The Deer Park Dharmacast (dharma talks)

Dear Friends,

 

Dear friends, 

This week we continue with Sister Dang Nghiem's sharing on the first four exercises in the Buddha's teaching on mindful breathing. Dwelling in the body grounds us. With our breath, solid concentration and kind relaxation, we can begin to walk towards freedom and begin deep healing.  

Dear friends, 

This week we share with you the first part of Sister Dang Nghiem's talk from the Miracle of Mindfulness retreat. For the children, our sister gives a teaching on patterns in nature and in our families. Then with the adults, she illuminates the ordinary nature of mindfulness in our everyday lives. The interbeing of all things comes to light as she prepares to discuss the Buddha's teaching on awareness of breath.

Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply. 

 

Today we continue a talk given by Sister Hang Nghiem. She offers The Four Diligences as a way to practice taking care of the seeds in garden of our mind. So often we are concerned with the seeds and gardens of others; our sister reminds us to take time to recognize and tend to our own seeds. 

Dear friends,

In addition to the podcasts, which are usually offered as 30 minute sections of talks, we wanted to offer full length talks as requested by some Dharmacast listeners.

This is the second talk in a series of talks on the Eight Verses of Mind Training by Brother Phap Hai. This is the full talk for those who would prefer to listen to talks in their entirety.

The second talk on the Eight Verses is available here. To stream, click the link.  To download, right-click and select 'Save as.'

Enjoy!

Dear friends,

In addition to the podcasts, which are usually offered as 30 minute sections of talks, we wanted to offer full length talks as requested by some Dharmacast listeners.

Brother Phap Hai is offering a series of talks on the Eight Verses of Mind Training and we felt it was a good place to start offering the full talks for those who would prefer to listen to talks in their entirety.

The first talk on the Eight Verses is available here. To stream, click the link.  To download, right-click and select 'Save as.'

Enjoy!

Today we share a talk by Brother Phap Hai, shortly after his return to Deer Park from Europe. Our brother reminds us of the the meaning of the word: gratitude. To feel gratitude is to know what has been done for us. May we look back and look inside to remember. 

Every year on Lunar New Year's eve, Thay recites a poem and gives a dharma talk with insights into Vietnamese poetry, culture, and tradition. This year, as our teacher receives treatment in the hospital, Venerable Thich Phuoc Tinh continues the tradition. He recites a poem of Thay's and gives us a rare glimpse into the life of our teacher. 

 

Dear friends,

Dear friends,

We are happy to offer the full talks from the People of Color Retreat at Deer Park in 2014.  The orientation, dharma talk, and question and response session are available for download at the links below. 

POC Retreat 2014 Orientation

POC Retreat 2014 Dharma Talk

POC Retreat 2014 Question and Response

Enjoy.

 

 

Dear friends,

Dear friends,

Dear Friends,

Today we're happy to share a talk from Brother Phap Nha, translated by Sister Quynh Nghiem.  Our brother has a clear and direct style of teaching that we hope you enjoy. 

In this talk, he speaks to the three difficulties we may encounter while sitting: sleepiness, restlessness, and dreaminess.  He also shares with us how best to read the sutras.  He recommends that we start with two basic sutras and, most importantly, that we apply the teachings to our practice and our lives.  

May your practice be ever-changing and ever-growing.  No mud, no lotus.

Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at dpcast.net, Facebook, iTunes, and Twitter.  Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply

Dear friends,

This week, we return to talks by Thich Nhat Hanh, given this October at the Deer Park retreat.   Thay shares on many interconnected topics:  the workings of our conciousness, the transformative power of volition, the importance of sangha, and how our suffering and happiness are truly inseparable. May we all recognize our mud, and the lotuses that grow from our mud. 

We so appreciate you, our dear listeners. Thank you for your love and support over the course of this year. During the month of December, we invite you to donate to the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation. They are urgently needing support to break ground to build a safe, warm nunnery for our sisters at Deer Park Monastery. For more information and to donate, visit deerparknunnery.org. 

Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at dpcast.net, Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes. Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply. 

Dear friends,

This week, we take a break from Thich Nhat Hanh's talks to bring you another great teacher, the Venerable of Deer Park Monastery, Thich Phuoc Tinh.  Here in California, it's fall and the Venerable begins by sharing a folk song in Vietnamese and French about autumn leaves falling.  He shares that we can choose the way that we are in touch with the things inside of us and around us.  The emotions and mental formations that arise in our heads are like the seasons of the year, rising and falling.   As practitioners, we can become observers, whether of the changing leaves of fall or changing feelings in our hearts, rather than being defined or overwhelmed by them.  We are not these emotions, we are the energy of mindfulness that peacefully watches them float by on the stream of our lives.

