My first excursion with the sangha was to Dinh Quan Pagoda in Hanoi. It is hidden away off the main road from bus 32 or 20, and I was fortunate enough to find my way there with Hannah and Nicholas two British ex pats.
The day began with a dharma teaching by a monk from Hue whose presence was one of strength and calm. He talked about negative feelings and how we need negative feelings like compost to flowers. We need to acknowledge these negative feelings in order to transform them with loving kindness. This is so different from Western psychology which focuses on the elimination of negative thoughts that it is quite liberating.
We then went on a walking meditation of the temple, past the statue of Quan Am, and I saw a snake slithering away into the underbrush. We had a formal lunch where we presented our lunch to the Buddha as an offering and we ate mindfully in silence.
Then we had total relaxation meditation which translated as sleeping meditation!
The dharma discussion then took place which is a space for people to discuss how they experience the practice not through theory but through the heart. I find this one of the most sharing supportive spaces to be in and you learn so much from other people's experiences of the practice.
Then we went home in the pouring rain- stopping for a drink at the tea shop.
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