網站有很多正念修習的分享跟引導 http://www.stillwatermpc.org/ 

(下面有中文草翻譯)

 

 Dear Still Water Friends, 

 

 

Years ago at Plum Village I talked with a family therapist, Jan Boswijk, about how caring relationships deteriorate over time. He mentioned that often the critical factor is that small hurts are not recognized and shared. One by one they build up, like sediment on the heating coils of a water heater. Bit by bit, more energy is required to create the same amount of warmth. The people in the relationship grow more distant, not aware of the underlying process. Then an issue emerges and separation seems to be easier than working it out.

 

 

My experience is that the same process of ignoring hurts and deadening hearts applies not only in close, caring relationships, but also in my relationship with myself. If I ignore my hurts and suffering, I deaden myself and lose the opportunity to learn from my suffering.

 

 

In the Plum Village tradition we are taught to work out difficulties with others with the practice of beginning anew. We sit together and calm ourselves, and then honestly and lovingly share our appreciations, our regrets, and our hurts. We can do the same with ourselves -- and Thich Nhat Hanh recommends the turning of the year as a good time to practice beginning anew with ourselves.

 

 

You are invited to practice “self beginning anew” with the Still Water community this Thursday evening, December 29, (at Crossings in Silver Spring) or this Sunday evening, January 1st (at the Yoga Center of Columbia). During our meditation period we will reflect on our actions in 2011 and our intentions for 2012. We will ask ourselves:

 

• In what ways have I acted wisely and skillfully, towards myself and others in 2011?
• In 2011 were there actions I took (or actions I failed to take) that I regret? I now can see how they created suffering for myself or others.
• Were there times I was hurt in 2011 and did not allow myself to fully experience my own suffering? Did I deny, suppress, minimize, or rationalize my suffering so that I was not able to acknowledge it to myself or others?
• What can I learn from the ways I have acted in 2011? As I begin 2012, are there intentions I wish to set? Are there new ways of acting and responding that I wish to nourish?

 

 

After our meditation and guided reflections, we will have tea together and share our experiences, insights and aspirations for 2012. 

 

Also, you are warmly invited to Still Water’s annual, family-friendly, Celebrating the New Year, New Year's Day Brunch, in Silver Spring, MD. Information is available on our website. It is helpful if you register so we can be prepared.

 

 

Excepts from Thich Nhat Hanh’s December 1997 “Beginning Anew” Dharma talk are below.

 

 

Warm wishes, many blessings,

 

 

Mitchell Ratner

Senior Teacher

 

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親愛的共修朋友們:

多年前在梅村我遇見一位家庭治療師- Jan Boswijk，聊起來維繫逐漸惡化的與人關係，Jan提到許多重大事件就是從當小的傷害沒有被認知跟分享，一個一個累積起來，就像熱水平的熱線圈在加熱，一點一點地，能量被累積到有了溫度，人在關係中就在無意識地下過程而建立起距離，當問題浮現出來時，分開已經比解決還容易。

依我的經驗來說，這種漠視受傷的感覺跟麻木不只有在與親近親友的關係上，也在與自己的關係上。如果我漠視自己受傷的感覺和痛苦，麻木了自己也失去了從痛苦中學習的機會。

在梅村傳統中，我們被教導用”重新開始(beginning anew)”去處理與他人的問題，大家會坐在一起讓自己安穩下來，然後誠實地充滿愛地表達出感謝,後悔和受傷的感覺。我們也可以對自己這樣做--- 一行禪師建議在舊年跨新年正是與自己練習重新開始的好時機。

因此我們邀請大家在共修的時間(美國時間12/29,1/1)一起練習”與自己重新開始(self beginning anew)”，在坐禪之後，我們會回想過去2011年的並且展望2012年的期待，您可以這樣問問自己:

