Dear Friends,

Happy Crow Moon to you from the Monks and Nuns of Deer Park Monastery! The valley has become raucous with the sounds of ravens calling to welcome the spring. The roadrunner has been visiting us regularly, hunting beneath the purple Ceanothus blooms.

We’ve been reading the questions you submit to us on the Deer Park contact page, and hope, from time-to-time, to invite a Dharma teacher to respond. This fortnight Brother Phap Dung and Brother Ngo Khong respond to the question: How do I stop the violence of forcing myself to practice when I experience pain?

We invite you to join us for a Day of Mindfulness today (Sunday, March 28th) with a talk by Sister Le Nghiem on the better way to live alone. Next Sunday Brother Phap Luu will offer the Easter talk on resurrection as a practice.

Please enjoy a short fifteen minute clip of Thay teaching at Deer Park in 2004 on how to use a daily practice sheet (cong phu sheet) to support us in cultivating mindfulness. You may download a sample cong phu sheet here.

Each Wednesday at 7:30 pm Pacific, Brother Phap Luu offers a class on the 40 Tenets of Plum Village—a teaching Thay offered in 2006 and 2007 on the insights Plum Village contributes to the 2600-year-old Buddhist tradition. The third class will be streamed live this coming Wednesday. We encourage you to watch the first and second classes, so that this deep and coherent teaching can have more meaning for you.

Save the Date: We are planning, in conjunction with Plum Village, an online international Wake Up Retreat for young people, aged 18-35, May 26 to May 30, 2021. Please pass this on to any young people in your life who may be looking to connect with others who want to live a meaningful awakened life. Details for registration will come soon.

We are here for you.

The Monks and Nuns of Deer Park Monastery

How do I stop the violence of forcing myself to practice when I experience pain? — deerparkmonastery.org

Brother Phap Dung and Brother Ngo Khong

Two Dharma teachers respond to a question from Aaron: At times, when I am experiencing pain in my mindfulness, I will continue to force myself to practice. This feels violent. And this experience of violence makes my mindfulness more painful. How do I stop this violence?

Crow Moon — deerparkmonastery.org

Watch a raven on an oak tree croaking and clicking as the Crow Moon arrives, at Hidden Spring, below Burnt Mountain.

The Better Way to Live Alone — www.youtube.com

Sister Le Nghiem

A live talk this Sunday morning on Thay's teaching on the Sutra of the Better Way to Live Alone.

Roadrunner in the Canyon — deerparkmonastery.org

One day this spring we met the roadrunner on the hunt in the canyon of Deer Park.

Thay's Cong Phu Journal — www.youtube.com In this Dharma talk, Thay advises us to begin a Cong Phu Sheet, a practice journal that shows us how well we maintain our practice of mindfulness in each act...

Wake Up Retreat | Plum Village — plumvillage.org We'll be having a very special 5-day online retreat for our international Wake Up Community, at the end of May 2021.

Resurrection Is a Practice — www.youtube.com

Brother Phap Luu

An Easter Dharma Talk on Thay's teaching of resurrection as a practice.