Buddhist teacher Tara Brach has written, “The Buddha taught that this whole life – including our thoughts, feelings and actions – arise from the tip of intention.”  I have been thinking a lot (perhaps connecting to my “beginning anew” focus in January) about “intention” and how it both differs from and relates to “attention.”

Serendipitously, I listened to a Tara Brach podcast recently (twice!) that spoke to this very issue, and let me share three things Tara said that I found very thought-provoking:

·  Intention creates experience. 

·  When we pay attention to our intentions, then  we bring more above the line into our awareness and presence. How aware are we of our intentions?

·  The path of awakening is focusing on our intentions and our awareness.

These made me think of a training Marie did some years ago in her home on her farm in which she talked about watering our good seeds, and bringing them above the line of awareness.

I have been thinking much lately about love and fear, its opposite. I have been pondering how fear can be converted into love and courage or their antitheses, anger and hatred. In these months of January and February, months in which we celebrate love and Black history, and commemorate both Thich Nhat Hanh’s passing and Martin Luther King’s birthday, I would like to honor the brave hearts who have overcome fear and walked through fire as they sought to bring love to our world.

I (Mary) am particularly drawn to this training as it seems to be the most challenging for me on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis. When attempting to be mindful of what I say, I realize I have to first be mindful of what I am thinking– all the stories that run in my mind. And this takes a lot more discipline and slowing down than my habit energies may allow. It’s hard enough when there is only one other person in the conversation. In conventional group discussions, pausing to reflect before speaking or deciding not to speak are additional steps that can help me slow down the rhythm. In my experience, I know that words can slip out so quickly that they may be poorly chosen. Then I can spend an outsized amount of effort trying to explain what I really meant/wanted to say. As a daily practice, I train “to speak truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope”. Not always successful, yet it remains my aspiration.

Please join us on Monday evening as we approach the one-year anniversary of the transition continuation of Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay)  to celebrate the mindfulness teachings that he spent his life sharing with the world. We can explore together the ways that these teachings and practices live on in our own lives.

This Monday evening, we will practice Beginning Anew Touching of the Earth to reconnect with ourselves and our practice.

I adapted this version of Touching the Earth from the book Plum Village Chanting from the Heart: Buddhist Ceremonies and Daily Practices and is especially suitable for the new year. 

Thich Nhat Hanh often teaches about the many seeds we carry in our store consciousness - the wholesome ones lead to more understanding and love and the unwholesome ones lead to harming ourselves and others. You might recognize our unwholesome seeds as the habits we develop to protect ourselves but that end up causing us (and everyone else) more suffering. 

In this version of Touching the Earth, we reflect on how our unwholesome seeds have caused us to be unskillful and we commit ourselves to cultivating and nourishing our wholesome seeds going forward….

As we begin this new year, I've been thinking about the popular annual ritual of creating new year's resolutions. The newspapers are filled with some resolutions collected from various folks, some quite lofty and some smaller goals. Many reflect the typical orientation of improving oneself, or improving the world. To my surprise, a few broke that mold and focused on the here & now, the importance of gratitude, etc. I used to write myself a few resolutions at the start of each new year that were aspirations for how I could do and be better. Yet they always felt ephemeral, not something that guided me in my days and weeks. 

So I've been pondering about what the mindful approach to new year's resolutions would be. I asked myself how I could balance letting go of specific goals with my need to continue to work on being more mindful, compassionate, and kind. And I'm always pushing myself to improve my listening skills.

Dear Friends,

This Monday Annie will facilitate and we will meet in person. If you’re new and want a quick refresher on the logistics of the evening, you can arrive at 6:30PM. Otherwise we will begin meditation right at 7:00PM, so please arrive a few minutes early to set up.

After our meditation period, we will consider the topic of Hope in and for the new year. 

Starting a new year feels to me like a moment of hope. Things can be different! Even if we have struggled and suffered, felt alone, depressed, or like we have messed things up, we can remember that a new year is right around the corner. 

