Monday, October 6, we will meet in person.
Go to calendar for our schedule
Address for OHMC meditation space:
3812 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015
Please arrive a few minutes early so we can invite the bell on time. You may also arrive 15 minutes early to practice working meditation by helping us set up cushions.
New to sangha?
This Monday we are offering an optional Newcomers Orientation.
Learn more and sign up here
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.
When we recognize through mindfulness practice that nothing we experience is solid or lasting — our bodies, feelings, perceptions, and even our consciousness — then we can release our grasping. What remains is the deep insight of interbeing: that we are not separate, but woven into a vast web of life. I think of this web as being held together by love. This recognition is the “way out,” discovered by going in.
When we quiet our thoughts and return to the body through the breath, as we have learned to do in our practice, we enter the present moment. Each smile, each text from a friend, each moment of "non-headache" becomes a door. These “present moments, wonderful moments” nourish us, preparing the ground so that when suffering comes, we have the stability to hold it.
In his dharma talk The Way Out Is In, given in 2013, Thay says:
A good practitioner can generate a feeling of joy at any time he wants by touching the conditions of happiness that are already available… When a practitioner knows a painful feeling is coming up, she knows what to do in order to take care of that painful feeling or painful emotion that is coming up. And a good practitioner knows how to handle a strong emotion, a painful emotion, or a painful feeling, and she can get relief after a few minutes of practice... A good practitioner knows how to handle suffering. She is not afraid of suffering. WIth the energy of mindfulness she can recognize suffering, she can hold suffering, she can bring relief and she can even go further and transform the suffering.
Yesterday, I attended a talk by Rami Khader, the founder of the non-profit Anar/Healing to Hope helping traumatized children in the West Bank of Palestine. Hearing about atrocities from someone who has experienced them firsthand created a lot of sadness and pain inside of me.
By going inward and making space for my sadness, I discovered I was not paralyzed by it. Instead, insight arose: I could mourn, and from that mourning I could see more clearly what compassionate action might be possible. This is how the practice moves—from mindfulness, to insight, to action rooted in love.
I love to sing, and there’s a song from Blue Cliff Monastery that I often use to practice with my feelings (full lyrics below). Through singing the song, I say hello to my strong feelings, I invite them in, and I remind myself that I also have access to more wholesome feelings, like joy, ease, groundedness, and space, and that helps me feel free to move past the pain and act in ways that can be of benefit.
Some feelings require more care than others, and we can give ourselves the time we need to be with whatever arises. If overwhelm comes, we can even practice being with our overwhelm, holding it gently like any other feeling. The practice of “present moment, wonderful moment” helps protect us from drowning in strong emotions by nourishing a solid base of wellbeing. As a friend once said, “We don’t put our feelings in the trunk, but we don’t let them drive the car either.” By going inward in this way, we step out of our small stuckness and touch the vastness of interbeing. From this clear and spacious love, our actions can be truly healing.
On Monday, we will practice going inward, we will touch the present moment and also make space for whatever suffering may be there. From that spaciousness, insight and the possibility of compassionate action can naturally arise. After our meditation period, as always, we will have time to share what is arising in our hearts.
With love,
Annie.
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Hello Sadness from Blue Cliff Monastery
Hello sadness, I know you’re there in me
And I can clearly see where you come from
Hello old friends, I’ll make a space for you
Inside my heart there’s a warm embrace for you.
And I also feel the joy
And I also feel the love
And I also have the mindfulness
So I’ll move on
Hello anger, I know you’re there in me
And I can clearly see where you come from
Hello old friends, I’ll make a space for you
Inside my heart there’s a warm embrace for you.
And I also feel the calm
And I also feel the laughter
And I also have the mindfulness
So I’ll move on
Hello fear, I know you’re there in me
And I can clearly see where you come from
Hello old friends, I’ll make a space for you
Inside my heart there’s a warm embrace for you.
And I also feel compassion
And I also feel the peace
And I also have the mindfulness
So I’ll move on