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happiness is not a destination Plum Village near Bordeaux is a meditation centre established by world renowned Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh a Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who was exiled to France for his peace promoting activities during the Vietnam war. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Thây, as he is known, is the author of very many books on Buddhist spirituality and peace issues, among them The Miracle of Mindfulness and Being Peace. Paul O’Connell and I had the pleasure of spending a week in this centre of mindfulness between the 11th and 18th June (in fact a quiet time for Plum Village because the vast majority of the community, including Thây, were engaged that week in a major retreat in Germany at the European Institute for Applied Buddhism) The visit to Plum Village (my first, Paul’s second) greatly exceeded even my enthusiastic expectations. Events and activities in the centre are designed with a view to bringing the individual into mindful awareness. This is not an easy objective at the best of times. You just have to consider the amount of time we spend reliving (in our heads) past scenes and conversations, not to mention the fruitless rehearsal of future events which might never come to pass. I shudder to think how little of my life has been really lived in the present but of course I will not dwell on that now, nor pine over it, since I have returned from a centre designed with a view to bringing us into the now! How is the day spent? There is an early rise – 5am for a 45 minute meditation session beginning at 5.45. There are routine jobs to be done and volunteers needed to do them in a spirit of mindful awareness. It is the work itself and not the finished product that is to be contemplated. This is not necessarily a boring activity. Ask anyone who was present after Paul and I volunteered to look after the washing up. I had in mind the gentle taking of dishes from people who had finished their meals (to generously save each the not very onerous task of washing and rinsing one’s own dishes as it is the custom to do) But we did not ask for a job spec. before volunteering and what lay before us as we were led into the innards of the kitchen were pots and pans of rather uncommon proportions, the one which immediately confronted me being far bigger than the sink beside which it stood in all its sticky glory. The task was complicated by our unfamiliarity with the unmarked taps and sprays. Which was hot, which was cold, how should they be mixed? The fun really began when Paul had recourse to another sink, not realizing that this was a redundant object missing the connection to the usual drains. The result was predictable and as we attempted to grapple with the outsize pots and pans we found ourselves dealing with a wet and soapy floor. We steered clear of the kitchen after that, especially when I heard that at busier times the pots are even bigger and have to be stirred by what looked to be paddles. We were lucky that so many of the faithful had retreated to Germany. During later discussions we were congratulated on introducing such good fun and laughter into the events of the week. Mindful eating was a particularly interesting part of the day. When you consider how easy it is to drift into the habit of mindlessly eating it is refreshing to have visited a place where the gift of food is treated with the respect that it deserves. It was inspiring to see this contrast with the world of the TV dinner and breakfasts thoughtlessly consumed over the reading of the newspapers. The diet here is vegan and proved a challenge for a semi vegetarian whose limited vegetarian likings are usually well catered for by an obliging Fran but any thought that this was a trial was accompanied by the thought of how many people in the world endure real hunger, and how many succumb under the weight of that misfortune every day. The most recent estimate released on October 14, 2009 by FAO, says that 1.02 billion people are undernourished in the world today and according to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty. The centre here is ecologically sound in spirit and it was probably superfluous for me compliment them on that aspect and to remind all present of the alarming fact that if all the world were to engage in the consumption of food and resources to the extent that we do in the west it would take seven planets the size of the Earth to provide for us all. Mindful living and mindful consumption is a cause worthy of promotion. There was emphasis on mindful breathing as the key to concentration and we had mindful walking to help us become aware of the fact of one’s existence through paying real attention to one’s surroundings. There were dharma talks with headphone translations where necessary. These were beautiful caring people giving an example of a more recollected life that can be practiced in Plum Village and applied in the global village if we put our minds to it I will leave you with the grace before meals which encapsulates the attitude of the Plum Village community. If you want to know how to get there please ask me and I am sure that you will be as happy with your visit as Paul and I were with ours: This food is the gift of the whole universe, the earth, the sky, numerous living beings and much hard, loving work. May we eat and live in mindfulness so as to be worthy to receive this food May we recognise and transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet and reverse the process of global warming
Tony Brady 22nd June 2010 |