By Thich Nhat Hanh
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Summer 2013 A Publication of Plum Village Issue 63 $8/€8/£7.50 Take Refuge in Mother Earth and A New Teaching on the Twelve Nidanas by Thich Nhat Hanh Earth Peace Treaty Wake Up in Bhutan, India, and the UK Will you help continue the mindful teachings and loving practice of Thich Nhat Hanh? Consider how Thich Nhat Hanh’s gift of mindfulness has brought peace and happiness to you. Then, please join with him to help bring peace and ease suffering throughout the world by becoming a member of the Thich Nhat Hanh CONTINUATION FUND with your monthly pledge gift. Working with our loving community, the Foundation works to provide funding for our three North American practice centers and Plum Village Monastery, Dharma “ Don’t worry if you feel you can only do one tiny education and outreach programs, good thing in one small corner of the cosmos. international humanitarian relief assistance, Just be a Buddha body in that one place.” and the “Love & Understanding” program. -Thich Nhat Hanh To join online, and for further information on the Foundation, please visit ThichNhatHanhFoundation.org Thich Nhat Hanh Continuation and Legacy Foundation 2499 Melru Lane, Escondido, CA 92026 • [email protected] • (760) 291-1003 x104 ISSUE NO. 63 - Summer 2013 Dharma Talk 4 Take Refuge in Mother Earth By Thich Nhat Hanh 7 A New Teaching on the Twelve Nidanas By Thich Nhat Hanh Spreading Seeds 12 Peace in the Heart of London By Brother Phap Lai 16 Wake Up – Bhutan and India Tour Report By Miranda van Schadewijk 18 A Love Letter to the 1% By Brother Phap Ho Garden Paths 20 Walking the Green Path: Deer Park Monastery Takes Steps for Mother Earth By Laura Hunter 23 Growing into Mindfulness Steps that Change Us By Natascha Bruckner 40 Monastic Trust Fund: 24 Harvest Is the Way: Plum Ensuring the Future of Village’s Happy Farm Our Spiritual Community By Stuart Watson 41 Touching the Earth for 27 Mindfulness Garden Ecological Regeneration By Candace Henshaw-Osias By T. Ambrose Desmond 29 Story of a Little Limace 43 Earth Peace Treaty By Sister Trang Mai Thon Commitment Sheet 45 Paradigm Shift: Mindful Shared Reverence Artists Network Retreat 31 Organic Woolen Circle By Aleksandra Kumorek By Vivien Eliades 32 Teaching of the Mountains By Eileen Kiera Book Reviews 34 Sailing at the Earth’s Tempo 46 Ten Breaths to Happiness: By Heather Lyn Mann Touching Life in Its Fullness By Glen Schneider 35 Seeing Clearly: Wisdom from Mountain Lamp 46 The Green Boat: Reviving By Alexa Singer-Telles Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture 36 Crayfish in a Lotus Pond By Mary Pipher By Lowie van Liere 47 Awakening Joy: 38 Dharma Teachers 10 Steps to Sangha News Happiness 39 Owls and Sangha By James Baraz and By Lori and Isaac Zook-Stanley Shoshana Alexander Dear Thay, dear Sangha, At Deer Park Monastery on a dark spring A Journal of the Art of Mindful Living morning, the great bell echoed through the in the Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh valley, rippling against the songs of frogs Published by Plum Village and dawn birds. A monk chanted: I entrust myself to the Buddha, and he entrusts himself to me. Issue 63 Summer 2013 I entrust myself to the Sangha, and she entrusts herself to me. Advisor and Editor Sister Annabel, True Virtue I entrust myself to the Earth, and she entrusts herself to me. Managing Editor Natascha Bruckner As I stood outside the meditation hall, absorbing the valley’s sweet Design LuminArts fragrances and the loveliness of clouds and mountain, the chant sank in. I Proofreader Connie Anderson had been thinking about this issue of the Mindfulness Bell, themed “Mother Subscriptions & Advertising David Percival Earth.” Hearing chant and bell, frogs and birds, I sensed what it meant to Webmaster Brandy Sacks entrust myself to the Earth and to be her trustee. Even now, the idea brings Advisory Board Thay Phap Dung tears to my eyes. Within this trust the tender love is unsurpassed. Janelle Combelic David Percival In this issue, Thich Nhat Hanh generously gives us a guide for the Leslie Rawls radical surrender and gentle openness of such mutual trust. His beautiful Brandon Rennels Dharma talk invites us into the healing embrace of the Earth: “Let go, Peggy Rowe Ward release, take full refuge in the Earth and in the sun, and allow yourself to Volunteers Margaret Alexander be healed…. Allow Mother Earth and Father Sun to penetrate you, to act Alan Armstrong for you so you can heal.” Connie Anderson Sarah Caplan This issue contains tools to help us realize and honor our interdepen- Barbara Casey dence with the Earth. “Touching the Earth for Ecological Regeneration,” Steve Child by T. Ambrose Desmond, offers a ceremony for opening ourselves to the Sandra Duban beauty, suffering, and capacity for healing in the Earth (our body). The