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RRespected Thay, respected Venerables, brothers and sisters and
friends, I offer Greeting to this House, greetings to the people
and to the ancestors of this House. Greetings to the land, the
mountains, the rivers, and the sea. Tena koutou, tena koutou,
tena koutou katoa (translation: Greetings, greetings, greetings
to you all). In New Zealand, this is a traditional and respectful
way to begin to speak as a guest of another community.
I have a sense that if I were to turn and look behind me I would see the
New Zealand Sangha sitting, supporting me, and see my beloved daughter, who
ten years ago insisted that we sell our house and go to Plum Village. She was
eight, and she was very wise.
About fifteen years ago somebody put a book of Thay’s in my hand. I read
one page, and that page was the beginning of the lamp transmission. I didn’t
know anything about Buddhism, but I knew that this man knew what I wanted to
know. For me, it is very beautiful to see this physical manifestation of the lamp,
but the lamp of the Dharma, the lamp of Thay is in here, in my heart.
fr uits of the WINTER RETREAT
Lamp
Transmission
of Shalom
at the Great Ordination Ceremony
Deer Park, California
February 13, 2004
With my mother behind me and my daughter in front of me, there is a
hardness in our family line. The practice gave me a lot of courage to transform
that hardness so my daughter wouldn’t have to suffer so much. In the early days
at home I would literally stop when there were difficulties between me and my
child, and I would turn to Thay and I would say, “And what am I supposed to do
now” Many of you will probably know what he answered. He said, “Shalom,
do the dishes.” Because that was what was in front of me. And I would do the
dishes, very mindfully, and the difficulty between us would calm down.
A few years ago I was very sick. I’m not quite sure how this will sound
to you, but it was a wonderful experience! It was very difficult and there was
pain, and for many days I felt as if someone had pulled the plug out, because
there was no energy, and this body suffered a lot. But something wonderful
happened. I could experience for myself the softening of that hardness. I felt a
lot of compassion and a lot of love for this body. I could feel the energy of the
teaching from Thay, of the mother holding the baby.
Some mornings I would wake up and walk from my bed to the kitchen,
and I would get halfway through cutting an apple, and there would be no energy
left, so I would have to put the knife down and leave the apple half cut, and walk
mindfully back to bed. My body was very ill, but my mind was very clear. So
I lay in my bed and I breathed in, and I breathed out, and I could do that quite
easily. I could look out at the hills and the sky, and I was very happy.
It’s very wonderful to sit together and receive the Dharma lamp, all of us.
I’d like to say to my lay friends: Don’t wait for the Dharma lamp that looks
like this. It is a great good fortune for us to be able to be here. I wish you all
well. I wish you well in body, heart, and mind, and I thank you for supporting
me and teaching me.
Shalom lives in a community of mindfulness practitioners called Dharma
Gaia Garden. They welcome guests throughout the year, for organized
retreats and for informal visits. Some scholarships are available.
The Path of Emancipation, a twenty-one day retreat, July 10–31, will
follow Thay’s teachings from the book of the same name.
Cost: $400 plus dana for the teachings.
Go to www.freewebs.com/dharmagaiagarden
or e-mail mindfulness@xtra.co.nz. Write to Dharma Gaia Garden,
RD1 Coromandel, New Zealand; phone (+ 64 7) 8667995
Shalom with Thay at her lamp transmission.
Shalom’s Insight Gatha
The deep purple delphinium drops her
petals one by one. Magnificent!
And my countless faces appear and
disappear, bubbles on the ocean’s surface.
Beauty and pain quiver my ripening heart.
The earth trembles.
I step gently, this foot anointed by the
bodhisattva’s hand.
Thay’s Gatha to Shalom
The seed that has been planted in the
Precious Land
now has a chance to be penetrated by the
spring rain.
Day and night, let us dwell peacefully in the
position of touching the earth
so that everywhere flowers will bloom and
reveal our true mind.
the Mindfulness Bell 19