The Deer Park Dharmacast

Dear Retreatents

Here is this weeks talk--What are the 4?  Please go to the Deer Park monastery website for the class materials that support this talk.

Thich Chan Phap Hai shares with us about the roots or permeations in our mind.  He reminds us powerfully that our practice of engaged buddhism is to take our lived experience and allow the energy of mindfulness to root itself in our lives.  He reminds us that the most precious gift we can offer is the gift of who we really are.  And if you are a really good practitioner, you might get some Lollies!

Enjoy this beautiful offering. 

Like any trip, studying the guidebook will only get you so far.  We all must become that traveler and take the journey for ourselves.  Our practice is like this.  We can intellectually learn and hear the teachings, but we need to practice for ourselves. Our Teacher, Phap Hai, reminds of of this in this week's, What are the Two? teaching.  We are encouarged to look deeply into what kind of offering we are making with our practice, to ourselves, our beloved ones, and our community.

We hope you and your sangha are able to create your own conditions for deepening your practice in a 'winter retreat'.

This week's class focusses on nutriment.  How do we nourish ourselves, our loved ones, our sangha?  In our sangha, we learned that the questions are not so simply answered.  Please visit the same link for the study guides and materials as you used for Class 1.

Please enjoy this deep teaching.