We're grateful to have Sister Mat Nghiem translate the Venerable's talk into English for us.  Our monastic brothers and sisters do so much at Deer Park Monastery to create a peaceful refuge for us where we can share from our heart and listen deeply to their teachings.  Right now, the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation is urgently raising funds to build new living quarters for the nuns.  Currently, the sisters' living quarters are not winterized and unsafe to the point that some sisters are living outside in tents.  The foundation has raised only $400,000 of the $1.7 million needed to build environmentally-sensitive straw-bale buildings for the nuns and a new hut for Thay. Over 40% of the estimated cost is for basic infrastructure needed even before building the nunnery.  

If you are able to donate this holiday season, please go to deerparknunnery.org.  Even the smallest amount will help them to have enough funds to break ground this winter.  The Dharmacast team is made completely of volunteers and in place of asking for donations for the podcast, this holiday season please consider donating so that the Deer Park sisters have a warm and safe place to lay their heads.  For more information and to help, go to deerparknunnery.org.

The Dharmacast team wishes you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and holiday season.  We are always here for you at dpcast.net, on Facebook, iTunes and Twitter.  Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear friends,

This week, the Dharmacast team is on retreat with Thay at Deer Park Monastery.  We're looking forward to bringing the energy of peace and mindfulness back with us next week.

While we're gone, we wanted to offer you the second half of the dharma talk given by Sister Kingh Nghiem at this year's Wake Up retreat.  With Thay touring this year, many of us may have gone on a retreat or heard him speak at a public talk.  We're often deeply moved by experiences at mindfulness practice centers, but how do we take that energy home with us to sustain our practice?  Sister Kinh Nghiem offers us loving advice and many practical ideas for continuing and deepening our practice at home.

Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at dpcast.net, on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes.  Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear friends,

This week we have the first half of a dharma talk given by Sister Kinh Nghiem at this year's Wake Up Retreat.  She tells a light-hearted story about traveling with Thay and then shares the four mantras we can use in order to be truly present.  She encourages us to use these mantras with the people in our lives, the animals and plants around us and with the earth.

Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at dpcast.net, on Facebook, Twitter, and iTunes.  Now, enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

The end of summer is officially here and seasons are beginning to change.  Let us bring our attention to the Earth, as Sister Mat Nghiem begins her sharing with the story of The Lorax.  She goes on to look deeply into our interconnectedness with Mother Earth, both as children and as adults.  When was the last time you were in touch with nature as your five year-old child? 

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes. Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

This week we're happy to share the closing talk of the recent Deer Park retreat for couples.  Three dharma teachers, Jerry Braza from Oregon, Tony Sylvester from Pennsylvania and Peggy Rowe from California, led couples in a weekend of developing mindfulness in their relationships.  They share their reflections on their experience at the retreat and reflect on the nurturing effect that the practice has had on their own relationships.

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on Twitter, Facebook, and iTunes. Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

Today we have a dharma talk given by Sister Quynh Nghiem.  Before the dharma talk, Brother Man Tue leads us in some mindful songs and a short guided meditation.  Then, our sister shares with us the wonderful basics of the connection between our mind, mindful breathing.  

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes. Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

Today we share the first half of a talk given a few weeks ago by Brother Phap Hai at Deer Park Monastery.  Having recently returned from Korea and Hong Kong, he shares the importance of putting the Dharma into practice. What is preventing our life from becoming our practice?  Brother Phap Hai likens three pots of kim chi to the three qualities that hinder our ability to truly practice.  

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes. Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

In this week's segment, we continue with Brother Phap Ho's dharma talk from the 2012 Mindfulness Retreat.  He shares why mindfulness by itself is not enough; we need to discover a spiritual path and a community to walk with to transform our suffering.  He also delves into how to understand our mind consciousness and nurture our well-being.

After hearing the Dharma, we invite you to share your experience with other listeners online at dpcast.net or on our Facebook page.  Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes. 

Dear Friends,

This week we offer the first half of a dharma talk given by Brother Phap Ho at the 2012 Mindfulness Retreat.  He explores the questions, "What is suffering?" and "How do we transform ill-being and nourish well-being?" from his own perspective, but also from the perspective of three great teachers and role models for him, the Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thich Nhat Hanh.  

Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes.

We invite you to share your thoughts and experiences of hearing the dharma with other listeners this week online at dpcast.net or on our facebook page.  

Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

This week we have a continuation from last week's podcast, as we listen to the second half of Brother Phap Hai's talk from Deer Park's 2012 Mindfulness Retreat.

Brother Phap Hai shares lessons from Master Dogen's 13th century Zen text, "Instructions for the Cook".  Furthermore, he shares that to go with the three roots of suffering, three different minds can be cultivated: joyful mind, magnanimous mind, and parental mind.

Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

This week's dharma talk was given by Brother Phap Hai at the 2012 Mindfulness Retreat at Deer Park Monastery.  

Known for his poetic and engaging dharma talks, he shares the Buddha's teachings about the three roots of our suffering; greed, ill-will, and delusion; and the eight winds or worldly dharmas; gain, loss, status, disgrace, praise, blame, pleasure and pain.  

