Thich Nhat Hanh's Autumn Schedule
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fIheMindfuCness J Veil Issue No. 14 • Right Action • Autumn 1995 • S6.00 RightAction :Wakin g Upt o Loving Kindness byThic h Nhat Hanh ight Action is a part of the Noble Eightfold Path energyo flovin gkindnes si nourselves ,th emor ew ear eabl et o taught by the Buddha. It includes, first of receiveth ejoy ,peace ,an dlov eo fth ebuddha san dbodhisattva s R all,th ekind so faction stha tca nhel phuman san dothe r throughout thecosmos .I f you areto olonely ,i ti sbecaus e you livingbeing swh oar ebein gdestroye db ywar ,politica loppres have closed the door to the rest of the world. sion,socia linjustice , andhunger .T oprotec tlife ,preven t war, andserv elivin gbeings ,w enee d ight Action is the action tocultivat eou renerg yo flovin g R'o f touching love and pre kindness. venting harm. There are many Loving kindness should be things we can do. We can pro practiced every day. Suppose tectlife .W eca npractic e gener you have a transistor radio. To osity (dana). The first person tune into the radio station you who receives something from like,yo unee da battery .I norde r anac to fgivin gi sth egiver .Th e to get linked to the power of Buddha said, "After meditating lovingkindnes so fbodhisattvas , on the person at whom you are buddhas,an dothe rgrea tbeings , angry, if you cannot generate you need to tune in to the "sta lovingkindnessi nyourself ,sen d tion" of loving kindness that is that person a gift." Buy some being sent from the ten direc thing or take something beauti tions.The nyo u only need to sit ful from your home, wrap it onth egras san dpractic ebreath beautifully, andsen di tt ohi mo r ing and enjoying. to her. After that, you will feel But many of us are not ca betterimmediately ,eve n before pable of doing that because the the gift is received. Our ten feeling of loneliness, of being dency when we are angry is to cut off from the world, is so sayunkin dthings ,bu ti fw ewrit e severew ecanno treac h out.W e orsa y somethingpositiv e about do not realize that if we are him or her, our resentment will movedb yth eimminen tdeat ho f simply vanish. an insect, if we see an insect We seek pleasure in many suffering and we do something ways, but often our so-called to help, already this energy of pleasure is really the cause of loving kindness is in us. If we our suffering. Tourism is one take a small stick and help the Thich Nhat Hanh atWes t Lake in Hangzhou, China example. The positive way of insect out of the water, we can practicingtourism—seein gne w alsoreac hou tt oth ecosmos .Th eenerg y oflovin gkindnes si n countries, meeting new people, being in touch with cultures us becomes real, and we derive a lot ofjo y from it. andsocietie s thatdiffe r from ours—isexcellent .Bu tther e are TheFourt hPrecep t ofth eOrde ro fInterbein g tellsu st ob e thosewh ovisi tThailand , thePhilippines ,o rMalaysiajus t for aware of suffering in the world, not to close our eyes before the sake of consuming drugs and hiring prostitutes. Western suffering.Touchin gthos ewh osuffe r ison ewa yt ogenerat eth e andJapanes e businessmen got oThailan d andth e Philippines energyo fcompassio ni nus ,an dcompassio n willbrin gjo y and just to set up sex industries and use local people to run these peace to ourselves and others. The more we generate the (Continued on Page 3) Thich Nhat Hanh'sAutum n Schedule West Coast East Coast Saturday, September 23 Monday, October 9,7:00 p.m. Day of Mindfulness Public Talk SpiritRoc kMeditatio n Center Cathedral of St.Joh n theDivin e Woodacre,Californi a (MarinCounty ) Amsterdam at 112thStreet ,Ne w YorkCit y (510)464-1393 (212)501-265 2 Tuesday, September 26, 7:00 p.m. Thursday, October 12, 7:30 p.m. Public Talk Public Talk Berkeley Community Theater Washington Hebrew Congregation 1930Allsto nWa ya tML KJr . Way Massachusetts andMacom b StreetsN.W . Berkeley, California Washington,D.C . (510) 525-8509 (703)799-044 1 There will be 4-day retreats at Camp Swig in Saratoga, California, and at Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. Both of these are nowfull. For information regarding retreats and lectures in Vietnamese, call (408) 848-1541 (No. CA), (619) 631-1689 (So. CA), or (703) 938-9606 (D.C). The MindfuCness ISett issue No. 14 Newsletter of the Order of Interbeing Autumn199 5 Fromth e Editors Right Action 1-5 e've had a wonderful spring and summer, traveling to Wfour countries in Asia with Thich Nhat Hanh, Sister Daily Practice 6-10 ChanKhong ,an dth