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Dharma Talk: Taking the Hand of Suffering
By Thich Nhat Hanh in September 2000
Some days the sky is completely clear, without a single cloud. When we look up, we see the blue sky – very peaceful, very powerful. The blue sky is always there for us. When it rains and storms, clouds cover…
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From the Editor
Published in September 2000
This issue of The Mindfulness Bell has much to offer. In his Dharma talk, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us how we may learn to take the hand of suffering when it arises, and gives us an exercise to help deepen our mindfulness and expand…
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Demons into Butterflies
Published in September 2000
Chronic Illness as Dharma Teacher By Hannah S. Wilder As a child, I was always in motion. I carried this energy into adulthood; it ran my life like a demon. As an adult with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), I have brain chemistry that operates…
Other articles in this issue
Dropping My Worries
By Leah Matsui The plans for my trip to America were jampacked: a seven-day mindfulness retreat with Amie Kotler and Therese Fitzgerald, three days with my beloved aunt in Florida, and a meeting…
Got White Rice?
By Lien Shutt I was born in Saigon in 1964. My birth mother was a clerk at the American Embassy. When she realized that she was dying of cancer, she asked her boss…
Poem: Smiling with My Pain
I feel the pain. It hurts. It hurts very much. I want to smash something, someone, anything. It hurts. It hurts very much. Rage and anger boil within me. It hurts.…
The Practice of Collective Wisdom
In a world dominated by individualism and competition, it is a real challenge to live as a spiritual community. "Please use the Sangha eye to understand the nature of suffering in our times,"…
The Man with the Golden Horse
From a Vietnamese Song There once was a young knight who rode a golden horse in many directions, looking for his lover. Early each morning, he mounted his horse and rode…
Taking the Fifth
By Lennis Lyon 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,…
Discourse on the Absolute Truth
Paramtthaka Sutta Sutta Nipata IV.5 1. He who still abides by a dogmatic view, considering it as the highest in the world, thinking, 'This is the most excellent," and disparaging other views…
The Prodigal Son
By Mark LeMay I came late to parenting. I was 40 when Joe was born and 43 when Sammy arrived. They are now six and three years old, and I am still…
I Embrace the Sky
By Erica Shane Hamilton Sometimes, I don't know how I managed to survive those few months in the north of France. At times, I thought death might be better. Every morning around five,…
Bay Area Young Adult Sangha
By Michael Trigilio In 1997,1 was ordained in the Tiep Hien Order. I was twenty-two and feeling so happy and supported ... but also a little bit isolated. I noticed that nearly every…
Looking Deeply at Well-Being
By Sister Steadiness Entering the Full Moon Hall, I bow my head, my two hands holding my alms bowl. The floor is cool. With gentle steps over the lavender cushions, I find an empty…
Poem: Distant Request
Handle this aging encasementas in a dream: boundless. Doubt previous assessments. Speak, a stream of generous spontaneity. Cradle this bottled brain whose captive wanders forever devious catacombs of conscious chaos,…
In Juvenile Hall
Tonight I teach my fourth class at a juvenile hall in New York City. We hold the class in a small chapel where there is just enough room for about five or six…
Buddha Eyes
Our dear Thay has done his very best over many years, transmitting the Buddha Eyes to us. The June retreat in Plum Village was a profound experience of this continued Buddha Eyes transmission.…
Letters to the Mindfulness Bell
I received The Mindfulness Bell today and immediately read Leslie Rawls's beautiful tribute to her dad and the 11-year-old girl inside her. Thank you for sharing it. Stories like this help all of…
Announcements
Passages Married: On June 17, Lyn Coffin, True Mirror, and Paul Norton, Boundless Attentive Caring, were married in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Dharma Teacher Jack Lawlor (True Direction) performed the ceremony. The happy couple…
