The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation, and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
"The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete
ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their
nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and
understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to
the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in
ones self, in the family and in society. The second training
is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not
exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of
responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals,
couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of
Deep listening and Loving Speech to restore communication
and reconcile. The fifth is the practice of Mindful Consumption,
to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.
"The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete
ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their
nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and
understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to
the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The first training is to protect life, to decrease violence in
ones self, in the family and in society. The second training
is to practice social justice, generosity, not stealing and not
exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of
responsible sexual behavior in order to protect individuals,
couples, families and children. The fourth is the practice of
Deep listening and Loving Speech to restore communication
and reconcile. The fifth is the practice of Mindful Consumption,
to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.
OUR MISSION: The Loving Work Foundation was founded as a means to inspire personal interest in the cultural vibrancy, the spiritual practices, and every day lives of the people of Viet Nam. We do this by supporting humanitarian programs that improve the lives of disadvantaged Vietnamese children and families, and by organizing and leading mindfulness retreats within the country, providing friends around the world the opportunity to practice together in the spirit of global community-building and engaged service.
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Joyfully Together Loving Work Retreats in Viet Nam
These retreats focus on community-building through mindful work with, and visits to, local nonprofit organizations in Central Viet Nam. One or two work projects are selected each year by the director of the Foundation, in collaboration with our local non-profit partners, following an exploration with the directors of these projects about what is needed and what is achievable.
Funding for these projects comes in part from funds raised by the retreat participants (see Community Partnerships) and implemented by those who join us as part of the Loving Work Retreat team for that year.
Our primary focus in these retreats is witnessing and supporting the work of our local partners, while cultivating deeper relationships with the people of Viet Nam. We especially enjoy the opportunity to share mindful work side-by-side with local staff and volunteers, Examples from past retreats include meeting with village elders, building
playgrounds; weeding and planting an organic garden, installing indoor plumbing for rural families, and building goat barns for the goats we gifted. A real joy is our annual visit with young students who are in our rural Schoolchildren's Aid program; another is exercising with the children at Tam Binh Center for Children with Special Needs.
All retreats include days of mindfulness, daily sitting meditation, Qigong, Dharma Talks, and regular Dharma Sharing.
Maximum 20 registered friends.
Read more for details on how to register:
Joyfully Together Homeland
Retreats in Viet Nam
Going as a river, we travel as a Sangha, Joyfully Together, Discovering the Homeland of Our Teacher. We explore sites in and near Saigon (HCMC) in the south and Hue in the central, important in the early life of the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, as well as places and projects that reflect the general history and contemporary culture of the country. Highlights include Days of Mindfulness in Plum Village nunneries, a visit to Phap Van Temple, the site of the ordination of the first members of the Order of Inter-being, paying respects at the ancestral altar at Temple Tu Hieu, and visiting the museum, that honors our teacher and gives his continuations insight into his daily life. We explore charming Hoi An Ancient Town, the 1000 year old streets of Hanoi, and sacred Yen Tu Mountain, the site of the hermitage of the first Patriarch of our Bamboo Forest School of Zen, a root of the Plum Village lineage.
Maximum 20 .registered friends
Read more for details on how to register:
All of our retreats are experienced as "Joyfully Together", in honor of the retreat by the same name offered when Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Viet Nam to practice with the Sangha in 2005. We continue this tradition.
Community
Partnerships
We are happy to partner with some of the many non-profit charitable organizations doing wonderful work in Viet Nam. We prefer this collaborative approach, rather than attempting to initiate and organize projects on our own. We are fortunate to have personal contact and experience with a number of fine groups, enough to be able to determine whose goals match our own and which ones are effective.
Our friends have the option, throughout the year, to choose to financially support the work of one or more of these organizations, based on the information provided on this website. Friends can become even more directly involved as retreat participants on either or both of the annual Retreats.
