A Mid-Hudson Valley NY Sangha, located in the Newburgh/New Paltz area and inspired by the teachings of Zen Buddhist
Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace.
It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Recitation
of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings & Sangha Forum
Please
plan to arrive before 9am and bring a dish to share.
Please save these dates
for the wonderful annual Pumpkin Hollow Farm Retreat with our beloved
Lyn Fine:
Living in the Present Moment: A
Retreat in the Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
with Dharma
teacher Lyn Fine and members of the Order of Interbeing.
September 25-28, 2008 (Thursday dinner
to Sunday lunch)
Life can only be found in the present
moment. Yet we live with regrets about the past and hopes/fears
about the future. In this retreat we will practice going back to
the present moment, where all the wonders of life can be found. We
will use the techniques of conscious breathing, sitting and
walking meditation, chanting and singing, to learn to be aware of
every movement, every thought, every feeling that arises within
our daily life. We will touch the peace that is within us and all
around us. With continued practice we will be able to touch the
pain that lies deep within us- the fear, anger and despair- with
mindfulness and tenderness so that we can be transformed and
healed.
Lyn Fine was ordained by Thich
Nhat Hanh as a Dharma teacher in 1994. She is one
of the founders of the Mindfulness Community of New
York City. Lyn currently lives in Berkeley,
California and offers teachings in this country and abroad.
Please Note - Pumpkin
Hollow will not be doing registration this year -
please do not call them. Registration and more information
will soon be available through the Budding Flower Sangha
website. Details of when that will be available and how to
register will be sent out in a bit. Please be patient.
Thank you.
Sangha Talk & Dates to Reserve
Please send any updates to Jennifer at: bodhicitta6(at)yahoo.com
Budding Flower Sangha celebrated New Year's Eve with mindful dancing and sitting around midnight. Everyone also took turns inviting bells starting at midnight for 108 times. Thanks to Sheila, we had flowers and candles in the center to brighten the room.
To see the photographs...press...
The following is a link to the first part of a Fall 2006 (audio) Dharma Talk by Thay, dated September 17
MINDFULNESS BELL, the journal of the art of mindful living is a wonderful source for practice
and always has a Dharma talk by Thay as well as articles by lay and monastic
practitioners.
It is 18 dollars a year : CML Deer Park, 2496 Melru Lane, Escondido CA 92026
Guest Corner
The
Meaning of Surrender
Eckhart Tolle
Is
nonresistance also to be practiced in the external conduct of our lives, such as
nonresistance to violence, or is it something that just concerns our inner life?
You only need to be concerned with the inner aspect. That is primary. Of course,
that will also transform the conduct of your outer life, your relationships, and
so on.
Your relationships will be changed profoundly by surrender. If you can never
accept what is, by implication you
will not be able to accept anybody the way they are. You will judge, criticize,
label, reject, or attempt to change people. Furthermore, if you continuously
make the Now into a means to an end in the future, you will also make every
person you encounter or relate with into a means to an end. The relationship –
the human being – is then of secondary importance to you, or of no importance
at all. What you can get out of the relationship is primary – be it material
gain, a sense of power, physical pleasure, or some form of ego gratification.
Let me illustrate how surrender can work in relationships. When you become
involved in an argument or some conflict situation, perhaps with a partner or
someone close to you, start by observing how defensive you become as your own
position is attacked, or feel the force of your own aggression as you attack the
other person’s position. Observe the attachment to your views and opinions.
Feel the mental-emotional energy behind your need to be right and make the other
person wrong. That’s the energy of the egoic mind. You make it conscious by
acknowledging it, by feeling it as fully as possible. Then one day, in the
middle of an argument, you will suddenly realize that you have a choice, and you
may decide to drop your own reaction – just to see what happens. You
surrender. I don’t mean dropping the reaction just verbally by saying “Okay,
you are right,” with a look on your face that says, “I am above all this
childish unconsciousness.” That’s just displacing the resistance to another
level, with the egoic mind still in charge, claiming superiority. I am speaking
of letting go of the entire mental-emotional energy field inside you that was
fighting for power.
