Download - The Mindfulness Bell

talks from VESAK
Many of us understand the Buddha as a doctor who shared and
continues to offer his medicine of the teachings and practice to us.
This great offering is to help us in healing and transforming our
individual and collective suffering. One can say the medicine of
Buddhism is truly deep and lovely. It is the medicine of waking
up the good within our hearts and minds.
Something today is different. And I’m kind of slow so it takes
me a while to figure things out. What I finally realized is that for
thousands of years the question of salvation has been “What must
I do to be saved” This is the central question of our spiritual traditions.
But you and I live in the first moment in history in which
this question is now expanded to “What must we do to be saved”
And by “we” I mean the whole planet. I mean every person, every
race, every tribe, every nation, every organization and wholesome
spiritual tradition. I am aware that this is a challenging way to
describe the salvation question. However, it does not leave behind
the question of individual liberation but dares us to remember our
deep Bodhisattva vows.
It is not only humans and institutions who are asking this
question of salvation. The snow-capped mountains and the deep
blue oceans are asking the question. The trees and the land itself
are calling to us: “What must we do to be saved”
Opening Dharma Doors
We have been experimenting in the Plum Village Sangha
with ways of opening Dharma doors in response to this question.
I want to name a few of the doors for you so that you might get
a fresh idea on a door you might open where you practice, where
you live, and where you serve the Dharma.
Recently I was involved in leading a retreat for an organization
in Canada that is committed to working with AIDS in Africa.
The retreat was designed to help those involved in the aid work
to be nourished and not to burn out or to be overwhelmed by the
grief they experience every single day that they give their lives to
the service of the children and the women and the men suffering
from AIDS.
A few years ago we had a wonderful retreat for individuals
involved in law enforcement and criminal justice — police officers,
lawyers, parole officers, and social workers. We engaged that group
of people in exploring what it means to be a Bodhisattva, what it
means to engage mindfully in their work in the world. We offered
the Five Mindfulness Trainings to many who desired to practice
them in the context of their daily life and work.
I can tell you that the retreat, which was attended by several
hundred people, was a transformational experience. I am sure that
the communities and institutions they went back to serve found
that the quality of kindness and thoughtfulness and compassion
had been nourished and grown.
We’ve offered a retreat for individuals connected to the entertainment
industry — filmmakers, artists, writers, and poets. It
was held at Deer Park Monastery in Southern California, not far
from Hollywood.
In the fall of last year we participated in a conference for
people who are therapists and psychiatrists, called Mindfulness in
Psychotherapy; 1800 people showed up at UCLA. Their capacity
The Buddha’s
Medicine
By Larry Ward
Larry Ward with Renita Woo in Hanoi
photo by Karen Hilsberg
The new society that is just,
democratic, and civilized can only
take place on the ground of a new
spiritual sensibility.
the Mindfulness Bell 17