Brother Phap Hai challenges us to look critically at our lives and ask two questions: what is practice? and are we sure?

You will notice the sound of the wind and a lovely baby during the talk.  Enjoy the imperfectness of the recording.  =)

Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,   

This week's dharma talk was given by Brother Phap Don at the recent People of Color retreat at Deer Park Monastery on the concept: "I have arrived, I am home."  

How can we arrive and find our true home?  Brother Phap Don first offers us the repetition and mindfulness of the daily mundane activities and then describes the Buddha's 12 mindfulness exercises. 

Join the DP Dharmacast team in welcoming (back) Soren Kisiel, who is kindly recording the introductions for the weekly podcasts.

Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

Dear Friends,

During the New Year's retreat, Brother Phap De gave a wonderful dharma talk on gratitude.  Although it's the middle of the year, I thought it would be a good time to revisit the message.  Brother Phap De delves deeply into gratitude to our parents.  With Mother's Day having just passed and Father's Day coming up, I thought we might have our parents on our minds.

Enjoy this moment to stop and look deeply.

"When we're addicted to our own thinking, it is the cause of almost all of our suffering. And that experience kills the possibility of gratitude."

"A quote from the Buddha: I tell you, there are two people that are not easy to repay. Which two?  Your mother and father." 

Thay Phai Hai explains the meaning behind the Chinese characters for mindfulness.

Preview: "A new understanding can emerge..."

Michael provides the listeners with a visual for their reference.  

Kiss the ground with your feet as Thay Phap Hai takes us on a journey to meet a gentleman of the past.

Preview: "Allow your path to be an expression of who you are."

Make sure to download the bonus content "Discourse on Love," contact the Deer Park bookstore if you are interested in the full album in addition to similar works.  

Breathe with me as Sister Kinh Nghiem shares her story mixed in with a Buddhist story.  Self-described as a city girl, she scatters the seeds we need to grasp the true nature of the practice.

Preview: "100%, this is your ticket!"

This time the artwork was submitted by none other than myself, Michael Nguyen.  I'd like to ask for experienced audio editors to join our team.  Please get in touch because we have many dharmacasts which needs tender love and care.

Stay seated as Thay Phap Khoi shares about the good sight meditation, the 8 fold path and a rewritten song that by coincidence shares the same name as the retreat he is speaking at.

Preview: "Be here now, be here now, savor your tea and drink your cloud.  Sit with ease, walk in peace the path will turn to joy you'll see."

Enjoy the artwork submitted by Jeffery Levan, 12 years old of Houston.  He says he will learn how to meditate.  Let's support young Jeffrey by supporting ourselves.

Come a bit closer as Thay Phap Ho shares from his life experience and a well of knowledge at the 2012 Family Retreat.  The winter winds may be sneaking up on us but rays of light continue to be transmitted around us.  

Preview: "Full blown anger will take us away."

If you use Twitter, follow us @dpcast to get the dharma instantly in your pocket. 

This is the opening Dharma Talk with two special guest dharma teachers:  the most Venerable Suhita Dharma, the first ordained African American Buddhist monk, and the Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams, founder of the Center for Transformative Change in Berkeley.  The teachers share about the retreat theme, Transforming Suffering: Touching Peace & Freedom.

If you would like to attend a retreat to practice in the Plum Village tradition, please check the following websites for retreat information in your area.  

www.deerparkmonastery.org 

www.bluecliffmonastery.org 

www.magnoliagrovemonastery.org 

www.plumvillage.org 

Peace

Dear Friends

Here is part two of this wonderful talk from the People of Color retreat at Deer Park.  Our guest teachers are joined by Sister Huong Nghiem to respond to written questions from retreatants.  The topics cover how we might approach reconnection with those we may be separated from, compassionate eating, addressing grief and how to avoide being an 'angry activist'.

Please accept this offering for the benefit of all beings.

Dear Friends

On July 27-29, 2012, Deer Park Monastery hosted its first People of Color Retreat in five years.  The retreat weekend came together with two special guest dharma teachers:  the most Venerable Suhita Dharma, the first ordained African American Buddhist monk, and the Rev. Angel Kyodo William, founder of the Center for Transformative Change in Berkeley.  This first podcast is the first dharma talk session given Saturday, July 27, by both Rev. Angel and the Venerable inspired by the retreat theme, Transforming Suffering: Touching Peace & Freedom.

The next 3 podcasts are comprised of the closing dharma talks(part 1) and Question & Answer session of the 2012 People of Color Retreat Weekend (Part 2), Transforming Suffering: Touching Peace & Freedom.  The Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams and the Most Venerable Suhita Dharma speak of our responsibility to transform our anger and suffering, as well as our call to bear witness. The closing talks are followed by a Q/A panel session where they are joined by Sr. Huong Nghiem of Deer Park Monastery.   Please enjoy these insightful and healing sharings.  

Bowing in gratitude to wonderful teachings.

