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The Practice of Prayer Bythich Nhat Hanh

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The Practice of Prayer Bythich Nhat Hanh The Practice of Prayer didn't have the courage. Then the professor asked everyone to kneel down, and he offered a short but very powerful byThich Nhat Hanh prayer: "God, Ithan k you for healing Nancy's mother right now. In the name of Christ, Amen." Two weeks later, they hat is prayer? To whom should wepray ? Does prayer learned that Nancy's mother's tumor had disappeared W bring results? without atrace . Her healing was a miracle, and the young A five-year-old boy who loved playing with his pet man's belief in prayer was renewed. mouse was deeply wounded when his mouse tunneled deep Why do some prayers succeed and some not? Are there into the earth and didn't come back. The boy prayed to God methods that can guarantee our prayers? If our prayers do with all his heart to bring the mouse back, but the mouse not bring good results, is it because we do not have enough never returned. Later, when he was acolleg e student, the faith or love? In the Bible, it says that faith can move same young man attended a class that began each day with a mountains. If we want our bulb to light up, there has to be prayer. The prayers mostly seemed silly tohim , such as, "I current running through the electrical line. pray it will be sunny tomorrow so we can have apicnic. " Last summer apractitione r at Plum Village was very ill But one day afello w student came into class crying. She with cancer. Sister Chan Khong suggested that she pray to told the professor that doctors hadjus t discovered that her her grandmother, who had lived to be 97. Sister Chan mother had a brain tumor and might survive only one more Khong said, "The strong genes of your grandmother are in week. j you. Ask them to help you transform the sick cells that are The professor stood up, looked deeply at each student, also in you." Sister Chan Khong taught her for only fifteen and said, "If you do not believe in the healing power of minutes, but because she had a lot of faith, she understood God, please leave the room. We are going to pray for the teaching and put it into practice. The young lady prayed Nancy's mother." The young man wanted to leave but (Continued on Page 3) ened through engaged, thoughtful, and constructive dia­ From the Editors logue. Please share with us your insights and concerns. Beginning next issue, we will accept a limited number of n this issue of TheMindfulness Bell,w e focus on prayer mindfulness-related advertisements in The Mindfulness Bell Iin its many forms. Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma teaching (see page 36 for details). After being short at least $5,000 explores how we define prayer and its effectiveness. Several each issue, we can no longer wait until our subscription base Sangha members offer reflections on how they have woven reaches 3,500 people to cover costs. We hope you will a "tapestry of prayer and mindfulness practice" into their appreciate our decision, which is a small step in the direc­ lives. In the next section, many friends offer atribut e toJi m tion of self-sufficiency. Fauss, who died this past April. These remembrances attest We welcome our new managing editor and production to the fact that Jim's life itself was a kind of prayer. manager, Maria Duerr. Maria's relationship with the TheMindfulness Bell is the newsletter for the interna­ Community of Mindful Living began three years ago when tional Order of Interbeing, and we strive to represent the she attended graduate school in cultural anthropology at the worldwide community. In this issue, we are delighted to California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. share accounts of Thay's visits to Italy, France, Germany, That fall, she went to Thay's lecture in Berkeley, and later and Sister Annabel's visit to Thailand. We warmly encour­ interned at Parallax Press. She has continued to practice age other Sangha members in Europe and Asia to write with Sanghas in the Bay Area and received the Five articles for future issues. Precepts with Dharma teacher Joan Halifax. With Maria's We hope you use TheMindfulness Bell as atoo l to help help, this Mindfulness Bell was by far the smoothest and deepen your practice individually and in community. The most on schedule yet. We hope you enjoy this issue, and we letters wereceiv e from readers are generally appreciative, look forward to hearing from you. and we bow in gratitude for your support. At the same time, we believe that our Sangha and our practice can be strength- —Arnie Kotler, Therese Fitzgerald, Ellen Peskin Tfie fyiindfuCness'Betf issue1 7 Newsletter of the Order of