RESOURCES

By MISTI OXFORD-PICKERAL

I had the great fortune to attend the seven-day Dzog-chen Wisdom Retreat led by our beloved teacher, Fred, the first week of June.

A number of experiences were impactful, but a particularly touching aspect of this retreat was “storytime” with Fred. He shared his personal

record of teachings received from his time in northern India studying directly with Dzongnang Rinpoche and others, including an interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. These sharings were so precious, so direct and deep. 

I cannot adequately describe how powerful it was to watch and listen as Fred opened his notebook and stepped back in time almost 50 years. I think it is safe to say we were all riveted. 

I have not had the opportunity to experience transmission of the Dharma directly from the great teachers of our generation, such as Thich Nhat Hanh or the Dalai Lama. I have relied upon recordings, books and learning from those who were able to receive their direct transmission.

During this retreat, I realized that our beloved teacher is also one of our generation who has studied at the feet of great teachers and not only received the transmission of their pith teachings, but also their directive to teach the Dharma. We are so fortunate!

Now, as part of my sitting practice every day, I include gratitude for the lineages and past teachers going back to the Buddha, channeling their wisdom through Fred, shining the light of Dharma, lighting the way for us all along the direct path to awakening that is inherent in each of us and possible in this lifetime.

I am filled with gratitude to have the personal circumstances that allow me to take a week off from work and familial obligations to be on a retreat at FCM’s beautiful practice center, in silence, with fellow brothers and sisters on the path, learning from our teacher and practicing the Dharma. I deeply appreciate the space, time and setting all conducive to focus on my practice.

I never want to squander these precious opportunities. Retreat provides a huge recharge and reenergizing of my vows and aspiration.

For me, this retreat was particularly unique and powerful. First was the focus on the preliminaries and adding in bodhicitta. The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Towards Dharma are foundational in my seated practice. 

Adding the cultivation of bodhicitta, the mind of wisdom and compassion that is aimed at liberation for the benefit of all beings, as a preliminary takes the Four Thoughts to another level entirely. 

Imagining all the beings who are not able to practice, who are not touched by the Dharma, who are struggling to simply live, or who live in hell realms of suffering, war, violence and drugs, touched my heart, opened my mind and truly brought my aspiration to life. 

I feel interbeing-ness. Practicing for me is practicing for you; practicing for you is practicing for me. No separation. So beautiful. 

My practice has deepened and softened as a result of this retreat.

This world and the countless suffering beings are with me. I continue to be diligent and relaxed and to open my heart-mind as wide as I can every day. And for those of you waiting to go on retreat, please take the courageous leap. It is so worthwhile.

Misti Oxford-Pickeral lives in Gainesville with her husband, her son, her mom and their two dogs. She is an acupuncturist and a teacher of East Asian medicine, about which she is very passionate. She loves hiking in the woods and spotting wildlife. She is president-elect of the FCM Board of Directors.

By NED BELLAMY

As a principle of Mahayana Buddhism we commit to an aspiration to be of benefit to others. 

The 4th Mindfulness Training of the Order of Interbeing recited by FCM members reminds us that this aspiration is not a passive one: “Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes 

before suffering. Practice mindfulness to look deeply into the roots of suffering within yourself, others and the world. Recognize, accept, and transform your own suffering. Find ways to be with and help alleviate the suffering of others. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the reality of suffering in the world.”

In FCM’s Prison Dharma Program, all of us--inmates and volunteers alike--find this commitment and our time together to be mutually fruitful and sacred. 

The program began more than a decade ago and has ebbed and flowed with circumstances. During the pandemic, FCM’s team of volunteers was reduced from 10 to five intrepid souls who kept it alive, visiting four prisons twice during most months despite the high rate of infection among inmates and restrictions on visitors. Now, post-COVID, our team has nine members and needs three more. 

