Download - The Mindfulness Bell
Download - The Mindfulness Bell
Download - The Mindfulness Bell
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Dear Thay, dear Sangha,<br />
A Journal of the Art of Mindful Living<br />
in the Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh<br />
Published by Plum Village<br />
Issue 50 Winter/Spring 2009<br />
Advisor and Editor<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Associate Editor<br />
Design<br />
Proofreader<br />
Subscriptions & Advertising<br />
Website Design<br />
Webmaster<br />
Advisory Board<br />
Sister Annabel<br />
Janelle Combelic<br />
Judith Toy<br />
LuminArts<br />
Elaine Hild<br />
David Percival<br />
Lien Ho<br />
Brandy Sacks<br />
Richard Brady<br />
Jerry Braza<br />
Barbara Casey<br />
Thay Phap Kham<br />
Peggy Rowe-Ward<br />
Matt Sherman<br />
Writing Submissions: Please send us the fruits of<br />
your practice. We welcome feature articles (1,500 to<br />
2,500 words), essays, and stories, as well as poetry. We<br />
especially welcome submissions from young people of<br />
any age.<br />
Art & Photo Submissions: We welcome photos, artwork,<br />
and cartoons from your local Sangha, family, and<br />
community. Please send digital images as TIFF or JPEG<br />
files no larger than 1 MB. We can promptly return all originals<br />
sent by mail.<br />
Send submissions via e-mail to editor@mindfulnessbell.<br />
org or by mail to <strong>Mindfulness</strong> <strong>Bell</strong>, 745 Cagua S.E., Albuquerque<br />
NM 87108, U.S.A.<br />
Advertising Inquiries and Subscriptions: ads@<br />
mindfulnessbell.org, subs@mindfulnessbell.org or<br />
David Percival, 745 Cagua S.E., Albuquerque NM 87108,<br />
U.S.A.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Mindfulness</strong> <strong>Bell</strong> is published three times a year by<br />
the Community of Mindful Living, Deer Park Monastery,<br />
2499 Melru Lane, Escondido CA 92026, U.S.A.<br />
Website: Read selected articles, download the magazine,<br />
subscribe, and view the worldwide Sangha directory<br />
online at www.mindfulnessbell.org.<br />
Today is Martin Luther King Day here in the<br />
United States. Tomorrow we inaugurate a<br />
new president, the first black man to serve in that post. Along with what seems to<br />
be the whole world, I rejoice in the dawning of a new era.<br />
Perhaps we are truly approaching what Thay mentions in his New Year’s letter<br />
(see the <strong>Mindfulness</strong> <strong>Bell</strong> website), what Martin Luther King called the “beloved<br />
community.” At least I dare to hope so, though I know that much will be required<br />
of each one of us for it to become a reality.<br />
In my own life the political excitement of the last few months has been overshadowed<br />
by the illness of my sister-in-law, dying of ovarian cancer. For much of<br />
that time she lived in our home and we were blessed with the presence of many<br />
angels, including hospice staff and volunteers and friends. Now she has moved to<br />
a nursing home where she receives better care. By the time you read this, I suppose,<br />
her body will be ashes.<br />
How can it be that the person I know and love will no longer be here Of course,<br />
in the ultimate dimension, she’s not going anywhere. As Thay says in this issue’s<br />
Dharma talk, “We know that the disintegration of this body does not mean the<br />
end — we always continue!” I have been with other loved ones as they died, and<br />
a palpable energy is released that fills the room with love and enters the heart<br />
like grace. Still, the wrenching away, the physical loss of a loved one is ever so<br />
painful and the grief is as sharp as a sword.<br />
In this issue Lauren Thompson shares her transformation as she journeyed with<br />
a Sangha sister during a terminal illness. She writes that “through her dying, I<br />
caught a glimpse of our fundamental interbeing.”<br />
Glimpses of interbeing can not only guide us through personal loss but may be<br />
critical in solving global issues. “Unless we are aware,” said Angela Tam in a<br />
powerful talk at the Vesak Conference, “of the connection between our habits and<br />
the planetary problems we have, nothing will change.” Her solution: interbeing,<br />
mindfulness, Sangha. Brother Phap Lai similarly points to a spiritual solution for<br />
the complex problem of overpopulation: “We need to learn to live in a sustainable<br />
way, embracing simple living and focusing on community.”<br />
As Martin Luther King wrote fifty years ago, “Our goal is to create a beloved<br />
community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a<br />
quantitative change in our lives.”<br />
May the vision that Martin Luther King lived and died for become reality here<br />
on earth. May the Buddha-to-be that Thay has foreseen be born in each of our<br />
hearts. May we practice with diligence, wisdom, and compassion so as to bring<br />
about the beloved community of all living beings.<br />
Blessings to you all,<br />
On the cover: Sister Chau Nghiem is greeted by an elephant<br />
at the Mokolodi game reserve in South Africa; photo courtesy of<br />
the monastic sangha<br />
2 Winter/Spring 2009