Stories from a Joyful Retreat By Lorrie Harrison A friend recently sent a description of what he imagined it was like at Plum Village: “I get a flash of it being like individual bees flowing toward an attractant. The sweet words of Thay and the lovely people and surroundings pull…
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Growth in Wake Up Nijmegen
By Manon Wetzels and Reinier de Nooij Nijmegen Snagha The seed for Wake Up Nijmegen germinated during a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in Papendal, the Netherlands, in the spring of 2009. In a gathering of young people at the retreat, there was fertile soil, plenty of Dharma rain, and…
Dharma Talk: The Practice of Prayer
What is prayer? To whom should we pray? Does prayer bring results? Thich Nhat Hanh A five-year-old boy who loved playing with his pet mouse was deeply wounded when his mouse tunneled deep into the earth and didn’t come back, but the mouse never returned. Later, when he was a…
Seven Ways to Help End Racism
Dharma Talk to White Practitioners Thay calligraphy; courtesy of the monastic Sangha “Exploring White Awareness” Day of Mindfulness November 2017 We are amazing, determined, generous, kind, compassionate human beings who deserve nothing less than complete respect and appreciation for the ways we try to be aware of and counteract racism…
True Wonderful Action
By Anissa Housley I’m in Estes Park, Colorado. The cavernous meeting hall is filled with people. It’s early morning; everything is dimly lit. Monks and nuns sit onstage and Thay is leading the ceremony for the transmission of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. I’m standing, I’m prostrating, I’m kneeling, I’m singing.…
Letters
Many thanks for a wonderful newsletter which has given me so many precious gems of thought and being. With each issue I am challenged and uplifted. Patricia WilliamsSanta Rosa, California I'm reading For a Future To Be Possible and am, as usual, deeply moved by Thay's understanding of human life, current Western life, and…
Invoking the Name of Avalokitesvara
By Sister Giac Nghiem Before l was a nun, I found Avalokitesvara one day at my acupuncturist's office. He had a beautiful statue of Avalokitesvara and told me that she has the same energy as Mother Mary. I felt I had met Mother Mary in another form, with the same…
Dharma Talk: True Happiness
Good morning, dear Sangha, today is the twenty-third of June, 2005 and we are in the Lovingkindness Temple in the New Hamlet. Happiness is a practice. We should distinguish between happiness and excitement, and even joy. Many people in the West, especially in North America, think of excitement as happiness.…
From Irritation to Appreciation
By Jaime Robeck River; photo by Jaime Robeck It is a lovely spring evening. The meditation hall is silent as each practitioner makes the last adjustments to their cushion or chair. In this quiet moment, the birds make their debut. Their sweet voices enter the building and rise to fill…
The Gift of True Freedom
We often hear reference to what it means to be free. We speak of the “free world.” We speak of “freedom of speech.” Most of us, at least in the West, as well as in many Eastern cultures, have the freedom to choose our mates, our careers, and even how…