Hello dear friends –
I always think that May is the month that teaches us weather impermanence – especially after such a warm sunny end to April! We have a lot of room for enjoying the present moment – however much it might be raining or blowing cold.
We are moving from the Four Establishments of Mindfulness to the Five Faculties that, with practice, become the Five Powers: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and insight.
As Thay writes in The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings, we all have the seeds of these faculties within us but we need to nurture them! “Practicing the Five Powers is a matter of cultivating the earth of our store consciousness and sowing and watering good seeds.”
For the month of May, we will explore “faith” as a Buddhist concept and a practice. It is the great generator of energy. We will look at the role faith plays in our socially engaged Buddhist practice with social and environmental justice.
This week we will have the Ceremony for the Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Thay will help us understand the Five Powers on our second Thursday. We will have an eco-sattva practice focused on faith for the third Thursday and musical Dharma on the fourth Thursday.
Here are some links from our study and practice last month. Enjoy!
Breathing with you and breaking the silence: a teaching by Brother Phap Hai
Reconnecting with Mother Earth : a guided meditation by Sister True Dedication (Sister Hien Nghiêm)
It Won’t Always Be This Way : a song by Brother Peace
You may want to see what is happening in Plum Village International practice centres
Plum Village Monasteries and Sanghas are also involved in an initiative from the United States: May we gather : a national Buddhist memorial ceremony for Asian American ancestors. Tuesday, May 4, 2021, 4 pm PDT.
Free online webinar on Making Visible
Author Chenxing Han will present a talk based on her recently published book, Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists. May 12, 2021, 4 – 5:30 pm PDT. Registration required.