Why participate in the Prison Dharma Program? It offers the profound experience of bringing compassion, peace and joy to men serving time in state prisons near the Tampa Bay area. Three more members, bringing us to a complement of 12, would allow us to serve another one or two institutions and more easily fill vacancies when members leave for the summer or take out-of-town trips.

Volunteers for the program must have been FCM members for at least two years, have a daily meditation practice and have participated in FCM retreats or Intensives.

Each volunteer travels once or twice a month, alone or in pairs, to visit one of four state prisons within an hour’s or so drive from Tampa. The prisons are in Zephyrhills, Bushnell, Polk City and Bowling Green in Hardee County. Two-hour sangha meetings are attended by between six and 12 men. They include guided sitting and walking meditations, recitations or chanting, a Dharma talk, and extra time to listen deeply to men who need to be seen and heard. 

One inmate said it this way: “We’re never alone. I have 69 roommates, many with mental health challenges. Coming together in our small group of like-minded guys is literally a refuge where I feel safe and supported. I’m encouraged by the teachings that remind us again and again of what is possible for us, even during our stay.” 

Following approval by the Florida Department of Corrections, each new FCM volunteer shadows several different, more experienced volunteers during scheduled visits to several prisons. This student/mentor arrangement continues as his or her self-confidence grows with experience in co-chairing discussions, guiding meditations, and presenting abbreviated Dharma talks, all at the recruit’s own pace. 

Most people are a little apprehensive when entering a men’s prison for the first time. Gratefully, visitors’ personal safety has never been an issue for us. We gather in the prison chapel, segregated from the general population, and are welcomed by the chaplain and his staff.  

Since this program began, eight women have volunteered to serve in men’s prisons. Recently, sangha attendance has increased in two prisons after women became regular visitors. Women’s presence in these small, sacred, sangha circles often seems to encourage greater vulnerability and deeper sharing. Susan Ghosh, who volunteered in the program for several years, writes, “No way to tell any difference between us. Who’s teaching? Who’s learning? I always leave with some treasure.” We are reaching out to the only state women’s prison near Tampa and to local county jails to see if we might serve either their men or women inmates.

Why do FCM’s volunteers commit to the prison program? Here are some comments from prisoners that may provide an answer:

On Easter Sunday after a heavy, cooling downpour, the sun shone over a flock of sandhill cranes, the prison gardens, the koi pond and the green courtyard. A long-time inmate practitioner walking beside us said, “Yeah. It is beautiful. And you know what? For the last 20 years, every single morning, it has been beautiful.”

“Sixty days of solitary confinement is especially tough in this prison, because writing and reading material in the cell is forbidden. Finally, the Christian chaplain agreed to bring me two Buddhist books. I re-read them over and over and began meditating. I think they saved my life.”

“I’ve been in foster homes, jails and prisons for 45 years. I was hopeless when two Buddhist volunteers began to visit us regularly. They are the very first people who had ever noticed, much less believed, in me. Inspired by their practice and teachings, I turned my life around and have been a committed practitioner ever since.”

FCM volunteers are equally moved:

Chris: “What could possibly be better than sitting in a small circle sharing the Dharma?”

Brian: “Their deep and rich practice in very difficult circumstances is moving and inspiring.” 

Kevin: “The guys inspire me to practice. And their gratitude to FCM members who come to share the Dharma with them is palpable.”

To learn more about FCM’s Prison Dharma Program, please contact Ned Bellamy at nedbellamy46@gmail.com, or call or text him at 727-642-5900.

By BETSY ARIZU

You’ve probably heard our teacher Fred tell this extraordinary story before.  Here it is as written in the Ph.D. dissertation of medical anthropologist, Sara Lewis, Spacious Minds, Empty Selves: Coping and Resilience in the Tibetan Exile Community (p.2).

