Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, December 22, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, December 24, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, December 26, 12-1PM ET online.

Camille will facilitate. Camille shares:

In Plum Village, the Buddhist monastic community in France founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, there is regular singing and chanting at sangha gatherings.  At Plum Village retreat centers throughout the United States and other countries, music is often at the heart of the tradition to share the practice and warm the heart.  Like gathas, singing helps us return to the present moment and truly practice mindfulness.

In celebration of the Second Mindfulness Training (see below), True Happiness, I would like to share a Monday night facilitation I shared several years ago. It was how singing brought much joy and happiness to me, and others, particularly during times of suffering. In remembering and reflecting back on that write-up, it brought a smile to my face, and I wanted to share part of that write-up with you.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, December 15, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, December 17, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, December 19, 12-1PM ET online/in person (Hybrid).

Annie will facilitate on Monday evening. Annie shares:

Sometimes life can feel overwhelming and, for some of us, the holidays can ramp up our thinking and busyness. I would guess that we all have experienced times when we are so distracted that we forget to notice our life passing by.

Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) used to share a story about a time he stayed in a cabin in the woods. He went out for a walk, and while he was out a windy storm came up. Unfortunately, he had left the windows of his cabin open, and when he returned, his papers were everywhere. This is sometimes how our minds can feel: as though thoughts and feelings are blowing around inside, and it doesn’t feel like we can sort it all out.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, December 8, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, December 10, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, December 12, 12-1PM ET online.

On Monday night, OHMC’s Engaged Mindfulness Circle will host the Oak Flat Buddhist Working Group, made up of Plum Village practitioners who are working with the Apache Stronghold in an effort to protect their sacred land.

Oak Flat is a sacred site in Arizona's Tonto National Forest that is vital for Apache religious ceremonies but is slated for destruction by a copper mine. The site is also a popular recreational area for activities like camping, hiking, and rock climbing. A 2014 defense bill authorized the transfer of the land to the international mining company Resolution Copper, leading to a legal battle by groups like Apache Stronghold to protect it.

Oak Flat Buddhist Working Group members Limei Kat Chen, Cathy Cockrell, and Joanne Connelly (bios are below) will be guests at our sangha and will share their experiences of supporting Apache Stronghold over the last year. Known in Apache as Chi’chil Bildagoteel, Oak Flat is a sacred site cared for by the Western Apache from time immemorial. This holy land is in danger of being destroyed by Resolution Copper.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, December 1, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, December 3, from 7-8AM ET online; Thursday morning, December 4, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, December 5, 12-1PM ET online/in person (Hybrid).

This week we will recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings and focus our discussion on the First Training. Rachel H will facilitate.

I am too often surprised by the anger I find in myself when I stop long enough to pay attention. How can that be – that such an important feeling can go around in disguise so much of the time? 

In reading the First Mindfulness Training: Reverence for Life, I was struck by the reference to anger. While I generally don’t kill, I certainly get angry. Sometimes I can see it and handle it skillfully. Other times, I get overcome or I shut down. In those cases, harmful actions are more likely to arise. 

In the Buddha’s Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries) it reads: 

When anger is present in him, he is aware, “Anger is present in me.” When anger is not present in him, he is aware, “Anger is not present in me.” When anger begins to arise, he is aware of it. When anger already abandoned will not arise again in the future, he is aware of it. 

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 24, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, November 26, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, November 28, 12-1PM ET online.

On Monday, as we continue our celebration of Native American Day, Magda will guide us in exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on reverence for our ancestors. She will share reflections on the gifts of wisdom and healing offered by three more Indigenous traditions.

This week, Magda will honor the Navajo, Apache, and Lakota peoples—especially the women she has encountered throughout her life and deeply admires.

Please wear comfortable clothing, as Magda will also guide us in an Earth Touching Ceremony.

The Navajo

“With beauty before me, I walk.

With beauty behind me, I walk.

With beauty below me, I walk.

With beauty above me, I walk.

With beauty all around me, I walk.” 

Prayer of the Navajo 

The Navajo (Diné) people hold a vast treasury of spiritual, artistic, and ecological wisdom. Their gifts arise from the principle of Hózhó—living in beauty and in balance with all beings. To walk in Hózhó is to live with awareness that every thought, word, and action affects the harmony of life. This worldview is reflected in such practices as the Blessing Way Ceremony, in which prayer, song, and sand painting restore balance between humanity and nature, reminding us that healing is both communal and spiritual.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 17, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, November 19, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, November 21, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).

On Monday, in celebration of Native American Day, Magda will guide us in exploring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on reverence for our ancestors.

Magda will share reflections on the gifts of wisdom and healing from Indigenous traditions in a special two-week series.

