Waves and Water Sangha Vancouver

Good morning dear friends

This morning’s autumn chill reminds us of the joy of living on that line between summer and fall. I am so grateful to live in a geographic zone that has four seasons! We can see the most wonderful manifestations of impermanence and feel deeply our interbeing with the rhythms of nature. The shifting of darkness and light by minutes each day remind us that dawn, day, dusk, night arise everyday in our hearts and minds as well as through our senses.

As the seasons change, we are returning to in-person gatherings at the Mountain Rain Zendo as well as continuing with our Zoom Sangha. As always, our deepest gratitude to Mountain Rain Zen Community for not only their space, but their open-hearted guidance during these unusual times. May we continue to support each other as we experience impermanence in moving forward. Our policies and guidelines will no doubt be changing over time as the interbeing nature of the pandemic continues to affect our everyday lives.

The blogpost contains much information! Our practice for September; Covid protocols for those of us meeting in person; a September 26 Day of Mindfulness; and a Transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings October 3 during our regular Sangha gathering. Also, we have included information from Plum Village concerning a new podcast, Earth Holder retreat, Race as a Dharma door and a resource for White practitioners committed to group reflection and action on healing racism.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 at 6:30 we return to our Sangha practice.  NOTE: Both the day and time of our gatherings have changed to Sundays and to 6:30-8:30. You may enter the Zendo or Zoom at 7:00 if that better supports your practice.  The first half hour is a period of sitting and walking. Then there is a second period of sitting and walking followed by an hour of study and practice.

Our pngoing study and practice of the Five Powers will continue with the Fourth Power – CONCENTRATION – explored from the perspective of Loving Kindness. We will begin the month with a recitation of the Five Mndfulness Trainings and Dharma discussion concerning our return to Sangha practice. The second week will include a Dharma talk focused on Concentration with a comparison to Mindfulness in the context of loving kindness. The third will explore the Love Meditation as a tool for Concentration practice and the fourth will be based on a reading that helps us better understand the benefits of nourishing Concentration.

Our Zoom protocols and access  will continue as in the past. Please see the website for full details: (http://wavesandwater.org/site/sangha/about/sunday/)

Up to 10 people will be able to attend in-person.  To register for the first week, please send an e-mail as soon as possible to wwsangha@gmail.com. You may want to indicate whether you have the intention to attend each week or if you think you will attend the first Sunday of the month, etc. If you have the aspiration to attend each week, please let us know by Wednesday morning if you cannot attend that week. There may be a wait list!

COVID response: Two air purifiers have been added to the Zendo. There are enhanced cleaning protocols in place. Practitioners who wish to attend in person must be fully vaccinated. Once we have vaccination passports, we will ask to see them the first time you attend in person. We appreciate everyone’s care and compassion as we proceed along the path. For any questions concerning these practices, please e-mail us!

DAY OF MINDFULNESS in three parts: Please consider joining us for a Day of Mindfulness Sunday September 26 from 10:00-2:00.  This will be offered both on Zoom and in person for up to six people. The first four hours will be held in South Vancouver near Champlain Park. From 2:00-6:00  will be “free time” during which you are encouraged to to maintain mindfulness during your everyday activities. From 6:30 to 8:30 we will finish the day with our regular Sangha gathering on Zoom or in person in the Zendo.

TRANSMISSION OF THE FIVE MINDFULNESS TRAININGS: There will be a Transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings during our regular Sangha gathering on Sunday October 3, 2021  from 6:30-8:30. Anyone who would like to receive the Five Mindfulness Trainings or renew their Five Mindfulness Training transmission are welcome to let us know by Saturday, September 25.  The Transmission will be offered by the Waves and Water Sangha and Dharma Teacher Joann Rosen. It will be available both in-person and by Zoom.  There will be an opportunity to discuss your aspiration and the process during the Day of Mindfulness Sunday, September 26. It is not necessary to be a member of the Waves and Water Sangha.

