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Dear friends –

Impermanence is everywhere around us – the trees turn colours, leaves fall, the air freshens and we begin our preparations for rain and wind and deep darkness. In the midst of it all Waves and Water Sangha gives thanks to all those who support the Sangha and our practice – all those who support the Mahasangha of all beings!

Our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has his 88th Continuation Day this Saturday, October 11. He acknowledges our deep love and asks that we honour him through “a gift of the heart” – a small promise that we offer such as “I will offer my first sip of morning tea to all beings, in gratitude.” If you would like to offer your gift through a message to Thay and the greater Sangha, the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation suggests posting to their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ThichNhatHanhFoundation) or Twitter (#HappyContinuation) on Saturday.

Please hold this date! TAKING REFUGE IN MINDFUL CONSUMPTION: A Day of Mindfulness on Saturday, December 13. We will support each others deepest desires to find a stable and peaceful path through the final weeks of the year.

In the past, on New Year’s Eve, Waves and Water Sangha members have joined with Mountain Rain Zen Community and other Sanghas to sit and chant together until, finally, we sound 108 bells to ring in the New Year. More details to follow! On January 1st – Thursday – New Year’s Day – Waves and Water Sangha will gather for a Tea Ceremony – to share stories and songs, readings and experiences.

Right now, we are continuing with our study and practice of Mindfulness of the Feelings in the Feelings. So interesting! Tonight we will look at the Five Universal Mental Formations and consider how they arise and become what we commonly call “feelings” and are learning to call “emotions.”

In November we begin to explore Mindfulness of the Mind in the Mind. Please join us on Thursday evenings as we move through two months of new territory. Sangha members who are following this study period are encouraged to practice with Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Understanding the Mind (formerly Transformation at the Base). Here is Verse 6 on the Nature of Consciousness:

The quality of our life
Depends on the quality
Of the seeds
That lie deep in our consciousness.

Movie Nights with Mountain Rain Zen Community are scheduled for this Saturday, October 11 (TOKYO WAKA – a film/poem about a city, its people, and 20,000 crows) and Saturday, October 25 (HALVING THE BONES – Ruth Ozeki’s film focused on the complexities of what to do with “the bones” when one’s racial/ethnic/cultural heritage is dual).
http://www.mountainrainzen.org/events/2014/10/11/dharma-film-night

Everyone is welcome to join us at any time – complete beginners who are curious, practitioners from other traditions, folk who have been away for a while and would like to return. We welcome you!

Dear friends –

Thank you for the wonderful response to our non-residential retreat. On Saturday morning and afternoon we are full to capacity and have a wait-list.

There are a few seats available on Friday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday. If you are interested, you could have a lovely THREE EVENING PRACTICE SERIES followed by outdoor practice on Sunday morning.

Thursday evening is our regular Sangha gathering and we will have an introduction to Mindfulness of the Feelings in the Feelings – the second of our eight week period practicing with feelings. Friday evening we will have the first evening of the retreat with sitting, walking, tea, and a recitation of the Fourteen Verses on Meditation followed by Dharma sharing. Saturday evening we will have two periods of sitting and walking followed by Deep Relaxation.

What could be more lovely!

Then on Sunday morning we gather at Fraserview Cemetery for sitting, long walking and the Five Touchings of the Earth. This will be followed by an informal picnic lunch and Sangha connection.

Please find the link for retreat details on the front page of our website. If you are interested in the evening series and/or Sunday, please let us know as soon as possible at wwsangha[at]gmail.com

Welcome to Waves and Water Sangha

Smiling in the spirit of Sangha. . . . Offering Metta to all. . . .

Dear Friends–

We will begin our next eight week practice period on September 11, 2014 with Mindfulness of the Feelings in the Feelings. We will explore the practice of becoming aware of our feelings, separate from our thoughts and stories about those feelings. We will study and practice with negative feelings such as anger and fear and positive feelings such as happiness and sympathetic joy. We will take the opportunity to distinguish our bodily sensations, our feelings as they arise, our thoughts about our feelings and the influence of our feelings on our intentions and our understanding of the world around us.

During this practice period, we encourage you to study Thich Nhat Hanh’s Transformation and Healing: Sutra on Four Establishments of Mindfulness. It is available for purchase at Banyen Books and for loan at Vancouver and Burnaby Public Libraries.

For the non-residential retreat (Sept 12-14 2014), a gentle reminder to submit your registration form and a deposit as soon as possible. Saturday the 13th is already 75% full. Please visit our website for you registration for and more information.

Good afternoon!

THURSDAY EVENING PRACTICE

We have had a wonderful six week study period experiencing mindfulness of the body in the body. Last night we practiced letting go into practice songs that inspire us to take refuge in the body: Take Your Time, I am a Cloud and, perhaps our favourite: Earth my body/ Water my blood/ Air my breath and/ Fire my spirit! (Two of these songs will be available soon on the website under RESOURCES. A version of the third can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8BbD8XQgM).

AND there are two more weeks before this period ends – settling into silence on August 21 with three periods of sitting and a Dharma discussion of our bodies/ our earth/ deep ecology on August 28!  Following our Ceremony for the Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings on September 5, we will begin our next eight week practice period September 12: Mindfulness of the Feelings in the Feelings. We will explore the practice of becoming aware of our feelings, separate from our thoughts and stories about those feelings. We will study and practice with negative feelings such as anger and fear and positive feelings such as happiness and sympathetic joy. We will take the opportunity to distinguish our bodily sensations, our feelings as they arise, our thoughts about our feelings and the influence of our feelings on our intentions and our understanding of the world around us.

