We are happy to have Michael Nguyen as our Teacher for the May 21 Day of Mindfulness. [As a Monk, Michael was known as Brother ‘Bear’, aka Brother Phap Uyen, or Brother Michael]. The Day will have usual mix of sitting and walking meditations, mindfully eating lunch together, and other practices in the Plum Village Tradition, grounded in Breath Awareness There will also be Q and A time with our Brother Michael.
Brother Michael’s path to monastic life is unusual. Born in Vietnam, his family came to the US as immigrants when he was two years old. Thirteen years later, in 1989, he met Thich Nhat Hanh at a retreat and took the five mindfulness trainings. However, two years later, rather than moving in the direction of spiritual practice, he took his life in a different direction and joined the Navy. He served in Iraq during Desert Shield/Desert Storm, from 1992-1994.
His return to civilian life was difficult. As mentioned in a Huffington Post article about him, “when he went to sleep he returned to the combat zone, battling ghoulish enemies in dreams that were so intense that while he was sleepwalking he would punch out the walls of his bedroom. ‘I would be constantly fighting, kicking, screaming, swearing, having to patch up my walls pretty much every single week.’” Suffering from PTSD, it was difficult for him to keep a job or maintain a relationship.
Eventually, he found his way back to a spiritual path, attending a retreat at Plum Village in France in 2002 and staying on to ordain as a monastic. Phap Uyen received full ordination in 2007, and has been a Dharma teacher since 2010. In recent years, with the encouragement of Thich Nhat Hanh, he has focused his teaching on working with veterans and their families.
In January 2016, Brother Michael left Monastic Life, as felt that his mission of helping others heal from Trauma, and especially veterans, was best served as a layperson.
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When: Saturday May 21, 10:00am-4:30pm. Attend for all or part of the Day.
Where: The Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, NY, NY, room 20-T. Between 120-122nd street, on Claremont Avenue, one block west of Broadway.
Chairs and cushions available. Bring your own vegetarian lunch. Please do not wear fragrances.
Lunch/rest period is generally around 1:00-2:00pm.
Beginners are welcome. No experience necessary.
Noble Silence is maintained throughout the Day.
In recognition of theme of the Day we have included the Buddha’s Teaching on the ‘Two Arrows,’ from Accesstoinsight.org .
Sallatha Sutta: The Arrow
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
"Monks, an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. A well-instructed disciple of the noble ones also feels feelings of pleasure, feelings of pain, feelings of neither-pleasure-nor-pain. So what difference, what distinction, what distinguishing factor is there between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person?"
"For us, lord, the teachings have the Blessed One as their root, their guide, & their arbitrator. It would be good if the Blessed One himself would explicate the meaning of this statement. Having heard it from the Blessed One, the monks will remember it."
"In that case, monks, listen & pay close attention. I will speak."
"As you say, lord," the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, "When touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows; in the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person sorrows, grieves, & laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical & mental.
"As he is touched by that painful feeling, he is resistant. Any resistance-obsession with regard to that painful feeling obsesses him. Touched by that painful feeling, he delights in sensual pleasure. Why is that? Because the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person does not discern any escape from painful feeling aside from sensual pleasure. As he is delighting in sensual pleasure, any passion-obsession with regard to that feeling of pleasure obsesses him. He does not discern, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, or escape from that feeling. As he does not discern the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, or escape from that feeling, then any ignorance-obsession with regard to that feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain obsesses him.
"Sensing a feeling of pleasure, he senses it as though joined with it. Sensing a feeling of pain, he senses it as though joined with it. Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, he senses it as though joined with it. This is called an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person joined with birth, aging, & death; with sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is joined, I tell you, with suffering & stress.
"Now, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones, when touched with a feeling of pain, does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. So he feels one pain: physical, but not mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, did not shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pain of only one arrow. In the same way, when touched with a feeling of pain, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones does not sorrow, grieve, or lament, does not beat his breast or become distraught. He feels one pain: physical, but not mental.
As he is touched by that painful feeling, he is not resistant. No resistance-obsession with regard to that painful feeling obsesses him. Touched by that painful feeling, he does not delight in sensual pleasure. Why is that? Because the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones discerns an escape from painful feeling aside from sensual pleasure. As he is not delighting in sensual pleasure, no passion-obsession with regard to that feeling of pleasure obsesses him. He discerns, as it actually is present, the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, and escape from that feeling. As he discerns the origination, passing away, allure, drawback, and escape from that feeling, no ignorance-obsession with regard to that feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain obsesses him.
"Sensing a feeling of pleasure, he senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of pain, he senses it disjoined from it. Sensing a feeling of neither-pleasure-nor-pain, he senses it disjoined from it. This is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones disjoined from birth, aging, & death; from sorrows, lamentations, pains, distresses, & despairs. He is disjoined, I tell you, from suffering & stress.
"This is the difference, this the distinction, this the distinguishing factor between the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones and the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person."
The discerning person, learned,
doesn't sense a (mental) feeling of pleasure or pain:
This is the difference in skillfulness
between the sage & the person run-of-the-mill.
For a learned person
who has fathomed the Dhamma,
clearly seeing this world & the next,
desirable things don't charm the mind,
undesirable ones bring no resistance.
His acceptance
& rejection are scattered,
gone to their end, do not exist.
Knowing the dustless, sorrowless state,
he discerns rightly,
has gone, beyond becoming,
to the Further Shore.
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COMMUNITY OF MINDFULNESS/ NEW YORK METRO
Inspired by the Teachings and Practice of Thich Nhat Hanh
Invites you to a
Day of Mindfulness
Saturday - April 16, 2016
10 am – 4:30 pm
Cultivating Compassion and
Nourishing Happiness
with Dharma Teacher Chau Yoder
Chau Yoder, born in Hanoi, Vietnam, has a deep aspiration to share specific methods of mindful living, emphasizing self-awareness in body and mind. An engineer by profession, Chau retired after 25 years as a manager of Information Technology and as an Applied Behavioral Science consultant. Chau received training in mindfulness from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She is a Dharma Teacher, and was ordained by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in 2003. Since 1989 she has been offering workshops and classes on Mindful Leadership, Mindful Living and Chi Gung, with the aim to promote healthy and happy living.
WE will enjoy Sitting , Walking & Eating Meditation (bring a veggie bag lunch), Deep Relaxation & Dharma Sharing.. We are a Fragrance Free Environment.