This week, Magda will honor the Piscataway, Tainx, and Osage peoples—especially the women she has encountered throughout her life and deeply admires. Next week, she will honor the Navajo and New Mexico Pueblos, the Apache involved in the Oak Flat movement, and the Sioux.

Please wear comfortable clothing, as Magda will also guide us in an Earth Touching Ceremony.

Warriors, Artists, and Meditators: Honoring Indigenous Women and Their Most Precious Gifts

“A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground; then, no matter how brave its warriors nor how strong their weapons, it is done.” The Spirit of Indian Women, p. 93

“I was ready to spend ten days in the mountain wilderness as a young woman. This was my final preparation for a future as a renowned medicine woman.” The Spirit of Indian Women, p, 123

In Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Thich Nhat Hanh writes that Earth will be saved by warriors, artists, and meditators. As we celebrate Native American life, I think of the Indigenous women whose courage, creativity, and spirituality have deeply touched my heart. I think of their strength and of the ways they have used their creative and healing hands to serve their communities.

Dear Friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 10, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, November 12, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, November 14, 12-1PM ET online.

On Monday, Annie will facilitate. Annie shares:

Sometimes it is helpful to sidestep our rational minds in order to connect to the non-rational world and see things in a new way. Poetry, and many other arts, can help us see freshly, feel in new ways, and ground us in the present moment. Sometimes, a brush stroke or a few words can even help us awaken to the truth of interbeing. 

So, this week, we will read together and then reflect on some Buddhist practice poems from 6th Century BC through the present. How might these poems speak to us today? How might they guide us? 

Tissa - The Third (from The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns, circa 6th Century BCE)

Why stay here

in your little 

dungeon?

If you really want

to be free,

make

every

thought

a thought of freedom.

Break your chains.

Tear down the walls.

Then walk the world a free woman.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 3, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, November 5, from 7-8AM ET online; Thursday morning, November 6, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, November 7, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).

On Monday, our evening meditation will be co-facilitated by Rachel H and Camille. They share:

Thich Nhat Hanh introduced the Lazy Day practice to Plum Village in 1984. In a dharma talk from 2002, Thay explains: 

“A lazy day is a day when you refrain from doing anything; you resist doing things, because you are used to doing things. It can be a bad habit: if you are not doing anything, you have to die. You cannot bear the thought of doing nothing. It has become a habit. That is why, when you do not do anything, you suffer. The lazy day is a kind of drastic measure against that kind of habit energy. On lazy days, you refrain! You do your best in order to refrain from trying to do something. You try to do nothing. It’s hard. It’s hard, but we have to learn.…. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. That is not true. Our time is first of all, is for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peace, to be joy, to be loving. And that is what the world needs the most – so, we train ourself in order to be.” 

When I visited Deer Park Monastery a few summers ago, I felt the effort it took to be and not do. There was all this time! Think of what I could accomplish!  It took me a few days to settle my mind and begin to practice being without doing. While I initially resisted the slowness of life there – and certainly on the Lazy Day – by the end of the week, my body had gotten a delicious taste of a new way of experiencing time. There was a spaciousness and unfolding to the days there that felt transformative. 

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, October 27th, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, October 29th, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, October 31th, 12-1PM ET online.

On Monday, Magda will guide us in exploring the Fifth Mindfulness Training, inviting us to reflect on the foods we eat and how they nourish our bodies, connect us to our roots, and support our healing. Please bring a simple food to share as we eat together mindfully, with gratitude, and in the spirit of community.

Magda shares:

During a season in which we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Native American Heritage Month, including the many food traditions that sustain our cultures, I offer gratitude to my ancestors from Puerto Rico for the nourishment they passed down through generations. Their simple meals—roots like yautía (malanga), ñame (true yam), and yuca (cassava), as well as a great variety of beans, curative herbs, and homemade creams—were expressions of love, care, and harmony with the Earth.

I was not always appreciative of this legacy of mindful nourishment. Today I see that the more accustomed we become to processed foods and eating unmindfully, the more we lose touch with our ancestors’ intimate relationship with life’s rhythms.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, October 20, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, October 22, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, October 24, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).

On Monday, our evening meditation will be facilitated by Ellen. Ellen shares:

I attended services over the last few weeks for the Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah (the new year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). The themes of “return,” "repentance," and “renewal” are key to those holidays. This year, I was struck by the connection I saw between those themes and the important lessons from Thich Nhat Hanh about “letting go.”

The focus on return and renewal in the Jewish liturgy for these holidays is fundamentally about returning to one’s best self, letting go of harmful practices, and bringing a sense of renewal to the individual and the community. It’s about recognizing and taking responsibility for harm to others.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, October 13th, from 7-8:30PM ET online; Wednesday morning, October 15th, from 7-8AM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, October 17th, 12-1PM ET online.

