The Deer Park Dharmacast

Dear Friends

What a great fortune to have been born a human, to be in harmony with others, and to have a chance to take this wonderful course!  The second session is offered to us by Thay Phap Hai and is rich with insights into our beautiful practice.

The Second Verse:

Stopping (Shamatha) means to be still

In order to recognize, to be in contact,

To nourish, to heal,

To calm, to soothe, and to refocus the mind.

Thay offers us a guided meditation, an introduction to the five hindrances, and three means to plunge ourselves into the cool water of the present moment.

The reading materials for this class are available on the Deer Park Monastery website at www.deerparkmonastery.org

May all enjoy calm abiding in the present moment during the week ahead. 

Dear Friends

The 3-month Winter Rains Retreat began today at Deer Park.  Also, today this course on the Fourteen Verses on Meditation course held its first class.  A group of around 30 people have joined together to be taught by Thay Phap Hai, Thay Phap Ho, and Su Co Bich Nghiem and we have all committed to following the course during the coming 14 weeks. We hope that you will join us online.  In this way you can join us in our study, reflection and practice when and where it is suitable for you.  The text material for the respective classes and the outline of the course can be found on this website under Teachings, Fourteen Verses on Meditation here: http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/teachings/fourteen-verses-on-meditation-course-nov-21-2010-feb-20-2011 or go to http://www.deerparkmonastery.org

First Verse on Meditation: Just as a bird has two wings, the practice of meditation has "stopping" and "deep looking." The two wings depend on each other.  Stopping and deep looking go in tandem.

The Podcast team will do our best to put the recording online as soon as we can after the class.  Because we want to keep up with the class, these podcasts will not have the usual introductions so we hope that is acceptable.   

May we all enjoy our stopping and looking together during this winter reflection time.

 

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.

 

Sister Dang Nghiem shows us the proper way to invite the sound of the bell. She also teaches us how to cultivate that peacefulness when we hear noises that might otherwise cause stress.

Lay practitioner Patrick Burke made the video.  A higher resolution version is at www.burkepost.com.

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,

We hope you will enjoy this short interview with a local Deer Park practitioner.   J.C. Earle practices with the Compassionate Heart Sangha in Los Angeles, and he's a frequent visitor to Deer Park.  In this video, J.C. discusses his understanding of mindfulness, using his garden as a metaphor for consciousness.  A higher-quality version of this video is available at burkepost.com.   This Vidcast was created by another Deer Park practitioner, Patrick Burke, and we are very grateful to him for this offering.

Please enjoy cultivating your garden as you watch this offering.