Dear Sangha,
We hope you can join Jon and I this coming Monday when we will take a look at the Heart Sutra or as Thay translates it, The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore. If you can find it, look for The Other Shore-A New Translation of the Heart Sutra With Commentaries by T.N.H.  (Parallax-Palm Leaves Press, 2017). This book goes into great detail explaining the Heart Sutra and about the problems with the old translation.  As you know, the old translation was very confusing and raised many questions.  We will look at some of this.  This is a very important sutra recited in monasteries and sanghas around the world and a very misunderstood sutra. Continue reading →

Dear Sangha,
Please join us for the wonderful opportunity to watch a Dharma Talk by Br. Phap Dung on the subject of Breathe, Remember, Return. This is a talk from New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2017.  Br. Phap Dung is a senior monastic at Plum Village and the former abbot of Deer Park Monastery.  I won’t comment on the talk here since I haven’t been able to look at the entire talk yet. But, I can think about our wonderful practice of breathing, stopping, and returning to ourself.  This is a great gift of the Buddha and Thay and while it may not always seem like much to just breathe and stop, yet this is the key to our mindfulness practice.  Seems so simple, but so powerful, so profound. I’m not sure if Br. Phap Dung will go into this, yet we have this gift with us all the time. Even in the most difficult circumstances, we can return to ourself, to the refuge within us. We have a place of quiet and calm within us and when we stop running and breathe we can be there, in our beautiful refuge.

See below for the latest from Myra on the March for our Lives event at Old Town and Tiguex Park (next to Old Town) on Saturday. It’s my understanding that we will meet by the band stand in the middle of the Old Town Plaza just before the beginning of the march and if you don’t go on the march, we will meet at the kids playground in the SW corner of the park just before the rally.

Feelings come and go
like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing
is my anchor.

Enjoy your stopping – breathing – smiling

David