Honey Locust Sangha
Omaha Community of Mindful Living
  • Home
  • Our Practice
    • Weekly Meditation
    • Monthly Half Day of Mindfulness
    • Days of Mindfulness
    • Annual Retreat >
      • Retreat Sign Up
    • TNH Quarterly Video Series
    • Monthly Calendar
  • Practice Resources
    • Gathas (Mindfulness Verses)
    • Beginning Anew
    • The Five Remembrances >
      • November 2022 CTC Minutes
    • Mindful Breathing (Meditation 101)
    • Touching the Earth
    • 5 Contemplations (Eating Meditation) >
      • August 2022 CTC Minutes
      • CTC Minutes April 24 2022
    • 5 Mindfulness Trainings (Guidance for Mindful Living)
    • Deep Relaxation
    • Meditating with Difficult Feelings
    • Peace Treaty (A Practice for Dealing with Anger)
    • Outdoor Walking Meditation
    • Indoor Walking Meditation
    • Meditation on No Birth, No Death
  • Articles by Thich Nhat Hanh
    • The Heart Sutra
    • Flames of Prayer
    • March 2021 CTC minutes
    • On Reincarnation
    • Mother Earth Is Inside Of Us
    • Walking Meditation
    • The Story of a River
    • Why Do We Have to Die One Day?
    • Impermanence
    • Poem: In Praise of Mother Earth
  • Dharma Talks by Some of Our Teachers
  • Sangha Musings - Poems, Prayers, Reflections
  • Videos
  • Christian/Buddhist Dialogue Articles
    • Richard Rohr- Unitive Consciousness
    • Thich Nhat Hanh- Home is the Way: A Christmas Message
    • Paul Knitter- God/Love: the compassionate energy of the interconnecting spirit.
    • Katherine Fransson- Eyes of Thich Nhat Hanh
    • Mike McMahon- An Introduction to Christian/Buddhist dialogue
    • David Stendl-Rast- A Catholic Monk Practicing Buddhism
    • Thich Nhat Hanh- The Holy Spirit and Mindfulness
    • Thich Nhat Hanh- Going Back to Our Religious Roots
    • Anthony de Mello, SJ.- Conversations with the Master
    • Mike McMahon-A Lotus Blooming in the Catholic Church
    • Mike McMahon- Buddhist Approach to Doctrine (Teachings are relative truth)
    • Joan Chittister- Practice Compassion and You Will Become It
    • August 2022 CTC Minutes
    • Notes from Thomas Merton's Asian Journal
    • Paul Knitter
  • Caretaking Council
    • February 2023 CTC Minutes
    • January 2023 CTC
    • December 2022 minutes
    • November 2022 CTC Minutes
    • October 2022 CTC Minutes
    • August 2022 CTC Minutes
    • July 2022 CTC Miinutes
    • June 2022 CTC minutes
    • April 24 2022 CTC Minutes
    • April 10 2022 CTC Minutes
    • March 2022 CTC minutes
    • February 2022 CTC Minutes
    • January 2022 CTC Minutes
    • December 2021 CTC Minutes
    • November 2021 CTC minutes
    • October 2021 CTC Minutes
    • September 2021 Minutes
    • August 2021 CTC Minutes
    • July 2021 CTC Minutes
    • June 2021 CTC Minutes
    • April 2021 CTC Minutes
    • February 202CTC Minutes
    • January 2021 CTC Minutes
    • November 2020 CTC Minutes
    • October 2020 CTC minutes
    • Sept 2020 CTC minutes
    • January 19, 2020 CTC Minutes >
      • November 2022 CTC Minutes
    • October 2019 CTC minutes
    • September 2019 CTC Minutes
    • August 2019 Caretaking Coucil
    • March 2019 Caretaking Council Minutes
    • October 2018 CTC minutes
    • September 2018 CTC minutes
    • August 2018 CTC Minutes
    • July 2018 CTC minutes
    • April 2018 CTC Minutes
    • January 2018 CTC Minutes
    • November 2017 CTC minutes
    • August 2017 CTC Minutes
    • July 2017 CTC Minutes
    • May 2017 CTC Minutes
    • April 2017 CTC Minutes
    • March 2017 CTC Minutes
    • September 2016 Minutes
  • Adventures in Buddhist/Christian Spirituality
  • Sangha Directory
  • March 2023 CTC Minutes

                                                               Beginning Anew
                  Below this description of the practice of beginning anew is a lovely poem, "Beginning Anew" by Thich Nhat Hanh

Picture
To begin anew is to look deeply and honestly at ourselves, our past actions, speech and thoughts and to create a fresh beginning within ourselves and in our relationships with others. At the practice center we practice Beginning Anew as a community every two weeks and individually as often as we like.

 We practice Beginning Anew to clear our mind and keep our practice fresh. When a difficulty arises in our relationships with fellow practitioners and one of us feels resentment or hurt, we know it is time to Begin Anew. The following is a description of the four-part process of Beginning Anew as used in a formal setting. One person speaks at a time and is not interrupted during his or her turn. The other practitioners practice deep listening and following their breath.


