Deer Park Dharmacast

Dear friends,       Today, we invite you to listen to a sharing given by Brother Phap Ho at a recent Day of Mindfulness.  He invites us to join with the great activists of our time.  To clarify our volition for our lives, to be courageous with our actions, and to live in a way that cultivates compassion.  He reminds us that we need to take care with our senses as we go through this world. We all h...

Dear friends,  This week, we continue with talks given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Deer Park Monastery in October.  In this talk, Thay delves deeply into conciousness, both individual and collective.  As individuals, we can selectively water our positive seeds and take good care of our negative seeds. Thay invites us to also be selective in our relationships and the community that we live in, as they co...

Dear friends, This week, we return to talks by Thich Nhat Hanh, given this October at the Deer Park retreat.   Thay shares on many interconnected topics:  the workings of our conciousness, the transformative power of volition, the importance of sangha, and how our suffering and happiness are truly inseparable. May we all recognize our mud, and the lotuses that grow from our mud.  We so appreciate...

Dear friends, This week, we take a break from Thich Nhat Hanh's talks to bring you another great teacher, the Venerable of Deer Park Monastery, Thich Phuoc Tinh.  Here in California, it's fall and the Venerable begins by sharing a folk song in Vietnamese and French about autumn leaves falling.  He shares that we can choose the way that we are in touch with the things inside of us and around us.  T...

Dear friends, This week, we continue to share Thay's teachings from the recent Deer Park retreat. He speaks to a number of important questions that apply to our daily lives: How do we come back to ourselves?  How does that effect others around us? And how do we reconcile difficult relationships through compassion and deep listening?  With mindfulness, what was previously impossible can become poss...

Dear friends, This week, we continue to share the talks given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Deer Park Monastery in October.  Thay reviews the second and third of the Four Nutriments taught by the Buddha, Sense Impressions and Volition.  Volition has always surprised me on the list of nutriments. How is volition something we consume? Thay explains it very well.   He shares that we often use mindless consum...

Dear friends, This week, we continue with Thay's dharma talk on the Four Nutriments taught by the Buddha.  Our teacher shares about the third nutriment: volition, or our deepest desire for what we want to accomplish in our lives.  It is a kind of nutriment that gives us energy to take action in our lives.  He applies this teaching to our modern world of business and corporations.  Whether we are a...

Dear friends, This week, we continue to share from the dharma talks given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Deer Park Monastery.  In this segment, our teacher shares the first eight exercises of mindful breathing taught by the Buddha.  These exercises are key to helping us us to learn the art of suffering, enabling us to suffer less and to transform our suffering.  Then, Thay shares the first two of the Four...

Dear friends, This week, we continue to share Thay's first dharma talk at the recent Deer Park Monastery retreat.  Our teacher shares with us his practice, particularly how he walks and breathes, to connect each one of his steps to the here and now. He invites us to practice with him to touch the Pure Land and Kingdom of God with awareness of the miracles of life -- the beautiful flower, the conne...

Dear friends, For the past week, the Ocean of Peace meditation hall at Deer Park Monastery was filled to the brim with over one thousand members of the sangha: monks, nuns, lay practitioners and our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who we affectionately call Thay. Over the next several weeks, we will offer his talks divided into our usual thirty minute segments.  If you heard about the Dharmacast at the...

Dear friends, This week, the Dharmacast team is on retreat with Thay at Deer Park Monastery.  We're looking forward to bringing the energy of peace and mindfulness back with us next week. While we're gone, we wanted to offer you the second half of the dharma talk given by Sister Kingh Nghiem at this year's Wake Up retreat.  With Thay touring this year, many of us may have gone on a retreat or hear...

Dear friends, This week we have the first half of a dharma talk given by Sister Kinh Nghiem at this year's Wake Up Retreat.  She tells a light-hearted story about traveling with Thay and then shares the four mantras we can use in order to be truly present.  She encourages us to use these mantras with the people in our lives, the animals and plants around us and with the earth. Remember, you can al...

Dear friends, Welcome to the Deer Park Dharmacast.  This week we have two wonderful surprises for you.   First, we're excited to present to you a fresh new logo. Our team is feeling a lot of gratitude to our wonderful Dharmacast sister, Joan Wong, all the way in Singapore, for her graphic design.  It represents all our Dharmacast listeners, hearing the Dharma and opening peacefully as a lotus.  If...