Our NON-RESIDENTIAL RETREAT Friday evening September 12 through Sunday noon September 13 already has many registrations. We have only 24 spots in this retreat so please send in your registration with deposit as soon as possible: CLICK HERE FOR THE REGISTRATION FORM

Please join us in practice. . . .

Non-Residential Retreat in Vancouver Sept 12-14, 2014, Stillness – Silence – Sangha

Waves and Water Sangha in Vancouver invites you to attend a non-residential retreat from Friday night, September 12 through Sunday morning, September 13. Practicing in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, we will engage in sitting, walking and tea meditation, mindful meals, a videotape Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, Dharma sharing, Sutra Services and other Plum Village practices.

Friday evening will include an introduction to Buddhist practice in this tradition. Saturday will be a full day and evening of practice to allow us to experience an extended period of mindfulness and meditation. In the afternoon, we will recite the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings with regional members of the Tiep Hien Order of Interbeing. Sunday will continue with silence, sitting, walking, and Touching the Earth practice in Mountain View Cemetery.

Everyone is welcome for full-time or part-time participation in the retreat – whether an experienced practitioner in this or another spiritual tradition or someone who is simply interested in exploring the experience of mindfulness, meditation and community practice.

More information and the registration form are available on the Waves and Water website : wavesandwater.org

Limited space! Please register as soon as possible to help us plan the retreat.

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION FORM AND DETAILED SCHEDULE

If you require further information, please contact: wwsangha[at]gmail.com.

Please pass this information to others who may be interested.

Dear friends –

This week we will begin listening to a two-part talk by Thich Nhat Hanh that may focus our embodied practice over the next weeks. This Thursday (June 26) we will have a talk on Hearing the Call of Mother Earth. The next, we will engage in the Ceremony for the Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Then, July 10 we will continue listening to the talk as it shifts focus to Silence – the Silence that allows us to Hear something other than our mind our mind our mind.

We have a Day of Mindfulness July 12 that will allow us to explore one of the greatest obstacles to our embodied practice and our peacefulness of mind: Righteous Anger!

July 17 will include three periods of sitting and a sutra service. Then we will be led in Mindful Movements followed the next week week by Touching the Earth.

The Mindfulness Trainings recitation on August 7 will be followed by a panel looking at the impact of practicing silence on our lived experience of the Mindfulness Trainings. We will move from there to a week with Deep Relaxation, one with sitting and Sutra Service and one with a discussion of deep ecology and our connection with the Earth.

Most weeks there will be an opportunity for Dharma Sharing as well as Practice and Study.

May you be well. . . .

As part of our embodied practice period, Waves and Water Sangha will host a Day of Mindfulness on Saturday, July 12. Please see the website for our location and information about our practice. There will be sitting and walking meditation, a formal silent meal, Dharma talk and discussion.

We will investigate how RIGHTEOUS ANGER influences our minds and our bodies. How can we become free from attachment and aversion but not be indifferent?

You can find our location here: http://wavesandwater.org/site/location/

Please let us know if you would like to attend: 9:45 to 3:15. Bring a bag lunch and a friend! Donation of $20 to $30 gratefully received to help pay the rent. No one turned away.

Waves and Water Sangha

Good afternoon!

In springtime we can see how the rain and the sun, our attention and our efforts can help grow the seeds we want to bear flower and fruit in the future. We can’t make the plants grow by reading about them or talking about them. Instead we cultivate the earth and simply do what needs to be done with an open heart.

It’s not always easy to move our attention from our minds thinking into our body doing and our selves being. In Sangha we have started to practice feeling the body with the body rather than with the mind. We are skilfully using our senses to come back again and again so that touching our embodied selves becomes a habit.

Over the next months we will explore what happens when we let mind consciousness dissolve again and again so we can rest in that store consciousness where all patterned behaviour has its seeds and its roots. We are identifying what stories we would like to let go and how we would like to nourish new stories as they arise. We know in our hearts and through our practice that true resolution of difficulties happens when something shifts at a deeper level than our mind.

And Thay will help us through his book “Buddha body Buddha mind.” Please order it if you are interested in following along, but it is not necessary. We will be practicing deep relaxation, touching the earth, mindful movements, connecting with a deep ecology to help us recognize the joy of letting go, of nourishing ourselves in new ways. We will also have talks and Dharma sharing.

The last two weeks we discussed how “we cannot use the mind to solve the problem of solving problems with the mind”! So right now it seems that this message has a lot do words in it…. Let’s simply practice together on Thursday evenings and during Days of Mindfulness.

Waves and Water Sangha

Good morning, dear friends!

Just a reminder that our next Day of Mindfulness will be on Saturday, May 10, 9:45 am-3pm.

Please visit our website at wavesandwater.org for our location and information on Days of Mindfulness.

Dear friends –

Waves and Water Sangha is hosting a Day of Mindfulness this Saturday, March 8, from 9:45 to 3:00. We will practice sitting and walking meditation, deep relaxation, and Sutra service as well as Dharma study. We will study and chant the Five Remembrances (below). Please bring a simple bag lunch. Tea will be provided.

Our location at the Mountain Rain Zen Centre can be found at
http://wavesandwater.org/site/location/

The Five Remembrances

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health.
There is no way to escape having ill-health.

I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground on which I stand.