of energy are all energies of the Buddha, and they are all in us. Manjushri is Buddha, Avalokiteshvara is also Buddha....

Another bodhisattva is called Samantabhadra, which means universal kindness. It is the energy of the great vow, great aspiration, and Great Action. Therefore Samantabhadra is symbolised by a hand, the hand of action. And when we prostrate before Samantabhadra we are in touch with the energy of the aspiration and the action of Buddha, and Samantabhadra is the hand of the Buddha. Buddha is Great Understanding, Great Compassion and Great Action.

Alongside them we have another bodhisattva whose name is Ksitigarbha. Ksitigarbha is a bodhisattva who has a great aspiration. His aspiration is to be present wherever there is suffering, wherever there is hell; it could be our office. Therefore Ksitigarbha represents a Great Vow, Great Aspiration. A Great Vow is a great energy, and when we have the energy of Great Vow we are strong, we will not fall down before any difficulty. Even if it's cold below freezing we still go out. If there are thousands of obstacles on our path we still overcome them. When the mountains fall we still continue. Because in us we have a great vow. So we have Great Compassion, Great Understanding, Great Vow and Great Action, and those four things are what make Buddha. And in us it's the same, we all have these essences in us, Buddha is in us. And when we touch the earth, prostrate, we are in touch with these things in ourself."

More Gathas

2007-07-26T15:56:00.001+08:00

My plate, empty now,

will soon be filled

with precious food.

Defiled or immaculate,

increasing or decreasing --

these concept exist only in our minds.

The reality of interbeing is unsurpassed.

Gathas

2007-07-18T18:31:00.000+08:00

Respectful of countless Buddhas,

I calmly light this candle,

brightening the face of the Earth.

Listen, listen,

this wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.

The 5 Mindfulness Trainings

2007-06-22T20:56:00.000+08:00

From For a Future to be Possible (2007 edition) by Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh:

"In Buddhism, mindfulness trainings, concentration, and insight always go together. It is impossible to speak of one without the other two. This is called the Threefold Training-sila, the practice of the mindfulness trainings; samadhi, the practice of concentration; and prajna, the practice of insight. Mindfulness Trainings, concentration, and insight "inter-are." Practicing the mindfulness trainings brings about concentration, and concentration is needed for insight. Mindfulness is the ground for concentration, concentration allows us to look deeply, and insight is the fruit of looking deeply. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing "this,"we prevent "that" from happening. This kind of insight is not imposed on us by an outside authority. It is the fruit of our own observation. Practicing the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and concentrated and brings more insight and enlightenment, which makes our practice of the mindfulness trainings more solid. The three are intertwined; each helps the other two, and all three bring us closer to final liberation-the end of "leaking." They prevent us from falling back into illusion and suffering. When we are able to step out of the stream of suffering, it is called anasvara, "to stop leaking." As long as we continue to leak, we are like a vessel with a crack, and inevitably we will fall into suffering, sorrow, and delusion.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are love itself. To love is to understand, protect, and bring well-being to the object of our love. The practice of the trainings accomplishes this. We protect ourselves and each other and we obtain even deeper peace and joy.

What is the best way to practice the mindfulness trainings? I do not know. I am still learning, along with you. I appreciate the phrase that is used in the Five Mindfulness Trainings: to "learn ways." We don't know everything. But we can minimize our ignorance. Confucius said, "To know that you don't know is the beginning of knowing." I think this is the way to practice. We should be modest and open so we can learn together. We need a Sangha, a community, to support us, and we need to stay in close touch with our society to practice the mindfulness trainings well. Many of today's problems did not exist at the time of the Buddha. Therefore, we have to look deeply together in order to develop the insights that will help us and our children find better ways to live wholesome, happy, and healthy lives.

Do you care about yourself? Do you care about me? Do you care about life? Do you care about the Earth? The best way to answer these questions is to practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings. In that way, you teach with your actions and not just with words. If you really care, please practice these mindfulness trainings for your own protection and for the protection of other people and species. If we do our best to practice, a future will be possible for us, our children, and our children's children."

Sangha Building

2007-06-19T12:12:00.000+08:00

"Building a Sangha is like planting a sunflower. We need to be aware of which conditions will support the flower’s growth and which conditions will obstruct its growth. We need healthy seeds, skilled gardeners, and plenty of sunshine and room to grow. When we engage in Sangha building, the most important thing to remember is that we are doing it together. The more we embrace the Sangha, the more we can let go of the feeling of a separate self. We can relax into the collective wisdom and insights of the Sangha. We can see clearly that the Sangha eyes and hands and heart are greater than that of any individual member of the Sangha.

We have the opportunity to help build our Sangha in every moment, by participating in activities of the Sangha and contributing our energy and insights. To sustain our own practice when we leave the practice center, we need to know how to build a Sangha. Let us be active in establishing connections with those around us. When we realize our true nature of interbeing, we naturally seek to connect with others by sharing our practice and seeking the support and guidance of our fellow practitioners.

Thay instructs us to be energetic in the practice of mindfulness. The past is finished and the future is uncertain, only in the present can we discover the miracle of life. Living in this spirit, we are already valuable members of our Sangha. We will know how to engage in the continuous process of building a refuge for many beings.

Thay encourages us all to be Sangha builders, following the footsteps of the Awakened One, who was a great Sangha builder. When we are able to live and practice in harmony in a small community, we can then share this harmony with the larger Sangha, our family and friends, our co-workers, and our co-practitioners. When there is joy in the practice of Sangha building, then we know that we doing it correctly."