In 1959, a Tibetan monk named Palden Gyatso was imprisoned

at the outset of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Upon his release 33 years later, Gyatso said that his greatest fear during his captivity was not torture or death, but that he might lose compassion for his torturers. Gyatso’s story and others like it are often recounted by Tibetan refugees as examples of how this community has remained resilient in the face of collective trauma. These sentiments raise important questions about suffering, resilience, and the role of cultural beliefs and practices in the study of political violence.

In her dissertation Lewis describes the extensive interviews she conducted with Tibetan refugees in Dharmsala, India. Most intriguing was that she found none of the symptomatology of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) that one might expect given the events of displacement, incarceration, and torture. She noticed that her interviewees downplayed their personal experiences. They often spoke about impermanence and were well accepting of the fact that suffering is part of living life. Encountering such resilience, open mindedness and compassion in the Tibetan refugees Lewis concluded that the Buddhist "view" was influencing the way people responded to traumatic events. 

In a recent talk Fred shared with us how his observations when he visited and lived in Tibetan refugee camps decades ago were confirmed by what Lewis found in her field work.  He did not see the bitter, raging refugees that he had seen in other parts of the world.  He saw among the Tibetans compassionate, equanimous, healthy minded people making efforts to rebuild their communities and way of life. They did not see themselves as victims: they were seeing the "big picture in life."

So what is the big picture?  What is the big picture view taught by the Buddha that allows for great resiliency even under adverse conditions?  Fred emphasized four aspects of the Buddhist View:

• Impermanence - Things change. When we really get this, we are not shocked or thrown off base when things happen that we don't like or expect.
• Suffering – Accepting that there is suffering in life. That is reality, even though within our American culture, we might feel entitled to a perfect life, free of suffering.
• Cause and Effect (karma) – Whatever happens isn’t personal. It’s due to complex causes and conditions.
• Emptiness - We are not solid, separate entities. We don’t necessarily need to have a profound meditative experience of emptiness to understand and live with the freedom that this understanding implies.

For more on the big picture from Fred and Sara Lewis’ work: 

Fred’s talk: Trauma, Resilience and the Buddha's Path of Understanding and Compassion  

Sara Lewis’ book (available on Amazon and other places), Spacious Minds: Trauma and Resilience in Tibetan Buddhism (2019).

Betsy Arizu has been practicing the Dharma since becoming a student of Fred and a member of FCM in 2011. She is an artist and former high school teacher and counselor.

By JUDY CLEMENTS                                  

In my youth I was called to serve.

I listened to loners who, like me, had no "pack" for protection, connection, affection. As a very young pup, I retreated, hiding out in my den where it felt safe, even if it was dark, damp and cold. 

Fortunately, my innate curiosity lured me into the light where schooling brought satisfaction and competence.

That became my preferred, predictable, environment. Books became best friends. Fifty years in educational settings allowed me to explore ideas and practice the life skills the family could not model. I was drawn to the underserved who were in the most need of life skills, like communication, creativity, and problem solving within a group.

The faintest trail of breadcrumbs has sustained me on my quest for understanding. Compulsive overthinking, reading and many teachers suggested positive alternative explanations to my old stories, outdated language, and habit energies. Understanding accumulated, but I lacked a community to support the implementation and practice of these insights.

Arriving at FCM in October of ’23, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

As I merged with the generous, yet gentle flow of the Sangha River, I floated with ease, feeling buoyed by an infinitely supportive community.  I missed out on that idyllic neighborhood of the 1950s. My choice to retreat from my family caused more disconnection. Mostly I've navigated through life’s rough waters alone without the perspective of friends. Sharing a variety of rafting adventures with likeminded travelers through a range of FCM rapids has been exciting, joyful and rewarding.

A recent trip took me through the “Retreat Kitchen” to help provide a wholesome beautiful lunch. In my professional life, I rarely gave our essential food service workers much thought. Responsibilities of a domestic nature, especially the kitchen ones, were among the tasks I most resisted. I had embraced selfless service on the grounds, or even housekeeping chores, at FCM as a retreat from my usual self-absorbed agenda.

