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Sharing Joy and Mindfulness in Daily Life
When we know that guests are coming to visit, we often clean the house thoroughly. This comes from:
- The first reason: fear of being criticized by others, caring more about our own image than about the guests.
- The second reason: from loving-kindness, wishing to bring joy and peace to the guests—arising from a compassionate heart.
Practicing happiness in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, is divided into two forms:
- Winter Retreat with a small number of permanent residents, focusing energy on practice and creating happiness for ourselves.
- Summer Retreat when many people come with different abilities and needs, emphasizing bringing happiness and peace to those who come to practice.
Welcoming children at Plum Village requires wholehearted and genuine joy: the children are the hosts who welcome friends of their own age, and they must have enough happiness and joy to share. Sending money back home to help children and people with disabilities is also a practice of mindfulness, remembering that each coin is the result of someone else’s frugality. On the path of practice, there are two essential conditions for a novice monk or nun to stay:
- the teacher must have enough food to nourish the body
- the teacher must have enough Dharma to nourish the spirit
When both conditions are sufficient, the practice can bring about peace, fearlessness, and true joy to offer to others.