2015 07 23 UH EN The 4 Establishments Of Mindfulness

Dear respected Thay,

Dear noble community

Dear young ones

Thank you for practicing

Did you enjoy practicing?

So nice to see you
you can sit still huh?

I used to practice in monastery called
Deer Park Monastery

in southern California

it is in America

And the monastery there
is in the mountain

high up in the mountain

you have to drive a long road
up the mountain

once you are up the mountain

you have to drive down to valley

that's where the monastery is

It's called the hidden mountain

Deer Park Monastery in the hidden mountain

Because from the city you can not see the
monastery

Because it's kind of like in the valley
of the mountain

And in that mountain used to live
native Americans

You know native Americans

the ones that live in America
before the europeans came

and other people came

and we found big rocks in the mountain
that have little holes in them

and they make the holes like that

and put acorn from the oak trees

you can find some in the oak tree
forest here

and the acorn they put in the hole

and they grind it up with a stone

and they make like a paste

it is kind of like a bread

long time ago

before they know how to baking

and you know ovens and stuff

They make these acorn powder

and they soak it in the river first

and then they make this paste

and they eat it

it is kind of like musli

or kind of like rice pudding

so there is where we find many boulders

and they have a lot of holes in them

and you can tell this is where
the kitchen is

because you know you can see

you sit there you can imagine

must have been a lot of people
living here

cause they have many holes
in the rocks

and I bet you like they were

mothers, grandmothers, young boys
and young girls

kind of helping their grandma

grinding the acorn

sometime I climb the mountain

I sit there with in a boulder

and I imagine I am a indian boy

and I sit peacefully for them

The energy is still there

sometime I go through the forest

and I pretend like I am
an indian boy

and I go explore

And sometimes I find out where
the coyote is

in the hidden mountain there is
also living

You know what a coyote is

They make like this wild crazy sound

They live with us in Deer Park

and sometimes I am lucky

and I go and I explore

and you can find their trails

and you can find little places

where they sleep

because they put the grass and

you can see it is kind of like a little
nest

and you can see where the shape maybe
the coyote lay down

and those really the part of
native culture

they really had connection with
the coyotes

and at nighttime sometime when the
monks invite the temple bell

you know the big temple bell

and before they invite it they
have to wake up the big temple bell

bong bong

and the coyotes start to call

and you really smile before you even get

to chant the coyote chant already

and it makes you feel you are so
connected

like they are singing with you

and only one pack sometime

there is another pack on the other valley

and they start to answer

you sit there and you feel like you are

connected to all of the nature and
forest there

This is environment I grew up as a monk

and I was very close to the mountain

It is a very beautiful mountain with
a lot of boulders

they look like giant potatoes