On Monday night, Marie will facilitate our gathering. She shares:

One of the many gifts of facilitating sangha is the opportunity to choose a topic that we can explore together. This week, amidst the tumult of all that is going on in this world and in this country, I am drawn to two questions that affect my equilibrium—and perhaps yours:

How does your practice support you?  And, how do you support your practice?

Over the years, my practice has ebbed and flowed in a myriad of ways, landing right here where it is today.  And I know it will be different tonight, and again, tomorrow. Sometimes, I find the word “should” creeping into my inner dialogue about practicing, and I might judge myself based on some metrics around my practice (e.g., Did I sit? For how long? How was it?)  At other times, I relax into the “art of resting,” as Rinpoche Anam Thubten describes in this excerpt from his article on Shambhala.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, October 6, from 7-8:30PM ET in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, October 8, from 7-8AM ET online; and Friday, October 10, from 12-1PM ET in person/online (hybrid).

On Monday, our evening meditation will be facilitated by Annie. Annie shares:

Many of us may have listened to, or heard about, the Plum Village podcast, The Way Out Is In. The title comes from the practice of going inside ourselves in order to find the “way out” of our suffering. We all experience suffering in our lives, and knowing how to transform our suffering is one of the foundational practices of the Buddha and Thich Nhat Hanh (Thầy).

The Buddhist sutras describe this practice in several places, most clearly in the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness. Here, the Buddha shows us that freedom comes not from running away but from turning inward — looking deeply into our bodies, our feelings, our minds, and the objects of mind (everything we sense, including the teachings). This is what Thầy means by “the way out is in.” Similarly, the Heart Sutra describes the path to nirvana as looking inside to see how everything that we think is permanent is really impermanent.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 29th, from 7-8:30PM EDT online/in person (hybrid); Wednesday morning, October 1, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Thursday morning, October 2, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, October 3, 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday, Annie will facilitate, and our Sangha will host a special guest, David Viafora. 

David was ordained as a monk by Thich Nhat Hanh in the Plum Village tradition, and is currently a lay member of the Order of Interbeing. 

He recently published a book on Sangha building, "Thriving Together: Nine Principles for Cocreating True Community." According to the book's foreword by Sister True Dedication, “David Viafora’s quest to explore the essential elements of healthy communities of mindfulness has taken him on a multi-year journey across continents, visiting and living with dozens of communities in the Plum Village tradition…This book, the fruit of his exploration, draws on the collective wisdom of over 100 community builders who have shared their lives and insights with courage and vulnerability.”

David will invite members to share about their own community experiences and questions, facilitating an interactive dialogue so that our time together will be helpful and relatable to people's interests and needs. He will also share stories and lessons on Sangha building  in which individual or collective challenges and difficulties can lead to community strength, joy, and compassionate connections. 

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 22, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, September 24, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, September 26, from 12-1PM EDT in person / online (hybrid).

On Monday, Magda will gently guide us in exploring the Fourth Mindfulness Training. She will share how the practice of Right Speech and Deep Listening, nurtured in her encounters with spiritual friends over the summer, became a source of healing and transformation.

How Right Speech and Deep Listening with Maha-Sangha Friends Healed Me

“The next Buddha will not take the form of a person. The next Buddha will take the shape of a community, a community that practices understanding and loving kindness, a community that practices a way of conscious living. This may be the most important thing for Earth’s survival.”
— From a Dharma Talk by Thích Nhất Hạnh

Walking on Earth with Dharma Sisters

From the beginning of this new administration, I was consumed by distress. Images of suffering—especially of children—haunted me from the moment I woke up until the moment I fell asleep. With few inner filters, I had left myself completely vulnerable to the hatred of the administration and to the pain of its victims. My practice sustained me somewhat, but it was not enough. I had not shared my feelings much with those who could truly listen, and so I carried all that sadness inside, as though I were alone in the world.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 15th, from 7-8:30PM EDT online; Wednesday morning, September 17th, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, September 19th, 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday, Magda will guide us in coming together with gratitude to honor and celebrate the waters of the Earth. Inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh’s Love Letter to the Earth,  she will share her Love Letters to the Waters of the Earth, written in appreciation of the many moments she spent in connection with water during her summer journeys. As the season comes to a close, she wishes to offer her deep gratitude for the waters that nourish and sustain all life. Participants are warmly invited to share their own experiences with the Waters of the Earth this summer and to join in drinking tea or any other beverage of your choice. Together, we will also enjoy a guided meditation on water, inspired by Rachel Carson’s ocean trilogy. You are welcome to bring a small sample of water with you—your tea can serve this purpose as well.