Plum Village Podcast: “THE WAY OUT IS IN” is co-hosted by Brother Phap Huu, Abbot of Upper Hamlet, and Jo Confino, formerly a journalist at The Guardian and now working at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change. “This podcast series is aimed at helping us to transcend our fear and anger so that we can be more engaged in the world in a way that develops love and compassion. Thich Nhat Hanh’s calligraphy ‘The Way Out Is In’ highlights that the way out of any difficulty is to look deeply within, gain insights and then put them into practice. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, all other podcast platforms plus the Plum Village App.

Earth Holder On-Line Retreat: “THIS IS IT: Embodying Racial and Ecological Justice in the Face of the Climate Emergency”: The Earth Holder Community is the branch of the Plum Village tree that applies Thay’s core teachings on engaged Buddhism, mindful living, racial and social justice, and inter-being with Mother Earth at this time of ecological crisis. Registration is now open for THIS IS IT 3. This is a rerun of the successful retreat which has been offered twice before. Find more information at https://ehc-academy.teachable.com/p/this-is-it3

RACE: A Dharma Door: Sponsored by ARISE Sangha, this virtual six-month training to learn skillful ways to understand and practice with race, racism, and intersectionality. We can welcome in our ignorance and pain and transform this mud into lotuses of understanding, compassion, and peace. Every attempt will be made to maintain a balance of BIPOC and non-BIPOC participants at a 60:40 ratio.

LISTENING CIRCLES FOR HEALING RACISM – FOR WHITE PEOPLE: Facilitators Guidebook by John Bell (Chan Dieu Tri/True Wonderful Wisdom): This guide is designed to provide facilitators with a kind of ready-made kit to help them offer an accessible, replicable, and effective experience for participants. The guide includes framing ideas, facilitation suggestions, sample schedules and facilitator notes, and lots of resources. It can be used as is, or adapted for one’s local community, or pieces excerpted for one’s own guide. Please feel free to adapt for your own use as appropriate. For more information: a short guide for Listening Circle facilitators

Good afternoon dear friends

We have three more Thursdays left in July! And it sometimes seems like a busy month because there are some significant changes and lovely opportunities ahead of us.

In August we do not gather together – but we can always visualize breathing in and out together as we practice wherever we are.

On SUNDAY September 5 at 6:45 we will return both in-person and through Zoom at the Mountain Rain Zen Community Zendo. We will provide more information in an August blog about any pandemic protocols that may still be in place. We will continue to meet on Zoom as we have done for the past many months. It would be helpful to have some indication of who might wish to attend in person and who might wish to begin or continue meeting on Zoom.

Beginning September 4, WE WILL MEET ON SUNDAY

Mountain Rain Zen Community has been our most loving and supportive host since Waves and Water Sangha first met in 2011. We moved with them from Fraser Street to Wall Street and have enjoyed a most harmonious relationship throughout. Because of their expanded program offerings, we will be moving our Sangha day from Thursdays to Sundays. As in the past, we will gather from 6:45 to be settled by our first bell at 7:00.

This is an opportunity for us to practice with impermanence. For some of us, this may be a welcome change – allowing us to come to Sangha with  more spaciousness (and a better commute). For some of us, this may be a disappointment – our individual, family or work schedules may not accommodate Sunday gatherings as well. For others, this is a neutral change – requiring perhaps a revision in our ongoing calendars. Although causes and conditions have required this change, we do sincerely regret any negative impacts for individual practitioners.

IN-PERSON WALKING MEDITATION SUNDAY, JULY 18:

We will come together at 10:00 at Mountain View Cemetery for Walking Meditation and mindful conversation. Depending on the weather (e.g. too hot) and participants’ interests we will end at 12:00 or 1:00. The washrooms are supposed to be open but they won’t guarantee it. (What can we guarantee in this life at this time.)

We enter off Fraser Street at 39^th Avenue and gather at the office. Then walk between the fountain and the pond. Please e-mail wwsangha@gmail.com for more information. It is very helpful if you let us know you are planning to attend.

JULY is our month of exploring the third of the Five Powers: Mindfulness.