Today we learn about the 5 Hindrances and their antidotes from our wonderful teacher, Thich Chan Phap Ho--Protector of the Dharma.  Phap Ho encourges us to have the courage to do the things in life that we want to do and reminds us that living our life mindful of interdependence and interbeing will bring us to the right path.  We also learn how to turn neutral feelings into happiness.  For example, if you have ever experienced anger, you can see that the state of not being angry is always a great happiness!  

Please enjoy this wonderful talk

Dear Friends

We had a special session during the family retreat on mindful parenting.   Our sister Nomi Green shares her insights as a parent and as a professional about children and our relationship with them--and ourselves.

Please enjoy!

With this podcast, we also welcome a new editor to our Podcast Family--welcome Genevieve!

Dear Friends

This wonderful talk is by our beloved Phap De, Younger Brother.  Phap De offers many deep insights about the nature of suffering and offers practical methods to transform it.  He reminds us that our perceptions are mostly wrong and mostly made up of our past.  He shares deeply about the nature of judgement and forgiveness reminding us that the more we can forgive, the more we can feel forgiven.

Enjoy this deep talk. 

Dear Friends, welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast. Today we offer a dharma talk from Brother Phap De on Mother Earth, given here at Dear Park with the approach of the Christmas holiday.  Brother Phap De is an American born monk, to whom Thich Nhat Hahn gave a monastic name meaning “Young Monk.” Here Thay Phap De speaks about his Christian upbringing and beliefs, and describes how Thich Nhat Hahn taught him to bring his heavenward attentions down to a loving and peaceful Mother Earth.

Please find a solid, upright, and relaxed position to enjoy today’s dharma talk.

Dear Friends

Deer Park is offering a series of theme weekends during the year.  The first weekend was a wonderful offering from Dharma Teacher Eileen Kiera.  Eileen is a resident Dharma teacher at Mountain Lamp near Bellingham Washington.  http://mountainlamp.org/  Eileen Kiera is an ecologist by training and a vegetable gardener by passion, but the practice and support of the Dharma has been her primary focus for the past 24 years. She's a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and Robert Aitken, Roshi. Thich Nhat Hahn acknowledged her as a dharma teacher in 1990, and since then she's led retreats in many places in the U.S., Europe and Australia.  This wonderful weekend Alive as a Bodhisattva Eileen shared about the practice and the path of a Bodhisattva.  This talk was the opening orientation.   If you would like more information on the theme weekends at Deer Park, please visit http://deerparkmonastery.org/events/theme-weekends 

Please find an relaxed, upright, and stable position and enjoy this beautiful offering.

On the second talk of the weekend, Dharma Teacher Eileen Kiera shares about the practice, presence, body, and  great vows of three powerful bodhisattvas-- Avalokiteshvara, Manjusri, and  Samanthabhadra.  We learn that if we can cultivate the energy and practice of compassionate listening, looking deeply, and responding with appropriate action we can embody these bodhisattvas in our lives.  When they are embodied in us, it can be said that they live in the world.

We hope you enjoy these talks.  Please explore other talks by Dharma teacher Eileen Kiera at the Mountain Lamp website at http://mountainlamp.org/audio/eenkiera.html

 

                 

                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we offer a very useful and moving dharma talk given here at Deer Park Monastery by Brother Phap Dang, in which he speaks about depression and dark states of the mind, and the mind’s obsessions that can lead to these dark places.  We know it will bring benefits to many people.

 

This very special Dharma Talk by Thay is offered by the wonderful Plum Village Monastery Online.  We encourage you to visit http://pvom.org/ for more of these wonderful teachings. Here is an excerpt from the website. "This is the final Dharma talk offered by Thay in the Together We Are One Retreat at Deer Park Monastery on the North American Tour, on September 11th, 2011. Thay shares compassion, love, and great understanding: Understanding of suffering allows compassion to arise, and the energy of compassion can be very healing. You feel much better after having understood your own suffering.  And your own suffering reflects somehow the suffering of the world. That is why once you have understood your own suffering, it is much easier and easier to understand his suffering, her suffering.  And when you are able to see the suffering in him and in her you're no longer angry.  He goes on to share about right view and how it can free us from notions of being and non-being. He finishes the talk discussing what is right action.'

Dear Community

Every year in summer,  Deer Park Monastery hosts a 5-day Teen Camp. The teens camp out, sleeping in tents, gathering around a camp fire in the morning, play and practice.  This year was a wonderful experience for over 50 teens.  Here is a wonderful Dharma talk from the Teen Retreat.

Enjoy you peaceful breath,

Enjoy your peaceful step

Dear Friends

Today's talk is from the annual Meditation and Education Retreat at Deer Park Monastery.  Dharma teacher Sister Huong Nghiem shares insights about the practice and offers beautiful teachings for the group of students and educators gathered at the retreat. She urges us to look for and find the teacher in ourselves and to find ways to be in the drivers seat of our own lives.  We meditate to see what should be done and doesn't need to be done.  She asks us to look to see if we want to react to life or respond to life.  If we practice, we can see what we want from our lives.

