Make a True Home of Your Love Monastic Life
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Summer 2011 A Publication of Plum Village Issue 57 $8/€8/£6 Make a True Home of Your Love By Thich Nhat Hanh Monastic Life w the european InstItute of applIed BuddhIsm A few courses we will be offering in Fall 2011, Waldbrol, Germany July 15-17 Sept 23-30 October 14-21 A Retreat on Interreligious Wake Up Retreat on Deep Ecology, Looking deeply into our eating. ZenDialogue in the with European Prof. Dr. ContextMichael von Brück forThe ages World 16-30. We Are With the Dharma WithEating Sr. and Ingrid Emotions (Bi Nghiem) and Teachers of the EIAB. Sr. Jewel (Chau Nghiem) Aug 25-28 Sept 30-Oct 2 October 20-23 For those who lead a Sangha and for BeingAspirants a Good of the Spiritual Order of FriendInterbeing, with Sr. Annabel (True Virtue) Course with Br. Phap Xa withReconciliation Dr. Helmut and Wetzel, Healing from Simply Enjoy Sitting Sept 8-11 Dr.Violence Tom Holmesin Times and of War Br. Phap An Oct 21-28 The basics of a global economic ethic October 7-14 Course with Dharma teachers Weinspired are theby Buddhism. Economy A Course with ofMindful the EIAB Communication Dr. Kai Romhardt Course 3F with Dharma teachers ofMindfulness EIAB Practice for Artists For more information and registration: www.eiab.eu OR [email protected] OR 49 2291 907 1373 2010 Retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh • 4/6/2011 MINDFULNESS BELL: 1/2 PAGE AD • 7.25” (w) x 4.375” (h) • (no bleed) • GREYSCALE FINAL MECHANICAL Contact: Steve Child Design (323)420-6907 ISSUE NO. 57 - SUMMER 2011 Dharma Talk 4 Make a True Home of Your Love By Thich Nhat Hanh Monastic Life 10 Twenty-Three Years as a Nun By Sister Annabel 12 Touching the Blue Sky: The Story of Thay Phap An By Thay Phap An 17 Orange, Maroon, and Brown: Please Call Me by My True Colors By Brother Chan Phap Tu Joy of Practice 36 Love Letter from Auschwitz By Peter Kuhn 39 The Joy of Practice Cannot Be Contained By Leslie Rawls and Carl Dunlap, Jr. 42 Small Is Beautiful: Old Path Sangha Turns Ten! By Valerie Brown 44 Stretching Our Practice: Vancouver Prepares for 2011 Retreat By Jeanie Seward-Magee 45 Step into Freedom and Taste True Happiness: Five-Year Monastic 19 Lightness in My Heart: An Interview Training and Service Program with Sister Boi Nghiem By Natascha Bruckner 46 On the Road with Thich Nhat Hanh 24 Ancestral Insights By Sister An Nghiem 26 A Monk: To Be or Not to Be? By Brother Phap Kinh (Dharma Meridian) Reviews 46 One Buddha Is Not Enough: A Story of 28 Simple Living: An Interview with Collective Awakening Brother Phap Trach By Thich Nhat Hanh and the Monks and Nuns of Plum Village By Sister Chau Nghiem 47 Colors of Compassion: Teachings of 32 How Many Ways Can You Pray? Thich Nhat Hanh By Brother Phap Man A film by Eloise de Leon 33 Waking Up This Morning, I Smile 47 The Ten Oxherding Paintings: By Brother Phap Ho Zen Talks by Thich Phuoc Tinh 35 The Plum Tree Edited by Karen Hilsberg By Sister Trang Moi Len Translated by Sister Dang Nghiem Dear Thay, dear Sangha, In March, my partner and I were A Journal of the Art of Mindful Living fortunate to spend five days at Deer Park in the Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh Monastery. One evening after dinner we Published by Plum Village noticed a group of nuns, monks, and lay Issue 57 Summer 2011 friends playing volleyball. My partner, who played on a college team, wanted to join them. I agreed—in spite of Advisor and Editor Sister Annabel my aversion to team sports and perception of myself as uncoordinated. Managing Editor Natascha Bruckner Stepping onto the court, I was horrified to feel like my gangly junior Design LuminArts high school self, terrified of the ball and my teammates’ mockery and Proofreader Leslie Rawls derision. Subscriptions & Advertising David Percival Webmaster Brandy Sacks Yet as we played, I noticed that the sisters and brothers on “my team” Advisory Board Thay Phap Kham didn’t react at all when I avoided the ball or hit it askew. There were Thay Phap Dung no shouts of judgment or praise, no competition, no ambition. Instead, I noticed laughter, silence, relaxed ease, and neutrality. The monastics Barbara Casey were practicing equanimity in volleyball. Whatever happened, they Janelle Combelic genuinely didn’t mind. In their presence, I was able to acknowledge Jack Lawlor my fears, gently set them aside, and wake up to the present moment. I David Percival watched the ball fly back and forth. I responded