Thay Misses The Sangha

Dear Friends and Co-practitioners at the Retreat One Buddha is Not Enough, Estes Park, CO.

My dear friends,

I am writing to you from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I know the Sangha has manifested today in Estes Park. I miss the Reterat. I miss the beautiful setting of the Retreat. Especially I miss the Sangha, I miss you. I always enjoy sitting with the Sangha, walking with the Sangha, breathing with the Sangha. The joy of being together, sharing the Dharma and the practice together is always very nourishing and healing…

But I do not suffer, because I know I am taking care of myself. And taking care of myself is to take care of you. The doctors here decided that I should stay 14 days here for the treatment of a lung infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Please do not worry. It is only an infection. But it has to be treated right away. My kidneys, my liver, my heart, my digestive tract all function well. I am given two strong anti-biotics, from I.V. injections per day. And the clinicians here are monitoring closely the process of treatment. I am allowed to go out of the hospital to the park nearby one hour per day to do walking meditation.

There are almost 1000 of us now practicing together at the Estes Park Retreat. It must be joyful. I am confident that our many Dharma Teachers, lay and monastics, are conduction the Retreat the best way we can.

Dear friends, if you look deeply enough, you will see me in the Retreat, walking with you, sitting with you, breathing with you. I feel clearly that I am in you and you are in me. In this Retreat, you will witness to the talent of the Sangha: You will see that Thay is already well continued by the Sangha, and the Presence of the Sangha carries Thay’s presence. Please let me walk with your strong feet, breathe with your healthy lungs and smile with your beautiful smiles.

We had finished a wonderful and joyful retreat at Stonehill College in the State of Massachusetts before Thay went to the Hospital for a check-up. The doctors said that we should not delay the treatments. So Thay is doing his best here for you and you are doing your best up there for Thay. In that way we can still enjoy our true togetherness. Please enjoy the retreat for me, and bring home a set of the Dharma talks given at the Stonehill Retreat, especially the last one.

I hope to write to you again in a few days, before the end of the Retreat,

Boston August 2009

Yours faithfully,

Nhat Hanh