The Deer Park Dharmacast

This week we invite you to listen to an evening of sharing which took place during the second night of the Order of Interbeing Retreat this past week at Deer Park Monastery. Monastics and lay friends share about the current situation of energy consumption in relation to our practice and global warming. Also included is a new chant for the Gatha for Inviting the Bell offered by Sisters Mai Nghiem and Thai Nghiem, which you may download separately here.

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.

This week we offer a chant recorded by Sister The Nghiem of Green Mountain Dharma Center: Discourse on Love. This chant is a common one in the Pali tradition of Theravadan Buddhists. The English translation was done by our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh with the help of Plum Village monks and nuns. The text and music can be found here in PDF format.

This chant and other songs by Plum Village Monks and Nuns are on the Oasis CD.

Enjoy your breathing.

Dear Friends,

This week we offer the recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings that was offered by Thay Phap Lai this past Sunday. Please use this in your own practice of these trainings week to week.

Smile.

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 have our monthly question and answer session with two monks recently arrived from Plum Village, Thay Phap Lai and Thay Phap Thanh (right.) Sister Susan also joins us to answer a number of questions sent to us via e-mail in the past few weeks. Brother Stream moderates.

Enjoy.

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.