We hope you enjoy this beautiful talk.

Dear Friends,

We are happy today to bring you a wonderful dharma talk on the Discourse on Loving-Kindness by Thay Phap Hai.  In this talk, Thay Phap Hai guides us in a deep introduction not only on the text, but also how to use it in our daily lives.  He urges us, in this and in all the teachings, to always ask ‘how does this apply to my situation?’  He also touches on the Four Divine Abidings and how to practice the ‘radiations’ or metta meditations.  We are urged to look deeply into, What is it that separates us?  What is it that brings us together?  There is a handout that you may wish to print out as you study this talk.  The Pali Language version, an English Translation, as well as the version in our Chanting Book (Chanting from the Heart) Can be found here:

http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/teachings/discourse-on-loving-kindness/view

May you benefit from and enjoy this talk and may your face be radiant like a ripe fruit just plucked from the tree.

Dear friends,

The Deer Park Podcast team hopes you enjoyed the Course on the 14 Verses of Meditation. Now, we are happy to resume our schedule of offering talks from Days of Mindfulness at Deer Park. Thich Phuoc Tinh, known to the Sangha as the Venerable, here offers a forthright guide to everyday practice. The Venerable shows us how a steady mindfulness practice can whither away our sorrow and anger, and allow us to understand that all our reactions and emotions come from within us.

This dharma talk was offered for 2011’s New Year, during the Holiday Retreat, and reminds us to be sure that our practice isn’t only for when were on retreat.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they guide us through a wonderful 2011.

Dear friends,

Brother Phap Dung, the Abbott of Deer Park Monastery, here offers a wonderfully casual talk with the children at this summer's Family Retreat. From Pokemon to Deer Park's ravens to an introduction to inviting the bell to sound, Brother Phap Dung encourages children to be present with, and appreciate, their surroundings and family.

Please enjoy these offerings with your family, and may there be great joy in your mindful togetherness.

 

Dear friends,

Thich Nhat Hahn shows us very clearly that while we practice for our own transformation, it is just as important to practice for our relationships with those we love. In this dharma talk Bother Phap Dung, the Abbott of Deer Park, encourages us to be present with exactly who we are, with all our strengths and weakness, rather than an impossible image of how we should be. He shows us how, by being present with ourselves and families in this way, we can clearly see the time, space, and attention needed to care for ourselves and our loved ones.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they guide us toward acceptance of the miracle of this present moment.

 

Dear friends,

In this playful dharma talk given to the children at this summer's family retreat, Brother Phap Ho shares a story of a frontier boy learning the ways of the local Native American tribe and the lessons of diligence. Learning, he reminds us, for both children and adults, can be the same thing as playing.  

 Please enjoy these offerings with your family, and may your present moment be inspired with playfulness.

Waking up this morning I smile
24 brand new hours are before me
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion

Dear Friends

Gathas are short verses to recite in the routine moments of our lives - waking up in the morning,  brushing our teeth, turning on a car – to bring mindfulness and connection to those moments. In this dharma talk, Sister Huong Nghiem encourages us in our practice of using these gathas, showing us how to use them to cultivate gratitude and stoke the fires of understanding, directing our hearts and minds toward the wholesome seeds stored in our consciousness.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they be nourishing to your practice.

 

This is the full audio version of the Bells of Mindfulness video.

 

Dear Friends

Thich Phuoc Tinh, known to the Sangha as The Venerable, here offers a wonderfully direct talk to encourage us forward in our practice. He reminds us that if we stop practicing when we are feeling good, we are like a person rubbing sticks together to start a fire, and stopping just as the sticks grow warm, before the real fire begins. The Dharma, he tells us, is a dharma of action, not of intellect.

This dharma talk is offered for Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year. May the renewal and rejoicing that is going on at the Monastery carry deeply into your life.

A collection of The Venerable’s dharma talks is available as a book. Be Like a Tree, Zen Talks by Thích Phước Tịnh is a collection of the Venerable’s uniquely practical and inspiring talks, helping us in our practice with non-fear, recognizing our thoughts and feelings, creating space in our lives, loving and being loved, cultivating our spirituality, and tasting the enjoyment of our own lives. The talks were compiled by OI Member Karen Hilsberg, and the book is available at lulu.com and amazon.com.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may there be renewal in your every mindful breath. 

 

Dear Friends,

 In our next focus on the Elements of Practice we look at the first of two basic practices of the dharma: stopping and looking deeply.  In this dharma talk, Brother Phap Ho guides us in Stopping – coming to rest in the present moment, allowing our minds to become clear and rest in awareness.  We are then able to look deeply, to see that there are so many conditions for our happiness right around us that we might not notice otherwise, that we lose in the busy-ness of our lives.  And through this awareness, we are also able to look deeply into ourselves, to look at how we are constrained by the habits of our lives and minds, as so find freedom.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they guide us toward the crystal clarity of the present moment.

