During my sojourn in Plum Village, one part of the day was a walking meditation. We followed a leader through nature's presence together, breathing mindfully as we proceeded.
On the third gathering of the three hamlets (Upper Hamlet for males, New Hamlet for females, and Lower Hamlet for females and couples) everyone came to New Hamlet, where I stayed. As we just began our walk, a car pulled in where we were passing by. In it was Thich Nhat Hanh, escorted by monks who assisted him in his wheelchai., making it possible for him to take the lead in our walk.
If you haven't heard of him, please google him. He is the most well known Buddhist teacher in the world today. In Plum Village we energize Buddha energy -mindfulness, concentration, and insight, with sitting, walking, eating, and working meditation. Although a very relaxed atmosphere, the journey is intense.
We headed up the steep hill, through the plum trees which were rich with ripe fruit to harvest. When I attempted to climb the hill earlier in the sojourn, I was the last one to reach the top, lagging far behind.
This walk was slow and calming while breathing and being aware that we were breathing, so I was able to keep up with the crowd of 300 monks, nuns, and sojourners.
Part way up the hill, Thay, as he is informally called, had everyone stop. He can not physically talk, but his presence and arms guided us to contemplate the hill we were climbing. The pause occasioned reflections within my soul, mythic in their essence. I breathed in this refreshing perspective on a physically arduous task.
A little while later, we stopped. The attending monks turned him around, and he invited us to contemplate a small yellow flower similar to a dandelion. He marched the flower from left to right and back, occasionally patting the shaven head of a monk sitting beside him. He moved his hands as if giving a dharma talk, and radiated a playfulness from his presence.
We continued this walk up the hill for awhile longer. Thay, in the lead, had the attending monks turn his wheel chair around again. Focused on the walkers, he waved his hand across the span of men , women, and a few children, inviting us to contemplate the community gathered. I was further down the hill looking up the hill. There was an opening from where I sat to where Thay was and he seemed to be looking straight at me. Others mentioned later that they had the same experience.
We did not go to the top of the hill. Rather, we turned around and headed back down the hill through the plum trees and into the fields next to it, arriving at the huge gong hanging under its oriental canopy in the center of the compound.
I am not one to be an adoring follower of anybody or anything. But, there is something special about a man who has been mindfully living for so many years. The week of this walk was the week of his 90th birthday - or in the Vietnamese tradition - Continuation Day,
I was doing this sojourn to jump start my neglected daily spiritual practice. The goal has been reached. I am very grateful to be breathing mindfully again. I am reaping the benefits of a quieted mind concentratimg on the fullness oft his present moment, as it continually changes. I am at peace and have a multitude of images of people living mindfully, to sustain me, including the presence of Thich Nhat Hanh.
My journey to the East has been an art form creating its Self as myself continues its Soul synthesis.
How do you sustain your daily spiritual practice and renew it when needed?
