Here's another Plum Village musing from Alex Parmalee of Honey Locust Sangha in Omaha.
Greetings Dear Ones,
Spending one month at Plum Village has been too much for words, at least that I can resolve at the moment. The long retreat begins today and our small sangha of lay practitioners will go from 10 or 15 to around 350 before sundown. Yikes!
I am just going to share some thoughts...
It has been wonderful, illuminating, difficult, challenging, and a vast array of activities and emotions that I could not have anticipated. However, who could possibly predict what a day may bring. I am learning to let go of my preferances and accept what is truly before me but I did not think it would bring up so much regret and frustration! Inside each of us are seeds of every kind, some I prefer not to have but alas...there they are.
Happiness is a practice, I get that now. It is something I can do and it is something I can trust. My practice is to find the most elegant path of returning. Every day a new "self" arises and I am just a little bit different than the day before. A new path can be found, however, it is sometimes like peeling the layers from an onion. Layers upon layers. Is there any simple way to happiness? I remember that there is so much of "me". Maybe I cannot be happy today but I will not divide myself...as if happiness was a thing worth being unhappy about if I cannot realize it. If I can learn to embrace myself completely and without judgements I think maybe then I will truly and deeply smile.
I think of each of you often, especially on Tuesday mornings here when I know that you are gathering to practice there. I know that we can still touch each other in a very real way. We still stand on the earth and see the sun. As I walk around Plum Village I realize that this is no special place. I could be anywhere and still share the same reality with everyone that I care about. That is interbeing.
A Lotus For Each of You!
alex