Dear friends,   This week we have a Question and Response session from a recent Mindful Couples retreat at Deer Park Monastery.  Brother Phap De begins by sharing his experiences of love before and after becoming a monastic.  Then, three dharma teachers, Tony Sylvester, Peggy Rowe, and Jerry Braza, respond to questions on how to heal ourselves and our relationships.  In the end, it all comes down...

Dear Friends, The end of summer is officially here and seasons are beginning to change.  Let us bring our attention to the Earth, as Sister Mat Nghiem begins her sharing with the story of The Lorax.  She goes on to look deeply into our interconnectedness with Mother Earth, both as children and as adults.  When was the last time you were in touch with nature as your five year-old child?  Remember y...

Dear Friends, This week we're happy to share the closing talk of the recent Deer Park retreat for couples.  Three dharma teachers, Jerry Braza from Oregon, Tony Sylvester from Pennsylvania and Peggy Rowe from California, led couples in a weekend of developing mindfulness in their relationships.  They share their reflections on their experience at the retreat and reflect on the nurturing effect tha...

Dear Friends, Today's sharing is from a Question and Response session earlier this summer at Deer Park Monastery.  Sister Hang Nghiem responds to a short, yet profound, question, "What is important?"  She shows us that with mindfulness, we can see that this present moment is important, especially if a difficult emotion is arising.  Then, Sister Hang Nghiem and Brother Phap De share on the roots of...

Dear Friends, Today we have a dharma talk given by Sister Quynh Nghiem.  Before the dharma talk, Brother Man Tue leads us in some mindful songs and a short guided meditation.  Then, our sister shares with us the wonderful basics of the connection between our mind, mindful breathing.   Remember you can find the Deer Park Dharmacast online at dpcast.net, on twitter, facebook, and iTunes. Enjoy this...

Dear Friends, Today we return to sharing question and response sessions from recent retreats at Deer Park Monastery.  Today we combine related questions from two different sessions to help us understand, "How do we forgive others and how do we forgive ourselves?"  Sister Hang Nghiem shares her experience of forgiveness and invites us to continue to practice with her every day. Remember you can fin...

Dear Friends, Recently, a listener emailed us to ask the question, "As an engaged Buddhist, how can I stop the destruction of Mother Earth and leave my children a clean planet?" In the very same week, Brother Phap Ho offered for us to feature the first recording of his blog, Earth Protection Here and Now.  We hope that you find today's podcast a wonderful response to our listener's question.  Some...

Dear Friends, Today, we continue to offer excerpts of recent Question and Response sessions from this year's retreats to help us bring the practice into our daily lives.  This week, we present questions and responses on practicing mindfulness at home with our families.  How do we best guide our children?  And how can we practice when our family is not practicing?  Brother Phap Ho and Brother Phap...

Dear Friends, Recently on the Dharmacast, we've heard our monastic brothers encourage us to bring the practice into our daily lives.  But the question arises: How do we *actually* do that?  So for the next few weeks, we'll offer segments from recent Question and Response sessions at Deer Park to answer that question. This week, our focus is work.  How do we apply the practice at work?  Brother Pha...

Dear Friends, Today we share with you the second half of a talk given recently by Brother Phap Hai at Deer Park Monastery.  Everyday spiritual practice continues to be the focus of his sharing, but now Brother Phap Hai focuses on how we practice.  He delves into the concept of bodhichitta, the mind of love, by sharing the story of the 8th century teaching, The Way of the Bodhisattva, by the Indian...

Dear Friends, Today we share the first half of a talk given a few weeks ago by Brother Phap Hai at Deer Park Monastery.  Having recently returned from Korea and Hong Kong, he shares the importance of putting the Dharma into practice. What is preventing our life from becoming our practice?  Brother Phap Hai likens three pots of kim chi to the three qualities that hinder our ability to truly practic...

Dear Friends, In this week's segment, we continue with Brother Phap Ho's dharma talk from the 2012 Mindfulness Retreat.  He shares why mindfulness by itself is not enough; we need to discover a spiritual path and a community to walk with to transform our suffering.  He also delves into how to understand our mind consciousness and nurture our well-being. After hearing the Dharma, we invite you to s...