Dear Friends,

This week: we will meet Monday evening, Aug. 19, from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning, Aug. 21, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday, Aug. 23, 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday night, we will finish our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will be reading through to the end. 

Camille will facilitate and we will be discussing pages 179 - 212. 

Please note there is no need to own the book or read the section in advance to enjoy the practice with us. Nor is there a need to attend every practice to benefit from the readings, as each Monday practice will continue to be a stand alone and complete practice. For an introduction to the book, read this. 

In this section of the book, Thay moves between living in Saigon and in the “self-help villages” in rural Vietnam, which he has helped create along with the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS). 

While life in the villages continues to be challenging, the villagers are supported and encouraged by Thay, his friends, the monks, and many volunteers at the SYSS.  The projects that the workers have started support the educational, health, and social needs of the villagers. Communication goes well in these villages as the SYSS encourages the villagers to be fully engaged in their own wellbeing and that of their neighbors.

Dear friends,

This week, we will meet Monday evening, Aug. 12, from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Wednesday morning, Aug. 14, from 7-8AM EDT online; and Friday, Aug. 16, from 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, we will continue our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will read this book through August 19.

Please note there is no need to own or read the book in order to enjoy practicing together. Nor is there need to attend each gathering because each Monday’s sangha is a stand-alone and complete practice. 

This Monday, Bea will facilitate and we will be discussing pages 153-178. You can find the pages for each week’s reading at the bottom of the full write up.

Bea’s selected reading extracts follow:

“The best medicine to chase away the heart’s dark isolation is to make direct contact with life’s sufferings, to touch and share the anxieties and uncertainties of others. Loneliness comes from locking yourself in a false shell. You think of yourself as a separate, self-contained entity not in relation to others. Buddhists call this “attachment to self.” In reality, we are empty of a separate self. But we needn’t take the Buddhists’ word for it. Looking deeply, we can see that a person is not a separate self” (156).

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday evening, Aug. 5, from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning, Aug. 7, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday, Aug. 9, 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday we will gather together online and Susie will facilitate. 

We will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings passed down from our spiritual ancestors and translated by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). This week we will focus on the second of the five mindfulness trainings – True Happiness. True happiness means to live with happiness, even though we experience both negative and positive emotions, we know that happiness is an accessible state that can provide wellbeing and healing inside and outside of us. 

Sometimes I find life so challenging that I wonder when I will have time and space for happiness. Some mornings, I wake up completely happy and aware of all the conditions I have for happiness. However, most mornings, even before opening my eyes, my mind goes right to my  to-do list, work, and responsibilities. I come back to my breath and feel gratitude that I have responsibilities and purpose, meaningful work, and many opportunities ahead for being of service throughout my day. I remind myself of the opportunities for self-care, such as exercise, eating well, and sitting on my cushion.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

This week we continue our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will be reading through August 19. 

Please note there is no need to own the book or read the section in advance to enjoy the practice with us. Nor is there a need to attend every practice to benefit from the readings, as each Monday practice will continue to be a stand alone and complete practice. For an introduction to the book, read this.

This Monday, we will gather together in person and Annie will facilitate. We will be discussing pages 115-132. (Each week's reading pages are below.) 

I excerpted the below quote from our section of reading. In this section, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) talks about what it means to be a true hero in our world. Specifically, he shares how using mindfulness can help us tame our monkey mind and our habits of chasing after money, fame and power. With a tame mind and relaxed body, we are able to see what is really happening inside of us and all around us.

The practice of using gathas (short verses that we can memorize or post around our house) can help us keep coming back to the present moment throughout the day and help us remember our deepest intention to serve the world. Thay was given a book of gathas to memorize when he became a novice monk in Vietnam.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday we will gather together online and Susie will facilitate. 

We will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings passed down from our spiritual ancestors and translated by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay). This week we will focus on the second of the five mindfulness trainings – True Happiness. True happiness means to live with happiness, even though we experience both negative and positive emotions, we know that happiness is an accessible state that can provide wellbeing and healing inside and outside of us. 

Sometimes I find life so challenging that I wonder when I will have time and space for happiness. Some mornings, I wake up completely happy and aware of all the conditions I have for happiness. However, most mornings, even before opening my eyes, my mind goes right to my  to-do list, work, and responsibilities. I come back to my breath and feel gratitude that I have responsibilities and purpose, meaningful work, and many opportunities ahead for being of service throughout my day. I remind myself of the opportunities for self-care, such as exercise, eating well, and sitting on my cushion.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, we will continue our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will read this book through August 19.

Please note there is no need to own or read the book in order to enjoy practicing together. Nor is there need to attend each gathering because each Monday’s sangha is a stand-alone and complete practice. 

This Monday, Camille will facilitate and we will be discussing pages 79-115. You can find the pages for each week’s reading at the bottom of the full write up.

In the third part of Fragrant Palm Leaves, Thay writes from northern New Jersey and reflects on people and experiences (including the demise of “our paradise” in Vietnam) that shaped him, his practice, and what we now know as engaged mindfulness.

