Green Island Sangha

Friday, February 12, 2010

New Year... New Schedule... New Time!

Green Island Sangha
February Schedule

IMPORTANT UPDATE
St Ignatius has asked if we would change our sit schedule to
10:30AM to 12:30 PM
starting Feb 21st.

There will be no sit on Feb 14th because the Retreat House will be closed.

Sangha Generosity Practice
non perishables and canned goods for a local food pantry
Collection at Feb 28th sit

Tet (Lunar New Year) Celebration at Blue Cliff Monastery Feb 12-14th
contact Blue Cliff Monastery office@bluecliffmonastery.org

SUNDAY February 14th
Retreat House Closed

SUNDAY February 21st
at St Ignatius Retreat House10:30AM-12:30 PM Our Regular Sitting Practice
Peace is Every Step Reading (please bring your copy w you)

SUNDAY February 28that St Ignatius Retreat House 10:30AM - 12:30 PM
Our Regular Sitting Practice

Your Free Will Donation Helps to Support Our Community
and our hosts St Ignatius Retreat House

The Year of the Tiger

Lunar New Year aka "Tet" or "Chinese New Year" is Feb 14 2010; The Year of the Tiger....Another chance to begin a new!... and to eat wonderful things! In the tradition of our four fold sangha, one of the special foods for the celebration are "Earth Cake/Sky Cake"..."Banh chung"

Please check out this lovely video made by our monastic brothers and sisters.

"During the New Year of 2009, we felt the need to explain the meaning of wrapping earth cakes, because practitioners that come to visit Plum Village each year during the Lunar New Year are quite surprised to see the four-fold sangha spending one whole day wrapping earth cakes and staying up the whole night to cook them. So please enjoy this video performance made by the monks and nuns of Plum Village…"

http://www.www.plumvillage.org/performance-a-skits.html

vegetarian banh chung

usually eaten at Tet (Vietnamese new year)

Ingredients
3 lbs sticky rice, uncooked, soaked 1 night and drained
3 c mung beans, raw
6T oil
banana leaves

Directions
Cook mung beans according to package instructions. After mung beans are cooked, mash until smooth, then make into 8 square patties, .75 inches thick.

Add oil to uncooked sticky rice and mix well.

On a big piece of banana leaf, put .5 cup sticky rice. Put 1 mung bean patty on top. Pour .75 cup sticky rice on top and wrap tightly in banana leaf. Tie with twine to hold leaf in place. After all 8 have been wrapped, boil submerged in water for 6 hours until cooked.

Makes 8 banh chung, each having 8 servings for a total of 64.

Number of Servings: 64

* if you go onto Youtube there are hundreds of videos of families gathering to make this treat. There are many videos showing how to wrap these delicacies, unfortunately they all show the use of animal products. Traditionally meat is used, but the Vegetarian ones are so much more yummy and better for you!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

February 14th Cancelled

St Ignatius just contacted us to tell us this weekend there will not be any staff available to host us on Sunday sit so we will not be able to meet to sit this weekend at St Ignatius. Our next scheduled sit is the following Sunday Feb 21st.

Green Island Sangha

The Green Island Sangha is inspired by the teachings and practice of Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh; we belong to the international Sangha which he founded: the Order of Interbeing, a "fourfold community" of lay women and men, nuns and monks. We are a grassroots Sangha, beginners and more experienced practitioners learning from and supporting one other on the path of awakening. We are also a part of The Community of Mindfulness New York Metro.

Our aspiration is to bring mindfulness, concentration, and insight to daily living. During our sessions, we apply the practice of conscious breathing to sitting and walking, as well as communicating with compassionate listening and loving speech. Our gatherings also reflect the values of openness. For example, many members continue to participate within other religious or ethical traditions. We are a Sangha of practitioners from the entire length and breath of Long Island and consider ourselves to be part of a world wide Sangha. Beginners are welcome.

Sitting & Walking Meditation

Sitting Meditation

"Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to rest. Sitting, your head and spine form a straight line. Relax all your muscles. Find a way of sitting that allows you to sit for at least 20 minutes without becoming too stiff or tired. As soon as you sit down, pay attention to your breath. Then notice your posture, a little bit everywhere. Relax the muscles in your face. If you are angry or worried, those muscles will be tense. Smile lightly, and you will relax hundreds of muscles in your face. Then notice your shoulders, and let go of the tension there. Don’t try too hard. Just breathe mindfully, and scan your whole body."

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Mindfulness Bell, Issue 23, pages 1,4.

Walking Meditation

"Walk more slowly than you usually do, but not too slowly, while breathing normally. Do not try to control your breathing. Walk along this way for a few minutes. Then notice how many steps you take as your lungs fill and how many steps you take as they empty. In this way, your attention includes both breath and steps. You are mindful of both.... Your half-smile brings calmness and delight to your steps and your breath.... After a few hours of serious practice, you will find that the four of them — the breath, the counting, the steps, and the half-smile — blend together in a marvelous balance of mindfulness. This is equanimity, created by the practice of walking meditation. The four elements of breathing, counting, stepping, and the half-smile become one."

Thich Nhat Hanh, A Guide to Walking Meditation.

Five Mindfulness Trainings

Five Mindfulness Trainings

The Five Mindfulness Trainings were developed during the time of the Buddha to be the foundation of practice for the entire practice community, including monastic and lay members. The basis for the trainings is mindfulness.All Sangha members and guests are requested to observe these trainings to support our practice of mindfulness and living harmoniously together. No smoking, no drinking and no sexual misconduct constitute part of the Five Mindfulness Trainings to be observed at a practice center. The Five Mindfulness Trainings protect our freedom and make life beautiful. As guidelines for our daily lives they are the basis of happiness for individuals, couples, families and society.
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Reverence For Life

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

True Happiness

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking, and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.

True Love

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness – which are the four basic elements of true love – for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.

Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into my anger. I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.

Nourishment and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs, or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption. I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth.

Green Island Sangha

Friday, February 12, 2010

New Year... New Schedule... New Time!

The Year of the Tiger

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

February 14th Cancelled

Please check out our New Web Site. This site will not be maintained.

Thich Nhat Hanh