Where you can meditate in the Plum Village practice in the Washington DC area
New book release from friend of our sangha, Magda Cabrero:
WALKING ON EARTH WITH THICH NHAT HANH: My Experiences with Silence & The Sanctuaries & Kindred Spirits I Found in Many Places
by Dr. Magda De La Paz Cabrero
The Ableism and Disability Primer in Mindfulness Practice Communities
This was created by Rhonda Williams and our sangha acknowledges this very important resource.
How a Meditation Retreat Inspired Me to Claim My Disability Status
and Why That’s a Relief
By LAURA STURZA on June 11, 2023
Love in Action - Supporting those harmed in the war in Ukraine
In response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, OHMC, Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center, and Washington Mindfulness Community have come together with a project that is a concrete manifestation of our engaged practice.
Reconnecting to My Homeland
By Magda Cabrero
Don’t Scratch; Feel the Itch. Why we Seek Distraction & How to Stop.
By Annie Mahon
2020 Year-End Reflections
OHMC New Governance
You're invited to take the next steps to help our sangha grow and flow as a river with all of our collective energy.
A Dharma Talk from Kaira Jewel Lingo
Topic: In This Time of Pandemic and Upheaval, Compassion Is Our Best Protection
Recorded from our sangha on 7.13.20.
Plum Village site now has a page on social justice writings
Minh-Chau Le, True Manifestation of Goodness, is a historian and Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation board member. In this webinar, Minh-Chau shares photos and stories from her research in Vietnam…
Touching the Roots of our Community
Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
How Do You Fight Injustice Without Hating?
By Valerie brown
“Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.“
Get in trouble: good trouble, necessary trouble.”
Congressman John Lewis
As Black and Brown people, we are in the fight of our lives. Our lives are constricted by systems and structures that foster discrimination and injustice. The legacy of violence, especially unlawful police violence, perpetrated against Black people, Asian people, indigenous people, people of color, differently abled people, people of various gender identities and expressions and sexual orientation, and others who are marginalized, is our constant reality. This is compounded by the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian, Latinx, immigrant, un-housed, and low-income communities, which are among the hardest hit, grossly under-resourced, and devastatingly vulnerable.
Our hearts and our supports are broken open by grief, fear, and anger. How do we fight injustice and not hate?
The Opening Heart Mindfulness Community practices generosity all month in May
Thank you to our Sangha for all your contributions in May
Together, we raised awareness about Nueva Vida and formed a relationship that had an impact on the individuals in both organizations.
How you can support yourself and others during the pandemic
Sister Hai An (Sister Ocean)
Dharma Talk, OHMC Monday Night Sangha
May 18, 2020
Sister Hai An focuses on gratitude as the foundation for generosity. She explores the phrase "A Cosmology of Reverence" and how the way we view the world determines what we find there. When we cultivate gratitude for food and air and water, as well as the more direct ways that we "receive", our whole life can change. And once we know that we are always receiving something, our generosity become a true paramita, a quality that can carry us all the way to the other shore.
Guest Brother Chân Pháp Lai and his Younger Brother
Dharma Talk, OHMC Monday Night Sangha
April 20, 2020
We were honored to be joined by two monastics from Plum Village and Deer Park Monasteries. Brother Chân Pháp Lai (his name translates to Coming of the Dharma) led us in our dharma topic on Monday, April 20. Watch the recordings of the talks.
Closed captioning is provided in these two videos.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE to the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
We’re also offering transcripts of these dharma talks. Click to download the one PDF, which includes Part I and Part II.
Valerie Brown
OHMC Annual Retreat Online, April 4, 2020
Valerie Brown leads us in a morning dharma talk, beginning with a sitting practice.
Valerie leads us in an afternoon dharma talk.
You are invited to listen to Valerie Brown lead us in dharma talks and in a guided meditation. We are so grateful to Valerie for her offering to share these videos with our community.
Other Sangha and Community Events
Please note these are not Opening Heart events, but rather a space to allow other sanghas and practitioners to share theirs.
21 Day Retreat – The Sangha Body of the Buddha
Jun 1 - Jun 22, 2020
Plum Village France
Plum Village will be hosting their biennial 21 Day Retreat once again from June 1st to June 22nd. It is a retreat focused for experienced Buddhist practitioners, especially from our Order of Interbeing community, but is also open to the general public. The retreat will be conducted in English with respective translations. They will also be transmitting the 14 Mindfulness Trainings of the Order for all qualified international OI aspirants.
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ON PLUM VILLAGE SITE
We encourage you to connect with one another to share your questions, experiences and anything else related to this upcoming retreat. Some of you might have attended in the past, and others, might be considering attending or firmly committed to going. Please feel free to share from your hearts and connect in the practice.
Book Recommendations
We will continue to add books recommended by the community.
Peace is Every Step, by Thich Nhat Hanh
When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron
Things I Did When I Was Hangry, by Annie Mahon
Mindfulness Videos
Sleeping Meditation
doing the dishes
Walking Meditation
Mindful Eating
Mindfully observing the food we eat is powerful tool used to enhance our practice.
Mindfulness in Art
Exhibits and galleries in Washington DC recommended by OHMC. Updated regularly.
Inviting the Bell
The bell master should be calm, solid, and mindful.
Five Mindfulness Trainings
and the ARISE Contemplations
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are offered as suggestions to support our mindfulness practice. They provide us with a compass with which to orient our lives. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha and were the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. Thich Nhat Hanh translated these precepts for modern times. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. When we are mindful, we arrive at our own unique insight.
To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate a way of life that can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. Following this way of life, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
Click below to read the Five Mindfulness Trainings
and the ARISE Contemplations
Facilitator Resources
Resource for Facilitators of the Opening Heart Monday Night Mindfulness Sangha.
Other Local Mindfulness Communities
Washington Mindfulness community
Mindfulness practice center of fairfax
Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center
Retreat Centers
Blue cliff monastery
Plum village in France
Worldwide Retreats in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition
Other Resources
Affinity Groups
Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center offers Spanish-speaking meditation group in Silver Spring in the same Thich Nhat Hanh tradition.
The Insight Meditation Community of Washington offers an affinity meditation groups for LGBTQ and People of Color.
Plum Village Jewish Affinity Sangha welcomes Jews and self-identified Jewish practitioners. (Opens May 13, 2024)
Engaged Buddhism in DC
Interested in finding out more about how to apply mindfulness to social action? Follow the Opening Heart Facebook Page here or check out the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF).
Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes
“The present moment is the only moment available to us and is the door to all moments.”
“The amount of happiness you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.”
“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
“Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice.”
“Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere.”
“The mind can go in a thousand directions. But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.”
“There is no distinction between the one who gives, the one who receives, and the gift itself.”
“With each step, a gentle wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.”
“People have a hard time to let go of their suffering. Out of fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”
“When you look deeply into your anger, you will see that the person you call your enemy is also suffering. As soon as you see that, the capacity for accepting and having compassion for them is there.”
“When someone is truly listening, you feel it; and when someone pretends to listen, you know.”
“Be yourself. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search or struggle. Just Be.”
“No mud, no lotus.”