Those who attend our retreats are asked to raise a minimum of 400 USD from among families, friends, and other connections.These funds are distributed directly to our partners during your retreat. We, then, pool these funds to support local projects of our participating partners. The fund raising effort which we ask retreat participants to undertake in advance of their arrival serves to shine light on the wonderful work of local NGOs to bring education and self-sufficiency to families and children in underserved communities in Viet Nam. In this way, we continue to grow our Loving Work community.
Read about our various partners and how you can become a part of our community of people dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged children and families in Viet Nam.
What We Do
Our Team
Our Ambassadors
A reminder: Anyone can practice Mindfulness.
Breathing and Smiling, Mindfully Sitting and Walking,
Being in the Present Moment – these practices do not
require us to be a "This" or a 'That." Everyone who finds
our program appealing is welcome to join us.
Mindfulness is a Path, one to which we have been dedicated for the past 36 years. Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to practice being present for what is happening inside and around us. We do our best to stay in our bodies, in touch with our breath, with the thoughts in the mind, and with the feelings in the body while aware of the elements and energies in our immediate environment. This is a demanding practice. We simply do our best in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Our best is good enough!
Our two primary teachers on this Path are the Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh (affectionately called "Thay", meaning Honored Teacher) and the most elder nun in our tradition of Budhhism, Sister Chân Không. Others have influenced us; others have been and continue to be exemplary teachers for us; however, Thay and Sister Chân Không have been the Lights shining most brightly on our Path, showing us the way to transform our suffering into happiness and joy. Their teachings are most evident in how they live. We aspire to do our best to continue their example..
Thay, a monk since the age of 16, began in the early 1960's to teach the importance of service to one's community. His was a compassionate response to the suffering of the people in his war-torn country. He coined the phrase, "Engaged Buddhism." Sister Chân Không began her social work as a teenager in the 1950's in the Mekong Delta of Viet Nam. Our Loving Work is an extension of their work. Most of what we do is in Central Viet Nam, an area in which they both worked extensively during the war.
The retreats we offer contain the basic practices that support our commitment to be free (of doubts and worries), to be truly alive in the present moment. Loving Work is Mindful Work. We give our time and resources, with the clear understanding that the giver and the receiver are One. Our Homeland Retreats are modeled after our teachers' 2005 three-month tour of Viet Nam, during which 200 of us - both monastic and lay friends - "went like a river," mindfully and joyfully together, experiencing the country and the people.
Mindfulness as a Path asks us to practice Love and Compassion for all of Life. We avoid doing harm - to ourselves or to others. Our retreats are therefore, alcohol and tobacco - free, featuring only the freshest, most delectible plant-based food.
A Culture of Financial Transparency
The Loving Work Foundation is committed to sustainable resource management and community building, working through grass-roots community partnerships to ensure that donations we receive are unitilzed in the most impactful way possible.
We maintain a culture of financial transparency so that our donors can see how funds are allocated. Please contact us at lovingworkdonations@gmail.com if you would like to request a financial statement.
Support the Children
Supporting a child is a wonderful way to water seeds of happiness in ourselves and in others. Through a relatively small annual contribution, we can transform the life of a disadvantaged child, providing access to education and opportunites for a bright, healthy future. Commitments with our partner organizations range from $50 - $720, annually.
Your gift can make all the difference.
Make a Donation
Give online
The Loving Work Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. Our sole means of financial support comes through donations made by compassionate supporters of our work and any small profit made from our retreats. The majority of our operating budget is comprized of donations made by each retreat participant as part of the registration process. We gratefully receive support from friends around the world and welcome online contributions. Some of the funds we receive go directly to cover costs associated with the service projects in which we participate during the Loving Work Retreat or that we visit on the Homeland Retreat, including reasonable fees for our Retreat Coordinator and our Registrar. We endeavor to keep administrative costs as low as possible, on average only 10% - 15% of donations received are used for adminstrative purposes.Our practice leaders receive no fees. Any funds not spent on work projects or adminstrative costs are allocated to a Descretionary Relief Fund, from which we can offer additional financial assistance in circumstances of need brought to our attention by our partnering community agencies. Our aspiration is to make the greatest possible impact with the generous donations we receive.
Thank you for your support.
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