Miriam Goldberg Earth Peace Treaty gives us a chance to commit to steps that will lighten Martina McNaboe Kenley Neufeld our ecological footprint. May these tools be useful for you and your Sangha, Maggie Mills and may you be inspired by the stories of farmers, gardeners, and others Nate Satin who lovingly tend the soil and protect life on Earth. Greg Sever May you also find connection and nourishment in the wonderful articles Night Song Terri Ward on the Wake-Up movement in Bhutan, India, and the United Kingdom. Suzanne Wilson Waves of young people are rising, joining together, and taking refuge in mindfulness and compassion. In collaboration with the monastic commu- Writing Submissions: Please send us the fruits of nity, youth are organizing peaceful gatherings in cities all over the world. your practice. We welcome feature articles (1,500 to 2,500 words), essays, and stories, as well as poetry. We espe- Brother Phap Lai reflects about London’s “Sit in Peace” event: “No one cially welcome submissions from young people. Guidelines who was there will likely walk by Trafalgar Square again without recalling are available at www.mindfulnessbell.org. that, with Thay’s presence, a peace was generated here and offered to the Art and Photo Submissions: We welcome photos, city and the world by thousands of people.” artwork, and cartoons from your local Sangha, family, and community. Please send digital images as TIFF or JPEG This offering comes from the heart of our practice as children of files 1 MB or larger. We can return originals sent by mail. Mother Earth. In a time of dire environmental circumstances, when our Send submissions via email to [email protected], survival depends on how we treat our Mother, may we allow our love for or by mail to the Mindfulness Bell, c/o Natascha Bruckner, her, for the Buddha, and for the Sangha to lead us. PO Box 1201, Capitola, CA 95010-1201, U.S.A. With love and gratitude, Advertising and Subscriptions: ads@mindfulness- bell.org, [email protected], or David Percival, 745 Cagua S.E., Albuquerque, NM 87108, U.S.A. Website: Visit the online archive, subscribe, and view the Natascha Bruckner worldwide Sangha directory at www.mindfulnessbell.org. True Ocean of Jewels The Mindfulness Bell is published three times a year by the Community of Mindful Living, Deer Park Monastery, 2499 Melru Lane, Escondido, CA 92026, U.S.A. 2 Summer 2013 EVENTS Thich Nhat Hanh will be NOURISHING traveling and teaching in WAKE-UP EVENTS North America in 2013, The Wake-Up movement offers mindfulness practice to young adults (18-35 years of age). along with a delegation GREAT of monks and nuns. June 21-25 TOGETHERNESS The tour begins on Retreat for Buddhist Youth August 11 in Ontario, Magnolia Grove Monastery Canada, and ends on Batesville, MS TOUR www.magnoliagrovemonastery.org October 27 in California. June 26-30 CANADA U.S. - SOUTH Retreat for Young Adults Mountain Lamp, Deming, WA August 11-16 September 19-22 www.mountainlamp.org Mindfulness Retreat Vietnamese Retreat July 10-16 Batesville, MS for Educators The Economics of Happiness: St. Catharines, ON Magnolia Grove Monastery Brock University Wake-Up Retreat September 24-29 European Institute of Applied Buddhism August 17 Mindfulness Retreat Waldbrol, Germany Public Talk in English www.eiab.eu/events Toronto, ON Batesville, MS August 23-30 Sony Centre Magnolia Grove Monastery International Youth Retreat Plum Village, France September 29 www.plumvillage.org U.S. - EAST COAST Day of Mindfulness August 25-30 Batesville, MS August 28-September 1 Magnolia Grove Monastery Wake Up Netherlands: Maanhoeve Retreat Mindfulness Retreat Maanhoeve, 9574 Exloerveen, Nederland in English www.wkup.nl/calendar Pine Bush, NY U.S. - WEST COAST Blue Cliff Monastery October 4-8 September 1 Vietnamese Retreat Day of Mindfulness Escondido, CA Pine Bush, NY Deer Park Monastery Blue Cliff Monastery October 11-16 September 7 Mindfulness Retreat Public Talk in English New York City, NY Escondido, CA Deer Park Monastery September 12 Day of Mindfulness October 19 Boston, MA Public Talk Boston Park Plaza Hotel Pasadena, CA Pasadena Civic Auditorium September 14 Public Talk October 20 Boston, MA Day of Mindfulness Trinity Church Escondido, CA Deer Park Monastery September 15 Peace Walk October 26 Boston, MA Public Talk Trinity Church Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre October 27 For information and links to Vietnamese Day registration pages, please of Mindfulness Watsonville, CA visit www.tnhtour.org. Tu Vien Kim Son Monastery the Mindfulness Bell 3 dharma TALK Editors’ note: This is Part I of the Dharma talk from November 29, 2012. Good morning, dear Sangha. We are in the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall of the Dharma Nectar Temple, Lower Hamlet, in our winter retreat. photo by Ron Forster Our society is not very healthy.