In this week’s section, Thay is in Princeton New Jersey just days before Christmas where Americans are festive and celebrating.  He contemplates his life in the States feeling peaceful and comfortable, and at the same time he feels homesick for New Year’s Eve back home with family and friends. He shares about his suffering and going through a dark and difficult time, or what he calls a “storm,” and how he made it through the storm to feel “reborn” and able to come back to the present moment to listen and look deeply at the flowers, clouds, and wind.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday, we will continue our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will read this book through August 19.

Please note there is no need to own or read the book in order to enjoy practicing together. Nor is there need to attend each gathering because each Monday’s sangha is a stand-alone and complete practice. 

On Monday, Marie will facilitate and we will be discussing pages 43-78. You can find the pages for each week’s reading at the bottom of the full write up.

In the second part of Fragrant Palm Leaves, Thich Nhat Hanh reminisces about his beloved practice center, Phuong Boi, in the highlands of central Vietnam.

In this week’s section, Thay writes from northern New Jersey and reflects on people and experiences (including the demise of “our paradise” in Vietnam) that shaped him, his practice and what we now know as engaged mindfulness. 

I’ve chosen some excerpts that struck me. They are both heavy and light; his humor and human-ness resonate as deeply as does his wisdom.  

I feel restored by my stay at Pomona... I’ve done all the things the children do - nature walks, crafts, ping pong and volleyball. I’ve run races, helped put on skits and played games. The children always walked with me back to Pomona when they had time.   We’ve really enjoyed each other’s company.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday evening, we will continue our summer book club reading of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves. We will read through August 19. 

Please note there is no need to own the book or read the section in advance to enjoy the practice with us. Nor is there a need to attend every practice to benefit from the readings, as each Monday practice will continue to be a stand alone and complete practice. For an introduction to the book, read this.

This Monday, Annie will facilitate and we will be discussing pages 21-42. (Each weeks reading pages are below.) 

In the first part of Fragrant Palm Leaves, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), while staying in the woods of Northern New Jersey, writes and reminisces about the creation of his first practice center, Phuong Boi, in the highlands of central Vietnam. At the end of the first section, Thay describes the evening that he and a few others spent their first night in their new home.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

This year we will carry on our summer book club tradition, using a section of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Fragrant Palm Leaves as the meditation and dharma sharing topic on Monday nights, starting the book on June 24 and completing it on August 19. 

Please note there is no need to own the book or read the section in advance to enjoy the practice with us. Nor is there a need to attend every practice to benefit from the readings, as each Monday practice will continue to be a stand alone and complete practice. More details below.

This Monday,  Magda will facilitate and offer an introduction to the book. We will be discussing pages 1-20.

Fragrant Palm Leaves comprises two journals that Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) kept when he was in his 30s. He wrote the first between 1962 and 1963 when he was a student and research assistant at Princeton and Columbia Universities. The second journal starts in 1964, when Thay returned to Vietnam and ends in 1966, one day before the beginning of his exile. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

Annie will facilitate Monday night. She shares:  

We will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings together. Reading and practicing the trainings is a way to deepen our understanding of the world and our part in it. 

This week after we read the trainings, we will focus on the First Mindfulness Training: Reverence for Life.

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

We invite you to join us for online sangha with special guest, singer, songwriter, social worker and ordained Dharma Teacher, Joe Reilly.

Joe has been writing and singing songs with the Plum Village community for many years, and he received the dharma lamp from the Plum Village community in 2021 and wrote about that experience:

As you can see, my insight gatha became an entire song! Singing and songwriting are my primary modes of Dharma expression, and thanks to the encouragement of one of my mentors Peggy Rowe Ward, I sang my gatha and it grew into three verses.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

Marie will facilitate Monday night. She shares:  

On Monday, we’ll continue to explore the topic of sangha, which Ellen introduced last week, from the lens of the Fifth Mindfulness training, Nourishment and Healing.  

I was moved by Ellen’s written description, and I’ve been reflecting on sangha and my gratitude for it. To me, sangha inter-is with the Fifth Mindfulness Training, Nourishment and Healing.  The practice of coming to sangha - whether it is here at Opening Heart or elsewhere - is like an anchor, calling me back to my true self.  I know and take comfort in knowing that sangha will accept me just as I am, and that, in turn, helps me to accept and better understand myself. 

Dear Friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, Annie will facilitate.

We will watch a video of a talk by the Dharma teacher Mitchell Ratner (Thich Nhat Hanh’s student for over 30 years) given last month at the Order of Interbeing retreat at Deer Park Monastery. 

Over the years, our sangha has had many conversations about what it means to be an engaged mindfulness practitioner and how we live our practice in the world. Since October 7, I have heard from several sangha members, worried about statements and activities coming out of Plum Village, ARISE (Awakening through Race Intersectionality and Social Engagement), and Opening Heart – especially those that are calling for peace in Israel and Gaza. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, Ellen will facilitate.