“Waking up” in the kitchen sangha prepping for lunch was delightful! There was great comfort in its clear structure, simple motor skills and tools. The inspired leadership aligned with my intentions to nourish others. In view of my recent long, slow fall off my nutritional wagon, this was the ideal place to recommit to wholesome sustainable eating.

Having worked alone most of my life with little guidance or encouragement, I discovered a real fulfillment being part of the kitchen team. The infinite patience and respect expressed allowed me to take refuge in the mindful movement my body craves.

Letting go of a need to rehearse my words to ensure the other understands means deep sharing comes more easily for me. Knowing others are open to hearing what is unsaid, to deeply listen, means I feel safe expressing myself. The more we interact from this place, the deeper we seem to go.  From the depths of our being, this togetherness transforms us and we glimpse our true Buddha nature.

Judy Clements of Seffner is a retired educator who joined FCM in 2023 and has assisted on the kitchen team in support of retreats.

By JUNE HEMBERGER

“GONG!” went the bell that woke me the first morning. Outside my window at Great Cloud Refuge in Tampa, birds were chirping their morning songs, and the fountain watering the beautiful garden was gurgling a melody. 

Thus began a day of sitting meditation, walking medi

tation, talks by Fred, along with a bit of working meditation, and qigong. We moved through the day silently, with no need to be sociable, or to say please and thank you. For me the silence was very calming and peaceful, supporting my inward focus, and helping me to remember Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching, “The way out is in”. Silent meals encouraged me to chew my food slowly, taking pleasure in the taste and texture of the delicious meals prepared lovingly by FCM's kitchen volunteers.

Fred began our study of vexations at the four-day retreat, “The Perfection of Patience: Transforming Vexation into Understanding and Equanimity,” by encouraging us to identify those vexations, or irritations, we personally experience most frequently. My list was long -- annoyance, defensiveness, hurt and self righteousness, to name just a few. 

Annoyance and hurt are the feelings which arise most often for me. Recognizing these feelings as unwholesome emotions that arise uninvited in my mind was particularly helpful. If we welcome them in, they’ll take over and cause obsessive thinking and mounting irritation and suffering. Therefore, 

Fred explained, we need "a guard at the gate” of our minds, with very specific instructions as to what we want that guard to allow into our minds. Unwholesome thoughts and feelings? No, just show them the door. Wholesome thoughts and feelings, like compassion and acceptance? Yes, please, come right in and stay a while. 

Next, we asked ourselves what fundamental views we have -- that we don’t always know we have -- about life and relationships. These views are often a cause of our suffering. I realized that I suffer when someone, especially someone to whom I’m close, says something I find annoying, irritating or even hurtful. This behavior breaks my fundamental view that people, and especially family, should act a certain way, the way I think is the “right” way. Having this view causes me to suffer. The Dharma teaches that understanding cultivates patience, an appropriate antidote in this situation. 

In an effort to understand what is occurring and why, I realized that these unwholesome feelings are the result of my causes and conditions, what the other person said is a product of their causes and conditions, and in fact, we’re all doing the very best that we can!

Some time later, I’m still reminding my guard to turn away those unwelcome guests when they arrive. When they do, I search for wholesome mind states such as acceptance and understanding. I also practice deep breathing to access a forgiving and patient mind. These practices are new to me. I vow to be more generous and compassionate in my relationships. 

Thank you, Fred, for once again, teaching me new ways of being and new ways of thinking so that I can be happier, calmer and more understanding on the path to becoming a Bodhisattva.

June Hemberger, of Naples and Norwich, VT, discovered Naples Sangha about nine years ago after previously meditating intermittently. She lives with her partner, Steve, and their happy 13-year-old standard poodle who teaches them to be calm, loving and good natured!

By TODD GORE

The recent seven-day Wisdom Retreat left me with significant insights and realizations. An important breakthrough came Tuesday morning, enabling the rest of my progress through the week.