As mindfulness practitioners, we do try to live in the moment as it is, but we don’t need to get stuck in thinking that things will always be this difficult.   

The Buddhist teacher Roshi Joan Halifax writes that “Wise hope requires that we open ourselves to what we do not know, what we cannot know; that we open ourselves to being surprised, perpetually surprised.” …

Dear Thay, dear friends,

Following our tradition for the last Monday of the month, we will recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings, which were created by Thich Nhat Hanh to help us cultivate and deepen our mindfulness practice.   We will concentrate on the Third Mindfulness Training, True Love (please see the text below) and explore the practice of “Cherishment as an act of healing”, which comes from the ARISE Sangha’s (Awakening through Race, Intersectionality, and Social Equity) Contemplations on the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

In their contemplation on the Third Mindfulness Training, the ARISE Sangha writes “...I cherish myself and my suffering without discrimination. I cherish this body and mind as an act of healing for myself and for others. I cherish this breath. I cherish this moment. I cherish the liberation of all beings guided by the wisdom and solidity of the Sangha. This is my path of true love.”

Last month, my elderly mother came to visit, fell gravely ill and spent the last four weeks in hospital. What strikes me, as I reflect on this time and on this moment in time, is the impact of cherishing and being cherished. 

“All activists must have a spiritual practice in order to suffer less, to nourish the happiness in them and to handle their suffering so they can be effective in helping the world. With anger and frustration, you cannot do much and you can make the situation worse,” said Thay in an interview with journalist Jo Confino during a winter retreat in Plum Village in 2011.

There is a lot going on in the world that can make us be angry, especially when it comes to the environment and human destruction of it. In a conversation about our relationship with Mother Earth, Thay prompts us to move beyond the idea of ‘environment,’ and to fall back in love with our life-giving planet. But in order to do that, we must first understand that Mother Earth and the Environment are not separate from us. We are Mother Earth and Mother Earth lives within us. Not understanding this, says Thay, is to live in Wrong View.

Dear friends, 

A few weeks ago OHMC offered an in-person ½ Day of Mindfulness and we watched a short video of a talk with Thich Nhat Hanh. With the day’s theme focusing on finding ease during the holidays, it was fitting to hear Thay answer the question, “What to do when we find another person’s presence not nourishing?” — since we can especially find ourselves in this situation during the holiday season as we celebrate with co-workers, friends, and family.  

We will play the video again on Monday night to hear Thay’s full answer. The short answer as I interpreted it is that the people who do not nourish us are suffering more and need our attention and compassion even more - which for me is very difficult. The more people do not nourish me, the less time I want to spend with them. 

Our sangha explored the 2nd mindfulness training last week - True Happiness. Marie shared the difficulty in holding happiness within us when there is so much suffering in the world. And she questioned if it is possible to hold both at the same time.

I also find this very challenging and as we meet in person on Monday night, I would like to continue to explore this topic a bit more with the help of a video of Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) (see below).

In his book "Being Peace", Thich Nhat Hanh says "Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, such as the blue sky, the sunshine, and the eyes of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We must also be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us around us, everywhere, anytime." We have seeds in us for everything, the seeds of sorrow and suffering and the seeds of happiness. When I feel hurt or wounded by a friend or family member - I can also remember that I have seeds of happiness and can take care of my suffering and then help take care of their suffering. Most likely they have not meant to hurt me and I in turn don't want to hurt them.

This week, we will recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings, concentrate on the Second Training, True Happiness and explore the question: How is this moment wonderful?

In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, our dear teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that "..the seed of suffering in you may be strong, but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy."

With all that is going on in and on this earth, sometimes it is difficult for me to touch happiness. And when someone I love is in pain, I suffer more. I understand the concept of “no mud, no lotus”, yet it can be challenging for me to hold both at the same time.

