Deer Park Dharmacast

Dear friends, Today we continue to explore the Five Mindfulness Trainings with the second half of sharings by lay friends at Deer Park during the Holiday Retreat. Our friends share their experience with the two trainings on Loving Speech and Deep Listening, and Nourishment and Healing. May these sharings fill your heart and nourish your practice. Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmac...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast.  Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   Today we share the first half of the Five Mindfulness Trainings Presentation at Deer Park Monastery during the Holiday Retreat.  Lay friend, Kenley Neufield, introduces the trainings and practitioners share their experience with the first, second, and third mindfulness trainings, Reverence for Life, Tru...

Dear friends,   Today we share the Question and Answer session from the Holiday Retreat at Deer Park Monastery. Brother Phap De leads the group of monastics and lay friends in exploring questions about our practice. Looking deeply, we see how the practice can permeate all aspects of our lives and guide us to greater peace.    Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at  dpcast.net ,...

Dear friends,   Today we share a talk given by Brother Phap Ho on the first day of this new year. The theme of the talk is virtue, which our brother frames as "the act of living up to one's potential." He shares specifically on The Three Virtues: cutting through afflictions, love, and insight. May you be inspired to cultivate these virtues in 2015 and reach your true potential.    Remember, you ca...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast.  Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   Today we share with you a dharma talk given by Brother Phap Hai at the end of 2014. He shares with us the sutra, The Fruits of the Contemplative Life. Our brother encourages us to pause and consider the nature of our own contemplative life. There is Dharma to experience in every moment and a unique path...

Dear friends,   Today, we continue Sister Mai Nghiem's talk on our inner hungry ghost. Our sister shares on the beauty of taking refuge and accepting things as they are: our community before it is perfect, the Buddha in us with the hungry ghost in us, the lotus and the mud.    Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at  dpcast.net , on Facebook, iTunes, and Twitter. Now, enjoy this...

Dear friends,   Today, we offer dharma jewels from another sister new to Deer Park, Sister Mai Nghiem.  Our sister introduces us to our "hungry ghost," which is the energy of craving in us. By understanding the suffering of our hungry ghost, we can take better care of the here and now.    Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast at  dpcast.net , on Facebook, iTunes, and Twitter. Now,...

Dear friends,   This week we continue Sister Jina's first talk at Deer Park. She reminds us of the basics of our practice and how we can be present for ourselves and others. At a time when we may be traveling home or hosting friends and family, let us offer them the gift of our presence. May you and your family have a wonderful and nourishing holidays.    Remember, you can always find the Deer Par...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   We're happy to introduce a new member of the four-fold sangha at Deer Park Monastery on the podcast this week, Sister Dieu Nghiem, also known as Sister Jina. She gives this talk just before Thanksgiving and leads a guided meditation on awareness and gratefulness of the cells in our body. Joining her in...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   By request of a fellow Dharmacast listener, this week, we offer a talk by Venerable Thich Phuoc Tinh given at the beginning of the Winter Retreat. In his signature energetic and fast-paced style, the Venerable reminds us that every moment in meditation is a moment in the presence of Thay and the Buddha...

Dear friends,   We hope that your holiday has been restful and nourishing. Have you had a chance to stop and return to your breath? This week we invite you to join Brother Phap Ho in a session of guided sitting and movement meditation. Our brother gently reminds us that every moment is an opportunity to quiet our thinking and experience our breath in the body.   With Thay peacefully healing in the...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   This week, we present insight from our monastic brothers and sisters at Deer Park Monastery on the art of suffering.  During a question and answer session, retreatants ask how to best practice with suffering in our families and at work. When difficulties manifest in the world around us, we can remember...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   Earlier this week, the worldwide sangha was informed that Thay is in the hospital. The monastic community has asked lay friends around the world to practice mindfulness, stability and peace to support our beloved teacher, remembering that we are all cells of the great sangha body that Thay has manifest...

Dear friends,   To continue last week's sharing on Beginning Anew, today we offer a sharing by two lay friends and long-time practitioners.  As life partners, they share their experience with Beginning Anew and demonstrate how they practice it. We hope this wonderful gift from them encourages you to try it with your loved ones, your sangha, and yourself.   Remember, you can always find the Deer Pa...

Dear friends,   Today we bring to you a presentation by Brother Phap De on Beginning Anew, a practice taught by Thay to heal and make fresh our relationships with others. Our brother shares the separate steps of Beginning Anew along with his understanding of the practice in light of his Christian roots.   Remember, you can always find the Deer Park Dharmacast on Facebook, iTunes, and Twitter. We w...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   Today, we offer the second half of Brother Phap Hai's dharma talk from this year's General Retreat.  He shares that despite a recent study showing that most people do not want to sit alone with their thoughts, as practitioners, we sit and look deeply into our thoughts quite frequently. Rather than choo...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   This week, we share the first half of the dharma talk given by Brother Phap Hai at this years General Retreat.  Our brother invites us to return to ourselves to truly experience the Dharma in the present moment. And in light of the recent ice bucket challenge trend, Brother Phap Hai takes it a step fur...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   This week, we continue to share Sister Kinh Nghiem's talk from the recent General Retreat at Deer Park Monastery.  Our sister begins with a favorite song of hers, called Cookie of Childhood.  Then, she shares with us stories from her monastic life that illustrate the joy of letting go, the happiness of...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   This past Sunday at Deer Park Monastery, the annual general retreat closed with a lovely talk by Sister Kinh Nghiem.  She shares about the Four Immeasurable Minds, also known as the four elements of true love.  Then, she clearly connects them to the Four Mantras.  May this talk help you practice and cu...

Dear friends,   Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast -- Dharma flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   This week we offer you a series of questions asked by lay friends at the recent People of Color Retreat at Deer Park Monastery. Our monastic brothers and sisters give guidance on how we can speak our truths from a place of compassion and authenticity.  And then, our sister shares on how the light of mi...

Dear friends,   At the end of each retreat, lay friends are given the opportunity to ask questions from their heart to a panel of Deer Park monks and nuns. As the brothers and sisters answer the three questions presented today, we can learn from their way of living. From suffering to mindful consumption to even bacon cravings, we find that the monastics are more like us lay practitioners than we m...

Dear friends, Today, we share a talk given by Brother Phap Tuyen and lovingly translated by Sister Tinh Nguyen. Our brother shares on the changing nature of our relationships with our fathers, from birth to adulthood. Whether our fathers are still with us or have passed on, let us reflect on what they have given us and what we, in turn, can continue to give to them.   Remember, you can always find...

Dear friends, Today, we share with you the first talk from this year's People of Color Retreat. Sister Chau Nghiem shares the significance of People of Color retreats at Deer Park and the Plum Village tradition. She draws parallels between retreats and the Muslim month of Ramadan. When we go without, we are able to go more deeply within. Then, with Right Effort we can recognize and select which se...

Dear friends,   This week, we continue the talk from last week to discuss some of life's important questions.  Sister Quynh Nghiem brings us two questions: Who is the most important person? And what is the most important thing to do? Then Brother Phap Ho continues by helping us answer for ourselves: Where are we going?  As with all the questions we pose, let us ask with genuine curiosity and lovin...

Dear friends,   Welcome the Deer Park Dharmacast. Dharma Flowing from the Ocean of Peace.   We're happy to kick of our Summer Love Letters project with a love note from our listener, Liesa.  These are her words of love:   The sound of the bell and t he sound of the monastics' voices on the Dharmacast  remind me of the lotus garden at Solidity Hamlet. It reminds me of the solidity I feel at Deer Pa...