For some time, when in the best state of mind, I've been able to see my mind as a vast open space, which felt very good, very 

right. But I was limited because I saw it as “my vast open space” and would often

struggle trying to find it. Just a couple of perfectly timed words from Fred caused me to see the space of mind as no different than the space all around us, making it continuously obvious and giving me much clearer awareness and a feeling of non-duality and oneness.

The concept of not-self is one I've understood intellectually for several years but struggled with taking beyond a concept, noticing that the ego was gone when I was in the most mindful state, but not able to necessarily bring about that state. During the retreat I looked deeply for this thing I considered "self," and as has happened in the past I could not find it, but still felt its presence.

At several points I felt as if the "self" was fighting back, almost like it was in self-preservation mode, presenting arguments to help it retain its preeminence over my life. Without chasing after these arguments, I could see them as both not real and not valid, as if their purpose was just to plant seeds of doubt.

Continuing to look deeply, I became aware of what this "self" was not and this helped me to finally see it for what it is. I could see clearly that the "self" is not needed for the things that are really important -- for example, for memory, or to retain skills, or to feel joy, or to appreciate beauty, or to love, or to feel compassion. This led me to a deep insight and understanding that the "self" I've been identifying with is just a character that I made up. I could see it as this imaginary person that I've been adding on to since I was a child. It was very clear and felt very freeing.

The second insight came as I was feeling very awake and present during the early session on Thursday, with a strong sense of joy doing walking meditation with my brothers and sisters in the sangha. Fred came in and quietly instructed us to let go of the duality by seeing it as "just walking," not "I am walking."

This had an almost immediate impact as it built on the newly clarified view of the space of mind and the new understanding of “I.” I don't remember any of the specific words that Fred spoke after walking meditation. I just remember feeling what was being shared and it continuing to build inside. I don't have the words to explain with any detail what I experienced at that point. While feeling like I was really understanding the core nature of mind, of reality, the words that shouted excitedly in my mind were:“Everything Just Is.” This felt like all I needed to know. I felt tears running down my face and tiny tremors tingling throughout the body.

Shortly after that, a second realization overtook me with the same force as the first. Again, words do not fully explain the understanding of what shouted excitedly in my mind: “I do not exist.” But the meaning could not have been more clear. More tears, more joyful tremors. At the end of the session I went outside and walked by the pond, just being with the feeling. Eventually the physical reactions calmed down and I went back in as breakfast was finishing. I see these experiences as creating a wonderful new starting point to transformation through my life practice.

Todd Gore retired from IT work in 2016 and lives in Clermont with his wife, two dogs, and a cat. Upon hearing about mindfulness eight or nine years ago, he started reading about it and took some basic online classes. Eventually, he realized that self-study would not get him to where he would like to be and in 2021, he joined FCM.

By HELEN ANDERSEN

I decided to participate in the Radical Acceptance workshop, beautifully led by Angie Parrish and Betsy Arizu, as a way to deepen and continue the work I had been doing in the Emotional Healing Intensive which began in March with Fred. 

The intensive and workshop have given me a clear way to observe those times where I feel ambushed by deep emotion – sometimes seemingly out of the blue. 

What I have discovered is that these emotions have always been there waiting to be tended to – and what I have habitually done instead is to immerse myself in “doing” (fleeing from them), and then doing to the point of exhaustion -- doing to the point where it can be hard to just sit and enjoy playing with my kids. 

I live in Parrish with my family – my husband Brandon, and Mia, 9, and Theo, 6. I began exploring mindfulness in 2013, but it wasn’t until I heard a recorded talk by Thay that I felt connected to a teacher. I continued to listen to this talk over and over, then read The Art of Living right after Theo was born in 2017. Taking Thay’s recommendation seriously to try to find a sangha to practice with, I felt incredibly lucky to find that FCM was just 50 minutes north and had a family program so we could all explore this path together.