Until last week, when my elderly mother got lost at the airport…

On Monday, we will practice “resting our consciousness”. These days we all have a lot on our minds and hearts. We are awash in unhappy information about the environment, the political situation, war, and more. We have been isolated for more than two years, and are now trying to find our way back to social normalcy. Rather than pushing forward harder, we can take a step back and practice clearing our minds and resting our bodies.

Dear friends,

One of my personal challenges has been to be in touch with my deepest intention to be kind and loving when I am reacting to something that has made me angry or frustrated. Before I met Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) and the sangha, I had not learned how to take responsibility for my own thoughts and feelings and I often assumed that other people were out to hurt me. And so I would dump my hurt back onto them.

One of the things that drew me immediately to the Plum Village community and to Thay’s practice revealed itself on my first retreat. I was there with all four kids ages 6-9, and felt way out of my depth. I was, as they say, a “hot mess.” And yet every single person was kind and nice and helpful. I was truly taken aback by their kindness. And I wanted to be like that.

“The ability to apologize sincerely and express regret for the unskillful things we say or do is an art. A true apology can relieve a great deal of suffering in the other person.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I apologize frequently, and I hear apologies said around me frequently.

I can’t remember my ancestors saying “sorry” nearly as much as our generation does. It could’ve been considered a sign of weakness. Admitting wrong-doing could have been disastrous to one’s security, reputation, livelihood, family or community. Admitting inaccuracy may have spotlighted an intellectual deficit. But now, I think the sorry pendulum has swung in the opposite direction…

Dear Thay, dear friends,

On Monday night, we will continue with our month-long theme of engaged compassion and explore the intentions that lie behind our engaged practice and the feelings we experience when engaging. We’ll also look at what happens when we decide not to engage. In fact, that’s where I’m going to start.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve not been well and have scaled back on work - including my engaged practice. And, much to my surprise, instead of feeling guilt and “shoulding” myself, I’m grounded and at peace. What happened?

This week, Annie and Bea will facilitate. We will meet in person this week and we will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings together. After that we will focus on the first training, Reverence for Life:

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

This past week on an email listserv, there was a “conversation” (aka conflict) about affinity spaces. A BIPOC member offered news of a BIPOC event happening, and another member replied that he thought spaces for BIPOC only were racist.

I had a strong opinion on the email and I wasn’t alone. Several people replied saying how and why he was wrong, and I also believed that he was. And if I’m really honest, I didn’t want to try to understand his point of view because I was so annoyed. Later, when he offered a reason for his initial email, I struggled to believe him or to care. My anger felt justified, and it felt good because I felt I was in the right.

Dear Thay, dear friends,

On Monday night, we will continue with our month-long theme of engaged compassion and explore the intentions that lie behind our engaged practice and the feelings we experience when engaging. We’ll also look at what happens when we decide not to engage. In fact, that’s where I’m going to start.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve not been well and have scaled back on work - including my engaged practice. And, much to my surprise, instead of feeling guilt and “shoulding” myself, I’m grounded and at peace. What happened?

Dear friends, Please join us in mindfulness on Monday, October 10 as we sit and breathe together. We look forward to practicing being in the present moment with you.

Dear friends,

This month, our sangha gatherings will again explore what Engaged Mindfulness means and how we can use the lessons we learn to bring more justice, generosity, compassion and awakening to our world.

On Monday, Magda will facilitate the evening with a guest facilitator, Marisela Gomez.

Dr. Marisela Gomez is one of the organizers of the Village of Love and Resistance (VOLAR), a Dharma teacher and follower of Thay’s teaching for the last twenty years, and has first-hand knowledge of how territorial injustices have affected East Baltimore residents. While acquiring her MD, PhD and MPH at John Hopkins University, she did extensive research in the area surrounding John Hopkins Hospital, one of the poorest in Baltimore.

While we understand that each individual is free to engage in any way they desire, the Engaged Mindfulness working group is emphasizing the theme of territorial justice this month. In keeping with this, we will be supporting VOLAR through OHMC donations.

Please enjoy reading Magda’s essay on engaged mindfulness and VOLAR…