naturally when it came Leslie Rawls to me. After the game I knew a very old wound had begun to heal. Peggy Rowe Ward Volunteers Sister An Nghiem “Live in joy and in peace even among the troubled,” the Buddha (Sister Peace) said. “Live in joy and in freedom as the shining ones.” Monks and nuns Sister Chau Nghiem (Sister Jewel) make a commitment to do just that. In a world overrun with trouble, they Margaret Alexander dedicate their lives to embodying and teaching peace and compassion. Connie Anderson It’s no wonder their very presence fosters spontaneous healing. Alan Armstrong In this issue on Monastic Life, ten sisters and brothers share candid Dorothy Bruckner and compelling personal stories. They speak of obstacles, epiphanies, Steve Child and aspirations. Authentic and insightful, these writings are precious Miriam Goldberg gifts from the vibrant heart of the Sangha body. If you are inspired by Karen Hilsberg these stories and interested in monastic life, be sure to read the invita- Paul Lavender tion to “Step into Freedom and Taste True Happiness” through the new Kenley Neufeld Five-Year Monastic Training and Service Program (page 45). Greg Sever In his beautiful Dharma talk, our teacher says that “to practice as Writing Submissions: Please send us the fruits of a monk is easiest; to practice as a layperson is much more difficult.” your practice. We welcome feature articles (1,500 to 2,500 Yet he offers wisdom for laypeople to build a warm, safe home within words), essays, and stories, as well as poetry. We espe- cially welcome submissions from young people. ourselves and to create relationships rooted in mutual understanding Art & Photo Submissions: We welcome photos, art- and love. Articles by lay friends show us that the joy of practice can work, and cartoons from your local Sangha, family, and blossom beautifully even in Auschwitz and within prison walls. In community. Please send digital images as TIFF or JPEG Thay’s eloquent words: “It is on the very ground of suffering that we files 1 MB or larger. We can return originals sent by mail. can contemplate well-being. It is exactly in the muddy water that the Send submissions via email to editor@mindfulnessbell. org, or by mail to the Mindfulness Bell, c/o Natascha lotus grows and blooms.” Bruckner, 769 7th Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95062. May this issue be a dear companion and guide on your Advertising and Subscriptions: ads@mindfulness- path of peace. bell.org, [email protected], or David Percival, 745 Cagua S.E., Albuquerque, NM 87108, U.S.A. Website: Read selected articles, subscribe, and view the With love and gratitude, worldwide Sangha directory at www.mindfulnessbell.org. 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. Natascha Bruckner Benevolent Respect of the Heart 2 Summer 2011 the Mindfulness Bell 3 dharma TALK photo courtesy of the monastic Sangha Make a True Home of Your Love By Thich Nhat Hanh Plum Village Upper Hamlet December 26, 2010 4 Summer 2011 dharma TALK We have to tell young people they are already beautiful as they are; they don’t have to be another person. photo courtesy of the monastic Sangha Every one of us is trying to find our true home. We know that our Last week I had tea with a couple who came from the United true home is inside, and with the energy of mindfulness, we can Kingdom. They spent two weeks in Plum Village, with the monks go back to our true home in the here and the now. Sangha is our in the Upper Hamlet. The lady said, “It’s strange. It’s the first time true home. that I’ve lived in a place where there are hundreds of men and no In Vietnamese, the husband calls the wife “my home.” And women, and I feel very safe in the Upper Hamlet. I have never the wife calls the husband her home. Nha toi means my house, my felt safe like that.” In the Upper Hamlet she was the only woman, home. When a gentleman is asked “Where is your wife?” he will and she felt very safe. And if she feels safe, the place is her home, say, “My home is now at the post office.” And if a guest said to because home should provide that kind of safety. Are you a safe Ethe wife, “Your home is beautiful; who decorated it?” she would place for him or for her? Do you have enough stability, strength, answer, “It’s my home who decorated it,” meaning, “my husband.” protection for the one you love? When the husband calls his wife, he says, “Nha oi,” my home. And the gentleman said, “The last two weeks may be the best And she says, “Here I am.” Nha oi. Nha toi.