Mindfulness Days

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On these days we go to the other Hamlet (and once they came here) for a gathering of all the people to listen to the Dharma and hold a discussion afterwards. My first experience of Mindfulness Day was not a good one. I was happy and looking forward to it the whole day before, and then thinking of Lazy Day the next day was also exciting. But it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. This talk was in English so we didn’t need to bring our headphones. A nun came up to talk and all she said was the same thing over and over, and that we need to be mindful, and when she is mindful she is happy, but when she found out she had to come back to Plum Village for the three month winter retreat she was sad, but now that she is here, she is happy, and to sit up straight, and being mindful makes her happy, and she was sad, but now she just thinks of her practice, and she could not sleep, but not because of the Dharma talk, but now she is happy, and she can talk about her practice, and coming here gives her a chance to do her practice again. So on and so on. It was through this talk that I felt a real disconnection between monastic and lay people. Her talk was very short, and afterwards we all engaged in walking meditation. After lunch we were to have a discussion but I didn’t know what she talked about that could have us have a discussion, but I was still optimistic.
As I’ve mentioned in the meal part of the blog, the formal lunch was a bit long and painful. There are a lot more women at Plum Village then men, so when it comes time for us to find our place to sit, we often find that our section is full and some have to sit with the men. Many times there are others trying to place cushions and chairs down to make room for more sisters, but it’s still not enough, there just isn’t enough space for everyone.
We had a lot of downtime. I really did not like that part. I was tired, I didn’t like being around all these new people, I couldn’t find any of the people I knew from my group, it was horrible. Finally a woman I have not talked to before from my hamlet, Renee from Holland, started talking to me. She was very friendly and I like her a lot. At one point she did ask me about the election and if I was happy about Obama, I told her I was, and a woman from Canada said that that would good for the whole world. It’s funny to go to another place faraway like France and talk about my politics. Some people didn’t understand why Bush was in office, they felt that all the American’s they meet didn’t vote for Bush. We had to explain that many people didn’t vote for Bush, even with Obama it was a close election. We also tried telling them, that Americans that travel also seem like the Americans that vote Democrat.
The Dharma discussion finally came, and I went with two brothers to gather more mats. They split the whole community into three groups based on language. The English group was large, and by the time we made it back to the hall with mats and cushions, they told us we were gathering in a different hall. It looked as if they had split us up. The beginning of the talk seemed more like how I thought an AA meeting would go. Some people opened up about their lives and past habits; there really wasn’t much that I could relate too, so again I felt kind of disappointed. I understood that for the group this was really good, but for me I was thinking something different. I was thinking we’d have someone come in and talk about Emptiness and relate it to our practice and how to live it everyday, then I thought we’d talk about that and open up into more insight not, “ I feel society is more likely to help those with an addiction to drugs, but not those addicted to the stock market!”. Finally one sister spoke up, and what she said was so beautiful that it made me cry. It was a beautiful story and I hope that one day I can learn from her example!
The following Thursday we had a Dharma talk in our Hamlet. The days before we worked hard on cleaning the place and getting ready for everyone, by Wednesday before dinner, I started filling ill. My head felt full of pressure, not a headache, but pressure. The work I was doing required lots of bending down to reach something off the ground, and then stand up, and then move on to the next one. I at first thought that that was my problem, typically my blood pressure runs between low and good, but always on the low side. So I sat down, and it helped for a short time, but when it was over, and some other lay people thought I wasn’t looking too well, I went back to my bed. I confessed to one roommate that I wasn’t feeling well and just wanted to rest. Paula was kind and brought me some bread with butter, because I missed dinner. I stayed up with my game boy for fear of going to sleep too early and not being able to sleep. It’s hard when you share a place with 7 other girls at night. But it seemed that I should have slept anyways, cause I slept through everyone’s alarm, missed breakfast (Though Hyo-Jin was kind and brought me some things, it was too much and I could not finish it all). Thay was giving his first Dharma talk that day at our Hamlet, so I made sure by 9:30 I was dressed and ready to go. It was an interesting talk, and I was happy to hear it and be able to go. He talked about Buddha’s Path and said that will be the theme for the winter retreat. He also said we needed to understand that suffering in Buddha’s time is not the same suffering we have today, and that we need to give suffering a name. Things like global warming, destruction of the ecosystem, families breaking up, suicide, so on and so on. It was a great talk and he threw in the four noble truths as well. After his speech (this man is good and can talk for almost two hours every time he gives a talk) I felt exhausted. In fact it was hard for me to sit through what I did. The sisters announced that Thay would be leading a walking meditation in 20 minutes and then followed by a lunch. As much as I wanted to join in this wonderful chance, I figured it would be best for me to rest, and I went back to my room and slept for almost three hours. Through out the day I continued to sleep, but in much shorter increments. Because I missed lunch, I thought I should at least attempt to eat dinner, but ate very little. It took me Saturday evening before I finally felt better, thankfully it was just a cold and I wasn’t worried too much, I made what I could and rested at other times.
Yesterday was my second Dharma talk that I attended by Thay. I enjoyed it as much as the first, but the day before we had watched a DVD of a talk he gave in March that year and similar things were discussed. It really helped for me to sink it all in and really enjoy what he had to say. The discussion was more interesting, I did not share like before, but we were to talk not on the philosophical topics but more on how the practice is going in our lives since we’ve been at Plum Village.
My last Dharma talk at Plum Village was great. I walk into the big meditation hall and see that below the Buddha statue are pumpkins! Thay even talks about the pumpkins and the American holiday Thanksgiving! He went on to say that there is a different mindset of the people in the east vs. the people in the west when it comes to giving thanks. It really warmed my heart to hear him mention Thanksgiving. It brought everything home for me, when at lunched we were served mashed potatoes followed by apple and pumpkin pie!

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Photos

Ping Pong Monks
During our down time between activities on Mindfulness Days - the monks are never at rest!

Swinging singing nuns
They were so cute and sweet!

Monks and Nuns
Typically we'd all sit down and wait for our Dharma talk

Thay giving a Dharma talk
This was my last one at Plum Village - but was happy to hear about Thanksgiving!