1) Flower watering - This is a chance to share our appreciation for the other person. We may mention specific instances that the other person said or did something that we had admired. This is an opportunity to shine light on the other’s strengths and contributions to the sangha and to encourage the growth of his or her positive qualities.

 2) Sharing regrets - We may mention any unskillfulness in our actions, speech or thoughts that we have not yet had an opportunity to apologize for.

 3) Expressing a hurt - We may share how we felt hurt by an interaction with another practitioner, due to his or her actions, speech or thoughts. (To express a hurt we should first water the other person’s flower by sharing two positive qualities that we have truly
observed in him or her. Expressing a hurt is often performed one on one with another practitioner rather than in the group setting. You may ask for a third party that you both trust and respect to be present, if desired.)

4) Sharing a long-term difficulty & asking for support- At times we each have difficulties and pain arise from our past that surface in the present. When we share an issue that we are dealing with we can let the people around us understand us better and offer the support that we really need.

The practice of Beginning Anew helps us develop our kind speech and compassionate listening. Begin Anew is a practice of recognition and appreciation of the positive elements within our Sangha. For instance, we may notice that our roommate is generous in sharing her insights, and another friend is caring towards plants. Recognizing others positive traits allows us to see our own good qualities as well.

 Along with these good traits, we each have areas of weakness, such as talking out of our anger or being caught in our misperceptions. When we practice “flower watering” we support the development of good qualities in each other and at the same time we help to weaken the difficulties in the other person. As in a garden, when we “water the flowers” of loving kindness and compassion in each other, we also take energy away from the weeds of anger, jealousy and misperception.

 We can practice Beginning Anew everyday by expressing our appreciation for our fellow practitioners and apologizing right away when we do or say something that hurts them. We can politely let others know when we have been hurt as well. The health and happiness of the whole community depends on the harmony, peace and joy that exists between every member in the sangha.

Beginning Anew

With great respect,
we turn towards Shakyamuni Buddha,
the Conqueror of afflictions.
We have lived in forgetfulness for a long time.
We have brought about our own suffering.
We have been blinded by our wrong perceptions.
Our heart's garden is sown
with attachment, hatred and pride.
Our everyday deeds and words do damage.
All of these wrong actions
are obstacles to our peace and joy.
Let us begin anew. 

(bell)
 
We are often thoughtless,
straying from the path of mindfulness.
We are a storehouse of suffering, worries and anxieties
due to wrong perceptions
And we have become weary of life.
Because we do not understand others,
we maintain ill-will against them.
Even after our dispute with them has been resolved,
we continue to feel enmity,
making the rift greater.
There are days when we are unwilling
to speak to each other,
unwilling to look each other in the face,
and we create emotional knots in ourselves.
We turn now to the ThreeJewels.
Sincerely recognizing our errors, we bow our heads. 

(bell)

We know so well that in our consciousness
are buried all the wholesome seeds-
seeds of love and understanding,
seeds of peace and joy.
But if we do not know how to water them,
how can they spring up fresh and green?
When we chase after a distant happiness,
life becomes a shadow of the reality.
Our minds become occupied by the past
or worrying about this or that in the future.
We cannot let go of our anger,
and we long for what we have to be permanent,
thereby trampling on real happiness.
As month follows month,
we are sunk in sorrow.
So now we recognize our errors and begin anew,
fragrant as a breath of fresh air. 

(bell)

With all our hearts we go for refuge,
turning to the Buddhas in the ten directions
and all bodhisattvas,
noble disciples, and self-achieved Buddhas.
Very sincerely, we recognize our errors
and the mistakes of our wrong judgements.
Please bring the balm of clear water
to pour on the roots of our afflictions.
Please bring the raft of the true teachings
to carry us over the ocean of sorrows.
We vow to live an awakened life,
to learn the path of true happiness,
and to practice smiling and conscious breathing.
Diligently we live in mindfulness.

(bell)

We come back to live in the wonderful present,
to plant our heart's garden with good seeds
and to make strong foundations of
understanding and love.
We follow the way of mindfulness,
the practice of looking and understanding deeply
to be able to see the nature of all that is.
To be free from fear of loss and death.
We learn to speak lovingly, to be affectionate,
to care for others
whether it is early morn or late afternoon,
to bring the roots of joy to many places,
 helping people abandon sorrow;
to respond with deep gratitude
to the kindness of parents, teachers and friends 

(bell)

We ask the Lord of Compassion to
be our protector
on the wonderful path of spiritual practice.
We vow to practice all aspects of the path with energy
so that our efforts may bear fruit.   

(three sounds of the bell)
                                       Thich Nhat Hanh



The Honey Locust Sangha / Omaha Community of Mindful Living is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All funds donated help to fulfill the mission of practicing and raising awareness of the mindfulness practice in the Thich Nhat Hanh / Plum Village tradition.

​You can donate (provide Dana) using the PayPal link at the left (you do not need a PayPal account) or send via Venmo to @HoneyLocust. Please indicate General Dana or specific event (December DoM, for example) in the text via Venmo.