Dharma Topic: Seeing Life Through the Ultimate Dimension

Dharma Topic: Seeing Life Through the Ultimate Dimension

Discussion date: Thu, Sep 29, 2005 at our weekly Thursday evening practice

Dear Still Water Friends,

This Thursday evening, September 29, after our meditationperiod, we will listen to part of a dharma talk entitled "Begin a SpiritualPath Through the Ultimate Dimension." Given last summer by Thay Phap An, aPlum Village monk, it has moved many of us who have heard it.

Thay Phap An has lived at Plum Village for many years,having arrived as one of the youngest monks when few people lived at PlumVillage. In his talk he shares that joy and happiness were remote for him uponarriving at Plum Village and how Thich Nhat Hanh taught him to look at thebeauty around him when confronted with a problem or conflict. He explains theimportance of touching that which is not wrong — touching joy — as the firststep on the spiritual path and how after several years of practice, he foundhappiness.

Thich Nhat Hanh taught Phap An to build his own strengthbefore rushing headlong into the difficult aspects of life. Meeting ourexperience from a place of wholeness and optimism instead of self-centerednessand pessimism, and taking on only that which we can handle, is the opposite ofhow many of us have been conditioned to respond. But according to Phap An, it isthe key to approaching mindfulness.

This Thursday, we’ll listen to most of Phap An’s dharmatalk, and then discuss whether this teaching resonates with us.

The best times to join the Thursday gatherings are justbefore the first sitting at 7 pm; at 7:25, at the beginning of walkingmeditation; or, at 7:35, at the beginning of the second sitting. (To allowothers to maintain concentration and continuity, we ask that practitioners notenter during the walking meditation.)

We look forward to seeing you,

Julia and Scott

Discussion Date: Thu, Sep 29, 2005


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