A Time to Study and Receive the Five Mindfulness Trainings —

A Time to Study and Receive the Five Mindfulness Trainings —

Thu, November 18

  • Thu, November 11 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Fri, November 12 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Thu, November 18 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Fri, November 19 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Thu, December 2 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Fri, December 3 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Thu, December 9 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Fri, December 10 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Thu, December 16 7:00 pm 8:45 pm
  • Fri, December 17 7:00 pm 8:45 pm

Thu, November 18, 7:00 pm – Thu, November 18, 8:45 pm

The Five Mindfulness Trainings remind us of our deep aspiration to live each day with a calm mind and an open heart. They provide invaluable guidelines for mindful living.

The Buddha’s precepts encouraged his lay followers to abstain from five actions that create suffering: killing, stealing, engaging in sex with inappropriate partners, lying, and using alcohol and other intoxicants. In the Plum Village tradition, we study and recite the precepts as the Five Mindfulness Trainings, a reformulation for our time by Thich Nhat Hanh. The trainings are guardrails on the path of mindfulness that preserve and encourage our practice.

Our commitment to the trainings deepens when we receive them formally, in a Five Mindfulness Trainings transmission ceremony. This transmission publicly joins us with the tradition of mindfulness practice passed from teacher to student in an unbroken line from the Buddha, through many generations of Indian, Chinese and Vietnamese teachers, through Thich Nhat Hanh, to us.

As in past years, the Still Water Mindfulness Practice Center will join with the Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax (MPCF) to transmit the Three Refuges and the Five Mindfulness Trainings. This year the transmission ceremony will take place online on Saturday, January 8th, 2022, beginning at 9:00 am (Eastern time).

Practitioners who are interested in receiving the trainings on January 8th are asked to participate in preparatory classes. Still Water will offer a series of five classes, each exploring one of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Each of the training classes will be offered twice per week, on both Thursday and Friday evenings, from 7:00 to 8:45 pm. Aspirants need only attend one of the evenings per week, though they may attend both evenings if they choose.

1st Training, Reverence For Life: Thursday November 11, Friday November 12

2nd Training, True Happiness: Thursday November 18, Friday November 19

3rd Training, True Love: Thursday December 2, Friday December 3

4th Training, Loving Speech and Deep Listening: Thursday December 9, Friday December 10

5th Training, Nourishment and Healing: Thursday December 16, Friday December 17

The preparatory classes will be offered as Still Water’s programs on Thursday (Silver Spring) and Friday (Open-to-all) evenings:

(Information about the MPCF preparatory classes is on their website.)

We encourage all to attend the online ceremony on January 8, 2022. It is a joyous and heartening community event and our presence will support those who are receiving trainings. Those who will be receiving the trainings are encouraged to invite their families and friends.

Two of Thich Nhat Hanh’s books spotlight the trainings: The Mindfulness Survival Kit - Five Essential Practices, and For A Future To Be Possible. A helpful eight page commentary on the trainings from Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society is available on the Still Water website.

(If you are interested, please register soon.)

Online Zoom Event

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