Buddhist Chant: Namo Avalokiteshvara

Please enjoy the videos on calligraphy, a Hong Kong visit, the Great Bell chant to end suffering and the Buddhist chant of compassion, Namo Avalokiteshvara.

The Great Bell Chant

From Robb Kushner, True Realization of Light

We invite the bell, and the bell invites us

...to come back to our breath.

...to smile, breathe, and go slowly.

...to keep our appointment with life.

...to dwell fully and happily in the present moment.

...to be still and know.

...to stop, rest, and heal.

...to let go.

From the Peaceful Heart Sangha, Maine

A letter to Thay, March 2020

Dearest Venerable Thích Nhât Hanh, Dearest Thây,

The sun is shining and reflecting off the snow outside my window. A beautiful afternoon. I hope that you are well, happy, and at peace at this moment in your root temple in Huê.

Today Peaceful Heart Sangha celebrates our 12th continuation day. We are happy that you are with us! Thank you so so much for sharing the Buddha’s teachings in a way that we can bring into our lives and for helping us to understand the importance of Beloved Community!

In my life I tend to learn with my heart. Thank you, Thây, for sharing your clear understanding of the teachings in a way that I can absorb and feel deeply! In 1993 I discovered your teachings and right away found them to be so very helpful in my life in so many ways ……….
To continue reading, please click here.

Dear Friends,

May you be safe and well at this time. I have included a link below to a song/video for Thay's birthday "Be-In" on Sunday and/or for any other ways in which you might like to offer/share it with our sangha. It is a part of a full-length practice CD, of which 1/3 of proceeds will benefit the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation and 1/3 will benefit the Morning Sun Mindfulness Center, where much of the project was recorded (you might recognize Brother Michael Ciborski's sweet voice). 

https://lynndeeves.hearnow.com

bowing deeply in Gratitude for Thay and this beautiful practice,
Lynn Deeves, Chan Bieu Tu
True Manifestation of Kindness

Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ni8az78utuvndv8/May%20All%20Beings.mp4?dl=0

From Heather Panahi, OI Aspirant

My Beloved Teacher,

 Thirteenth-century poet Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī once wrote, “If you only say one prayer a day, make it ‘Thank You.’ On your 94th continuation day in this body, I and my family offer your this prayer of gratitude—for your wisdom, for your guidance and for your presence in our lives.

 My husband and I discovered you in the early 2000’s. We had recently moved to Massachusetts with our two very young children, and had not yet settled into our new life fully. Having moved from South Carolina to the northeast, I and my husband, who is an Iranian immigrant and a Muslim, desired to give our girls the opportunity to grow up in a part of the country we believed would be more amenable to our bi-cultural family. Then the tragic 9/11 attacks occurred, throwing our lives and those of the entire nation into absolute uncertainty and fear. My husband eventually lost his job and I found myself in a very deep and dark depression.

A year or so later—anxious for a change of scenery and desperate to get out of the house for a few hours—my husband took me to Providence, RI. He told me that a renowned Buddhist monk and his monastics were hosting a “picnic of sorts” in the park, after which there would be a talk. “We don’t HAVE to stay for the talk,” my husband said, “but I think that a picnic in the park sounds great, don’t you?” Reluctantly I agreed. I will admit that I knew nothing of you at this time, nor was I familiar with the practice. Thus, when we found our spot in the park and set down our blanket, we simply began eating, confused as to why no one else was and marveling at the stillness that could be achieved despite there being hundreds of people. To continue reading, please click here……

From Mariann Taigman
Dear Thay, Dear Lovely Blue Cliff Monastery-

I wrote a poem when I attended my first retreat with Thay in Estes Park, CO.  His teachings and you all have changed my life is so many ways.  I would not be the person that I am today without Thay's teachings.   I just heard that Thay has stopped eating and that makes my heart very heavy.  However, I know that he will always be in our hearts and souls and his teachings will live on through all of you monastics...and through all of us.  A deep bow of gratitude to you all for doing this day of celebration for Thay and inviting us .  Here is my poem:

“Peaceful Walking- Winter 2010”

In the early winter morning air, I see my breath.

I see breathing.

Breathing in, I walk....breathing out, I walk... 

trying to be mindful of my breath, my steps...

mindful of breath....mindful of walking.

Thoughts continue to explode and interrupt

the solitude of the coming of dawn.

Back to the breath...back to the steps...

and peace returns again for the moment. Please click here to read more…….

Gratitude
David Gates

There are pills
there are doctors
there is desperation

and you look in books
where at first
there is nothing

then by luck
or fate
you see it

your hand running along the top shelf
it comes like a flash
you don’t know why
your hand had retrieved it

that particular book

the one with the basket of oranges
the one that’s all about seeds

Understanding Our Mind
it says on the cover

there on the shelf among others
in the store that day

somehow your hand pulled it down
that book
that day

and standing there
not moving
you read
for a long time
an hour
two or more
Please click here to read more…….

Drinking My Tea

by J. Skyleson 

For Thay

I hold my teacup, savoring

the exquisite sensation
 
of heat in hands still cold

from walking in the snow. 

Dried leaves slowly unfurl,

the color deepens,

I no longer see

where my teacup ends. 

Steam rises,  

reaching back,  

spiraling as it is released 

to the ten directions. 

When I have drunk my tea, 

where will the water go? 

