Author Archives: Waves and Water Sangha

Dear Friends

We hope you are enjoying a restful and nourishing long weekend.

This is just to remind you that Waves and Water Sangha will not be meeting during the month of August.

We look forward to our next gathering on Sunday, September 3, when we will be reciting the Five Mindfulness Trainings.  Please visit our Sunday Night Practice web page for details.

May everyone be happy and safe, and may all hearts be filled with joy.

Waves and Water Sangha will offer two Days of Mindfulness: Saturday April 8 and Saturday May 13 from 10:00 to 3:00. We will be able to meet in person at the Mountain Rain Zen Centre or on Zoom.

Bethan will join us to provide instruction that may support both our individual and Sangha practice. We will be learning the Plum Village forms for inviting the bell, sitting and walking meditation, guided meditation, and facilitating a Sutra Service and formal meal. There will be an opportunity to learn the form for deep relaxation and Touching the Earth.

The core instruction will take place April 8  and on May 13, those who received the training at the first Day of Mindfulness will have the opportunity to offer their practice to the Sangha.

There will be limited number of places available so please register as soon as possible.

Please register by emailing us at : wwsangha@sangha

Dear friends,

Once again, we have a wonderful opportunity to begin the year by taking refuge in the Mindfulness Trainings and most especially in the Sangha, our dear Community of Practice. 

On Dec 31, Mountain Rain Zen Community and friends from other sanghas will be offering the annual New Year’s Eve retreat  “ to cultivate peace in our hearts, our families, our communities, and in our world”. Beginning at 8 pm, each hour will consist of 50 min. sitting meditation, ten min. walking meditation and 10 min. chanting – ending with bells at midnight.   

Waves and Water Sangha has been participating in these evenings for many years. Each year, we offer our tradition’s version of Metta Sutta — Discourse on Love chanted by Sister The Nghiem.  Please join us (by Zoom or in-person) to welcome the New Year with the practice of loving kindness and peace.  You need not stay for the entire evening. There will be an opening to enter and exit at the end of each hour.

Visit Mountain Rain Community website to register for the evening, either via Zoom or in person.  By donation.

During the holiday season, several of the monastic centres in the Plum Village tradition are also offering live streaming of Dharma talks, chanting , sitting and the Ceremony to Welcome the New Year.  Please consult the schedule here. .  Some of these events will be recorded and available later on the Plum Village Youtube Channel.

Our regular Sunday Zoom gathering will resume on Sunday Jan 8.  We will have the Ceremony and the Recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings preceded by a period of sitting and movement meditation.  In the coming months, we will continue to practice with our basic format. Week 1 : Recitation of the Mindfulness Trainings. Week 2 : streamed Dharma talks.  Week 3 : Sutra study and recitation/guided meditation. Week 4 : Engaged Buddhist practice / Readings (engaging with the world without and within.)

For the month of January, we will be practicing with Beginning Anew and our aspirations for the coming year.

All are welcome.  We look forward to practicing with you.

Please consult Waves and Water Sangha website for more information about our practice.

Please note: You cannot “reply” to this message. To be in touch with the Sangha please e-mail wwsangha@gmail.com ALSO the blogposts may not continue. Please check the front page of the website (wavesandwater.org) for ongoing information, especially changes.

Dear friends

We are entering a time of the longest nights when we have an opportunity to realize the refuge to be found in stillness and silence, away from light and bustle. We will gather this evening to recite the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. Next week we will practice with a guided meditation on the transitory nature of all things. And on the third Sunday (December 18) we will practice with a Sutra service and offerings of gratitude for our time together.

Speaking as Bethan (rather than the voice of the Sangha) this will mark my last time of practicing with you in this particular way as I step back from Waves and Water Sangha. What a wonderful journey this has been – How grateful I feel for the last 11 years! After much deep looking I have the intention to look deeply into my habit energies of body, speech and mind. I will be focusing on Plum Village teachings – in particular our liturgy – with a focus on the Refuge Chant – where we find our vow “to let go of all worries and anxiety in order to be light and free.”

Our Order of Interbeing Sangha Sister Susu has such a deep commitment to practice and to Sangha! She will hold the space on Sunday evenings to hold the Sangha with stillness and silence as well as to explore the teachings and engage in discussion. Waves and Water Sangha will continue beautifully into the future as long as the causes and conditions are sufficient. We have not been practicing the Five Remembrances in theory but also in practice and especially with our voices! We will chant together again.

Dear friends – our Sangha sister Rebecca has recorded a most wonderful teaching video for a core chant: The Five Remembrances. She draws on her recent experiences with some friends to provide a context for the Five Remembrances. Then she most wonderfully teaches us not only how to sing the chant but how to live it. And in that process she also helps us more effectively learn and practice all the chants and songs in our tradition.

Please join us for a wonderful hour of listening and singing. At home, you will be able to sing to your heart’s delight. When you are done – this chant will be held most wonderfully by body and mind – always available. [And in case you want to chant with Rebecca we will post a simple audio file under RESOURCES in the next week or so.]

With deep gratitude for Rebecca and her practice and the generous sharing of her gifts….