 

Dear Friends,

In this dharma talk Sister Dang Nghiem explores neurologist Paul MacLean’s idea that our brains actually consist of three brains layered by evolution atop one another – the reptilian brain, the mammalian brain, and the intellectual Neocortex. Through the practice of mindfulness, Sister Dang Nghiem shows us how we can train ourselves to react from the highest level of our brain’s evolution, and so cultivate our minds to bring us greater happiness and peace, and to be a calm presence in the world.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they guide us toward the peace of a carefully cultivated mind.

 

Dear Friends

Our practice is to learn to listen to the innate wisdom that is inside of us, instead of the voices of judgment and expectation that battle for our attention.  In this dharma talk, through sharing of very personal stories of care-taking for her mother, Sister Tue Nghiem helps us to see this wisdom within ourselves and to listen to, as she calls it, “our voice.” In this talk she shows us that by being present with ourselves we are able to keep from taking for granted the precious elements in our lives that support us – our health, family, friends, sangha, and our spiritual practice.  The dharma talk concludes with a guided meditation in which Sister Tue Nghiem teaches us to make room inside ourselves to listen for this voice of wisdom.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they guide us toward who we really are.

Dear Friends,

The 21-Day Retreat is now underway in Plum Village. Thay offered this talk to the newly arrived retreatants, beginning with a sharing on his meetings with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and continuing on to discuss how we can support President Obama in his practice of using loving speech and deep listening.

"When Barack Obama manifested, I regretted a little bit, because Martin Luther King, Jr. was not there to witness the fruit of our efforts. ... But finally, I saw that we are the continuation of Martin Luther King. He is happy to know that everything he has done has borne fruit.

Obama is not an individual, Obama represents a Sangha. So our work is to keep the Sangha close to Obama, to offer our support. I offer this for you to reflect on it. There must be a way. Wherever there is a will there is a way."

Dear Friends, We often experience our emotions like waves, crashing on the shore.  But a wave’s beginning can be miles away, or thousands of feet underwater.  The same is true for our emotions.  In this talk, Sister Dang Nghiem shows us that while we may not notice emotions until they crash upon us, looking deeply we can see that their origin is far below the surface.  In this way we can be mindful of our habitual reactions and responses, recognizing them before we are swept away with them.    Please enjoy these offerings, and may they inspire the depth of your practice.

Dear Friends, 

This Dharma talk is the final talk of Deer Park’s Heart of the Winter Retreat, a time of intensive study and practice for the monastics.

To bring this three-month time of retreat to a close, Sister Huong Nghiem, or Sister True Fragrance, here offers an insightful and very pragmatic talk on looking deeply and skillfully into our practice and our lives. She offers many insights on how we can fine-tune our practice to best serve us, to identify what the root of our suffering is on a very personal level and so transform our lives at the base. The talk ends with a question and answer session with the community.

Please enjoy these offerings, and may they be nourishing to your practice.

Dear Friends

Thích Phước Tịnh, known to the Sangha as the Venerable, here offers a wonderful and direct talk on living deeply as a human being, going inward to find deep meaning in your life, and so transcending happiness and suffering, fortune and misfortune. This dharma talk was offered for Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year, and leads us toward renewal in our life and in our practice.  We offer a deep bow of gratitude to Sister Dang Nghiem for offering a wonderful translation of this talk. 

We are delighted to announce that for the first time the Venerable’s dharma talks are available in a book. Be Like a Tree, Zen Talks by Thích Phước Tịnh is a collection of the Venerable’s uniquely practical and inspiring talks, helping us in our practice with non-fear, recognizing our thoughts and feelings, creating space in our lives, loving and being loved, cultivating our spirituality, and tasting the enjoyment of our own lives. The talks were compiled by Order if Interbeing member Karen Hilsberg, and the book is available at lulu.com and amazon.com.  

Please enjoy these offerings, and may there be renewal in your every mindful breath.

Dear Friends,

Deer Park has been alive with energy these past weeks with the monks, nuns, and visitors joyfully celebrating Tet, the lunar New Year. Celebrations included thrilling dragon dances, and the making of hundreds of traditional earth-cakes. This dharma talk was given by Thay Phap Hai just before Tet at a Day of Mindfulness.  It was offered as the monthly talk for Order of Interbeing Members and Aspirants but all of us can also find great benefits for our practice.  It is on the topic of Appropriateness: appropriateness in a practitioner’s actions, and in the Bodhisattva vow.

Remember that the public is encouraged to attend these regular Days of Mindfulness at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido California, Blue Cliff Monastery in New York, and at Plum Village in the south of France. There is information at the end of the podcast on how you can attend.

Happy New Year!

