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Plum Village online retreat
Hi all,
I received an email earlier - Plum Village are doing a 5 day online retreat next week, with upto 3 hours of Dharma talks and meditations each day.
I’m going to do it, thought it a positive thing to be doing in these dark days, whilst lying low at home.
Link here, with registration details - you need to sign up if interested :-
https://promo.lionsroar.com/free-summit-thich-nhat-hanh-aff-00urvpxn/
Best wishes and metta
Alex
4
Comments
Thanks @Alex - I've signed up.
I signed up about a week ago. Looking forward to it.
I signed up too. Thank you!
I signed up a little while ago, it looks good.
I’m in.
Hi @Vastmind , good to see you 👋
I'm out.
... and shake it all about ...
Think I might go on retreat instead ...
It seems to be quite popular, in the latest email they say 60,000 people have signed up. For me it is interesting to get to know some of the Plum Village teachers beside TNH, because they will be carrying on the tradition after he dies.
IMC in California is attempting to put up content, including group meditation sessions and probably retreats. It seems for many people who don't live near centers a silver lining may be better online access to much of the Dharma.
That has certainly been the case for me....on Monday night I had four different YouTube channels I subscribe to offering an online meditation class at about the same time!
These two monks in Sydney have set up a 717 session each day. They sit at 7am, 1pm and 7pm (hence the 717) for 30 minutes each time.
I've been sitting with them at 7am occasionally.
One of them some of you may know - Ajahn Sujato. He helped create SuttaCentral a few years ago and recently spent 2.5 years in Taiwan re-translating the Sutta Pitaka.
So it's the 25th... how do we access the summit? I have not recieved an email or anything.
@jonathan I was thinking that too. My understanding is that an email should come out with an access link in. I think it is due to start at 1pm UK time, I know it also available afterwards to view, so it’s not critical that we are there ‘live’, but I know that would feel more engaging. I am a mere messenger of the link, I know no more than that info in the link, sorry.
I just got the email for day 1... here we go
The email went straight to the "promotions" section of my gmail. Also worth checking the spam folder.
I accidentally signed up in case they come up with something useful.
😶
So far have not been lectured to. Wot no interaction? Pah I am gonna self isolate in the corner ...
I’ve looked at the first day’s lectures, I had some difficulty with the delivery of the first couple of speakers, in their voices it sounds like they are “just talking” and not so much “speaking”. The older content of TNH was good though.
With the caveat in my head, to not take the subject matter off-topic, this is sadly why I tend to steer clear of online talks and teachings without subtitles (even auto-generated ones help, but they sometimes come out with some real howlers...)
People using microphones rarely know how to 'project'. I know it shows my age, but once upon a time, when (BBC) Radio was THE primary source of entertainment (even if people had televisions, they were used for special occasions and necessary viewing, rather than being the perpetually-active Idiot's Lantern burbling in the backgound, they are today) Radio commentators, announcers and news readers KNEW - they were properly TRAINED - how to use, and speak into, a Microphone. Their diction was clear, you could hear every word, and the clarity of their voices wa impeccable.
Now, although it's a PC condition that people from every area of the country have a right to be radio announcers, DJs or frontmen, the quality of pronunciation, diction, clarity and vocabulary leaves so much to be desired, I tend to gravitate towards radio stations where talking is kept to a minimum. Classic FM is good like that.
Sorry to divert the discussion, but sadly, due to my hearing loss and tinnitus, my learning and study is mostly confined to either reading, or watching videos which, if graced with subtitles (not all are!), are hard to follow due to the glaring mistakes in interpreting the words!
It wasn’t the most stimulating delivery, it must be said. The TNH material was excellent though, that’s no surprise.
Different speakers today, will check in again and see whether it’s any better.
I feel responsible for sharing this and wasting folk’s time, apologies. Seemed like an interesting thing to do, but, as with most things online, it’s a mixed bag of quality.
I shared it too on the random, useless announcements thread, perhaps slightly prophetic. So if any apologies are necessary, I should be apologising too... but I think it’s a bit early, we may still find some jewels in amongst the chaff.
But finding good, engaging speakers is a very key factor in the survival of a spiritual community. So I hope Plum Village does better with the remaining ones.
I'm enjoying it.
I think if there is an opportunity to interact and contribute comments, perhaps it may be a valid point to mention it...
My father was a diction specialist, and taught Elocution. I don't think anyone here has heard me speak, but this is a pretty close approximation... And no, I'm not kidding. (I realise it doesn't always fit in with my Potty-mouth but such is life!)
I just got email no.2 and watched one of the presentations, the one by Brother Phap Luu called The Way Out Is In, and it was a much better experience, he has a much better presentation and the subject of the talk was quite interesting too.
I am finding myself cherry picking a little, watching this talk by Anh-Huong on Healing the Inner Child. Dr. Peggy was good too.
""In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few."
Even if only one person benefits from it, that can be seen as a positive outcomes @Alex ...
Sounds great, enjoy! For me, finding just 5 mins peace in the day is currently impossible when working from home and with 2 small kids, a puppy and a wife! Interesting times!
@Alex even though I didn't sign up for it,( in a sense I live in retreat) I've benefited greatly from the fact that there are people who care enough to try and help others(many who are suffering because of this crises) in whatever way they can.. and your kindness in thinking of others, in their time of need has lead you to post the link...This is also part of what I find beneficial....Thank you
Different stroke of the paddle for different folks on the raft
Thank you @shoshin I truly appreciate your kind words.
You're most welcome @Alex ....
Did you see they are attaching an extra free period to the end of the summit, so that you can catch up? The whole lifetime access package they are selling seems a bit over the top though, 179 usd (reduced price too!) is quite a lot of money.
On the whole I found it a little disappointing. They went with a lot of presentations on Plum Village core teachings, and I think that like myself many people will have been familiar with those.