The ego is cunning, so you have to be very alert, very present, and totally
honest with yourself to see whether you have truly relinquished your
identification with a mental position and so freed yourself from your mind. If
you suddenly feel very light, clear and deeply at peace, that is an unmistakable
sign that you have truly surrendered. Then observe what happens to the other
person’s mental position as you no longer energize it through resistance. When
identification with mental positions is out of the way, true communication
begins.
Thoughts
Living
Mindfully Together
Excerpts
from Teachings on Love
Thich Nhat Hanh
Each
moment of our lives, each moment that is given to us to live, we have to live
very deeply. If you are capable of living deeply one moment of your life, you
can learn to live the same way all the other moments of your life. The French
poet Rene Char said, “If you can dwell in one moment, you will discover
eternity.” Make each moment an occasion to live deeply, happily, in peace.
Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world, to make peace
possible for the world, to make happiness possible for the world. The world
needs our happiness. The practice of mindful living can be described as the
practice of happiness, the practice of love. The capacity of being happy, the
capacity of being loving, is what we have to cultivate in our lives.
Understanding is the very foundation of love. And looking deeply is the basic
practice.
Everyone
knows that blaming and arguing never help, but we forget. That is why we
practice the fifth awareness. Conscious breathing helps us develop the ability
to stop at that crucial moment, to keep ourselves from blaming and arguing.
All
of us need to change for the better. When we marry, we make a promise to change
ourselves and to help the other person change himself or herself so we can grow
together, sharing the fruit and progress of practice. It is our responsibility
to take care of each other. We are the gardener, the one who helps the flowers
grow. If we understand, the flowers will grow beautifully.
Every
time the other person does something well, something in the direction of change
and growth, we should congratulate her or him to show our approval. This is
important. We don’t take things for granted. If the other person manifests
some of her talent and capacity to love and create happiness, we must be aware
of it and express our appreciation. This is the way to water the seeds of
happiness. We should avoid saying destructive things like, “I don’t know
whether you can do this” or “I doubt that you can do this.” Instead, we
say, “This is difficult, darling, but I have faith that you can do it.” This
kind of talk makes the other person stronger. This is true with children, also.
We have to strengthen the self-esteem of our children. We have to appreciate and
congratulate every good thing they say and do in order to help our children
grow. When we are married, we can love each other in the way that encourages
change and growth for the better, all the time.
We
have to learn the art of creating happiness. If during our childhood, we saw our
mother or father do things that created happiness in the family, we already know
what to do. But if our parents did not know how to create happiness, we may not
know how to do it. So in our practice community, we try to learn the art of
making people happy. The problem is not one of being wrong or right, but one of
being more or less skillful. Living together is an art. Even with a lot of good
will, you can still make the other person very unhappy. Good will is not enough.
We need to know the art of making the other person happy. Art is the essence of
life. Try to be artful in your speech and action. The substance of art is
mindfulness. When you are mindful, you are more artful. This is something I have
learned from the practice.
News from other sanghas:
Please send any updates to bodhicitta6(at)yahoo.com
We
hear from Dan Sedia in Albany of the
Community of Mindful Living
of the Capital District.
Their initial Homepage can be seen by clicking HERE
Quiet Mountain Sangha.
is a women's Sangha in lower Westchester
County. they would like to invite new members to join them at
their monthly gatherings, and practice in the tradition of Thich
Nhat Hahn. For more information, please visit their page
HERE.
Judy Myerson
updatess us news of the
Gentle
Mountian Sangha
which meets at her home in Nanuet
(Rockland County).
The
Community of Mindfulness/NY Metro
has a beautiful Homepage, you can access it at http://www.communityofmindfulnessnewyorkmetro.blogspot.com/ I have also included below links to some of their other wonderful Dharma pages. A deep bow to you all for a lovely job.
Tuesday evenings :
Riverside Church sittings. Contact Marjorie Markus 212-787-1473 or David Flint
917-543-6485
Peace Walk every third Sunday of the month in Central Park. Contact Marjorie Markus.
Catskill Mountain Sangha
meets every Thursday. For info please contact Roberta Wall:
Robertaindia(at)yahoo.com or 845-246-5935/845-853-4788 (C)