At the Radical Acceptance workshop, I discovered that it was my inner child that was crying out for support in those times because she feels/felt it is her responsibility to fix, help others, keep the peace. She hopes that once things are fixed that she can then receive the love, acceptance, attention, etc., that she is looking for. 

I have learned that as an adult I have the emotional maturity, compassion and strength to give my inner child what she is searching for – to be present to her, not to mistake her emotions for my own adult emotions. That separation has been so powerful. I do not need to be “blended” with that inner child.

Instead, I can show up for my inner child in the same way I show up for my kids -- like when my son was lying under a  table crying over a piece of art that was not turning out the way he wanted, and I lay down next to him and offered a strong, compassionate, loving presence. 

I see now, I can do that for my inner child, too. I am capable and I feel such a wonderful hope as I continue to work at practicing this in my everyday life.

Helen and Brandon Andersen and their children became FCM members in 2018.

By JUDY ROSEMARIN

Taken by surprise at the recent “Creating a New Future by Changing Our Past“ retreat, I realized that I wasn’t there to cultivate the usual suspects: compassion, patience, forgiveness, courage, generosity, etc.

No. I was there to nurture gentleness. 

My realization was prompted by my emotional response to the gentleness in Angie’s voice. The soothing sound seemed to come from her but I know it’s never out there. It is only and always in me! However, me? The gentle one? Impossible!  

But I went with the feeling, the surprise.  

In the retreat, we were to identify our younger selves where contact, deep listening, recognition, healing, reconstruction, needed to be happen. I “met” my 12-year-old self at the camp’s horse stables. For all five summers, it was the only place where she didn’t feel scared or lonely.

I offered a soft, “Hello” and apologized for not giving her any warning, for leaving her for waaaaay too long. I told her that now, I was here for her. Just for her. And I promised that I would listen to anything and everything she ever wanted to say. 

“I have nothing to say,“ she snapped.

I understood. I know that feeling. I accepted that. I assured her that I would sit on a bench nearby and wait.

After 20 minutes, with predictable starts and stops, staccato sentences, timid testing, our conversation began to slip into a smoother rhythm. I listened to her sadness, fear and loneliness, as she gently curried her horse. 

“I am sorry for all you have felt.” (Silence) “I see you.” (Silence) “You are very gentle,” I said.

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“You are strange.  But you seem nice.”

“You seem nice, too. You are also gentle.”

“Ha.”

Oh? Something funny?

“No one ever called me gentle.” She sheepishly smiled at me, then asked the horse, “Do you think I am gentle?” 

And so the process began. For the first time as an 80-year-old, I touched my banished natural gentleness. 

I continued listening to the deep silences and was unprepared for what she next said. 

“I hated sewing name tags on my socks before camp…. But… (great silences, then hesitation on her part) “I just realized…I really liked sitting next to Mommy on the green corduroy couch. We sewed together.”

The old narrative suddenly broken open resulted in following epic learnings: 

The old story is never the whole story. It’s wider, deeper and richer than imagined. Just listen.

Once the narrative is altered, the internal feelings change. I touched and then continually feel gentleness now, intentionally visiting it every day.

When I am in a certain mode of over reactivity, I need to recall that it’s not the adult who is reacting, but a younger self who has not yet been fully honored.

I’ve put little “G” (Gentleness) reminder Post-Its around the house and contemplate them daily. 

I continue to integrate those blocked, battered, broken parts of myself into the adult I am now with gentleness.

I am an emerging gentlewoman. 

With deepest gratitude and gentle bowing,

©2023 Judy Rosemarin

Judy Rosemarin, MS, MSW, has been a member of FCM for eight years and has had an active Zen practice for 12 years.

By SHERI LISKER

I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Not because I didn’t want to – after all, what better way to honor a beloved teacher than with his own words? But again and again, my efforts to select the poem by Thich Nhat Hanh to commemorate his transition from life that also was most meaningful to me encountered obstacles.

