Dear Friends,

The 21-Day Retreat is now underway in Plum Village. Thay offered this talk to the newly arrived retreatants, beginning with a sharing on his meetings with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and continuing on to discuss how we can support President Obama in his practice of using loving speech and deep listening.

"When Barack Obama manifested, I regretted a little bit, because Martin Luther King, Jr. was not there to witness the fruit of our efforts. ... But finally, I saw that we are the continuation of Martin Luther King. He is happy to know that everything he has done has borne fruit.

Obama is not an individual, Obama represents a Sangha. So our work is to keep the Sangha close to Obama, to offer our support. I offer this for you to reflect on it. There must be a way. Wherever there is a will there is a way."

Dear Friends

The practice of Beginning Anew is the deep teaching offered by Dharma teachers Sr. Dang Nghiem and Br. Phap An.  It is a wonderful practice that can help heal relationships and improve communication and understanding—the foundations for love. This excerpt from the Stonehill College Retreat in 2007, also offers teaching on the power of our minds and how asking the simple question, “Am I sure?”, can relieve much suffering. 

Please enjoy your breath and the beautiful spring days as the dharma rain of Beginning Anew begins to fall.

This week we offer you a talk that Thay gave in Denver, Colorado on August 29th, 2007 during this summer's tour. It was entitled "Our Environment: Touching Our Gift of Life," and in it Thay looks deeply at our present situation as human beings on the planet Earth. Please consider filling out the Earth Peace Treaty Commitment Sheet, to help ourselves, our communities and our planet.

The two-and-a-half month trip to Vietnam this year has finished with success. Thay and the Sangha have continued on for ten days of retreats and days of mindfulness in Hong Kong, and we now are in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a five-day retreat.

This week we offer you Thay's first talk in Hong Kong, at the University of Hong Kong on 10 May, 2007. Thay fields a number of questions from the audience, including: What can we do to help the situation of global warming? What is Thay's impression of people in Hong Kong? What is the relationship of light to the practice?

 

This talk was offered by Thay to foreigners living in Hanoi on April 25, 2007. Included are questions and answers from the audience, and a reading of the letter that Thay offered to the people of Vietnam as part of the three reconciliation ceremonies in Ho Chi Minh City, Hue and Soc Son, north of Hanoi.

The delegation traveling with Thay has just left Hanoi for 10 days of talks and a retreat in Hong Kong.

This week we offer a talk for intellectuals and others given at the Sandy Beach Hotel in Da Nang. The quality of the recording is not great due to background noise, but it is intelligible, and the talk is worth the trouble. A number of questions are answered by Thay towards the end.

The talk is translated by Sister Dang Nghiem.

 

This week we offer a talk from the first day of the Three Day Reconciliation Ceremony in Hue at Dieu De Temple. The ceremony was the second one on this trip, after the one in Vinh Nghiem Temple, TP Ho Chi Minh. Loved ones of people of all nationalities remembered those who died in wars and in boats during the past century in Vietnam by writing their names on hundreds of sheets. These sheets were carried on trays during the ceremony. The ceremonies have given many people here a chance to be released from the suffering caused by the violent death of loved ones.

The talk is translated by Sister Gioi Nghiem.

This week we offer the first of Thay's talks in this year's trip to Vietnam. This talk was given at the Phap Van Temple in TP Ho Chi Minh on Feb. 22, 2007 to an audience of lay and monastic practitioners. The translation into English was done by Sister Dang Nghiem.

We will do our best to keep talks and other material from this three-month trip available, but please understand if there are lapses. These are due to a lack of internet connection. We leave tomorrow for Prajna Temple in Bao Loc.

This week Thay offers a teaching on how to maintain beginner's mind even when we are years into the practice. Also, how do the precepts support our practice?

On Feb 18 we plan to leave for a three month trip in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Thailand. We will do our best to maintain the podcast during this time, but there may be gaps when we do not have regular internet access. Please understand, and stay tuned.

This week's offering is the talk given by our teacher in Plum Village on New Year's Eve. Thay encourages us to make a deep aspiration for the New Year, and to put it into practice.

Please write to us and tell us your aspiration to practice here in the comments on www.dpcast.org, or at our e-mail dpcast@gmail.com.

Happy New Year!

This holiday week we offer you the audio from one of the Dharma Teacher Lamp Transmissions during the recent Beauty and Well-Being Great Ordination Ceremony in Plum Village, France. Four lay dharma teachers from Italy were chosen to receive the lamp this year, including Diana Petech (right), the teacher on this week's dharmacast.

Enjoy.

Dear Friends,

This week we share a dharma talk that our teacher Thay gave in Plum Village on October 29, 2006, shortly before the recent U.S. elections.  It offers a deep view into both the nature of our current world situation and the nature of this path of practice.

Thay Phap Tri hosts.

Dear Friends,

This week we offer the orientation given on the first night of the recent Retreat for College Students at Deer Park. Sister Thuan Nghiem (Harmony, right) and Brother Phap Luu (Stream) cover the basic practices of mindful breathing, sitting and walking, in addition to sharing from their own experiences in college. This talk is a good introduction to the fundamental practices of the Plum Village tradition.

Please enjoy this offering, and thank you for your comments and feedback.

Dear Friends,

This week we publish one of the talks from our recent college retreat. Our abbot Thay Phap Dung speaks about his own path of practice, and what it means to bring meditation into our lives. Brother Phap Huu hosts.

May you be well.

In this talk from Plum Village on 01 Oct 2006, Thay investigates the true nature of power in the light of the Buddha's teaching, and he describes how we may realize this power in our present-day lives. Also: what are the powers of a true teacher?

A two part release, in this talk from Plum Village on 01 Oct 2006, Thay investigates the true nature of power in the light of the Buddha's teaching, and he describes how we may realize this power in our present-day lives. Also: what are the powers of a true teacher?

Another gift from the hidden mountains of Escondido, CA. This time we can enjoy a talk from Sister Chau Nghiem (Jewel) which she gave on the first full day of the POC Retreat.

I was surprised by words of thanks I recieved this past weekend.  It gave me a warm feeling.  In the mist of our busy schedules we might forget to say a few words of gratitude which can make someone's day.  Lets try this one and remember to use it now and again.

I know you are there and I am happy

Please enjoy our podcast!

A Lotus for You,
Michael Nguyen

It has only been a week since our first DPCast but it feels as though Deer Park has been apart of my life forever.  We have had some wonderful feedback from the e-community and we have read every word!  Thank you so much for such encouraging e-mails and comments.

Not to keep you, our second DPCast is hosted by Sister Jewel.  This is the talk the Dharma Teacher Larry Ward offered on the third day of the retreat. I haven't listened to it yet, so lets breathe in together, breathe out together and enjoy this wonderful gift from the Hidden Mountains of Escondido, CA.

Be sure to check the Deer Park website for more information about living in the present moment.

Friend of DP,
Michael Nguyen