ShareIn May 2011, seven brothers and sisters from various centers of Plum Village worldwide were invited to China to lead a retreat for 50 business men and women for three days. At first, we were refused visas to enter China as we were monastics. We needed to go directly to the China embassy to get our visas. We waited half a day to get a chance to hand in our applications for the visas. We were told that to get a visa to enter China, each one of us had to write an agreement that we wouldn't engage in religious activities. We told one another that we wouldn't be engaging in religious activities; we would just help these business people to reduce stress and to be happy. Nothing religious about that. Going to China for us was to connect with the ancestral teachers of China and Master Tang Hoi who went to China to teach in the second century AD, whose teachings and practices have influenced our ways of practice to a large degree. We flew to China with that intention.
from left to right, Sr. Tue Nghiem, Sr.Linh Nghiem, Br. Phap Kham, Br. Phap Chung
Two monks were waiting for us at the arrival gate at the airport. We rode two hours to Yangzhou. Our hosts told us that there will be two scholars from Hong Kong and China who will give the Dharma talks; we will lead everything else, that way we wouldn't violate our agreement of not engaging in religious activities. It's a skillful way for us to share the teachings and practices without attracting attention of the government officials of the area. We were open for whatever would unfold.
The first day of our stay, the host monk took us on a visit to Daman temple. It's an enormous and beautiful temple where many great teachers of China had originated over the centuries, including Master Empty Cloud 虛云 and Master Lai Qua 來果. We visited the superior monk, Master Duc Lam, the Abbot of the temple. We felt privileged and grateful that he wanted to see us because he usually didn't received guests. He received us because he knew our teacher and had strong affinity with our teacher. Meeting this master, we felt as if we had encountered the ancestral teachers over the centuries. He radiated strong spiritual presence, peace, freedom, and fearlessness. Being in his late 90s, he had good health, bright eyes, a good sense of humor, and such clarity of mind. He said if you practice correctly, then you have good health even in old age. He represented the spirit and a lineage of the Zen masters over the centuries who were devoted to transforming their suffering, liberating themselves, and helping people to break through their delusion. In other words, these teachers were not giving people mere knowledge of Buddhism; instead, they helped remove and eliminate the deluded views and mind of people they encountered.
In the three day retreat, we continued that spirit of the ancestral teachers. We were not lecturing on the knowledge of Buddhism. We were helping them to let go of their stress, tension, thoughts, and projects so that they could be stress-free, live happily and simply, enjoy and savor the life that they have. The retreat unfolded at a small humble temple in Yangzhou where 13 monks were practicing together. The abbot of the temple who invited us to China was a young monk in his 30s who had received the Five Mindfulness Training with Thay the autumn 2010. At that time Thay and the Plum Village delegation organized a retreat in Hong Kong. He shared with us that he realized that the Plum Village practices are very concrete and applicable to daily life. There is so much suffering in China that he wanted to bring Plum Village practices to China to teach people to live happily and to suffer less. The fifty business people who attended the retreat were dressed in the same simple grey uniform. Everyone was the same and were stripped of all identities to wealth, prestige, position or power as they entered the temple. They shared a room with twenty people. They ate very simple temple food.
togetherness
Everyone came to the retreat with such curiosity. Almost all of them came to the retreat and practice for the first time. Fourteen of these people from the same company were sent by their boss to learn mindfulness practices. The biggest challenge for them all was to slow down. The Chinese were losing touch with their spiritual heritage and devoted all their energies in getting to the top, making profits, accumulating wealth, giving their children the best education, and having a lot of material things. They were always rushing and running. They swallowed their food in five minutes that took us thirty to forty minutes to finish.
We shared the Dharma skillfully through the presentations, Dharma sharing sessions, total relaxation sessions, and through the way we walked, sat, ate, interacted with one another and with them. After two days, many of them were more at ease, more relaxed, more smiley. They slowed down noticeably, especially at meals. On the last morning, we had a session of sharing the fruits of the practice. Many of them shared that they were experiencing what happiness felt like for the first time in their life. They found a path for their lives that helped them to touch the joy of living and tap into their inner beauties. Everyone wanted to have longer retreat next time. We shared with one another later that a retreat of three days may seem so short but it had brought many benefits and miracles it brought to these people. We didn't have to do much, not even giving the Dharma talk. What touched these people was the energy of peace, stability, happiness, and brotherhood and sisterhood that we demonstrated through our practice and through the way we lived with them in those three days. We were merely continuing the path of our ancestral teachers before us. (Sr. Tue Nghiem or Sr. Insight)
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Saturday, 18 June 2011 18:12 | 
Written by dharmaputra | 
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Best wishes
Regina