• 在2011這一年我是否用什麼方式表現智慧跟善巧呢?
•  在2011年，我曾經對做到(或沒做到)的事情感到後悔? 現在我可以看到這些事情造成自己跟別人的痛苦。
• 這一年我曾經受過傷卻不允許自己完全經驗這個痛苦，我曾經去否認,壓抑,減少或合理化這個痛苦，以免要對自己和別人承認這個痛苦。
• 我可以從2011年做過的事情學到些什麼嗎?
• 2012年開始了，我有什麼期待嗎? 有什麼新的方法跟回應來滋潤這樣的期待。

在坐禪與這個引導之後，我們可以一起享用熱茶並分享展望2012新年的經驗,洞見跟啟發。

Beginning Anew

From a Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh on December 28, 1997

The New Year is a great opportunity to begin anew. Because many people look at the New Year, the year to come, with hope. "I will do better next year," you promise yourself. . . . Of course we have made mistakes. Of course we have been not very skillful. Of course we have made ourselves suffer. Of course we have made the people around us suffer. But that does not prevent us from beginning anew and to make things much better next year, or even the next moment. We should look at our suffering in such a way that the suffering can become a positive thing. 

 

 

The Buddha said that if you have not suffered, there is no way you can learn. If the Buddha has arrived at full enlightenment, that is just because he had suffered a lot. The suffering was the path that helped him to arrive at full enlightenment, at full compassion, at full understanding. If you want to go to the Buddha, you need your suffering. Because if you do not know what is suffering, then there is no way you can come to the Buddha. You have to come to the Buddha with all your suffering. Suffering is the path. By true suffering you can see the path of enlightenment, the path of compassion, the path of love. 

 

According to the teaching of the Buddha, it is by looking deeply into the nature of your sorrow, your pain, of your suffering, that you can discover the way out. If you have not suffered, you cannot go to the Buddha. You have no chance to touch peace, to touch love. It is exactly because of the fact that you have suffered, that now you have an opportunity to recognize the path leading to liberation, leading to love, leading to understanding. Don’t be discouraged when you see that in the past you have suffered and you have made other people suffer. If we know how to handle the suffering, we will be able to profit from our suffering. It is like an organic gardener. If she knows how to handle the garbage, she will get a lot of compost for the growth of her vegetables and her flowers. It is with the compost of the suffering that we can nourish the flower of understanding, of peace, of love. That is why we have to learn how to manage our suffering, how to cherish, how to preserve, how to transform our suffering.

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 重新開始，一行禪師在1997年的開示 

28/12/1997

 

新年是個重新開始的好機會，因為許多人帶著希望看著新年到臨，”明年我會做得更好”，你這樣地承諾自己…當然我們曾犯過錯，當然我們也有不善巧之處，當然我們也讓自己受苦了，當然我們也讓身邊的人受過苦，但這些不能妨礙我們去練習重新開始並且讓明年或下一刻更美好。我們應該用這個方式來觀看自己的痛苦，讓痛苦變成正面意義。

 

佛陀說 ，如果你不曾受苦，那你就無法學習，佛陀可以達到覺悟，那是因為他受很大的苦，這些痛苦是幫助佛陀成就覺悟,慈悲與了解的道路，如果你想要走上佛陀的道路，你需要自己這個痛苦，因為如果你不知道什麼是痛苦，那麼你就沒有機會走上這個道路，你必須與自己的痛苦一起上路，痛苦是修行的道路，真實的痛苦可以讓你看到覺悟,慈悲和愛的道路。

 

根據佛陀的教導，要去深深地觀看自己的本質，那麼你就能找到出口，如果你沒有悲傷,痛和苦，那就無法走向佛陀，沒有機會碰觸到平靜和愛，這就是為什麼你會受苦，但現在你有機會去認出這個引導自己走向自由,愛和了解的道路。當看到自己過去的痛苦或讓人痛苦時，請不要退縮，如果我們知道怎麼處理痛苦，我們就能夠從痛苦中受益，這個就像一個生機的花園，如果人知道怎麼運用垃圾，她就會或得許多讓蔬菜與花兒成長的養分，這些就是痛苦的養份好讓我們能滋養內在了解,平靜和愛的花朵。這就是為什麼我們必須學習去面對痛苦，愛護,保存並轉化我們的痛苦。