It’s very precious to have someone show us how our practice is going. When a friend shines light on our practice we benefit greatly, because we have many wrong perceptions that can keep us in a prison of self-pride. That is why when we are offered guidance, we can make…
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True Transmission
Thich Nhat Hanh; photo courtesy of monastic Sangha Deer Park Monastery August 22, 2001 You have to organize your daily life so that it will express the Fourth Noble Truth: showing the path, teaching the living Dharma with your own life. There is a lot of Dharma talk in the…
From Soldier to Buddhist Monk
Brother Phap Uyen shares his path of practice from Brother Phap Uyen’s writings and an interview by Sister Steadiness My mom and I met Thay at a retreat in Redlands, California in 1989. I took the five mindfulness trainings and received the name Tam Houng, Strength of the Heart. Two…
Breaking up as a Mindfulness Practice
By Octavia Baker For months, I was clinging to my relationship with my partner, thinking we could somehow stay together without my becoming a parent, although he wanted to have children. I thought my partner could adopt my best friend’s children. He could become a mentor, a big brother. He…
Got White Rice?
By Lien Shutt I was born in Saigon in 1964. My birth mother was a clerk at the American Embassy. When she realized that she was dying of cancer, she asked her boss to help her find Americans to adopt my older sister and me. In 1973, European Americans adopted us. Because my adoptive parents…
Walking on Ice
By Jack Lawlor Even the Buddha's Sangha experienced difficulties. His cousin, Devadatta, once attempted to divide the Sangha and lead it himself. And the Buddha himself could not mediate the dispute over etiquette between the Precept master and the Sutra master at Kosambi-at least, not initially. The Upakkilesa Sutta describes how the bhikkhus at Kosambi were…
Awakening and Responding to Climate Change
By John R. Snyder and George Hoguet In January 2014, the Order of Interbeing discussion list hosted a particularly rich dialogue about climate change and our practice. It became clear that many of us who are locally involved in climate change initiatives have felt isolated and sometimes overwhelmed by the…
Bowing
An Exercise for Young People By Terry Masters Note: What you might say is in boldface. The answers to questions in parenthesis are the answers our children gave us. Materials Needed: Colored felt-tipped pens Bowing is a deep form of communicating. A bow may mean hello, thank you, goodbye, or…
Discovering the Roots of Buddhism in Vietnam
A Journey of Healing, Hope, and Coming Home White Cloud Sangha, March 2013; photo by Duong Tan Phung We walked slowly, silently, mindfully in the moist morning heat, following the dirt path through the ancient gate to the sisters’ hall. Bowing to the Buddha, we found our relaxed and upright…
Twenty-two Years of Plum Village
By Paul Tingen My first visit to Plum Village, twenty-two years ago, is still as vividly engrained in my memory as if it happened last week, probably because it was packed with surprises, ranging from the eyebrow-raising to the jaw-dropping. I arrived in Lower Hamlet on a warm evening in…