“The next Buddha will be a sangha.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh (from the Plum Village website)

I’ve recently had the opportunity to experience sangha at a deeper level and think more about it.

What is a sangha?  The word comes from the Sanskrit word for community.  They can be big or small and are a way to carry forward, teach and practice Thay’s teachings.

I realize, after many years of attending the Opening Heart Mindfulness Community Monday gatherings, how much I’ve taken the sangha for granted when it’s actually a rare, precious gift for me and hopefully for you.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday night, Magda will facilitate. She will explore the insights of non-duality and interbeing based on her recent experience visiting Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thay’s) Root Temple in Vietnam, Tú Hiéu, where Thay became ordained as a young man and returned near the time of his continuation. Magda will give the first of a series of sharings on the topic. She will also share some photos she took at the monastery.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT in person.

On Monday, Annie will facilitate.

The word and practice of AND has come up for me in a few places lately.

At a recent retreat at Blue Cliff Monastery, Sister True Vow talked about practicing AND as a pathway to generating happiness, AND as a way to let go of the concepts of right and wrong. 

In my training with Inner Relationship Focusing, we also practice using the word AND in order to welcome all the different parts of ourselves. We may say, “Something in me is angry AND something in me doesn’t like my anger.” 

I really like practicing AND as a way to accept difficult circumstances in my own life without getting overwhelmed. For example, rather than saying only “I have a chronic disease,” I can say, “I have a chronic disease AND right now the medicine for it is working.”

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

This Monday night, we will read the Five Mindfulness Trainings and focus our attention on the Fourth Training. Annie and Camille will co-facilitate.

“When people use violent words with us there is a way for us to be able to listen and respond so that the violence can come to an end – the violence can be transformed.” – Sister True Virtue

Annie writes:

The Fourth Mindfulness training suggests that one of the ways we create more suffering is by our “inability to listen to others.” 

My husband and I have been married for nearly 37 years. And over those years, our mindful speech and compassionate listening has been improving, albeit slowly. One very helpful practice has been to stop imagining what he must be thinking while he is talking and instead to simply listen to what he is saying. 

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online, Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person at the AU Labyrinth in honor of Earth Day, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

Magda will facilitate Monday night.

DHARMA EYES

“But when our ‘spiritual eyes’ are opened, we never lose the ability to see the wonder of all dharmas, all things” (Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves, p. 102).

On my recent pilgrimage to Vietnam to commemorate the second anniversary of Thich Nhat Hanh’s (Thay’s) continuation, I do my best to view everything with dharma eyes. My entire experience at Phoung Boi, the retreat founded by Thay at the Dai Lao Mountain in the B’su Danglu forest, feels like an act of mindfulness.

 At the start of the visit, Sister Tue Nghiem asks us to serve as Thay’s continuation: “Wherever we sit, Thay sat at the very spot. Wherever we walk, we are walking in Thay’s footsteps. Let’s enjoy the place with Thay’s feet, Thay’s eyes, Thay’s ears, and Thay’s heart.” Having read Thay’s book Fragrant Palm Leaves, where he describes this hermitage vividly and with nostalgia, I try to take in every detail through my physical and spiritual eyes. Feeling extremely privileged, I aspire, through my writing as well as the accompanying illustration, to share Phuong Boi with those who would have loved to be here but could not.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT online, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

On Monday, Susie will facilitate.

“The earth is you. You are the earth. When you realize there is no separation, you fall completely in love with this beautiful planet.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Camping last summer, I took time to lay on the earth like my dog, Bodhi. We got to listen to what Mother Earth was conveying. I had just finished reading Deepak Chopra’s book Abundance: The Path to Inner Wealth, which is about abundance of non-monetary treasures as well as having an open and abundant mindset for life.

Last year in Hawaii, I booked a massage appointment – the first one in many years. My massage therapist is also a healer of many other modalities. 

After the trip, we continued to communicate via Zoom, and I asked questions about the next step in my journey: how I can end my career with a soft landing and potential legacy? She suggested I ask the earth what to do next. Now my meditations include pulling in the earth’s wisdom so I can be more aware of the next right path.

Dear friends,

This week: we will meet Monday from 7-8:30PM EDT online at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW), Wednesday morning from 7-8AM EDT in person, and Friday 12-1PM EDT online.

Monday (April 1) is a newcomers night - learn more and sign up here

Ellen will facilitate Monday night.

I've had the privilege of facilitating a few times this year already. In reviewing my topics and comments, I realized they were all focused on challenges and on difficult emotions. Yet I've been thinking a lot lately about joy and about how mindfulness can encourage my joy. My sense is I rarely experience joy, but reading and listening to Thay’s teachings on joy, I wonder if the joy is there and  I'm not seeing it or allowing myself to experience it.  

Simple joys abound: the blossoming flowers in my garden now, listening to a wonderful song when I"m sitting at my kitchen table working late in the evening and pausing to really hear it, having dinner or coffee with good friends, or appreciating that I'm two blocks away from Rock Creek Park with all its wonderful paths and beauty.