We are excited to announce the release of ‘Peace Sounds 2’ which features more musical contributions from our community members and our friends.…
We are excited to announce the release of ‘Peace Sounds 2’ which features more musical contributions from our community members and our friends.…
This summer, from 5th to 12th August, Plum Village will be hosting another wonderful International Wake Up Retreat.
These retreats are a time for us to be together, young people from all over the world (16-35 year olds), to deepen our mindfulness practice, and enjoy time being together.
As well as the usual program of sitting meditation, dharma talks and mindful eating and so on, we’ll have plenty of time to relax and restore ourselves by being close to nature – on walking meditations, going on hikes, working on the Happy Farm, and spending time together around bonfires. There will be music and laughter, as well as time to listen deeply and share from our hearts.
We will be asking ourselves:
In the current climate crisis and context of wars, how can we balance our deep wish to engage in actions to help the world, with our own personal spiritual journey? How can we find meaning and purpose in our life? How can we find an alternative, healthier, sane, and compassionate lifestyle?
“Listening deeply and with compassion is an art. Speaking with loving kindness is also an art. Other things like painting or music can serve that purpose (of compassion). When you sing a song, the song should have an effect of sangha beauty, of building mutual understanding and compassion. That’s what we try to do in our sangha. We write poetry, we write songs, we perform dances, we do chanting. Everything we do is to help bring more harmony and mutual acceptance into our sangha. Slowly we become brothers and sisters to each other. Without that we cannot go far.”
Thich Nhat Hanh…
Join Monastic Brother Pháp Dung from Plum Village for a series of exciting new Dharma webinars this Spring!
These “on-line on-life” sharings will be streamed live to the young people of the International Wake Up Movement. Combining fresh teachings and interactive Q&A, we will explore how we can deepen our practice and nurture a collective awakening.
How can we balance social actions for change with the personal practice of inner transformation and contemplation, especially in our time of heightened human and planetary tension? How can we become more engaged? How can we find an alternative for a healthier, sane, and compassionate lifestyle? How can we re-envision our place and purpose in this life?
Date: March 6th, 2016
Time: 7am PST / 10am EST / 4pm CET / 11pm Hong Kong (To check the start time in your time zone, click here)
Duration: 30-minute Dharma talk, 15-minute Q&A
Where: Webinar link to be announced shortly
To receive announcements about this webinar, please sign up here
A young man asks Thich Nhat Hanh a question on young people following their dreams during the Questions and Answers session of a retreat at Deer Park Monastery, California in September 2011.…
A sharing by Karim Manji, a Wake Up London facilitator who is currently on the 90 day Winter Retreat in Plum Village, France.…
Excerpt from Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World by Thich Nhat Hanh
Escalation of Peace – page 91 to 92, read during Afternoon of Mindfulness 14.11.2015
(also pages 103-109 was read but it hasn’t been written up)
Suffering, unhappiness, violence, and war escalate when we are overcome with anger and try to punish and inflict suffering on the other side. We act this way because we believe that as a result we will suffer less, but of course this action only leads to the other side desiring revenge. This is the surest course of destruction. Deep down, we know this is childish, unintelligent behavior, but still most of us act this way. When we suffer, we blame the other person or group. We hope that is we can punish them and make them suffer, we will feel better and gain some relief. We know the disastrous effects of such behavior, yet we continue to follow this course. The result is more unhappiness, more terrorism, more violence, and more war.
Sometimes, people who cannot find any way to resolve a problem with someone else are tempted to eliminate the problem by eliminating the other person. They wish the other person would just go away, die, or disappear. That desire may be strong enough to lead them to kill. Killing another person is not an act of freedom but an act of despair and great ignorance; it will not bring freedom or peace.
Let us train ourselves to act with Right Understanding and compassion and move in the opposite direction. We can live our lives in such a way that we cause an escalation of peace to occur within our family, our school, and our society. Offering a calm and gentle smile – this is an act of peace. Looking with the eyes of compassion, making a peaceful step – these are gestures of peace and nonviolence that you can offer every day. Speak peacefully, walk peacefully, think peacefully, and your peace will radiate out in all directions.
From Chapter One of Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism by Thich Nhat Hanh…
Wake Up London and Dharma Action Network for Climate Engagement are coming together to organize a meditation gathering prior to the People’s March on Sunday 29th November, the eve of the beginning of the Paris Climate Summit and where people around the world will be taking to the streets to show our love for the planet, and our solidarity as a globally conscious and connected movement at this pivotal time.
When: Sunday 29 November, 12-12.30pm
Where: Joy of Life Fountain, located next to Aldford Street North Gate, alongside Park Lane, London W1K
Nearest tube stations: Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Marble Arch
Map to location: https://goo.gl/maps/q6coRRHQ32P2
Join the Facebook event page here and please share and invite your friends and family.
“When we meditate together and walk mindfully together, we amplify the power of our mindfulness, concentration and compassion. This strong energy of collective awareness will be felt in the world. It has the power to re-establish the Earth’s equilibrium and restore balance, since we are nothing less than Mother Earth herself. Our actions will lead to collective insight, collective awakening, and collective change.”
Wake Up London members are organizing a Meditation Gathering for Climate Action in Hyde Park before joining the People’s March on Sunday 29th November. All are welcome!
A few other recent links for inspiration on climate action:
With peaceful steps on the Earth,
Wake Up UK friends
Wake Up London is a community of individuals practicing together to promote peace and reconciliation within ourselves and for our planet. We’d love to highlight what’s happening within our community, and how the practice is positively impacting our society.
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