The Deer Park Dharmacast (dharma talks)

Sr. Dang Nghiem reflects on her own transforming suffering, heartbreak, letting go and realizing better health & relationship to oneself & others.

The flowers are blooming in the hidden mountains of Deer Park. Much freshness and aliveness flows through the valley and this sharing. This is the second talk of the Spring Season offered by Sister Man Nghiem (Sr Brightness).

This is a translation of Most Venerable Phuoc Tinh's talk on the last day of Winter Retreat. This is an English translation of the talk.

Sister Mai Nghiem shares her practice of recognizing, embracing and transforming suffering. She also shares the teaching of the noble eight fold path, the four nutriments, including how different types of relationship are nutriments.

Sister's Mai Nghiem poem:
☀ Why i don t want to be call an ally, ☀                                               

Ally
From the moment  i first heard the word, i got allergic to it...an ally allergy.
Why?
Well, the first thing is that in my french brain, "les alliés", as we call them,  are the good Americans and British soldiers coming to save us from the evil Germans.
Word of war, violence, and partisan conflicts.

But deeper than that, my brother, if you call me an ally, i'll get offended.
Why?
'cause i expect you, to have a higher expectation of me.
I expect you to expect me to fully embrace who i am.
I expect you to expect me to break open,
I expect you to expect me to show my shit with no shame

This is why i do not want to be an ally
'cause i don t wanna help
I don t wanna be the "good intentionned white folk" feeling so bad about it all
...and yet so disconnected...

For as long as i don't understand how ignorant i am
There is no hope
As long as i don't see myself as a slave merchant, a fanatic missionary or a murderer
There is no hope
As long as i refuse to understand how an entire society can see going on a "picnic" as being a pleasant family outing
There is no hope
As long as i shut my body and mind to the unspoken, unknown, unfelt yet raging pain of a human whipping an other human to death
There is no hope
 For as long as i keep greed, money, power, fame and sex as the only gods in my life
There is no hope
No hope for any of the  rainbow children on our beautiful Blue Mother

I heard the Earth whisper one day, that "Fearlessness is not the absence of fear but the willingness to walk into it".
This is what my white ancestors are asking me to do:
"Walk right into the darkness,
Right into the thick mist of whiteness
And free us from our ignorance
Heal our ancestral wounds....
Centuries of hatred, pride, discrimination, fear and violence.
Who will hear our cries for help if not you?
Who will quench our thirst for true amendment if not you?
Who will deliver our souls from the chains of guilt if not you?
For as long as true healing isn't taking place,
Suffering will remain the world's pace".

This is the voice of the ancestors begging for our courage and love,
Echoing the Angel's song
"It is the willingness to offer our best,
claim responsibility for our worst and
fold it all into the continuous moment to moment practice of
simply being present to what is,
that promises to deliver our future".

That's why i don't wanna be an ally
...I wanna a be a healer

In the third to last Dharma Talk for the Winter Retreat series, Thay Phap Dang shares about how we can return to the present moment, how to relax and encourages us to walk on the Earth. Thay also share about the realm of perception and how to practice to love and accept. How can we look at a person with clear awareness, without judgement, just as when we look at a flower? 

Find a calm place to listen to this talk, enjoy your breathing and the Dharma rain.

May this sharing be of benefit.

In this talk Sr Hang Nghiem shows a clip from one of Thay's talk in 2004, invites us to be light and playful in our practice. Our sister offers a song and commentary. Translation by Sister Bach Nghiem.

In this talk Thay Phap Hai shares with us how to enter through the door of signlessness in order to practice with perceptions and preconceived notions. 

Thay Phap Dang offers a beautiful and insightful talk with Emptiness (Sunyata) as main theme.

As you listen to the Dharma Talk, allow it to wash over your like a sprinkling rain. Allow yourself to sit comfortably and follow your breathing, relaxing your body.

May this talk and your practice bring about great benefit.

Nurturing our Roots, Strengthening our Branches, this months focus is the present moment.

In this talk Sr Kinh Nghiem (Sr Reverence) shares about the monastic practice of sharing a room, changing room and hamlets. Our sister use a Russian doll to help us go deeper into ourselves, to embrace our sorrow and to nurture our joy.

As you listen to this talk you can enjoy the natural flow of your breathing in and out of your body. May this sharing and your practice be of benefit you in your daily life.

This talk was offered by Most Venerable Phuoc Tinh during our New Years Day of Mindfulness. The Venerable's teaching invites us to experience life deeply and enjoy the wonders of spring every day. 

The poem in Vietnamese is:

Sister Kinh Nghiem helped translate this talk.