The first Thursday we recited and discussed the 1990 version of the Five Precepts (included below). These were the foundation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings and if you follow the link you will have a Dharma Talk by Thay over 20 years ago. The next year, the Precepts became the first version of what are now called the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

Our second Thursday Christiane offered an experiential talk about mindfulness and taught us song: an adapted version of When I Rise recorded during the pandemic by the Plum Village World Wide Chorus. The lyrics and a link to the performance is included below.

WHEN I RISE: WORLD WIDE CHOIR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTUQrLPPkTA

And when I rise, let me rise like a bird joyfully
And when I fall let me fall like a leave gracefully, without regrets
And when I stand, let me stand, like a tree – rooted deep
And when I walk, let me walk, like a lion, regally, strong and free

Waking up this morning I smile
24 brand new hours right before me
I vow to live fully in each moment
And to look at all beings with compassion

And when I wake, let me wake, like sunrise, radiantly
And when I rest, let me rest, like sunset, contentedly, without worries

And when I cry, let me cry like the rain cleansingly, with all my heart
And when I dream, let me dream like a cloud, vividly in my true home
THE FIVE WONDERFUL PRECEPTS 1990

The Mindfulness Bell #2 – Included in a Dharma Talk by Thay

https://www.mindfulnessbell.org/archive/2016/03/dharma-talk-five-wonderful-precepts-2?rq=1990

The First Precept:

Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find whatever means possible to protect life. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature.

The Second Precept:

Do not steal. Possess nothing that should belong to others. Respect the property of others, but prevent others from enriching themselves from human suffering and the suffering of other species on earth.

The Third Precept:

Sexual expression should not take place without love and a longterm commitment. Be fully aware of the suffering you may cause others as a reslt of your misconduct. To preserve the happiness of yourself and others, respect the rights and commitments of others.

The Fourth Precept:

Do not say untruthful things. Do not spread news that you do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things that you are unsure of. Do not utter words that can cause division and hatred, that can create discord and cause the family or community to break. All efforts should be made to reconcile and resolve all conflicts.

The Fifth Precept:

Do not use alcohol and other intoxicants. Be aware that your body has been transmitted to you by several previous generations and your parents. Destroying your body with alcohol and other intoxicants is to betray your ancestors and your parents and also to betray the future generations.

Good evening dear friends

The heirloom rose bushes in our housing co-op back yard smell so beautiful! Both pink and yellow bushes with birds flickering in and out – how can anything be so beautiful to so many senses! This is such a season of delightful changes….

For the month of June we will move on to the second of the Five Powers: ENERGY. As we move through the Five Powers we will acknowledge their interdependence, not leaving the first – FAITH – behind but seeing how they spiral together.

Our first Thursday we will recite the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing. Our discussion will center on the energy generated by identifying our aspirations for deep practice. The second Thursday of the month, Thay will offer a talk on how the commitment to water positive seeds can fuel our practice – and what better way than truly seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting all the multi-coloured manifestations of spring.

The third Thursday, we will recite and explore the recitation Nourishing Happiness – and there will be a practice song to learn. The fourth Thursday, we will continue our deeper investigation of one of the Contemplations on the Five Mindfulness Trainings: A New Paradigm for Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic developed by Marisela Gomez and Valerie Brown.

Mark your calendars: on Sunday July 18th, we will gather at Mountain View Cemetery for three hours of mindful practice and joyful togetherness! More information to follow.

In September we hope to offer a Transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. If you are interested in receiving the Trainings, we would like to know as soon as possible.

From our practice in May, we are sharing the following:

The song Christiane presented: “Earth my body”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpdn13HL9vI

The reading related to FAITH that Louise presented from
Thay’s book: Love Letter to the Earth

Intimate Conversations with Mother Earth
Modified from the original in: Nhat Hanh, Thich. 2013. Love Letter to the Earth. Berkeley, California: Parallax Press.
————————————————————————–
With great respect I bow down before you Mother. You are a planet, you are the mother of all species, including our human species. Your children number millions of species, each with its own way of expression. Because you are the mother of all of us, you understand all these ways of expression, including the human language. So we feel perfectly at ease to have a conversation with you and we offer you these words from the depths of our heart.

