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Published: November 28th 2008
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Sunset on a Plum Tree
We all saw this image as we were walking to Upper Hamlet Today is Lay Day at Plum Village (11/ 25/2008) it was my first and only encounter with Lay Day. What happens on these days is the monastics have their thing to do, so they leave and all meet together at one Hamlet, while the Lay people (non-monks and nuns, so… me!) get to meet up at another Hamlet and do all the things the nuns do. We walked to upper hamlet after breakfast; I went with Paula who wanted to practice noble silence until we got there. It was amazing, because on the way in the grape fields we saw two beautiful deer! In fact at first I almost mistook one for a big rabbit! His tale was very big a fluffy (four or five times bigger then the white tailed deer we have at home)! It was amazing to see him run, and suddenly right behind was another deer friend. I love wildlife!
Once we got to upper hamlet I met with a girl, who is new, who is from Colorado. I asked where from and she said Boulder. Amazing. I told her before I go I need to give her my contact information, she’s involved with a Sangha
Awww
Me and the Bell in the background at Upper Hamlet in Boulder that is in the same tradition as Thay, but I also overheard her say that there are many up there that practice Tibetan Buddhism. She mentioned there are three Sanghas in Denver. After speaking briefly with her I met a man from Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was interesting talking to him because he said he had a hard time placing my accent. His first guess was California. I’ve been told in the past (and present and possibly future) that I don’t sound like I’m from the south, but typically when people try and guess my accent they guess east coast, this is the first time I’ve been given a west coast state.
The lay men of upper hamlet had many things scheduled for us to do, we joined a panel where four people who have spent at least one winter retreat in Plum Village talked of their experiences. The first two I agreed with and really enjoyed listening to, the others I had a hard time relating to. One man said that our main underline reason for being here is to be part of a community and that is the best thing we could learn. Again, I
Buddha and Me
Aren't we so peaceful and happy? :) disagree, I hate this feeling of living and working in a community. I hate having to wake up when everyone else does, and go to sleep with them, we all eat at the same time, and are not allowed in eat in our rooms or at different times (unless sick, and snacks are ok). When we wake up in the morning, or before we go to bed, we look at the white board and see that someone has made our schedule for us and our activities from 5am until 10pm are set in black marker. Short term this is fine, but those who are staying for longer then a month, I wouldn’t want to image how it’s going to be for them.
Afterwards we all joined together for close to an hour of walking meditation. This was the most painful walking meditation I have ever done! It was freezing on my way up, in fact me and Paula ran a few times just to warm our bodies. Then in the hall with the panel, we started with sitting meditation for 20minutes, but it was so cold it was hard to concentrate. Then we walk outside and it feels even
Kitty in a tree
This was the best temple cat - she would climb trees and chase us during walking meditation, she was sweet and let me hold her for minutes! worse. We have no internet or sign of news here, so I have no idea how cold it was, but today was the coldest yet. So walking made it for me worse. When the sun peaked through I would stand and soak it all in. It reminded me of a book a I read, The Good Earth, where the main person’s father would lay in the sun all day and comment on how it warmed up his bones. I felt line that old Chinese man in that story, I just wanted to lay and warm my bones. I was so in the moment. Soon one women from our group suggested we do the ten mindful movements, but that would require me facing into the wind and taking my hands out of my pocket, so I stood with my back to the group soaking in the sun until they were finished.
After lunch I figured that by the time dinner came around it would be too cold to walk back, plus I didn’t really want to go to a discussion and talk about the panels with everyone, so I made it back to lower hamlet where I am at current. I get to miss dinner, but am ok with that, they are eating in two hours and my belly is pretty full from lunch still (I made sure to eat a little extra anticipating my judgment). At least I get to be warm beneth my covers, reading a book I really would like to finish before leaving (belongs to the library)! So I now dub today - Lay-z day!
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