Tag: Deer Park Monastery
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Living in a Monastery
It was 2020 and I was living alone in a studio apartment and working remotely. The covid pandemic had fully settled in to our society and I was feeling lonely, upset and not well. I had spent the prior year trying to get better from my clinical depression and in February 2020 I had left…
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Why White Awareness?
If you are white, do you know what it means to be white? Do you know how this impacts your community or place of work? What about your spiritual community, your sangha? White awareness is an important training. White awareness is not a new term. In 1978, Judy H. Katz wrote the book White Awareness:…
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Renewal and Taking Care of Yourself
The new year brings us the opportunity to reflect on the past and ponder the future. Our family spent two weeks at Deer Park Monastery with a six-day Holiday Retreat in the middle. The second day of the retreat I was honored when Thay Phap Hai asked me to participate in the planned dharma talk. …
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4 days, 25 Monastics, 80 Children, and More
With almost 250 people filling Deer Park Monastery, the 6th Annual Family Retreat was a great success. Leslie and I (with kids) arrived a couple days early to help setup and plan for the arrival of many friends. From July 2 through July 6, the monastery was transformed into a time of families practicing together.…
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Sustained Practice and Well Being
Over the past seven years, I have spent many days/nights at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, but usually it is for a weekend or even just a day. On two occasions our family have spent 3-weeks at the monastery (once at Deer Park and once at Plum Village in France). These times are always nourishing…