Dear friends,

Due to ill health amongst the Sangha leadership, we are cancelling the Day of Mindfulness originally scheduled for November 29. REGULAR SUNDAY EVENING SANGHA GATHERING WILL CONTINUE.

We have been practicing with the Five Remembrances in the recent weeks – and are now given the opportunity to practice with “I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health.” Our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh taught us that practising the Five Remembrances is not only about reciting and acknowledging the inevitable. It is Buddha’s teaching to help us get in touch with our fear – the fear of the unknown and uncomfortable places that old age, illness, death and separation open up for us.
May all beings be peaceful, healthy and light in body and spirit.

Good afternoon dear friends

Over the last few months three of us have been trying to get together in the Zendo to plan our hybrid Zoom/in-person meetings. We have encountered some obstacles! There have been injuries among us as well as both Bethan and Susu practicing with difficult covid-positive experiences.

We have looked deeply into the energies of caretaking council and other members right now and there seems to be limited interest in meeting in-person at this time. Perhaps we need to put off making changes in our practice together until conditions are more favourable.

We will not move to in-person until we re-visit our decision-making in the New Year.

Breathing deeply, your Caretaking Council

Understanding Our Mind:50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
Study and Practice Zoom Group – Fourth Thursday of each month
Beginning October 27, 2022

In 2020 thirteen members of the Waves and Water Sangha began to study and practice Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on the transformative power of Buddhist Psychology. Previously released as Transformation at the Base, the 2002 revision was published by Parallax Press as Understanding Our Mind 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology. Each month, on the fourth Thursday evening, we came together on Zoom prepared to discuss four of the 50 chapters – in the range of 18-22 pages of text. Thich Nhat Hanh presents a commentary on each of the four-line verses providing a framework for our practice.

Undertaking the study and practice of these teachings means we must surrender to not-knowing at times! The teachings require us to sometimes go beyond our understanding of “mind,” “consciousness,” “self,: “perceptions,” etc. There are six sections in the book: Store Consciousness; Manas; Mind Consciousness; Sense Consciousness; The Nature of Reality; and The Path of Practice. Some of us, last year, had read these teachings – or begun and abandoned them. Some had never encountered these teachings before. We came together as a true Sangha to encourage each other.

Each gathering begins with 10 minutes of meditation. Bethan then takes 20-30 minutes to present the key elements of the four chapters using everyday life examples to gain entry to some of the more complex teachings. Each member of the group then shares comments, confusions and take-aways. Bethan helps unravel any knots before small group discussion focused on how we can begin to practice with our expanding awareness of the nature of consciousness. There is an opportunity for further discussion before a short meditation and the sound of the bell. After the gathering, Bethan shares her notes from each session.

PLEASE LET US KNOW AT wwsangha@gmail.com if you would like to join us. Some from last year plan to begin again – it’s that kind of book! We would like to begin with at least 8-10 members. Unfortunately, it is not possible to jump in later in the year as the verses and commentaries build on each other.

You will definitely need the book – today there are two copies available at Banyen Books; 1 at Amazon. It no longer seems to be available at Burnaby or Vancouver Public Libraries and is sold out other places – you may have more luck. We have the reading for October on .pdf to give you time to find a copy! And we will continue to produce .pdf until we can find a Canadian source. You may also find it at Parallax Press.

Good afternoon dear friends

Tomorrow – Sunday at 6:30 – we will meet on Zoom for the Ceremony to Recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings.This is a wonderful way to welcome the change in seasons! Even today, we take refuge in the cool breezes and the sunshine at a more comfortable level of heat – at least for some of us!

Continuing in September, we will study and practice the Discourse on the Better Way to Live Alone. This teaching is considered a guide to how we can live happily in the present moment. We will listen to a video Dharma talk by Br Phap Linh about the title of the Sutra. We will also have a Sutra Service based on the Discourse as well as opportunities to practice the teachings and engage in Dharma discussion about our experiences.

MOVING TO IN-PERSON GATHERINGS
TWICE A MONTH

We had hoped to begin meeting in person in September but this has been delayed for a month. Beginning in October, however, we hope to have the choice to meet in-person at the Zendo on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. We will also be continuing with Zoom every Sunday evening. If you want to meet in the Zendo please let us know. Everyone who attends indoor, in-person Sangha events must be fully vaccinated against Covid19. We will be wearing masks except when facilitating or offering teachings.

PLEASE WATCH FOR A DAY OF MINDFULNESS
IN OCTOBER

We are planning a Day of Mindfulness for a Saturday in October. Please watch out for the announcement of the date. It will be held both in the Zendo and on Zoom.

UNDERSTANDING OUR MIND

Beginning in October we will also begin again our year-long study group with the book Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology. We meet Thursday evenings on the 4th Thursday of each month from 7:00 to 9:00 to discuss four chapters of this foundational text, originally published as Transformation at the Base. We will begin October 27.

These teachings are not always easy to grasp but over the course of the year, as we continue with our study and our practice, there is increasing ease! Some of the Sangha members who finished the study last year are returning again this year with fresh eyes. Please know that even new practitioners in our tradition gained a great deal from our time together.

From Parallax Press: “The quality of our life depends on the quality of the seeds in our mind. If we know how to water seeds of joy and transform seeds of suffering, then understanding, love, and compassion will flower.”