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Polishing the Heart, December 2023
In this Issue:
- Asia Dances of Universal Peace
- Spiritual Community Vietnam
- Kwan Yin - Mother of Vietnam
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Beauty in a traditional village, Vietnam |
Dear Friends,
Deborah and I cannot express enough our delight in being with the Beyond Initiative Caravan in Vietnam. The training camp for Dances of Universal Peace Asia had representatives from Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar,Thailand, and Vietnam. Our group also included friends from Australia, France, Latin America, Latvia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the USA. It has been so inspiring to directly experience that we are truly one global family.
Peace Dancers from around the World
The camp took place in a unique spiritual community dedicated to preserving the culture of an ethnic minority, the Tay people of North Vietnam. Check out the photo essay below to learn about these beautiful people and what they have accomplished in 20 years.
Also included in this issue, I was surprised to see many more statues and alters to Kwan Yin than Buddha in Vietnam. Read below to learn why.
We have now left Asia and have arrived in New Zeland where Deborah and I will attend two Dance camps! What a way to start the New Year!
I hope your New Year is full of hope and brings you joy!
Namaste Y'all,
Douglas
Dances of Universal Peace Asia
Deborah and I got a taste of Asia about 8 years ago when we visited Bali for a month as part of her midwifery work. But we have long wanted to explore the region more deeply. The fire that fueled this journey was an opportunity to be part of the first Dances of Universal Peace Training Camps in Asia.
A Dance group from Japan
The organizing group from Vietnam
The Dance practice is a healing medicine unto itself. One of the new Dance Leaders from Ho Chi Minh City, still known also as Saigon, expressed it best:
"86 friends from 19 countries of 4.5 continents in the world. Different personalities, different ages, different voices, different skin color, different cultures, but music brings them all together, singing, dancing, crying, laughing together, sending prayers for peace to me, to you, to us, to the world, to all other beings.
I feel very clearly the magic happening in the last 5 days, strangers from different far lands coming together, to nurture and practice the most beautiful things, blending together to make as one. Truly words can't describe what just happened, but what remains and felt most clearly is that my heart is filled with love and gratitude."
My new Mentee (Dance Leader in Training) in Training, Gia Han
Vietnam is a place that loomed so large in the lives of us Boomers when we were young. I have found our time here to be both eye-opening and healing. I am so grateful to experience the forgiveness so freely offered. When you think about the travesty of violence the United States and other colonial powers imposed upon these sweet gentle people, it is a huge lesson.
Từ Hiếu Temple and Monastery
After the Training Camp was over, those of us participating in the Beyond Initiative Caravan were blessed to visit the Từ Hiếu Temple and monastery in Huế, Vietnam. This is where Thich Nhat Hanh was ordained as a youth of 16, spent his last days, and has been laid to rest.
Walking Meditation in the early morning hours
Our group participated in guided meditations, dharma talks, and shared meals in silence. “Chew your food, not your thoughts.” We also were able to share in music from Plum Village as well as a few Dances of Universal Peace with the nuns!
Dance Circle in Saigon!
As a conclusion to our time in Vietnam, I had the honor of leading a Dance Circle in Ho Chi Minh City, also still known as Saigon by the locals, organized by Han, my Mentee. A huge thanks to our friends Jan and Kevin for their help in creating the space for these new Dancers to experience the magic of this practice.
The Thai Hai Village - Living Love and Compassion with Gratitude for the Earth our Mother
Thai Hai Village was founded 20 years ago by a woman who was working in a factory. She remembered the promise she had made to her grandfather to preserve their traditional ethnic culture and made the decision to follow her vision. Using her own money along with loans from family and friends, she purchased several hectares of almost bare land. Over the years they have added more property and the village is now 20 hectares (about 50 acres).
She began to share her vision and invited anyone interested to join her, living in the traditional way as one, large family.
We had a couple of meetings with the founder, who is also the spiritual leader. She stressed that what holds the community together is a foundation of love and virtue, expressed through ritual practices of gratitude, honoring the earth, and actively taking care of each other.
Guests are welcomed into the community by washing their hands with water from the village well.
Today the community has 150 residents living in around 30 traditional “stilt” houses made of bamboo and wood. The houses are the original dwellings of the village where she grew up, which were disassembled and rebuilt on the new land.
The village hosted a huge wedding and a couple of school group events while we we there.
Income is generated through tours and sales of handicrafts and food, along with what appeared to be a very active event and retreat center. All money is run through a community account and provides for the needs of its residents, including costs like higher education.
The oldest is eighty and the youngest, two.
The first night we were welcomed by traditional music and dance.
Bamboo is the main construction material, with heavy, large-diameter bamboo poles for the rafters and floor joists, with smaller bamboo poles for the flooring. Walking on them took a little getting used to! The Interior walls are made of woven bamboo, which provides a little privacy for bedrooms in a home where grandparents, parents, adult children with their spouses, and young children all live together.
 Bricks are placed on top of the floor so that the kitchen fire can be in the main living area.
The village grows and sells tea. The dried leaves are toasted over a fire to finish for packaging (or drinking!).
The way the headwrap is worn indicates whether you are married or single.
Quan Yin, Mother who cares for all
A private garden in a neihborhoodAs we have traveled across Vietnam, I was surprised to see more statues and shrines to Kwan Yin (also spelled Quan Yin) than Buddha. They were everywhere, at places of business, restaurants, private homes,and we saw multiple multi-story staues in many parts of the country.
A shrine to Quan Yin at a homeI asked a Vietnamese person about this and was told told that while Buddha’s teachings are about self realization and enlightenment, Kwan Yin is more about the embodiment of the mother who cares for all, which is in alignment with the Vietnamese cultural focus on family and community.
Two statues of Quan Yin are placed at the grave of Thich Naht Hanh at the Từ Hiếu Temple.
Kwan Yin is a Bodhisattva, a being who chooses to forego enlightenment until all sentient beings are liberated. Known as “she who hears the cries of the world,” she is the face of compassion.
Thank you for your time and attention!
My books:
Out to Change the World and The Farm Then and Now
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