The Deer Park Dharmacast

Dear friends, This week, we take a break from Thich Nhat Hanh's talks to bring you another great teacher, the Venerable of Deer Park Monastery, Thich Phuoc Tinh.  Here in California, it's fall and the Venerable begins by sharing a folk song in Vietnamese and French about autumn leaves falling.  He shares that we can choose the way that we are in touch with the things inside of us and around us.  The emotions and mental formations that arise in our heads are like the seasons of the year, rising and falling.   As practitioners, we can become observers, whether of the changing leaves of fall or changing feelings in our hearts, rather than being defined or overwhelmed by them.  We are not these emotions, we are the energy of mindfulness that peacefully watches them float by on the stream of our lives. We're grateful to have Sister Mat Nghiem translate the Venerable's talk into English for us.  Our monastic brothers and sisters do so much at Deer Park Monastery to create a peaceful refuge for us where we can share