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The Purpose of a Practitioner
Retreats lasting from 5 to 21 days are organized for Western practitioners, including children, and always include a question-and-answer session and emphasize the practice of “letting go of form and unlawful attire” through the act of shaving the head. A shaven head not only helps to let go of external beauty, but is also a “bell of mindfulness” reminding us to maintain the mind of practice, not to behave as worldly people do, and to send the message of non-possession of the monastic form. Alongside this, the precepts—especially the sixth precept prohibiting the use of cosmetics and jewelry—help to nourish spiritual beauty, solidity, and ease, instead of artificial glamour.
At Plum Village and other serious monasteries (Upper Hamlet, Maple Forest, Deer Park), the environment of communal living, without private ownership of personal means or individual accounts, together with the regulation of always having a “second body” by one’s side, helps to maintain the precepts and protect mindfulness. The new curriculum, “Stepping Into Freedom,” includes the Ten Novice Precepts, mindfulness verses (for waking up, riding a bicycle, etc.), and the “Touching the Earth Repentance” for three months of transforming afflictions, and has been compiled to replace the four-hundred-year-old “Essential Novice Precepts,” helping young monastics to both study and practice.
Nourishing the “beginner’s mind”—the initial bodhicitta—is considered key so that young monastics do not get swept away by material comforts or emotional entanglements. Through the practice of mindfulness, deep listening, and loving speech, young monks and nuns are supported in their relationships with teachers and siblings, reestablishing communication and restoring inner happiness. More than 1,100 monastics participating in a five-day retreat at Bat Nha Monastery in Bao Loc were given “Stepping Into Freedom” as their textbook, affirming the ideal of simple living, knowing what is enough, and building values and responsibility for monastics in society.