Planting Seeds for a Better Future (Holiday Retreat)

“Our mind is a field in which every kind of seed is sown — seeds of compassion, joy, and hope, seeds of sorrow, fear, and difficulties. Every day our thoughts, words, and deeds plant new seeds in the field of our consciousness, and what these seeds generate becomes the substance of our life.”   

Understanding Our Own Mind by Thich Nhat Hanh

“By taking good care of the present moment, we take good care of the future.” —Thich Nhat Hanh

But, how?

Join us this Holiday Retreat with your family at Magnolia Grove Monastery where we will embody meditation in our daily life through practices such as walking meditation, sitting meditation, eating meditation, and service meditation as a concrete way of life in tending to our seeds of compassion, joy, and hope as well as a way to better take care of our seeds of sorrow, fear, and challenges, which is the best investment for our future. As a family, we come together during the holidays to celebrate being together. As a spiritual community, we also celebrate life as we come together to honor our blood ancestors, our land ancestors, and our spiritual ancestors as one big family. We can learn the art of selective watering: actively choosing to water wholesome seeds in oneself and our loved ones, and consciously choosing not to water unwholesome seeds in oneself and our loved ones. Practicing meditation together as a family, we can learn ways to live with each other with more harmony and acceptance. Together, we can water the good seeds in ourselves and in each other and plant seeds of peace and healing for a better future.

In this retreat, our monastics will offer separate practice programs for teens (ages 13-17) and children (ages 6-12). Both of these programs will offer appropriate aged spoonfuls of Dharma for our youth which will also include some games, shorter meditations, and snacks. 

Meanwhile, for our adults, whether you choose to come with your family in person or in spirit, each day we will  listen to Dharma talks, practice mindful service in small groups in daily tasks such as washing pots, cleaning and rearranging the meditation hall, cleaning the restrooms (or, what we fondly call, our Happy Rooms), keeping our tea tables stocked… etc. We will also practice dharma sharing in smaller groups where we can exchange what we’ve learned and delve deeper into our respective and collective experiences in our retreat.

We hope to see you this Holiday Retreat as we welcome the new year of 2023!

—Magnolia Grove Monastery Monastics