This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 8, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, September 10, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, September 12, from 12-1PM EDT in person / online (hybrid).

On Monday, Annie and Rachel H. will co-facilitate.

Lately, it’s been difficult to believe and accept all that is happening here in Washington, DC, in the country, and in the world. On a recent vacation, it was wonderful to get lost in a fantasy book, happy to escape to another world for a few days. So many of us are overwhelmed by the news and the images of masked men disappearing our neighbors, troops armed with machine guns stationed around the city, and so much more. When things feel challenging, we can begin to feel alienated from our lives and even our homes.

In 1966, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) was literally exiled from his home country of Vietnam, and as a result he suffered knowing he would not be able to see his homeland or his family for many years, if ever again. 

“During the first year of my exile, it was difficult. … When I woke up in the night, I did not know where I was. … And I dreamt of going home to my root temple in central Vietnam… Halfway to the top of the hill I woke up and realized that I was in exile…I tried to live in the here and now and touch the wonders of life every day.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, September 1st, from 7-8:30PM EDT online; Wednesday morning, September 3rd, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, September 5th, 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday, Ellen facilitates, and we’ll gather online to discuss the Third Mindfulness Training that focuses on true love. (Full training below.) This is an important, challenging training–and one that likely speaks to all of us in different ways. For me, this training speaks to the importance of recognizing my own needs and how to meet them, bringing respect and honesty to my relationships, and being willing to take steps to protect others from harm when I can.

This training also makes me ask myself if I am willing to honestly speak up to protect others and also to speak up about my own needs. At the same time, the training reminds me of the importance of focusing on and attending to the needs of my partner and my family.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, August 25, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, August 27, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, August 29, from 12-1PM EDT in person / online (hybrid).

On Monday, Magda will guide us in exploring the theme of freedom as it appears in The Art of Power, Appendix B: Work and Pleasure—The Example of Patagonia. She will also share how she experienced freedom while retracing Thích Nhất Hạnh’s steps during her pilgrimage through Vietnam, undertaken in commemoration of Thầy’s Ashes Ceremony.

In an appendix to The Art of Power, Thầy reflects on the company Patagonia and the spirit that guides its work. Its leaders and employees walk an unconventional path, refusing the suffocating norms that weigh down so many businesses. Their purpose flows from a deeper source, not from attachment or greed. They bring the light of mindfulness into their daily work, knowing that work itself—and all the restless busyness it can invite—is not the whole of life. Their workplace becomes a space for living an examined life, one that nourishes a quiet freedom.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, August 18th, from 7-8:30PM EDT online; Wednesday morning, August 20th, from 7-8AM EDT Online; and Friday, August 8th, 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday night, Magda will lead us in a reflection on Thich Nhat Hanh’s model of humility, as presented in Appendix A, and share examples she witnessed during her visit to Vietnam for his Ash Ceremony in January of last year.

Magda shares:  

In the first appendix to The Art of Power, Thầy surprises us by suggesting practices to cultivate true power—practices that are simple and humble. They are not about domination or ambition, but about presence, compassion, and deep listening. 

This reminds me of what I learned about Thầy during the Ash Ceremony at Tu Hiếu, when I visited with the monastics. I could feel the depth of his commitment to helping all beings—not through grand gestures, but through the quiet power of humility and compassion. As we stood before the altar, Sister Định Nghiêm pointed to a column inscribed with the first Bodhisattva Vow: “Living beings are countless; I vow to help them all.” Then, with a spark of realization, she said, “Thầy was such a rebel.” Her voice was filled with admiration—for a teacher who never conformed, who drew deeply from Vietnamese tradition while daring to innovate, always guided by compassion and humility.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, August 11, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, August 13, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, August 15, from 12-1PM EDT in person / online (hybrid).

Camille will facilitate this Monday. Camille shares:

We will continue our summer reading of the book The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). This week, if you are able, we invite you to read Chapter Nine: Sparking a Collective Awakening (pages 159-175).

In Chapter 9 Thay shares that we need to cultivate our spiritual powers in ourselves first, in order to help others, particularly those who may find their power is more concerned with money and fame than service to others. In short, by taking care of our suffering, we can help with the suffering of others. From my personal experience, I often feel powerless and that I can’t do much to change a difficult situation. I sometimes feel like I am only watering negative seeds and not the good seeds. However, when I practice deeply and request help from others, I find the support and faith I need to move through a situation. Thay talks about moving through and not around difficult situations, and encourages us that “the way out is in.” I believe that collective awakening means working together through difficult times, first in ourselves and then in and with the greater community. Perhaps then we may move skillfully together in encouraging our political leaders to water their positive seeds.