We are still cautiously adjusting the changes we made to our weekly Sunday evening meetings due to the covid health crisis. Before the pandemic, our weekly meetings all took place at the Buddhist Vihara, 5017 16th Street NW, Washington DC. During the pandemic, we shifted to meeting online each Sunday. Now we are meeting in person at 6:30PM on the first Sunday of every month at the Vihara, and we also continue meeting online, each and every Sunday. So on the first Sunday of the month, we have two concurrent but separate meetings (not one hybrid event). The details of each week’s meeting is provided on the News and Events page.

The text below describes our Sunday evening practice when we meet together physically; we replicate this in our online meetings in a shortened form. The (currently monthly) in-person Vihara meeting lasts for two hours; the weekly online meeting lasts for one hour.

The First Half of the Evening: Meditation

The meditation period begins when the bell inviter sounds the big bell three times. You’ll see that everyone sits facing outwards, towards the walls of the meditation hall. Sit on a chair or a cushion, as you prefer. And sit with your eyes open or closed for the sitting meditation periods, again as you choose.

Our friends at Plum Village monastery describe sitting meditation like this. “Sitting meditation is like returning home to give full attention to and care for our self. Like the peaceful image of the Buddha on the altar, we too can radiate peace and stability. We sit upright with dignity, and return to our breathing. We bring our full attention to what is within and around us. We let our mind become spacious and our heart soft and kind. Sitting meditation is very healing. We realize we can just be with whatever is within us - our pain, anger, and irritation, or our joy, love, and peace. We are with whatever is there without being carried away by it. Let it come, let it stay, then let it go. No need to push, to oppress, or to pretend our thoughts are not there. Observe the thoughts and images of our mind with an accepting and loving eye. We are free to be still and calm despite the storms that might arise in us.”

You may find it helpful to think about meditation as letting the muddy water settle down, so you get clear water. Sitting clarifies the churning and sludge, helping your mind become calm and clear. It helps you see what is important, it puts the day’s activities and your reactions to them into context, it reveals what is important and what is not, it helps you see more clearly where you might have messed up, where your reactions to events and people were not helpful, and where you lost sight of the path you aspire to stay on.

Or, if you prefer, think of the sun obscured by the clouds of our endless internal dialogue, our conflicting emotions. When those clouds part, then insight has a chance to arise.

Thich Nhat Hanh writes: “Meditation consists of samatha (stopping and calming) and vipasyana (looking deeply). Before we can do anything else as a meditator, we have to stop and calm down; then bit by bit we see things clearly and realize the truth.” (From ‘Enjoying the Ultimate: Commentary on the Nirvana Chapter of the Chinese Dharmapada).

At the end of the 20 minute sit, the large bell sounds twice. When the small bell sounds, please stand and face your cushion. The bell inviter will sound the small bell a second time, and we then bow to each other and begin the walking meditation.

Thay advises us how best to approach walking meditation. “You don’t have to make any effort during walking meditation, because it is enjoyable. You are there, body and mind together. You are fully alive, fully present in the here and the now. With every step, you touch the wonders of life that are in you and around you. When you walk like that, every step brings healing. Every step brings peace and joy, because every step is a miracle. The real miracle is not to fly or walk on fire. The real miracle is to walk on the Earth, and you can perform that miracle at any time. Just bring your mind home to your body, become alive, and perform the miracle of walking on Earth.” There is more information about walking meditation on the Walking page of our website.

After two sits and two walking meditations, we finish the first half of the evening by bowing to each other and to the statue of the Buddha.

The Second Half: Dharma Sharing

We begin with a recitation of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, the Refuge Chant, or Beginning Anew.

We then usually listen to a portion of a recorded dharma talk by Thay, or by one of the other monastics. Several times each year, we invite guest dharma teachers in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh to join us and give a dharma talk.

This dharma talk - however delivered - is followed by dharma sharing, triggered by the talk, your practice during the past week, or by your experience at applying the dharma in your daily life during the week. Dharma sharing is from our own experience and from our heart; it’s an opportunity to speak and to listen mindfully, with respect, with tenderness.

Dharma Sharing spaces attempt to offer a safer space by all of us being mindful that our words can cause harm, whether intentional or not. We may feel intimated to speak with kind and loving speech in our everyday lives; in our circle we have the opportunity to practice loving and compassionate speech knowing that we will not be labeled as ‘weird’ or ‘naïve’. This is a practice that is supported by the circle of friends, all attempting to heal through our action of thought and speech.

We indicate our intention to speak and when we have finished speaking by bowing. In order for the circle to hold space for us, not interrupt, and know when we are finished sharing it is helpful to indicate when we are about to speak and when we are finished. We can do this by bowing into the circle (we join our palms together) and bow. When we bow, we are signaling to others that we would like to share. The circle of friends (Sangha, community) can bow back to us acknowledging that they are ready to listen deeply. When we are finished, we let the Sangha know by bowing again. We can also indicate our intention to share by placing our hand over our heart, lightly touching the floor, or raising our hand.

We speak from our experience and avoid theoretical discussions. We are encouraged to share from our own experiences. We share from our own knowledge and understanding and avoid using theory. Our sharing about our past week(s) brings our daily life into the circle and how we are practicing in small and large ways. We share about our challenges and our successes and what we come to understand as we notice the moments of stopping and observing our thoughts, speech, and actions. This helps our friends in their practice. We can share about something we read at the beginning of the Dharma Sharing or heard during the Dharma Talk and how this impacts us.

We practise deep listening, with the full attention, without making judgements. We seek to listen to the quiet, not only to the words but to the spaces between the words. We do not reply to each other. We know that by simply listening deeply to what is being shared, focusing our full attention to the person speaking, we are already offering healing. This collective attention to the person sharing through deep listening offers an energy of attention, awareness, and good intention.

We practice taking two to three mindful breaths between each sharing. We can take mindful breaths in between each sharing to allow the previous sharing to sink into our heart and consciousness; or be released. Breathing into between sharings may be especially helpful if we heard something that may have touched something in us, stirring excitement, sadness, pain, joy, impatience. We can notice that these emotions have come up and let our breath sooth and take good care of them. In this way when we share, we are sharing from an awareness of our emotion and not reacting from our emotion.

We allow each person an opportunity to speak before speaking a second time. Stepping back if we have spoken and stepping up if we have not allow everyone an opportunity to share our practice with each other. In this way, we learn from each other. We can notice how many people are in the circle and gauge our time in speaking so that everyone would have an opportunity to speak if they choose.

Anything shared is confidential. All that is shared in the circle stays in the circle. Even if we wish to discuss someone's sharing with them later, we would first check with them that they wish to revisit it. We are aware that the person may choose not to do so, and we can respect and honor their needs.

We close with three small bells. At the first, we stand; at the second, we bow in gratitude to each other; at the third, we bow in gratitude to the statue of the Buddha.

“Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.”

MORE: the Plum Village app offers many guided meditations, deep relaxations and other practices, offered by Thich Nhat Hanh and his monastic community.