"When we listen to the meditation bell," teaches Thich Nhat Hanh, "we calm our thoughts and restore ourselves." Plum Village Meditations brings you four authentic meditations just as they are taught at this celebrated Zen sanctuary and peace center in southern France. These practices include a 45-minute bell-sounding meditation introduced and rung by Thich Nhat Hanh, plus three additional guided meditations led by Sister Jina van Hengel: conscious breathing for calming the mind and cultivating joy; body appreciation and attunement; and transforming your anger into seeds of kindness. Ideal support for a daily sitting practice.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Thomas Merton once described his colleague Thich Nhat Hanh as "the Zen monk who sees beyond life and death". Recognized today as a leading exponent of the East/West spiritual dialogue, this meditation master and best-selling author spends much of his time at Plum Village, the retreat center he founded in southern France.
Plum Village Meditations brings listeners four authentic meditations, just as they are taught at this celebrated Zen sanctuary and peace center. These direct teachings from Plum Village include a 45-minute bell-sounding meditation introduced and rung by Thich Nhat Hanh, plus three simple and enduring guided meditations led by Sister Jina:
-- A conscious breathing practice for calming the mind and cultivating joy
-- Body appreciation and attunement
-- A meditation for transforming anger into "seeds of kindness"
Ideal support for a daily mindfulness practice, these contemplations grow more fruitful each time listeners return to them. Plum Village Meditations is a rare opportunity to join in the sitting practices of one of the world's great meditation centers. Superb digital recording.
Thich Nhat Hanh's teaching is about how to live here and now. But it is mostly a delightful place to spend a while, to balance heart and mind". -- Whole Earth Review
About the Author
Thich Nhat Hanh is an expatriate Vietnamese Buddhist monk, as well as a teacher, author, poet, and peace activist. Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 for his efforts to reconcile North and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Hanh was part of a movement called "engaged Buddhism", which combines traditional practices with nonviolent civil disobedience, and he was exiled by both the Communist and non-Communist governments. He is a respected writer and scholar, and founded a retreat in France called Plum Village. Hanh has written several books, including The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: An Introduction to Buddhism, Peace Is Every Step, and Living Buddha, Living Christ.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Oasis Of Inner Peace,
This review is from: Plum Village Meditations (Audio CD)
I've been using this tape for close to 8 years now just about every single day. I actually use it before lunch to regroup and it's made a huge difference in my life. Using it gives me a sense of renewal, deep rest and awareness at the same time.
It's an opportunity to start fresh again in the midst of my day. Also, because it's not a meditation that requires a mantra that is said "out loud" it can be done anywhere at anytime if you have a walkman type player. I've done it in airports, on planes, anywhere that you need to reconnect and come back into the present moment. Plus, once you are familiar with the program you can do it without the tape so you can do these meditations anytime and anywhere. In particular I use the guided meditations. There are three series of guided meditations led by Sister Jina. The first is very simple "Breathing In, I know I am breathing in, Breathing Out, I know I am breathing Out...In...Out", then it's followed by "Deepening and Slowing the breath", "Feeling Calm and Ease", "Smiling and Releasing" and ends with "Present Moment, Wonderful Moment". The second series is a body scan of sorts with the intention to cultivate gratitude for our physical bodies, gratitude for things man of us take for granted like our eyes, ears, lungs, heart etc. For example it starts "Aware of the hair on my head, I breathe In, Smiling to the hair on my head I breath out..... Hair... Smiling..." (while Hair may seem a strange place to start, I guess the idea "for even hair to exist is miraculous" in that "any form of existence is a miracle" to have gratitude for), then the meditation moves on to the eyes, ears, lungs, heart, liver, feet and ends with "Breathing in I know I am Breathing in, Breathing Out I know I am breathing out....." The third series is based on forgiving one's parents which is a source of much pain for many people I know. I must admit that I don't use this one because I was blessed with an unusually excellent relationship with my folks and so I don't have any issues here. Still, many people I know have some if not a lot of baggage with regard to their folks that they may be living with much pain that may be helped by this particular guided meditation. The other side of the tape is a "Gong" meditation which is really different, you basically just breath and concentrate on the sound of the gong as it is played and gradually fades out. This can be a very powerful meditation, especially if you have good speakers or headphones (which is my favorite way to use it). Highly recommended! Namaste
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Know what to expect!,
By
This review is from: Plum Village Meditations (Audio CD)
This is a pleasant and calming tape that is mainly comprised of Thich Nhat Hanh intermittently ringing a bell. This goes on for about 45 minutes or perhaps even longer. It is very pleasant to meditate to, but there isn't much in the way of instruction other the simple direction to pay attention to the breath.
Toward the end of the CD are some very brief guided meditations that associate different key words with the inhalations and exhalations respectively. The concept of this is good and certainly one can carry it into their daily practice. However, I don't think this part of the tape is long enough to be of much value as a guided meditation. I would purchase this CD again because the bell meditation sets a very good atmosphere for meditation. It's also interesting to hear Thich Nhat Hang speak a bit at the beginning. It gave me some idea of what his presence might be like. If you are looking for meditation instruction, I would look somewhere else. Breath by Breath by Rosenberg or the recorded series Insight Meditation with Sharon Salzberg would be better. Jack Kornfield also has some resources for beginning meditators and I have assembled a listmania list of meditation resources. If you click on my profile, you can see this list and read my reviews under each resource.
16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
peaceful,
By "revkatherine" (East Derry, NH United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Plum Village Meditations : With Thich Nhat Hanh & Sister Jina Van Hengel (Audio Cassette)
peaceful sound of the gong with 3 very short meditations at the end. Most of tape was quiet with the intermitent gong. I play the tape while in traffic, calming. I have found there are better tapes/cds for my meditation.
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