This story is adapted from Old Path White Clouds, Thich Nhat Hanh' s recently released biography of the Buddha (Parallax Press, 1990). Annabel Laity's commentary on the Buddha's Six Principles of Harmony follows the excerpt. At monasteries during the life of the Buddha, certain monks were assigned the task of memorizing the teachings of the Buddha.…
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Dharma Talk: A Peaceful River
photo by Jitka Slamova New Hamlet, Plum Village January 26, 2012 Dear Sangha, today is the 26th of January, 2012. We are in the Full Moon Meditation Hall of New Hamlet. Today’s gatha from the sutra we are studying says that all of us contain a stream, and we don’t…
Healing the Past in the Present
By David Ostwald Sitting awkwardly at my first Sangha meeting in 1998, I was feeling both ill at ease and curious. But by the time we’d finished reading the Five Mindfulness Trainings, those feelings had been transformed to excitement and certainty: I had found my path. One phrase in particular…
Dharma Talk: To Make Reconciliation Possible
photo by Robert Felker European Institute of Applied Buddhism June 13, 2013 Good morning, dear Sangha. Today is the 13th of June in the year 2013, and we are on the third day of our retreat, “Are You Sure?” Are you sure that the best moment of your life hasn’t…
Sacred Clowning
An Interview with Didier DanthoisBy Barbara Casey during the Hand of the Buddha Retreat in Plum Village in June 2002 Barbara: Didier, how did you create and develop the idea of sacred clowning? Didier: For me the “sacred” added to clowning is a way to celebrate the eternal quality of…
Inmates and Outmates
By Bob Repoley For the past few years, practitioners from several North Carolina Sanghas have practiced mindfulness and meditation with inmates in the state prisons. North Carolina is a conservative state and Buddhists are often viewed as strange. For example, one prison officer called us "Voodists" and was convinced Jesus would want her to stay away…
Dharma Talk: “Relationships” — Community as Family, Parenting as a Dharma Door, and the Five Awarenesses
Taking Refuge To practice Buddhism, we have to take refuge. This means that we have to base our practice on some ground that helps us be stable. It is like building a house—you have to build it on solid ground. If we look around and inside ourselves, we can find…
The War in Los Angeles
Sunday, May 3, 1992 Yesterday, half a dozen people called to say they would not be coming to our Day of Mindfulness. They were going down to south-central Los Angeles to help with the cleanup. The rest of us practice meditation for one period and then pass around the talking stone. Each one of…
Letter from the Editor
Dear Thây, dear Sangha, One of my fondest memories of the 2004 Vietnam trip is the tea ceremony that closed the first monastic retreat. The setting is Hoang Phap Temple, a large Buddhist retreat center outside of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). But first I need to tell you…
Freedom Is Our Practice
May 13, 2004 New Hamlet, Plum Village photo by Paul Davis Good morning, dear Sangha. Today is May the thirteenth in the year 2004, and we are in the Loving Kindness Temple in the New Hamlet. In the Buddhist teaching there is the concept of aimlessness, apranihita, which I translate…