Interbeing Summer 1996 Retreat Center Update Arnie and Ijus t returned from a trip toth e Washing­ Contents ton,D.C .an d Charlottesville, Virginia areas,wher e we looked at several very promising properties.W e were Dharma Talk 1 focused primarily on a beautifully sereneplac e 20 miles south of Charlottesville in pastoral Albemarle Daily Practice 7 County—700 acres and spacious lawns shaded by old oak and beech trees, a large barn that could be Sangha News 20 renovated into ameditatio n hall and dormitories, a quartzmansio n in disrepair but basically sound, Retreat Schedule 34 including plenty of rooms for residents and guest students, and a wonderful meditation hall space and Announcements 36 meeting rooms on the ground floor. We began negotiations witha n offer of $550,000, estimating Letters 38 another $200,000 or more for basic repair work, but a higher offer from another party will probably be Co-Editors:Arni eKotler ,Theres eFitzgerald ,Elle nPeski n accepted. ManagingEditor/Productio n Manager: MariaDuer r CopyEditor/Proofreader : MushimIkeda-Nas h We also visited a farm near Shepherdstown, West Staff:LeeAnn eHaglund , MichelleBernard , andPa tLambele t Virginia, that is on theNationa l Historic Registry and Photos:Glori aNorgan gp .1,4 ;Carol eMelkonia npp .6,20 ;courtes y belongs to a family who would like to insure its care to ofArti eFaus s pp. 12-14;courtes yo f DanielMille s p. 16;Barbar a theCommunit y of Mindful Living. We are discussing DiPietro pp. 24, 33;Germa n Sangha p. 28;Miche l Colville p.32 ; the details of apossibl e "merger" with this family. LarryGale , p.36 .Correction lastissue: Jea nAnselm opp . 9, 27, 33. Now, after two years of looking almost exclusively Drawings:Michel eBenzami n pp. 1; AnnekeBrinkerin kp . 10, 39; in the D.C./Virginia area, we have decided to open the RosaMari aRinald ip .17 ; courtesyo fJoh nChan gp . 18; Sandy Eastoak,p . 40. doors wide to find the right place wherever it may be in this country. We are also considering smaller, less Published byth eCommunit y ofMindfu l Living expensive places. Your input, as always,wil l be P.O.Bo x7355 , Berkeley,C A9470 7 greatly appreciated. —Therese Fitzgerald Fax:510-525-712 9 Email:[email protected] m The Practice Of Prayer (Continuedfrom Page 1) establishment of communication and the second is the tohe r grandmother in herself while she ate, while she establishment of the electrical line, which is mindfulness, walked, while she sat, and while she touched the earth. concentration, understanding, and love. When we have these When Ipractic e sitting meditation, I always send loving conditions, the power line will surely work, and the result of energy tom y students. Sister Dam Nguyen in Vietnam and our prayer will be realized immediately, beyond time and Jim Fauss in California both have had cancer. Whether my space. When body and mind are in oneness, when there is students know I love them or not, when I send my energy to concentration and understanding, you can touch the actual them, Ia m sure it arrives. What matters most is that my cells of your grandmother in you, and these cells can be heart is open. I only need to touch the source of love in me transformed and healed. When you touch God, the Buddha, and send my love in my thoughts and also in my actions. orth e Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in you, their energy and This is abasi c form of prayer that can be practiced notjus t your energy become one. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is in church or ameditatio n hall, but in every act. You touch the symbol of love. Manjushri is the symbol of understand­ the deep source of beauty and goodness in yourself and ing. Samantabhadra is the symbol of action with understand­ share it. When you pray or chant the words of the Buddha or ing. We cannot deny their existences. When love exists, Christ, it encourages peace in yourself, in others, and in the Avalokiteshvara exists. environment. Behind it is the practice of mindful living. If God's will decides everything, what is the use of All the Vietnamese Buddhists know this prayer (DeTu praying? How can we change the fruit of our actions? The KinhLay): "Ihave beena victim of craving,anger, arro­ answer is understanding. When we understand deeply that gance,jealousy, and confusion, living insuffering and our ancestors are in us,tha t there is no distance at all darknessfor thousands ofgenerations. Thanksto the light of between our cells, our grandmother's cells and our cancer theBuddha, I nowsee the rootsof myafflictions, andI vow can be transformed. The will of God is also our will, tobegin anewto transform theseafflictions inorder tolive because we and God are one.
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