Come Home to Yourself in the Here and in the Now
From Gail, True Wonderful Jewel

When I was a child, I was briefly sexually molested by an adult
male, and although I was only ten years old at the time, I felt
guilty for many years, as if I had somehow caused this incident.
Thich Nhat Hanh and his teachings brought me home to myself
in a positive way and enhanced my life in many other ways!

Please click here to read more…….

Dear Thay: 

Thank you for your beautiful book The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. Thank you for your life-long commitment to peace and the practice of peace, within and without. Thank you for establishing communities of Dharma friends and for offering support and encouragement in our practice by online teaching. Thank you for your smiling presence in all life circumstances. Thank you for your example of inter-being.

With deep gratitude and love, I offer you a bow and a flower. With deep gratitude and love, I honor your Continuation. With deep gratitude and love, I offer you the universe.

MaryLou Carroll

From Susan Goldman

Dear Thay, Dear Sisters and Brothers

Thank you for the beautiful meditation and chanting this morning. The sounds of the monastery are deeply moving and grounding. 

I thought back to the first retreat at Blue Cliff.  Perhaps in 2004?  I set up my small tent  on the hill behind the main building.  There were not so many of us and the other camping areas were not needed.  As it happened, my tent was next to the cabin where Thay stayed that year.  I remember the periodic deliveries of wheelbarrows full of books to be signed by Thay late in the evening.
Please click here to read more…….

From Joyce Bailey
Dear friends,

Please accept this offering of gratitude to Thay for all that he has given us.  We are deeply grateful.  This is a short video of a song I wrote based on Thay’s poem No Coming, No Going 

PRAYER for feeling safe and at ease in the midst of turbulence

 
ULTIMATE PROTECTION
BY TRUE LOVE AND LIGHT
ULTIMATELY CONNECTED
NO WAY THERE CAN BE SEPARATION
NO WAY
BECAUSE CONNECTION ONLY CHANGES HER FACE
WHILE WE TRANSCEND
AND ARE
ALL FORMS
ALL TIMES
ALL SPACES

ilja Tammen, Anrosey, France.

Below is a reflection for Thay's Continuation Day.

"Dear Thay:

Thank you for showing me how to live compassionately every day.  Your life and teachings have been a gift to me. 

I wish you a blessed Continuation Day and new year."

In gratitude,

Namaste,

Lisa Giordano

The cape sangha, from Cape Cod, Massachusetts

A walk in honor of thay’s continuation. October 10, 2020

Dear Friends,

I was honored to have attended Thay's last retreat, held on the Brock University Campus in St.Catherines, Ontario in 2013.

I wrote about it and I still have my notes, which include many drawings. One of them is attached.

On this, his Continuation Day, I am sharing the article I wrote about the retreat with you.

https://nancybeiman.com/2020/04/28/studies-with-a-saint/  

It has taken me many years to improve my practice but it has been a literal lifesaver, particularly in these frightening times. It literally changed my life, though it has taken me many years to understand what I learned...reading the notes is a new education.

Thank you all, and many thanks to Thay.

Best wishes
Nancy Beiman
member, True Peace Sangha, Toronto

Happy continuation day teacher, Enclosed is a recent picture of two

of your Clear Heart Sangha students in Rhode Island. We are

enjoying the Newport Jazz festival. Sangha friends sharing music

and watering seeds of joy.

A song from a French speaking friend

Chère Sangha, 

Merci pour cette douce intention. 

En ce jour de célébration, je nous transmets cette vidéo. 

Avec Amour, 

Audrey, Sangha de Montréal

Souffle D’Amour Inclusif de la Source

From Rosemary, another French speaking friend,
Bonjour, 

Thank you for invite us to share the incredible gift of the practice and of Thay teaching , they are so important in our lives. 

I made a small video, i hope it reach you and hopefully Thay as well. 

With deep gratitude 🙏 

I put into practice all that I could from Peace is Every Step and The Miracle of Mindfulness, books that I found as I began to seek something different for my life. I would walk the same streets, see the same people, but protected by the practice of mindfulness.

I began sitting meditation formally at a Zen Center in my home city of Saint Louis at 17. Shortly after, I departed the city and headed for Maple Forest Monastery in Vermont. There I encountered the practice most authentically, and I struggled mightily. I left the monastery multiple times and each time was welcomed back with open arms. I felt truly loved by the sangha.

After the sudden death of my father and trying to study Buddhism at a university, I found myself back at Maple Forest as an aspirant to the monastic life. The sangha ultimately sent me to Plum Village to ordain after several months.

After a few months at Plum Village, my ordination never came. I was suffering too much and struggled with abandoning my family as they dealt with my father's passing.

You called for me to visit your hut to have tea and some conversation. You said many things that I have taken to heart and cherish, but the standout teaching you offered was this...you stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the countryside from your Upper Hamlet hut. You said to me, '"every day I look out this window, I see it with fresh eyes. If you can arrive in each moment and experience it freshly you will have learned the most important thing in life." I'm practicing it to this day. I will never lose sight of this, dear Thay. I know I stumble, but on the whole, this teaching is the mission of my life, and it is an incredible koan of sorts that I continually aim to live into.

You live and breathe in me. I live and breathe in you. I can't even really see where you begin or end—I wouldn't know where to draw the line. There is basically only sangha. It has always been this way, but as I get older and as you do the same, I see it more and more, which is another one of your teachings that continues to ripen in me.

May you be well, at ease, and full of peace, knowing your students are ripening.

Your forever student,

Jason
Peacefulness of the Source