Today’s podcast was the result of a wonderful experiment at Deer Park.  Zen Teacher Thay Phap Hai and two Order of Interbeing members, Karen Hilsberg and Kenley Neufeld, shared a dharma talk on self-renewal.  These wonderful teachers offer insights into how we can begin anew with ourselves and practice right away by watering our own flower.  We can also reflect on our relationships and our lives and find new places to be open to experience and to life.  With these insights we can set our intentions for the new year.   We hope you enjoy your flowering watering and have a joyous and happy new year.  

Dear Friends

The annual Winter Retreat opened very joyfully at Deer Park on November 15.  From requests in past year's Winter Retreats for more structured study during these three months, the community has planned a number of courses for monastic and lay practitioners this winter.   The Deer Park Podcast will offer the once a month special teachings on the 14 Mindfulness Trainings by senior Dharma teachers in Deer Park. The talks are planned to form one coherent in-depth look into the nature of the trainings of the Order of Interbeing. In this way, as a Sangha, we may enrich our practice and more directly see ways to engage with the practice in ourselves, in our families, and in society.  This podcast is a wonderful offering from Thay Phap Dung on Openness.

Dear Young Friends

On September 19, 2008, the Wake Up movement for young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a healthy and compassionate society was announced.  Wake Up is a community of young Dharma practitioners who want to help their society which is overloaded with intolerance, discrimination, craving, anger and despair.  They practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings, ethical guidelines offered by the Buddha; the most concrete practice of true love and compassion, clearly showing the way towards a life in harmony with each other and with the Earth. If you are a young practitioner we encourage you to learn about the Wake Up movement in your country.  You can learn more at http://wkup.org.  Today’s podcast is dedicated to young people and is taken from our 2008 Teen Retreat- Be True, Be Beautiful.  Let us know if you would like to hear more podcasts for youth.

 

Dear Friends.

Today we are happy to share a new kind of offering with you.  We are initiating a series of podcasts called the “Elements of Practice”.   We are so fortunate to have our first offering in this series from Thay Phap Hai, one of our wonderful and experienced dharma teachers here at Deer Park Monastery.  In Sitting Meditation, Part 1, he shares the basics of how to sit, why we sit, and other elements of this practice.  We learn how to be 'noble' and that every place you sit can be a place of awakening.  You may also enjoy practicing with the guided meditation included in the talk.  One of the goals of our podcast is to support individual and sangha practice wherever it is occurring.  We hope this offering will help strengthen your practice. 

Please also visit our new website at www.deerparkmonastery.org and learn more about our tradition and practice.   Please enjoy your sitting.  

May you and all beings be well.

Greetings Friends

Here is an excerpt from one of Thay’s talks focusing on some lessons for beginning practitioners.  For example, the practice of leaving behind can bring great happiness.  He also discusses skillful ways to relate to your suffering and shares that whether we suffer a little or a lot, is entirely up to us.   We hope you enjoy this wonderful talk.

Please enjoy your peaceful breath.

 

Dear Friends

This month we offer a wonderful sharing from Dharma teacher Larry Ward at the UN Vesak conference in Vietnam.  “The question is not what may I do to be saved, but rather, what must we do to be saved.  And by ‘we’ I mean the whole planet”.  It is a wonderful talk and we hope you enjoy it.  To Larry’s many gifts already offered to the world a new one is added— Love’s Garden by Peggy Rowe Ward and Larry Ward explores the spiritual dimension of relationship. Larry and Peggy share stories from their own life and offer clear and useful exercises to illustrate how Buddhist principles can help couples navigate difficulties and misunderstandings and deepen their commitment to each other and to their spiritual practice. Love’s Garden is a perfect guide to help cultivate love in all of our relationships. You can learn more about it and order it www.parallaxpress.org/lovesgarden.

Please enjoy these offerings and your mindful step- full of life and healing.

 

Dear Friends

The practice of Beginning Anew is the deep teaching offered by Dharma teachers Sr. Dang Nghiem and Br. Phap An.  It is a wonderful practice that can help heal relationships and improve communication and understanding—the foundations for love. This excerpt from the Stonehill College Retreat in 2007, also offers teaching on the power of our minds and how asking the simple question, “Am I sure?”, can relieve much suffering. 

Please enjoy your breath and the beautiful spring days as the dharma rain of Beginning Anew begins to fall.

This week we offer you a talk that Thay gave in Denver, Colorado on August 29th, 2007 during this summer's tour. It was entitled "Our Environment: Touching Our Gift of Life," and in it Thay looks deeply at our present situation as human beings on the planet Earth. Please consider filling out the Earth Peace Treaty Commitment Sheet, to help ourselves, our communities and our planet.

The two-and-a-half month trip to Vietnam this year has finished with success. Thay and the Sangha have continued on for ten days of retreats and days of mindfulness in Hong Kong, and we now are in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a five-day retreat.

This week we offer you Thay's first talk in Hong Kong, at the University of Hong Kong on 10 May, 2007. Thay fields a number of questions from the audience, including: What can we do to help the situation of global warming? What is Thay's impression of people in Hong Kong? What is the relationship of light to the practice?

