Mountain Mindfulness Sangha

Dear friends,

We will postpone tomorrow's outdoor walking meditation at the Nature Park until Sunday, May 19th at 10am. The weather forecast shows a high enough chance of rain and thunderstorms during our gathering time that we felt it wise to postpone. 🙏

Dear friends,

Here is Mountain Mindfulness Sangha's winter schedule:

IN-PERSON SANGHA PRACTICE: second and fourth Wednesday of the month from 7-8:30pm at the Asheville Friends Meeting place.

VIRTUAL SANGHA PRACTICE: first and third Tuesday of the month from 7-8:30pm on Zoom.

OUTDOOR WALKING MEDITATION is on hiatus for the winter and will return in the spring.

To see our calendar and learn how to join various sangha gatherings, please visit our website at https://www.mountainmindfulness.org/

We look forward to practicing with you. 🙏

Mountain Mindfulness Sangha of Asheville, NC All our welcome to join our supportive meditation group in Asheville, NC. We offer a weekly meditation practice, dharma talks and retreats in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's Engaged Buddhism.

Dear friends, this is a reminder that our outdoor walking meditation today will take place at 1:00 p.m. in the Weaverville Main Street nature park, instead of our usual 10:00 a.m. meeting time.

This Wednesday, May 24, will be our fourth Wednesday of the month in-person practice from 7-8:30 p.m. at Asheville Friends' Meeting House - 227 Edgewood Road Asheville, NC 28804. Our indoor, in-person practice is now taking place twice each month on the second and fourth Wednesday evening. All are welcome.

Mountain Mindfulness is continuing our practice of outdoor walking meditation, singing, and Dharma sharing on a monthly basis. In order to better communicate about cancellations and rain dates, we have created a Google Group specifically for our outdoor practice: https://groups.google.com/g/mmsoutdoors
While we will continue to send reminders about upcoming outdoor offerings in our regular newsletters, please note that all cancellation and rain date info will be sent only to the MMS Outdoors Google Group members.

If you are interested in attending our outdoor offerings, please click the link and request to join the group and get the most up-to-date information.

Generally, this will be a recurring monthly practice on the first Saturday of the month from 10-11:30am. We do have a few date changes due to summer schedules.

Upcoming outdoor sangha gatherings at the Weaverville Main Street Nature Park include:

Saturday, June 10th at 10am

Saturday, July 15th at 10am

This Wednesday we will have an in-person practice at the Asheville Friends' Meeting House from 7-8:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome. The House is located at 227 Edgewood Rd, Asheville, NC 28804 near UNCA. In person practice will take place twice each month on the second and fourth Wednesday evening starting in May. In May, the dates will be May 10th and May 24th, 7 - 8:30pm. The practice time was based on results of the survey (thank you to all who responded!) and the availability of the Asheville Friends’ Meeting House. The Friends’ House was chosen as a location because it is a comfortable space with no other activities going on during our practice time. We also have the benefit of using the cushions and beautiful bell of the Zen Center of Asheville who also practice there, and there is space for walking meditation both indoors and out. Going forward, we are open to exploring other locations in the Asheville area. Each practice evening will include reading from a selected Plum Village book

Dear Friends, Mountain Mindfulness is changing the schedule of our regular in-person and online practice offerings. Here is what the new practice schedule looks like which starts next month in May:

In-person outdoor walking meditation – the first Saturday of the month, 10-11:30 am, weather-permitting, at the Weaverville Nature Park and other locations TBA.

In-person practice – the second and fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8:30pm, at the Asheville Friends’ Meeting House.

Online practice – the first and third Tuesday of the month, 7-8:30pm, on Zoom.

This schedule will be an ongoing work in progress, an experiment in how we can best meet the practice wishes of our community as we evolve and grow. We welcome and appreciate your feedback and ideas as we move toward the future and create a sangha practice responsive to our wishes.

Outdoor walking meditation will continue once per month on the first Saturday morning of the month until winter weather-like conditions arrive. The next walking meditation will be on May 6th at the Weaverville Nature Park. The location may change from time-to-time with notification. A monthly reminder will be sent via the all-sangha email, but we will no longer be emailing cancellations due to weather by this email. To receive walking meditation news and timely updates, you are invited to join a special Google group; to join, go to this link:
https://groups.google.com/g/mmsoutdoors

In-person practice will take place twice each month on the second and fourth Wednesday evening starting in May. This month, the practice will be on April 26th, 7 - 8:30pm. In May, the dates will be May 10th and May 24th, 7 - 8:30pm. The practice time was based on results of the survey (thank you to all who responded!) and the availability of the Asheville Friends’ Meeting House. The Friends’ House was chosen as a location because it is a comfortable space with no other activities going on during our practice time. We also have the benefit of using the cushions and beautiful bell of the Zen Center of Asheville who also practice there, and there is space for walking meditation both indoors and out. Going forward, we are open to exploring other locations in the Asheville area. Each practice evening will include reading from a selected Plum Village book.

Online practice will continue on Zoom on Tuesday evening. This month, practice will be on April 11th and April 18th, 7-8:30pm. In May, we’ll begin twice per month online practice on the first and third Tuesday. The dates will be May 2nd and May 16th, 7 - 8:30pm. Starting in May, the focus of the first Tuesday practice will be the Heart Sutra, including both chanting and Dharma study from Thay’s book, The Other Shore. The third Tuesday practice will be a recitation of The Five Mindfulness Trainings.

The new in-person and online schedule was planned in order for there to be one weekly practice offering per month for the first four weeks of the month, alternating between in-person and online practice. We expect this schedule to continue into the summer.

We hope to see you in-person and online as you are able to participate and look forward to cultivating our practice together.

Dear friends, today's outdoor walking meditation at 10am is canceled due to weather.