Mother, you are a green-blue planet, a Bodhisattva that purifies and refreshes all that belongs to the earth. I bow down before you in the clear awareness that you are present in me and that I am a part of you. You have brought me to life, you offer me everything I need for nourishment: the air that I breathe, the clear water that I drink, the food that I eat and the plants and herbs that heal me when I am sick.

You are the great earth, Terra, Gaia, the Green Planet, the Pure and Refreshing Bodhisattva. You are very fragrant, very refreshing, very beautiful. You have the capacity to receive, preserve and transform everything; including filthy and foul-smelling things, poisonous air, radioactive waste. You embrace these things and transform them. Sometimes you have to give yourself a long, long time to
do this, if necessary, millions of years.

Many of us humans out of greed, arrogance and ignorance fail to recognize that you are our mother and have done terrible things to each other and damaged your health and your beauty. We know that you have enough strength to embrace and transform our mistakes, but because we are and have been foolish we continue to compete with each other to exploit you, tiring you out.

Your infinitely great patience and endurance are what have made you a great bodhisattva, an infinitely solid place of refuge for us all. Whenever we are unstable and lose ourselves in forgetfulness, in selfpity, hatred or despair, we should return to ourselves and practice touching the earth.

Then we find a place of refuge in you, so that we recover our peace of mind and revive our confidence and our joy in being alive. We know that we are all your children and although we have made so
many mistakes you forgive us.

Dear Mother, there are times when we suffer greatly because of natural disasters. We know that at those times you are also suffering greatly. Sometimes we turn to you and ask: “Can we trust and count on you?” You do not give a direct answer immediately.

Later, you look at us with the eyes of great compassion and say: “Dear children, of course you can count on me. I shall always be there for you. Though, please ask yourselves the question: “Can your mother trust and count on you?”

Dear mother, we have stayed awake many nights with this koan and now with our faces bathed in tears we come and kneel at your feet and give you this sincere answer: “Dear compassionate, good
and holy mother, you can count on us and trust us.”

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.

Dear friends,

We are very grateful to participate in this special gathering, hosted by Mindfulness Practice Community of Vancouver on Sunday April 25 , 6:30-8 pm.
Below is the invitation and information about the practice from MPC. We hope you can join us.

Special Gathering: Practicing with Anti-Asian Racism

In light of the suffering caused by the upsurge in anti-Asian racism in Atlanta, Canada, and elsewhere, and in the spirit of Engaged Buddhism, MPC Vancouver will be co-hosting this special practice with our sister sangha, Waves and Water Sangha.

We will be working with this reading: This Is My Home, by Judy Nakatomi, Lotus Institute board member (organization lead by Order of Interbing Dharma Teacher Larry Ward).

Mindfulness Practice Community of Vancouver has moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic! In the time of social distancing, mindfulness practice and sangha building is more important than ever. Please join MPC Vancouver via Zoom.

Time: 6:30 – 8:00p (NOTE: 90 minutes, not the usual 60 minutes)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86595977767
Meeting ID: 865 9597 7767
Passcode: To be posted a mindfulnessvancouver.org about ten minutes prior to meeting start time.

Good evening dear friends

We have had a wonderful four months practicing with the Four Establishments of Mindfulness. Last week Susu offered a wonderful Dharma Talk as we completed practicing with Mindfulness of Objects of Mind in Objects of Mind. As part of our second hour she presented a segment of a talk by Senior Dharma Teacher Larry Ward: The Four Establishments of Mindfulness : Tools for Consciously Transforming the Colonial Mind.

In April we will continue our practice of bringing mindfulness practice into the areas of social justice, diversity, de-colonization and anti-racism work.

The first Thursday of the month – April 1st – we will recite the Contemplations on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, A New Paradigm For Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic. Our Dharma discussion will allow for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour to meet separately in break out groups and then to meet again in the full Sangha for discussion.

The next four weeks will include teachings on mindfulness practice and social justice, including more of Larry Ward’s two-part teaching.