 

This talk was offered by Thay to foreigners living in Hanoi on April 25, 2007. Included are questions and answers from the audience, and a reading of the letter that Thay offered to the people of Vietnam as part of the three reconciliation ceremonies in Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Soc Son, north of Hanoi.

The delegation traveling with Thay has just left Hanoi for 10 days of talks and a retreat in Hong Kong.

This week we offer a talk for intellectuals and others given at the Sandy Beach Hotel in Da Nang. The quality of the recording is not great due to background noise, but it is intelligible, and the talk is worth the trouble. A number of questions are answered by Thay towards the end.

The talk is translated by Sister Dang Nghiem.

 

This week we offer a talk from the first day of the Three Day Reconciliation Ceremony in Hue at Dieu De Temple. The ceremony was the second one on this trip, after the one in Vinh Nghiem Temple, TP Ho Chi Minh. Loved ones of people of all nationalities remembered those who died in wars and in boats during the past century in Vietnam by writing their names on hundreds of sheets. These sheets were carried on trays during the ceremony. The ceremonies have given many people here a chance to be released from the suffering caused by the violent death of loved ones.

The talk is translated by Sister Gioi Nghiem.

This week we offer the first of Thay's talks in this year's trip to Vietnam. This talk was given at the Phap Van Temple in TP Ho Chi Minh on Feb. 22, 2007 to an audience of lay and monastic practitioners. The translation into English was done by Sister Dang Nghiem.

We will do our best to keep talks and other material from this three-month trip available, but please understand if there are lapses. These are due to a lack of internet connection. We leave tomorrow for Prajna Temple in Bao Loc.

This week Thay offers a teaching on how to maintain beginner's mind even when we are years into the practice. Also, how do the precepts support our practice?

On Feb 18 we plan to leave for a three month trip in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Thailand. We will do our best to maintain the podcast during this time, but there may be gaps when we do not have regular internet access. Please understand, and stay tuned.

This week's offering is the talk given by our teacher in Plum Village on New Year's Eve. Thay encourages us to make a deep aspiration for the New Year, and to put it into practice.

Please write to us and tell us your aspiration to practice here in the comments on www.dpcast.org, or at our e-mail dpcast@gmail.com.

Happy New Year!

This holiday week we offer you the audio from one of the Dharma Teacher Lamp Transmissions during the recent Beauty and Well-Being Great Ordination Ceremony in Plum Village, France. Four lay dharma teachers from Italy were chosen to receive the lamp this year, including Diana Petech (right), the teacher on this week's dharmacast.

Enjoy.

Dear Friends,

This week we share a dharma talk that our teacher Thay gave in Plum Village on October 29, 2006, shortly before the recent U.S. elections.  It offers a deep view into both the nature of our current world situation and the nature of this path of practice.

Thay Phap Tri hosts.

Dear Friends,

This week we offer the orientation given on the first night of the recent Retreat for College Students at Deer Park. Sister Thuan Nghiem (Harmony, right) and Brother Phap Luu (Stream) cover the basic practices of mindful breathing, sitting and walking, in addition to sharing from their own experiences in college. This talk is a good introduction to the fundamental practices of the Plum Village tradition.

Please enjoy this offering, and thank you for your comments and feedback.

Dear Friends,

This week we publish one of the talks from our recent college retreat. Our abbot Thay Phap Dung speaks about his own path of practice, and what it means to bring meditation into our lives. Brother Phap Huu hosts.

May you be well.

In this talk from Plum Village on 01 Oct 2006, Thay investigates the true nature of power in the light of the Buddha's teaching, and he describes how we may realize this power in our present-day lives. Also: what are the powers of a true teacher?

A two part release, in this talk from Plum Village on 01 Oct 2006, Thay investigates the true nature of power in the light of the Buddha's teaching, and he describes how we may realize this power in our present-day lives. Also: what are the powers of a true teacher?

Another gift from the hidden mountains of Escondido, CA. This time we can enjoy a talk from Sister Chau Nghiem (Jewel) which she gave on the first full day of the POC Retreat.

I was surprised by words of thanks I recieved this past weekend.  It gave me a warm feeling.  In the mist of our busy schedules we might forget to say a few words of gratitude which can make someone's day.  Lets try this one and remember to use it now and again.

I know you are there and I am happy

Please enjoy our podcast!

A Lotus for You,
Michael Nguyen

It has only been a week since our first DPCast but it feels as though Deer Park has been apart of my life forever.  We have had some wonderful feedback from the e-community and we have read every word!  Thank you so much for such encouraging e-mails and comments.

Not to keep you, our second DPCast is hosted by Sister Jewel.  This is the talk the Dharma Teacher Larry Ward offered on the third day of the retreat. I haven't listened to it yet, so lets breathe in together, breathe out together and enjoy this wonderful gift from the Hidden Mountains of Escondido, CA.

Be sure to check the Deer Park website for more information about living in the present moment.

Friend of DP,
Michael Nguyen