Firefly Sangha: Birmingham, Alabama

Dear Friends,

Hello from an old friend.

Some of you may have heard from me earlier today. Some of us may not have been in contact since our time together in Plum Village, last summer. And others may have randomly fallen off our Firefly Sangha e-mail list without my realizing it.

Whatever the case, hello to you today.

Last night, our baby sangha, 2 and a half years old, met near Oak Mountain, just South of Birmingham, Alabama, like we do most Monday evenings. We sat together around gorgeous white star lilies, surrounded by flickering candles (thank you, Paula). We walked in the twilight, watching yellow lilies and magnolias bloom in the cloister.

This past weekend, I was fortunate to be with a group of about 150 Vietnamese people at Magnolia Village, a fairly new practice center in Batesville, Mississippi. This place is a gift of great generosity by 5 families from a village near Hue, where Thich Nhat Hanh's root temple is located. During the week, they do nails and raise their children. On the weekends they go out to this gorgeous piece of property to create a place where families can come together for monthly days of mindfulness, and many friends can come together for occasional retreats.

Many of the young people leave tomorrow for the teen retreat at Deer Park. Many of the younger ones and I spent time together picking lotus seeds out of the dried seedpods on the edge of the pond, and they showed me how to throw the seeds in the water to plant the new lotuses.

Beautiful.

We were fortunate to have two nuns and three monks from Deer Park with us. What a gift to be with these folks who have dedicated their lives to the mindfulness practice!

Today I am feeling very nourished, and wanting to reach out to connect with the wide web of sangha that wraps around this globe of ours.

Many people in Mississippi asked me about our sangha here in Alabama. We are so small, and yet, we are so connected to so many others across time and space.

So, today, I am writing to all of you ~ friends from DC, California, France. Friends from Michigan, Scotland, Ireland, and New Zealand. Friends from Israel, Huntsville, and South Africa.

I am writing to say hello, I know you are there, and I am glad.

I am writing to request that you please hold our baby sangha in your thoughts and prayers. Hold us in your hearts.

If you find yourself in the Southeast, come visit us. If you find yourself moved by a message that we send out, jot a note to share your own reflections, stories, joys, sadnesses. If you have pictures that you love that support you in your practice, tell us where to find your album online. If you have stories to share about how you share your practice in the "real world" ~ with family members, work colleagues, clients or customers, we'd love to hear them.

And if you just want to say hi, that is fine, too.

If, though, you feel bombarded by e-mails and would prefer not to receive a weekly e-mail from our little flickering Firefly Sangha, let me know that, and I'll be glad to remove you from our list.

And if you simply like to read quietly, without responding, that is fine, too.

We just want you to know we are here.

So, our little sangha takes refuge in the bigger sangha, and aspires to grow into a place where others can take refuge, too.

For now, we are becoming quite a sweet and nourishing place.

Thank you all for being there, and doing your part to walk peacefully on this earth.