DAY OF MINDFULNESS EASTER SUNDAY (April 4th)
We will be offering a Zoom Day of Mindfulness from 10 am to 3 pm this coming Sunday. We will have our usual practices of sitting and walking meditation, Sutra Service, Formal Lunch, Dharma talk and Dharma discussion with possible deep relaxation and outdoor walking (on our own or through the magic of youTube).

You are welcome to join us for any part of the practice! All are welcome. You will receive a schedule and a password when you register at wwsangha@gmail.com .  By donation.

Practice songs and chants: Last month, Christiane nourished us deeply with offering the Insight Sutra and the Realm of the Mind. The links are below. We will be continuing our study of the Dharma through music each month.

:

The Realm of the Mind

Dear Friends

Could it be that our last blog post was in September 2020? We hope that you have been sustained and nourished by your practice of loving kindness and compassion during these difficult months of the global pandemic. Each day, the light lasts a little longer. May your seeds of happiness be touched by the fresh spring air.

Although unable to gather in person, our sangha has continued our Thursday evening practice via Zoom. The continuing presence of our community, even in virtual space, has been a source of joy and strength for our sangha members. A deep bow of gratitude to all. For the friends who would like to begin practicing on Zoom, here is the information on how to join us.

As always, the first Thursday of the month is dedicated to reciting the Five Mindfulness Trainings. This Thursday (March 4), we will be holding a full ceremony for the recitation.

For the past few months, we have been studying and practicing with the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, centering on the book Transformation and Healing by Thich Nhat Hanh. In March, we will be studying the fourth Establishment, mindfulness of the objects of mind in the objects of mind while also touching on the 52 mental formations.

On the third Thursday, Christiane will lead us through practice songs related to mindfulness (and transformation) of the mind in the mind.

On the fourth Thursday, we will look deeply into mindfulness as social justice practice, specifically in the areas of anti-racism, de-colonization and Indigenization. We will present a talk by Dharma Teacher Larry Ward on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness as tools for consciously transforming the colonial mind.

We understand that Zoom practice is not ideal for many practitioners. In these blog posts, we hope to offer you a range of alternatives to support and ground your practice during these challenging times – including sharing the resources from our Thursday night gatherings.

Resource to share from last month’s practice : Taking care of anger — a short teaching video by Thich Nhat Hanh.

The Raft is a special bi-weekly series, assembled by the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, Plum Village Monastery, Parallax Press, and the Plum Village App team to help keep you grounded and connected. The series includes short videos, articles, interviews with monastic and lay practitioners and announcements of virtual practice sessions and retreats. Click here to subscribe.

For wholesome entertainment : Spirited Away is a Japanese anime film that offers many Buddhist teachings. The 2001 film is considered by some to be the best animated film ever – and it is available on Netflix as well as the Vancouver and Burnaby Public Libraries. Aside from being a beautifully made film, it is great fun to look for Buddhist characters such as the hungry ghost, Avalokita, manifestation of craving, fruits of loving kindness practice and so on. Bethan and Susu recommend!

From the Earth Holders Community : practice session “Earth Mother Love” with facilitator and Dharma Teacher, Michael Ciborski. With songs, guided meditations and Dharma talk, Michael offers a practice on interbeing awareness. Click here to watch.

Waves and Water Sangha Caretaking Council is committed to supporting your practice and your wellbeing, especially if you are currently unable to join us in virtual space. We welcome your thoughts on how we could better support your practice. We would also love for you to share resources that have sustained you. You can reach us at : wwsangha@gmail.com

May you be happy, safe and free from suffering.

­Good evening dear friends

Here we are in the early days of autumn. Rain! So lovely to have the air clean and fresh….

After discussions in Sangha and among the Caretaking Committee, we have recognized it is not possible to return to the Zendo at this time. We acknowledge our deep desire to return to that precious space and to be in-person-present to each other. At the same time, very  few people were willing to commit to in-person gatherings. [Deep breath.]

We will continue with our Zoom gatherings each Thursday – there is a most wonderful core group gathering in the Zoom Zendo each week! And we ask for any suggestions you might have for safe in-person gatherings – even two or three together – at times other than Thursdays.

