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Start your mindfulness journey here
A number of mindfulness practices are explained on the plum village.org website.
These are short practice poems which we can learn and recite to help us to practise mindfulness throughout the day.
Many are provided on this page.
The gathas and commentaries are also featured in the book, Present Moment, Wonderful Moment.
Chapter 3: Ceremonies & Practices
Chapter 4: Recitations & Discourses
On 11th September 2014 Thay completed a profound and beautiful new English translation of the Heart Sutra, one of the most important sutras in Mahayana Buddhism.
A print-friendly one-page pdf of the new English translation
The sheet music of the new English translation The sheet music of the new English translation
A recording of the new translation
Thay’s explanation of why he made the new translation(pdf)
This new translation will now be used in all Plum Village chanting sessions and ceremonies, and it will appear in the next edition of the Plum Village Chanting Book.
Avalokiteshvara
while practicing deeply with
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore,
suddenly discovered that
all of the five Skandhas are equally empty,
and with this realisation
he overcame all Ill-being.
“Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings,
Perceptions, Mental Formations,
and Consciousness.
“Listen Sariputra,
all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness;
their true nature is the nature of
no Birth no Death,
no Being no Non-being,
no Defilement no Purity,
no Increasing no Decreasing.
“That is why in Emptiness,
Body, Feelings, Perceptions,
Mental Formations and Consciousness
are not separate self entities.
The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena
which are the six Sense Organs,
the six Sense Objects,
and the six Consciousnesses
are also not separate self entities.
The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising
and their Extinction
are also not separate self entities.
Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being,
the End of Ill-being, the Path,
insight and attainment,
are also not separate self entities.
Whoever can see this
no longer needs anything to attain.
Bodhisattvas who practice
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
see no more obstacles in their mind,
and because there
are no more obstacles in their mind,
they can overcome all fear,
destroy all wrong perceptions
and realize Perfect Nirvana.
“All Buddhas in the past, present and future
by practicing
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
are all capable of attaining
Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.
“Therefore Sariputra,
it should be known that
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
is a Great Mantra,
the most illuminating mantra,
the highest mantra,
a mantra beyond compare,
the True Wisdom that has the power
to put an end to all kinds of suffering.
Therefore let us proclaim
a mantra to praise
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore.
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!
Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha!”
“The Insight that Brings us to the Other Shore” translation by Thich Nhat Hanh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Steve Sant has produced a Five Mindfulness Trainings booklet in PDF format that you can download and print on two sides of a sheet of A4 to make an A5 booklet. For best results, download the PDF file and then print.
Dear Lord Buddha and teachers over many generations:
We vow to go through this meeting in a spirit of togetherness as we review all ideas and consolidate them to reach a harmonious understanding or consensus. We vow to use the methods of loving speech and deep listening in order to bring about the success of this meeting as an offering to the Three Jewels.
We vow not to hesitate to share our ideas and insights but also vow not to say anything when the feeling of irritation is present in us. We are resolutely determined not to allow tension to build up in this meeting. If any one of us senses the start of tension, we will stop immediately and practice Beginning Anew right away so as to re-establish an atmosphere of togetherness and harmony.
Dear Lord Buddha and teachers over many generations,
We aspire to go through this meeting in a spirit of togetherness as we consider all ideas in order to reach a harmonious understanding and consensus.
We will use loving speech and deep listening in order to bring about the success of this meeting as an offering to the Three Jewels.
We will not hesitate to share our ideas and insights, but will not speak when a feeling of irritation or anger is present in us. We will take care of those feelings until we are calm again.
We are resolutely determined not to allow tension to build up in this meeting. If we realise that we have spoken unmindfully we will apologise to the meeting for this right away in order to re-establish and nourish an atmosphere of togetherness and harmony.
Mindful Moment
Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
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