Our teacher Fred had invited members to bring favorite poems and quotes of  Thich Nhat Hahn to our Tuesday night sharing. I was not that acquainted with Thây Nhat Hanh’s poetry. I knew that the title poem of the collection Call Me By My True Names mentions a young girl’s suicide after pirates rape her.

Since this was written by Thây, the poem is not focused on the rape, but on interbeing, how all of us, the most wretched, the most brutal, the earth, the buds on a tree, the mayflies, the frogs, even the Politiburo, are one. It turned out that one member read that poem and another member analyzed parts of it – demonstrating how truly interrelated we are!

I had figured I might point to the two quotes I have on my wall: Peace in oneself, peace in the world, which is fairly self-explanatory, and Are you sure of your perceptions? because I have often been mistaken on my own. I also could refer to my walking meditation mantras: Arriving/ Home and Touching/ Earth.

But 30 minutes before the start of the discussion, I thought it might not hurt to look for a poem. I chose the one from the Plum Village website I deemed most appropriate: Oneness, which begins with the words The moment I die/I will come back to you/as quickly as possible. But our program started with a beautifully sung rendition of this poem and I could not imagine following that.

Luckily, I had a back-up: Bhumasutra. I hadn’t read this poem before and moreover, it touched upon a subject I have been grappling with throughout my Buddhist studies: reincarnation. The poem starts with a discussion between a narrator (presumably the poet) and Death, who is challenging him: Aren’t you afraid of me?

Why should I be, the poet asks. Death says, Because I can end you, to which Thây replies, You can never end me: I will return again and again.

Death, prosecutorial, asks for a witness to these statements. And the poet calls the earth. Death hears the music of this world, the birds, sees the trees blossoming and “melts in the loving gaze of Earth.”

The poem ends with the narrator addressing his beloved (all of us). When you fear, he tells us, touch the earth deeply and “your sorrow will melt away.” In this way you will touch the deathless. This seemed appropriate for the anniversary of Thây Nhat Hanh leaving his body.

I listened to the sharing of the other members. One woman recited a poem she’d written to Thây. What a creative approach, I thought. Others shared poems and quotes as I nodded and thought, That was a good one. John McHarris shared the morning gatha: I wake with a smile/Twenty-four brand new hours before me/ I vow to live fully in the present moment/ and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. That gatha got me through the depression stages of early Covid isolation. Angie Parrish shared a piece on how our presence is the greatest gift we can give others. Amen, I thought.

I began to question my choice of a poem – had it been the best choice? The one most relevant to me and my life? After our session, I looked at a copy of The Raft and saw another famous Thich Hhat Hanh quote: A cloud never dies. A cloud becomes rain, which waters a flower, whose seeds are planted in the earth and become part of the earth, part of us. And there I had it: reincarnation explained in a pragmatic and poetic way. I realized that as in so many times before, Thay had gifted me with just what I needed just when I needed it. 

I bow to my teachers, Fred and Thây Nhat Hanh, and to all my teachers, those generous beings in the FCM sangha.

Sheri Lisker is a member of FCM from Sarasota. 

By ANGIE PARRISH

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity and privilege of sharing my recent practice insights with the Sangha, which I’ve summarized below at the request of several members.

As time seemed to speed up at the conclusion of the talk, I failed to add a most important point, which is please take advantage of the wonderful resources that FCM offers to support your practice! We have a deeply experienced teacher in Fred, who works directly with members to guide their individual application of practices in the most beneficial way. Weekly interviews are available with Fred so members should take advantage of this tremendous opportunity for skillful practice guidance. As well, group and solitary retreats at FCM provide opportunities to take these practices to a deeper level.

And, among other programs, we have an upcoming Intensive on the Buddha’s Full Awareness of the Breath Sutra (sign up by February 12). This is an excellent opportunity for expert guidance for those new to meditation. 