Please join us as we begin to return to practicing together in-person. Details about our next practice are below. We are interested in knowing what recurring day and time are good for folks in order to plan future practices. If you are interested in attending in-person practice in the Asheville area, please complete this survey:

https://forms.gle/ZhV22Mtq7DLVANFQ9

Our next in-person practice will be held on Wednesday, March 29th, from 7-8:30pm at the Asheville Friends Meeting House located at 227 Edgewood Rd, Asheville, NC 28804 (just east of UNC-A campus). One of the requirements for using the space is for each participant to sign a liability waiver, which will be at the sign in. All are welcome.
Please arrive in ample time before 7pm in order to park, enter and sign the waiver, and settle into your seat before we begin.
As is the tradition in our practice, once we arrive in the building, we maintain quiet voices and settle into an intention to be mindful and present for the sangha and our practice. When we enter the meditation space and take our seat, we maintain noble silence until the completion of practice for the evening, except during Dharma Sharing. Please save extended social talk, before and after our practice, for the porch and outside areas.

Regarding COVID, flu, and general health concerns: 1) Please do not attend if you are currently ill or have recently been exposed to a contagious bug; 2) We will stay mindfully, safely distanced while sitting and walking; 3) Mask-wearing is optional; 4) If you would like to give a friend a hug, ask first to be sure that your friend is comfortable with hugging.

Mountain Mindfulness Sangha In-person Practice Night Survey We are so glad to be planning to resume some in-person sitting practices. Please share which days of the week generally would work for you to help the Care Team look at options for a meeting space.

Dear friends - monastics from Plum Village are coming to North America this spring. Read the post for more details!

Leslie Rawls, Dharma Teacher in the Plum Village tradition, will facilitate sangha tomorrow, February 28 at 7pm. More information about Leslie can be found here: https://www.charlottemindfulness.org/about/dharma-teacher/ The meeting will open at 6:45pm, allowing time to settle in silently and create a calm practice space. Practice starts at 7pm and concludes at about 8:30pm.
​If you are interested in joining us and receiving the link to our Zoom meetings, please send an email to: [email protected] with the word "Zoom" in the subject line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjs54uVkkoE

Plum Village monastics cover "Do you realize?" by the Flaming Lips. Enjoy, dear friends!

'Do You Realize?' | Cover by Plum Village Monastics This song available on the free Plum Village App https://plumvillage.app/ is a cover of "Do You Realize?" by the Flaming Lips.Do you realize that you have th...

Made specially for the first anniversary of the passing of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, "I Have Arrived, I Am Home" is a new documentary from filmmaker Max Pugh (A Cloud Never Dies, Walk With Me). The film includes footage and commentary on Thich Nhat Hanh's return to his native Vietnam, where he lived from 2018 until his passing on 22 January 2022.

The international Plum Village community is making this film available to everyone for free to honor our dear teacher and inspire viewers to walk the path of mindful living: https://youtu.be/mkJLqq6j0Ic

It premieres at 1:30am on January 22 in Vietnam time, exactly 1 year after Thich Nhat Hanh's passing. (On most other continents it is January 21 – 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST / 7:30pm CET.) The film will be freely available to view at any time after the premiere.

Events for Thay's One Year Memorial — Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation January 2023 marks one year since our beloved Thay’s (Thich Nhat Hanh’s) passing. Here are events around the world to celebrate his life and his continuation in another form.

You can join us for a live Dharma talk this Christmas.

Links are here: https://plumvillage.org/articles/a-holiday-message-and-live-dharma-talks/

Make Black Friday Brown - Deer Park Monastery Monastics Offer Mindful Alternative to Holiday Shopping Spree. Online and open to everyone on November 25th.

Dear friends, Here's an invitation to practice from Plum Village.

Home Practices for the Rains Retreat | Plum Village Each week, we will post a series of practices inspired by the Rains Retreat at Plum Village Monastery.

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The new The Mindfulness Bell edition coming out in August will honor Thay with highlights from the memorial week; Thay's teachings on death, impermanence, and interbeing; and reflections and recollections of Thay from elder monastics, lay
Dharma teachers, and friends.
Digital articles available now on www.mindfulnessbell.org

"May I be safe and protected.
May I be peaceful and happy.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I have ease of well-being, and accept all the conditions of the world.
May I love myself just as I am.
May I sense my worthiness and well-being.
May I trust this world.
May I hold myself in compassion.
May I meet the suffering and ignorance of others with compassion."
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Hear two authors and longtime students of Thich Nhat Hanh’s discuss his teachings and wisdom today (May 18). Rashani Réa will join Mobi Warren in conversation from 4:30-5:30 p.m. EDT/1:30-2:30 p.m. PDT to discuss her new book, “Go Slowly, Breathe, and Smile”. Mobi was a volunteer of Thay’s Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation in Paris in the 1970s and translated several of Thay’s books from Vietnamese, including “Old Path, White Clouds” and “Fragrant Palm Leaves.”

Rashani’s new book features her art work, encouraging words from Thay, and mindful meditation. Today’s talk is free but registration is required to receive the Zoom link. To register, email [email protected]

Take my hand. We will walk. We will only walk. We will enjoy our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere. —Thich Nhat Hanh.

“You have to be your own hero. No one else can do it for you. You need determination. You need concentration. This is the essence, the heart. The present moment is a teacher that will always be with you, a teacher that will never fail you.”

https://www.lionsroar.com/the-spirit-of-plum-village/

The Spirit of Plum Village “The next Buddha may be a sangha,” Thich Nhat Hanh famously said, and the practice of community was always central to his life and teachings. Dharma teacher Mitchell Ratner experienced the wonders, lessons, and challenges of living the mindful life at Plum Village.