A daylong meditation retreat in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
Throughout the day, we will nourish our mindfulness and calm through sitting, walking and eating meditation and gentle silence
Saturday November 7, 2009
10am - 4pm
At our friend's cabin on the Platte River,
midway between Omaha and Lincoln (directions below)
We have a limited number of cushions for sitting meditation, so if you have one please bring it. There will be chairs available. Also please bring, a sack lunch, a blanket to rest your knees or bottom on (the floor is hardwood), and warm clothes for outdoor walking meditation. We will provide tea and water. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
If you'd like to bring a poem or prayer or story or song to share at the tea ceremony, that would be great. Also it is a time to talk about our experience of the day, something about ourselves, our practice, etc, so you don't need to bring anything.
Tentative Schedule
10:00 AM Arrive, Settle in, Intro to retreat
10:30AM Silent Sitting and Walking Meditation
11:00 AM Guided Sitting Meditation
11:20 AM Outdoor Walking Meditation (Weather Permitting)
12:00 Noon Eating Meditation- Silent Sack Lunch
1:00 PM Mindful Movement
1:15 PM Total relaxation and Touching the Earth
2:15 PM Dharma talk
3:00 PM Tea Meditation
4:00 PM End of retreat
Location:
Some friends have loaned us the use of their lovely cabin on the Platte River. The western wall of the cabin is all windows showing the Platte gently flowing by. It will be a very soothing environment. Also great for outdoor walking meditation (Dress warm).The floor is hardwood and there is a rug covering a portion of it, so good to bring a blanket to sit on. We will bring the cushions we usually use for meditation.
Directions to Cabin
Take I-80 to Mahoney state park exit.
Driving from Lincoln, go Right/South at the Mahoney exit which is just BEFORE you reach the Platte River.
Driving from Omaha, go Left/South at the Mahoney is exit which is just AFTER you pass the Platte River.
Take Mahoney exit and head South.
Go three or four miles to South Bend
Go through South Bend
Continue about a half mile
Take the first left. (It's at the foot of a hill, and just before the bridge)
Go through gate "Middle Island"
Keep right and go about two miles.
you'll go around a curve and the river will be on your right.
You'll pass a number of cabins on the left
Ours is the first cabin on the right (cedar wood)
We will gather at Mario's on Sunday November 1st from 2:00 - 4:30 pm for some fellowship time over food and a movie. Please bring a snack or hors d'oeuvre to share. Click here to RSVP and for Mario's address. See you there!
We will see the movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring.
Unity Temple on the Plaza is closed on Labor Day, thus the Heartland Community of Mindful Living will not meet. See you the next Monday, September 14th.
In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums. It's a lesson in listening deeply that applies to more than just music...Watch Now>>
Listen to Thay's commentary on the newly revised Five Mindfulness Trainings. http://bit.ly/3WKQs
The following is from Thay to the monks and nuns on transforming anger, or any other emotion, perception, or mental formation that arises.
Causes of Anger
After you are calm, after the anger is gone, meditate on this:
Why Is the Anger Gone?
Now that the anger is gone, meditate on what caused it to go:
Prevention of Anger
Plan what you will do next time the circumstances/conditions are right for the anger to occur. Write down your plan and after 2-3 months make a report to yourself on your anger.
This article from Washington, DC Dharma Teacher Mitchell Ratner reminded me of our dharma discussion this past Monday. Why do I practice? Because I like it! - With joy, Bethany
Many of us were raised to work hard at tasks in order to get something else. We worked hard on homework, in order to get good grades. We got good grades, in order to get into better schools. We worked hard at jobs, in order to advance, be recognized, or earn more money. We moved down a track laid down by the expectations of our parents, our teachers, and of the world immediately around us.
Some of us were not able to move along the tracks as fast or as far as others, and often we felt like failures. Others of us speed along, getting reward after reward, but then we realize one day we feel hollow or empty inside. All our efforts have not brought us happiness or contentment.
Mindfulness meditation offers a very different approach to life. We are urged to “be here now,” to become present to our moment by moment experience of our life and to the world around us. We practice conscious breathing, sitting meditation, or walking meditation because when we do them we feel alive, in touch with life. Ironically, when we let go of our intense desire for future rewards, our life transforms. New possibilities appear.