We would like to remind every one of our protocols for entering our Zoom space. If you have not been attending our Thursday practice, please e-mail us to let us know you are intending to come (wwsangha@gmail.com). You can give us your Zoom name and (if you are new to Waves and Water Sangha) we can have a short e-mail conversation.

If we do not recognize your Zoom name when you arrive in the Waiting Room we will ask to CHAT with you – please watch out for that message. For everyone who comes into the Zoom Zendo, we also ask that you turn on your video and display your name (e.g. not iPod!). In rare instances you might display a photograph of yourself. In this way, we recognize each other’s presence and we nourish our sense of safety and community.

May we and all beings be well

The link for the Zoom meditation for each Thursday’s Sangha meeting (6:50-9:00 Pacific Time).

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89551327240

Meeting ID: 895 5132 7240
Password: 891639

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcJTaAG3iR

Good evening again, dear friends

Today we received Mountain Rain’s (draft) protocol for returning to the Zendo. It is extensive and will require some significant leadership from Sangha members. It’s great that Mountain Rain is looking after our  health and well-being. At the same time, we need to consider the contributions that will need to be made by core members.

Also, they suggest that practitioners over 60 (especially those with risk factors) should seriously consider whether they should attend only by Zoom. Given that Bethan is 71 and has compromised lungs, it is likely she will not be able to be in the Zendo although she is committed to Zoom!

We will need to sit with the question of what needs to happen for the Sangha’s return to be possible. Since we will not be able to go back to the Zendo before October 1^st, we have some time. It is very important that those who would like to return to the Zendo let us know as soon as possible what level of commitment they can make (wwsangha@gmail.com). We will need to have 8-10 practitioners on site each week (and some folk offering dana from Zoom) for this to work.

Please know we are very open to suggestions and we believe that the Sangha community will always exist no matter how or where we practice!

In gratitude….

Good afternoon dear friends –

What beautiful fresh and sunny days we are having right now! So beautiful for walking. And how wonderful to be gathering again now it is September! We will have a chance to greet each other and catch up a bit on what is happening in our lives and with our practice. We will also be able to discuss and clarify how we will be meeting now that the Zendo will soon be opening.

Thursday, September 3, will still be a Zoom meeting as we recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings followed by Dharma discussion.

The Zoom link and password remain the same. This information can also be found at : http://wavesandwater.org/site/sangha/about/thursday/

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89551327240
Meeting ID: 895 5132 7240
Password: 891639

Over the last couple of months, Mountain Rain Zen Community has developed a protocol for meeting in the Zendo beginning perhaps September 10. Here are some key points of the protocol for meeting in person:

First, there will be WIFI and we are committed to continuing with ZOOM for friends who want to join us from Alberta, Nanaimo, the North Shore – and anywhere else. This includes folk who simply find it more comfortable right now to meet on the internet.

As we indicated previously, please ensure that you identify yourself by using video, displaying a photograph, or displaying your full name so we have a sense of safety and community. We will have two or three computers in the Zendo so everyone can be “present” and Zoom users will be able to see not only each other but also those in the Zendo.

Second, there will be a limit of 12 people in the Zendo at any one time. We will need to have everyone who wants to meet in the Zendo to contact us as early as possible OR before 5:00 on Thursdays to either reserve a place or find out we are fully booked: wwsangha@gmail.com. It would be very helpful if you could respond as soon as possible if you plan to attend even irregularly!

We hope that a solid core group will commit to all Thursdays, or first Thursdays, or Thursdays in October, etc. We will nourish each other and the Sangha by coming together as a community.

Our program over the next two months will include Dharma talks from two Plum Village monastics:
Sister Peace: Cultivating Love & Peace for Racial Healing
Sister Tam Muoi: Racial Justice: What can White people do?

You may be interested in an article by Sister Annabel in Lion’s Roar: Thich Nhat Hanh at home in Vietnam: https://www.lionsroar.com/thich-nhat-hanh-at-home-in-vietnam

Also, the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation has a biweekly e-mail called THE RAFT that provides a varied selection practice resources: thichnhathanhfoundation.org/the-raft

With warm wishes for your health and well-being –