eWester nmonk san dnun so fPlu mVillage . A very full account of this trip begins on page 20.We'r e also Sangha News 11-19 continuingt osearc hfo r property for aresidentia lretrea t center inVirginia , while, at the same time, preparing for Thich Nhat Thich Nhat Hanh's Asia Tour 20-37 Hanh's visit toth e U.S.thi s fall, including alectur e and aDa y of Mindfulness at the State of the World Forum in San Fran Vietnam Reports 38-40 cisco, organized by the Gorbachev Foundation/USA. And we are pleased to announce that Riverhead Books, a division of Plum Village Nuns' Conference 41-42 PutnamPublishin gi nNe wYork ,ha smad eThic hNha t Hanh's Living Buddha, Living Christthei r lead fall title. Announcements and Letters 43-47 In this issue, we continue to present Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching on the Noble Eightfold Path. Joan Halifax, Svein Editors:Theres e Fitzgerald, Arnie Kotler, and Ellen Peskin Myreng,Patrici aDai-E nBennage ,Katharin eCook ,an dother s Editorial and Production Assistance: Mark Copithorne, shareaccount so fthei row ngoo dwork , andTheres e Fitzgerald LeeAnne Haglund, and Mushim Ikeda-Nash sharesth ecoming s andgoing s ofThay' srecen t tript oTaiwan , Photos: Therese Fitzgerald pp. 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 15,20-35 ,45 ; South Korea, Japan, and China. unknown p.4 ;Christophe r Reedp . 19;Maryann eTen gp .37 ; We hopeyo u enjoy thisissu e ofThe Mindfulness Bell,an d Courtesy Sister Chan Khong p. 38;Do n Farber p.43 . we look forward to seeing many of you at Thich Nhat Hanh's Drawings: Michele Benzamin-Masuda, pp. 1,48 ; Courtesy retreats and lectures this fall. John Chang pp. 39-40; Anneke Brinkerink p. 10; Svein —Arnie Kotler, Therese Fitzgerald, and Ellen Peskin Myrengp. 18. themi sthei rparents ' ownhappiness .Ther eha s been somuc h Right Action (Continuedfrom Page 1) suffering becausepeopl ed ono tpractic esexua l responsibility. industries.I nThailand , atleas t200,00 0childre n areinvolve d Doyo u know enough about the way to practice Right Action in the sex industry. Because of poverty and social injustice, topreven tbreakin g upfamilie s andcreatin ghungr yghosts ?A there are always people who feel they have to do this out of childwh oi ssexuall yabuse dwil lsuffe r allhi so rhe rwhol elife . desperation.I nth ePhilippines ,a tleas t 100,000childre nar ei n Those who have been sexually abused have the capacity to the sex industry and in Vietnam, 40,000. What can we do to become bodhisattvas, helping many children. Your mind of help them? loveca ntransfor m yourow ngrie f andpain .Righ tActio n frees If wear e caught up in the situation of our own daily lives, youan dthos earoun dyou .Yo uma ythin kyo uar epracticin gt o wedon' thav eth etim eo renerg y tod osomethin gt ohel pthes e helpother saroun dyou ,but , atth esam etime ,yo u arerescuin g children.Bu t if weca n find afe w minutes ada y tohel p these yourself. children, suddenly the windows open and we get more light and more fresh air. We relieve our own difficult situation by ight Action is also the practice of mindful consuming, performing an act of generosity. Please discuss this situation R bringingt oyou rbod yan dmin donl yth ekind so ffoo dtha t withyou r Sangha and see if you can dosomethin g tosto p the are safe and healthy. Mindful eating, mindful drinking, not waves of people who profit from the sex industry. These are eatingthing s thatcreat etoxin si nyou rbody ,no tusin g alcohol all acts of generosity, acts of protecting life. You don't need or drugs, you practice for yourself, your family, and your to be rich. You don't need to spend months and years to do society. A Sangha can help a lot. something.A fe w minutes ada y can already help.Thes e acts One man who came to Plum Village told me that he had willbrin gfres h airint oyou r life, and your feelings of loneli been struggling to stop smoking for years, but he could not. ness will dissolve. You can be of help to many people in the After hecam e toPlu m Village, he stopped smoking immedi world who really suffer. ately because the group energy was so strong. "No one is smokinghere .Wh yshoul dI? "H ejus tstopped .Sangh ai sver y ight Action is also the protection of the integrity of the important. Collectivegrou penerg yca nhel pu spractic e mind R individual, couples, and children. Sexual misbehavior ful consumption. has broken so many families. Children who grow up in these broken families become hungry ghosts.The y don't believe in ight Action is also linked to Right Livelihood.