Recently, at the three week retreat at Plum Village, I heard Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) address these issues in terms of the eight fold path of the Buddhist way. The sixth element, samyak pradhana in Sanskrit, is usually translated as right effort. Thich Nhat Hanh prefers the term right diligence. For Thay, efforts can tire us out. When we practice, we should feel energized, not tired. His way of practice is continuous, regular practice, not intensive, effortful practice. This is how he believed the Buddha practiced:
The Buddha after his enlightenment continued to practice. So practicing is not to become a Buddha. The Buddha is already a buddha, why does he have to practice? Because he likes it. He likes breathing like that, he likes walking like that, he likes sitting like that, he likes eating like that, because it brings him well-being, not because he wants to become a Buddha.
An excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh's June 11, 2009, Dharma Talk is below.
Right diligence
From a Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, June 11, 2009.
I prefer the term right diligence rather than right effort. Making efforts can make you tired, but when you are diligent, you don’t need to be tired.
I don’t want intensive practice, I want regular practice, diligent practice. There are those of us who practice very intensively for a few weeks and then after that abandon the practice. But there are those of us who practice regularly, not intensive but continuously, that will bring good results. That is why I prefer the word diligence.
Why do you continue to do it? Because I like it. That is a good answer. Because I enjoy doing that. That applies to the practice. If you don’t enjoy the practice you have to make an effort, you get tired, and finally you abandon the practice.
You continue to do it because you like it. It is not because you have to do it. Why did you practice sitting meditation. The best answer is: because I like it. Why do you practice walking meditation? Because I like it. . . .
That is true diligence, right diligence. We know that right diligence brings well-being. The practices of mindful walking, mindful breathing, smiling, bring well-being, happiness.
The Buddha after his enlightenment continued to practice. So practicing is not to become a Buddha. The Buddha is already a buddha, why does he have to practice? Because he likes it. He likes breathing like that, he likes walking like that, he likes sitting like that, he likes eating like that, because it brings him well being, not because he wants to become a buddha.
So when you ask the Buddha: Dear Buddha, why do you continue to practice sitting meditation, walking meditation, because you are already a buddha. Because I like it, not because I want to become a buddha. So that is the best answer: Because I like it.
But there are those of us who do not practice right diligence. They are very diligent, but their diligence is wrong diligence. Wrong diligence can bring ill-being. They are caught in their work. They become workaholic. They don’t have time to take care of themselves. They don’t have time to take care of their beloved ones. They are sucked into the work. They are caught in their work. They cannot leave their computer.
[Someone like that is] always reading the Wall Street Journal instead of looking at his children. At breakfast, instead of looking and smiling at his children, he holds the Wall Street Journal and hides himself from his family. He is totally caught and sucked into his work. He is very diligent. He wants success as a businessman. He always thinks of the value of his stocks. He goes up and down with his stocks. He is very diligent, but that is not right diligence.
He is working so hard. He is making a lot of effort. He is very diligent in his work. But there is no happiness.
July 8, 2009
Plum Village, Lower Hamlet
From November 15, 2008 until now, for nearly eight months, the fourfold sangha of Plum Village has been practicing sitting meditation, walking meditation, and dharma discussion continuously; especially during the Winter Retreat, French Retreat, and the 21-Day Retreat, with the focus on the topic of the Path of the Buddha: Buddhist contributions to a global ethic.
Today we have the revised text of the Five Mindfulness Trainings to offer to our root teacher Buddha Shakamunyi. The Five Mindfulness Trainings are the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic.
We as practicing Buddhists can share with other traditions in the world regardless of their religious affiliation or non-affiliation. The fourfold sangha has practiced looking deeply with all their heart and this text will be offered to the Buddha in an open ceremony for the Summer Retreat before we transmit it to those who would like to receive it.
Link to new trainings http://www.plumvillage.org/HTML/practice/html/5_mindfulness_trainings-revised.htm
Sisters and brothers in the community, this is the moment when we enjoy reciting the Five Mindfulness Trainings together. The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
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.