Dear Friends,

You are warmly invited to join the Still Water community on New Year’s Day to celebrate and to reflect. We will have two online events — you are welcome to join one or both. Please register online.

Morning Meditation Practice – from 8:00 to 9:00 am (Eastern time)

• Opening bell

• Listening to Thich Nhat Hanh and Brother Phap Niem offering the Great Bell Chant
• Thirty minute sitting meditation
• Dharma sharing on our aspirations for the new year
• Closing bell

Community Celebration — from 10:00 - 11:30 am (Eastern time)

• Social mingling

• Tea Ceremony (with cookie/fruit meditation and the offering of poems, songs, and stories)
• Selection and sharing of oracle readings (From the Tao Te Ching, or Winnie the Pooh, or both)
• Closing circle: closing reflections and appreciations
• Social time in self-selected breakout rooms

We would love to have you join us. Please register online.

But even if you can’t be with us, you can still click on this link and participate in the Still Water online Tao Te Ching and Pooh Wisdom Oracle reading for 2021.  For many years, at our New Year’s Day Brunch, members of the Still Water community have drawn “Oracle” cards printed with passages from the Tao Te Ching or from the Wisdom of Pooh. Their guidance is often illuminating and beneficial.

The text of the Great Bell Chant is below.

Warm wishes,

The Still Water New Year’s Day Celebration Team

Barbra Esher, Beth Gingold, Mitchell Ratner, Rachel Phillips-Anderson

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The Great Bell Chant (The End of Suffering)

May the sound of this bell penetrate deep into the cosmos

Even in the darkest spots living beings are able to hear it clearly

So that all suffering in them ceases

Understanding comes to their heart

And they transcend the path of sorrow and death.

..

The universal dharma door is already open

The sound of the rising tide is heard clearly

The miracle happens: a beautiful child appears in the heart of a lotus flower

One single drop of this compassionate water is enough

To bring back the refreshing spring to our mountains and rivers.

..

Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve

My mind calm, my body relaxed

A smile is born on my lips

Following the sound of the bell

My breath brings me back to the safe island of mindfulness

In the garden of my heart, the flowers of peace bloom beautifully.