We Are In Nirvana Now

We Are In Nirvana Now

Discussion date: Thu, May 23, 2013 at our weekly Thursday evening practice

Dear Still Water Friends,

I’ve always appreciated Thich Nhat Hanh’s sincere encouragement that we can transform. He is like a coach who keeps reminding us that regardless of who we are, or what we have been in the past, we can leave our fears and sorrows behind and walk in the Pure Land of the Buddha.

This Thursday evening, after our meditation period, we will watch a 20 minute video segment in which Thich Nhat Hanh presents Nirvana, the absence of notions and the extermination of afflictions, as always available to us:

When we touch our true nature of no birth, no death, we touch Nirvana, and that is absolute peace and happiness. Nirvana is available in the here and the now. You don’t have to look for it elsewhere and in the future. It is like the water. The wave doesn’t have to go to look for water. She is water right in the here and the now. If she gets enlightened, then she is water. The same is true for us. We don’t have to look for salvation, for liberation, somewhere else. We don’t have to look for Nirvana somewhere else. We are in Nirvana now.

We will begin our Dharma discussion sharing about encouragement and Nirvana.

You are invited to join us.

The video segment we will be watching this Thursday is from the last day of the 2011 Blue Cliff Monastery Retreat. In June we will be watching all six videos from the retreat as part of our Deepening Our Practice — Savoring Life class. If you wish to be part of the class, it is advised that you sign up by May 26 so that you will have have time to watch the first two videos before the first session on June 1st.

Another except from the November 10, 2013 Dharma talk is below.

Warm wishes,

Mitchell

Touching Life Deeply: A Day of Practice, June 2 at Blueberry Gardens, Ashton, MD

Mindful Families Fun Day. June 22 at Glen Echo Park.


Resting in God

from a November 10, 2011, Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh

In the Dhammapada the Buddha said: “The deer they enjoy the countryside and the forest. The birds they enjoy going back to the sky. The wise people they like to go back to Nirvana, in the here and the now." You can understand the expression Resting in God the same way. God is the nature of no birth, no death, no coming, no going. It is possible to touch the ultimate reality as God and lose all your fear. Resting in God is touching Nirvana. To me it is the same thing.

in: Dharma Topics
Discussion Date: Thu, May 23, 2013


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