Sooke Meditation & Mindfulness Center

~ Website Updated: January, 2008 ~ Sooke Meditation & Mindfulness Centre, Sooke, British Columbia, Canada

Who is Thich Nhat Hanh?

Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tick Nut Hawn) is a Zen Master, poet, social activist, and the author of over 70 books. He was born in central Vietnam in the mid-1920's and became a monk at the age of 16. When war came to his country, he and his fellow monks faced the difficult choice of remaining in monastic isolation or entering Center in order to help war victims. They chose both - to meditate while helping victims of the war. Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth for Social Service, which engaged 30,000 young people working with war victims and helping rebuild the countryside. In 1966 he toured the United States to speak out about the war and was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the 1970's, he served as Chairman of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation in Paris. Today, Thich Nhat Hanh lives in Plum Village, close to Bordeaux, France, where he heads a small community of meditators and activists.

To visit Plum Village's web-site, please click here.

If you would like to see some photos that I took during my visit
to Plum Village in 1996, please click here.

To read my personal experience of meeting Thich Nhat Hanh, please click here.

What is the Sooke Meditation & Mindfulness Center?

This group was initiated in Sooke in September, 2003 by Phil Rossner, whose Buddhist name is Tâm Pháp (Full Teaching of the Heart). Phil has been following the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh for approximately 15 years and before settling in Sooke in 2001, Phil facilitated a group (Mill Hill Mindfulness Centre) that met in Victoria for a number of years at the Chùa Pháp Hoa Vietnamese Temple.

Having a group of people to meditate with is important in the support that it gives to the individual members of the group. When someone is just starting the practice, it is very easy to get distracted during daily meditation, which could lead to the person becoming frustrated and abandoning the practice altogether. Having a group of friends to meditate with is very supportive and the discussions after the meditation sessions can help resolve any problems that a practitioner may be having.

If you are interested in attending our weekly sessions, please feel free to join us.

We are presently (Jan/08) looking for a new place for our meditation.
In the meantime, we will be meeting at members houses.

For information, please contact Phil Rossner at 642-6065.

What do I do during a meditation session?

Please note:
The meditation session is held in silence
until the bell is sounded at the conclusion of the tea meditation.

As we have to lock the door at the front of the building before our meditation starts, it is important that you arrive by 6:50pm at the latest. There are chairs available, but you can also bring your own cushion or "seizan" bench on which to do sitting meditation as well as a pair of easy slip on/off shoes for walking meditation.

The meditation session will be in this general format:

Please arrive in silence - if you wish to greet someone outside the meditation room, or once you enter the room, please do so silently with a smile and "gasho" (palms together).
Once you have entered the meditation room, please make yourself comfortable on your chair/cushion/bench.
Once everyone is settled, the time-keeper will lead the chant
"OM MANI PADME HUM"
The end of the chant will be signified by the time-keeper striking the bell once.
The group will then chant 3 OM's, led by the time-keeper.
There will then be a reading from one of Thây Nhat Hanh's books (or other Buddhist text), one of Thây's teachings on tape, or by a visiting teacher.
After the teaching, the time-keeper will proceed to sound three bells, which will signal that the first sitting meditation has begun. Meditate on the sound of the bell.. it is very beautiful! We will sit quietly for approximately 20 minutes.
One bell will close the first sitting session. Feel free to rub your legs and arms to get the circulation going again. When ready, please stand up and prepare for walking meditation.
For walking meditation, follow the person in front of you and walk at the pace set by the time-keeper, being mindful of your footsteps and your breath. You will find that after a while you will reach a point where your breath and steps are in harmony. Eventually, the time-keeper will ring the bell indicating the end of walking meditation and will lead everyone back into the room and back to our places. One bell is struck and we bow and then sit down in preparation for the second sitting meditation.
The group will now proceed with three rounds of reciting The Four Bodhisattvic Vows, which will be started and ended by a single strike of the bell. The vows, which are recited by the time-keeper, along with the practitioners, are as follows:

All beings, without number, I vow to liberate
Endless blind passions, I vow to uproot
Dharma gates, beyond measure, I vow to penetrate
The great way of Buddha, I vow to attain
Three bells again, followed by 20 minutes of meditation. One bell will end the session and the time-keeper will recite...
- The Refuge Prayer -
Everyone bows at the end of each section of The Refuge Prayer (To the Buddha I go for refuge; To the Dharma I go for refuge; To the Sangha I go for Refuge). Feel free to rub arms, legs and face and stretch your legs but please remain seated and quiet.
The tea-keeper will pour the tea and pass it on to the next person until everyone has a cup of tea. Please bow to the person who is passing you the tea and either pass it on to the next person, or hold the tea. Please wait until everyone has their tea at which time the time-keeper will sound one bell. Following the bell, drink your tea slowly and mindfully. When you have finished your tea, place the empty cup in front of you. When everyone has finished their tea, the time-keeper will ring the bell again. Please stop what you are doing until the peal of the bell has ceased.
Now we have time for more tea and some conversation! Discussing how you are doing with your practice can help you deepen your practice through the feedback and encouragement you might receive from your fellow practitioners.

If you are new to meditation or even if you are a seasoned practitioner, but have never attended our group before, please phone for further information - Phil N Rossner, 642-6065.

Why should I bother to meditate?

Meditation is a wonderful way to help the stress that builds up in our busy lives slowly melt away. People who meditate regularly (at least once a day for 20 - 30 minutes), find subtle changes happening in their lives. They feel more relaxed, they are more confident, they can concentrate better, sleep better, things that normally "get under their skin" don't bother them so much anymore, they feel more compassionate towards other beings...

The long term effects of meditation are different for everyone, but I have not met anyone who has not started to feel better in themselves, both mentally and physically, after practicing meditation for a reasonable length of time (3 - 6 months).

Also, by practicing meditation, you bring peace not only to yourself but also to those who come in contact with you every day... think of the potential!!

Do I have to be Buddhist in order to meditate with this group?

Absolutely not! It is always important that you stay with your own faith, whether it be Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, or whatever. Nobody is going to try and convert you to anything. That is not why we are here. We are here to practice meditation in order to bring peace into our lives and the world.

However, we are a Buddhist-based group and recite Buddhist teachings and chants. If you feel at conflict with this because of your faith, you must realize this and look deeply within yourself to find out if you can resolve your discomfort.

How does this type of meditation differ from other types?

There are as many different approaches to meditation just as there are types of car on the road. We practice "mindfulness meditation", which is basically concentrating on the breath, on our steps and on our drinking of tea so that we will bring mindfulness more and more into our daily lives. If we do not live in the moment, then we are not really living.

Thich Nhat Hanh says that if we are, for instance, washing dishes, then we should wash them as if we were washing the baby Buddha (or baby Jesus...). That way we will be very mindful of what we are doing. Everything that we do in our lives should be done in mindfulness, whether it be driving, eating, talking, washing... don't worry about where we have been or where we are headed... be here now!

How do I contact the Sooke Meditation & Mindfulness Center?

You can contact us either...

by phone:(250) 642-6065 (Phil)

or e-mail: sabai@shaw.ca

A Lotus for you... a Buddha to be!

Sooke Meditation Group Discussion

Page Contents