Right Diligence: Cultivating Mindfulness Sangha Meeting August 19, 2023
This article was originally written for Cultivating Mindfulness as a way to explore a web presence. We decided against building an online web presence for Cultivating Mindfulness, but I thought there is a valid community in need of this info so I am sharing it here.
As this is a new idea, let me start with what this article is about. Cultivating Mindfulness is a Fort Worth, TX based Buddhist sangha that practices mindfulness and meditation via Thich Nhat Hanh‘s style called Engaged Buddhism. Basically we are a meditation group practicing together.
We meet every Saturday at 10:00 AM CST as a hybrid group (meaning we meet in person for the local community that wants to sit together in person and via zoom for those that are not local or prefer meeting virtually for whatever reason). We welcome all.
I Have been a member of this group since around October 2019 and started stepping into a leadership role from time-to-time to lead meditation a year or two later.
Yesterday, I lead the group and I was using the topic of Right Diligence as the foundation for yesterday’s meeting. Over the last several months when I have been leading, I have been working through the Noble Eightfold Path and currently up to Right Diligence.
If you are unaware of the Noble Eightfold Path we might cover this in future articles, but let me start by sharing what the eight are so you get a quick understanding. In Buddhism the Noble Eightfold Path is the Buddha’s early teaching on how to break free from suffering and they are practices we can use in daily life to do so.
I’ll share Thich Nhat Hanh’s version here…
The Noble Eightfold Path
1. Right View
2. Right Thinking
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Diligence
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
As you can see we are already up to week 6 in this series. I may go back to share the details of the past weeks at some point but I am partly sharing this article to easily help our sangha members access the thoughts and idea and videos shared as part of our meeting. I am hoping this article will do a few things…
- Help our members access or reflect on topics and ideas as needed in their walk.
- Have an easy way for us to access past resources.
- Make it easy to share resources with our members and team.
- and lastly, I want to offer our resources to the world to help others explore and find interesting resources to guide them on their journey in buddhism.
So what did I share in our meeting yesterday?
Meditation
The first resource I shared was a guided meditation by Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh’s pet name from his students which means “teacher” in Vietnam where he was born). May you find this meditation one that serves you.
Dharma Discussion
So in the Dharma Discussion I was seeking something related to Right Diligence. In my search related to Right Diligence I learned that the practice is based on watering positive seeds to increase the positivity in our lives.
So we have both negative seeds and positive seeds and depending upon which seeds we water will determine which flowers that bloom. The idea of Right Diligence is all about practicing. With any parts of the Noble Eightfold Path it is all about practice and I hope the ideas I’ll share (and have shared yesterday) will help you find ways to practice and ease your suffering in life.
I started with this video lesson by Sister Dang Nghiem who helps us learn to stop feeding the negativity in our lives by changing the song.
Next I shared a video where Thay is talking about the 4 Mantras (now the 6 Mantras but I only shared the first 4). Again, my intent was sharing ideas to PRACTICE. In this video he helps us find ways to build relationships with others, help them and ask for help. Basically watering positive seeds between others and help building community.
Thich Nhat Hanh's 4 Mantras | SuperSoul Sunday | Oprah Winfrey Network
This may or may not be exactly Thay’s thoughts on how to practice Right Diligence, but I think it truly could help me water positive seeds in my life and that is why I share it here (and in our meeting yesterday).
Here are the 4 Mantras – which you can pick one to say to another person or yourself based on the situation you are in.
- “Darling, I am here for you.”
- “I know you are there, and I am very happy.”
- “Darling, I know you suffer.”
- “Darling, I suffer. Please help.”
You could use “darling” or “dear one” or “my friend” or whatever feels most comfortable for you, but this is just a way to kindly set a kind and loving tone.
I have heard Thay speak of these mantras multiple times but haven’t applied them exactly as Thay suggested, but I am working on it. In my world, I use similar ideas but in my own words. One thing I found in a recent reading of them was Thay’s suggestion to etch these words on your heart to remember them and practice them regularly.
As I was thinking about this I found the 4 mantras in song form which I thought might be a good addition to help with my own remembering of the actual words and I actually listen to this song from time-to-time to continue to reflect on them while I meditate to hopefully live Right Diligence more and more in my life.
Four Mantras Of Love (Thích Nhất Hạnh) by Hà Down
Here is a link to the song on the Insight Timer app/website – Four Mantras Of Love (Thích Nhất Hạnh) by Hà Down
Reflection Questions…
If you try any of these ideas or just want to reflect on your thoughts of the article you can review these questions to explore deeper.
- What do you think about Right Diligence?
- What do you think about the 4 Mantras?
- Do you actively water healthy seeds in yourself? How do you practice this (Right Diligence)?
- Do you actively water healthy seeds in others? How do you practice this in your life?
- How could we better practicing Right Diligence together?
Want to learn more or join us for a meeting?
We have multiple meetings a week – Tuesday morning at 10:00, Thursday evening at 6:00, and our main meeting on Saturdays at 10:00. Feel free to reach out to us and contact us via our Cultivating Mindfulness Facebook group or leave a comment below.
Thank for reading!
I hope these resources serve you.
As I mentioned this article was originally written for Cultivating Mindfulness as a way to explore a web presence. We decided against building an online web presence for Cultivating Mindfulness, but I thought I share this info here. If you want to practice with 3 Jewels Sangha for a virtual meeting, let me know in the comments or on the contact page.