How’s your breathing in this moment?
As we breathe in and out, we know we are breathing with each other in the It’s Now Virtual Meditation Hall.
The Five Contemplations
This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform 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 reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
Despite technology bringing the world into our home, we still experience loneliness and isolation. What is the connection between our inner landscape and the quality of our relationships with others? How can we cultivate self compassion so that it translates into acts of kindness towards others? The “insight of interbeing” and the engaged ethics of the Plum Village tradition offer us a road map for the journey.
Brother Phap Luu (Dharma Stream) ordained as a monk in 2003 and became a Dharma Teacher in 2011. He has a degree in English literature from Dartmouth College and also did non-degree study at Yale and Harvard in Buddhist Studies and Sanskrit before ordaining. He has been active in the Wake-Up movement for young people, the Plum Village Happy Farm initiative (combining organic farming, community living and the mindfulness practice in Upper Hamlet) and the Wake Up Schools initiative to bring mindfulness into schools. While at home in Deer Park he enjoys hiking, mentoring, teaching the Sutras (ancient Buddhist texts) and the Vinaya (Buddhist monastic code), and making trails. He also loves to chop wood, swing in a hammock, and make guacamole for special occasions.
Walking meditation is a precious opportunity to take a break from our daily worries, go outside and enjoy a walk. In that time of walking whether it be for 5 minutes, 20 minutes, or 60 minutes we let go of all our worries of work and other things and try to get in touch with the quiet within. Doing so, we can truly enjoy each step and this will help us to find happiness in walking and peace in the here and now.
The monastics in our 3 U.S. centers of Deer Park, California, Magnolia Grove Mississippi and Blue Cliff, New York will be enjoying walking meditation together as a community around the monastery grounds. We invite you to also take this time to practice walking meditation at home too.
Enjoy your steps!
Can you vacuum the floor in mindfulness? Can you sit in front of the computer and type out a spreadsheet in mindfulness? Can you cook in mindfulness? The answer is yes. If every 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes you stop what you’re doing, close your eyes and take 3 deep in and out breaths that is just one example of how you can apply mindfulness and meditation into your work life.
You’re invited to use this time to also practice working meditation. Tend to your chores and tend to your To-Do list and see if you can work in mindfulness.
After you’ve prepared your meal, please sit at a table and join us online for lunch. We will practice mindful eating and perhaps have time to chat afterwards.
Join us for the lunch at Breakout Tables
In the practice of Total Relaxation, we meditate while laying down, so that we can release all of the tension in the body, relaxing each muscle as we bring our awareness to it. We use the breath as our anchor to help us. We can feel the breath like the ocean feels a wave, and allow it to gently rock us into a deep peace. In this state of rest, our body and mind can release their burdens. A lot of healing happens just by letting go and sinking into this state of total relaxation. This practice and the techniques within it can be applied at any time during the day when you have free time. It only takes a few minutes of practice to create more lightness and ease in the body and mind.
We invite you to take this time to practice total relaxation at home. Rest, recover and restore so that you can feel fresh for the rest of the day!
You can find many guided Total Relaxations in our Plum Village app. You can download here.
Hello dear friend 🙂
I know you are there, and I am very happy.
For those of you who registered for Dharma Sharing, you will receive a Zoom link in your email to join your Dharma Sharing Family.
Thank you for being there 🙂
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are a kind of “global ethic” that can help us live our ideals in our daily life and actions. Adapted from the Five Precepts that date back to the Buddha’s time, Thay has developed and expanded the text to be applicable to the challenges and situations of our times. They can act as a “North Star” to guide us in difficult moments, and to help us keep our deepest aspirations alive.
Meditation and mindfulness, as we have learned on this retreat, are not only for the meditation hall. How we listen to others and how we speak, the ways we think and act and consume, and the kind of choices we make about how to spend our time, energy and resources—are all ways of practicing mindfulness throughout the day.
The Five Contemplations
This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform 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 reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and nourish our ideal of serving all living beings.
We’re invited to use this time to practice sitting meditation on our own. Whether it be for 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 30 minutes… in each minute we have an opportunity to touch peace and healing in the very here and now.
You can find many guided sitting meditations in our Plum Village app. You can it download here.
Silence can be cold and frightening. Or silence can be warm, cozy and healing. The warm and healing silence is noble silence.
After a long day of meditation, work and activities in the monasteries we practice Noble Silence. Noble Silence is a time we reserve after the last activity of the day to not talk to each other unless it is super important. Not talking here also means letting our minds stop running and stop talking too. We turn off the computer, devices, give our mind a break and rest. Even as we prepare for bed, we do our best to maintain the energy of a quiet and loving attention. This is the time to lay down, practice total relaxation and drift off into deep sleep to be ready for the new day ahead.
Practicing noble silence turns the nighttime into a time of quietness and deep healing.