In a nutshell, during Sangha I shared the advice that our teacher Fred has given us so many times: to truly be free, with a mind of ease, clarity, and love, we will transform only through practice –- not by reading more books. I have been the incredibly fortunate recipient of many wise teachings from Fred over the years, but have been a rather lazy student oftentimes, so busy “doing” what will never be “done” instead of prioritizing my practice and waking up. 

With support of my family and Dharma brothers and sisters, I was able to take seven full days after Christmas to join an “Intensive” practice retreat, led by Guo Gu of the Tallahassee Chan Center. The guidance and retreat practice sessions provided the opportunity for integrating and clarifying my meditation, the fruits of which have been greater interest, enthusiasm, and consistency in my practice. I also realized that had I been a better student in the past, I could have more deeply drunk the nectar of Fred’s teachings and guidance and would not have needed an Intensive retreat to shake me out of my complacency. Learn from my mistakes!

During Sunday's Dharma talk, I shared several charts that people remarked were quite helpful, so I thought I’d briefly share this information here as well.

First, with respect to preparing for meditation, it is very helpful to do the following:

1.   Spend several minutes “limbering up,” though some yoga or mindful movement. This helps to both stretch the body in a helpful way and to begin to unite body and mind, when the movements are done with mindfulness.

2.   Spend a few minutes (or however long is needed) doing a progressive relaxation, bringing attention to the body starting with the crown of the head and moving to the toes, letting go of any tension that may be noticed. It may be particularly helpful to pay attention to the eyes, shoulders, and abdomen, as these are areas where we frequently hold tension. Bring a slight smile to your lips as you relax the face, noticing how that smile helps you to feel.

3.   Once the body has been relaxed, check your feeling tone/attitude. Do you feel content, happy, a sense of wellbeing? If so, proceed to meditation, but if not, see if there is still tension being held. You might also do a short gratitude reflection for someone or something in your life; gratitude can beautifully open our hearts and minds.

4.   Decide on the method of meditation practice that you need right now. Depending on the state of your mind in any given session, you can use the following as a guide for examples of method you might find helpful.

What Practice / Method Do I Need Right Now?
Mind State	Methods
Very scattered (lots of thoughts of past and future arising, perhaps getting lost in stories/dramas)	A more “complex” method, meaning a weightier anchor that requires more concentration.  Examples: following the sensations of the breath at the nostrils; counting the outbreaths backwards from 20 to 1 (while staying with the sensations of the breath); using seeing as your object by resting your gaze on a pebble or other small object; using hearing as your object. You can also do slow walking or very slow mindful prostrations when needed, but keep “swimming” with your sitting practice as much as possible.
Calmer, some scatteredness (but primarily thoughts arising related to present moment sounds, sights, sensations)	A less complex method (getting progressively “simpler” as the mind continues to calm).  Examples: following the sensation of the abdomen rising and falling; resting attention with sensations in the left palm (with this palm resting palm upwards in the right hand, on the lap); resting attention on the sensation of the weight of the body sitting.
Very calm, still mind	At this point, students should seek instruction from their teacher as to the practices that are most beneficial given their level of experience.

With respect to practice when the mind has gained a solid level of stability, please note that we are cautioned us to not get caught in a “ghost cave” of peaceful bliss that does not lead to true awakening. At this point, our teacher Fred works with many students on advanced practices, often in the Dzogchen tradition.

Off-the-cushion practice is also important. As Fred and Thich Nhat Hanh have taught us, letting go of our thinking when not needed (perhaps more often than we might imagine!) and simply directly experiencing life, whether walking, doing the dishes, drinking a cup of tea, will help us to both touch the present moment more deeply, as well as to recondition the mind to not be constantly producing and moving into thoughts. Over time, this practice will also help bring the mind to greater stillness during our formal meditation.

With gratitude for the jewel of Sangha!