For the 10th  year, Laughing Rivers happily supported and participated in the Buddhist Society of Pittsburgh's Annual Vesak and Peace Walk .  Eleven of our members attended and contributed to the day. Vesak (also known as Wesak) is the international celebration of Shakyamuni Buddha's life, enlightenment and parinirvana (transition).  Since 2009, multiple Buddhist traditions have come together in Pittsburgh to honor this day,  beginning with a shared Service followed by a Peace Walk and Water Service at the river.  

Inspired by the 2300-mile Walk for Peace from Texas to Washington DC, this year's Pittsburgh gathering was especially exciting. The Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church on the North Side, which has so generously hosted the event over the years, was full to capacity. Sangha members from seven different Traditions, plus friends from the Public, participated in the opening practice of bathing the Baby Buddha, and listened to, or offered, chants and teachings.  Festive songs were led by two children's choirs, one from Cleveland. 

During the closing Meditation at the church, attendees were invited to touch their heart's intentions for World Peace, which were then infused into the water from bathing the baby Buddha. This blessed water was carried to the Allegheny River during the Peace Walk, and used during the 2nd half of the shared Service.  The Peace Walk is beautifully captured in this 9-minute  video, which introduces several of the monastics who led the Walk. This  5-minute video , created by Kirsi Jansa, (who practices with Laughing Rivers) also shows portions of the Walk but shares elements of the Riverside Service including music, the ladling of the Blessed Water into the river by attendees and the Public, and Dharma teaching on our 2026 theme, Watering the Seeds of Peace, by Abbot Kotoku Crivello,  from the Zen Center of Pittsburgh.  The event was capped with more music, Indian Chai tea (compliments of Laughing Rivers and our friends at Dobra Tea), plus wonderful Thai cuisine gifted by the Thai Temple in Monroeville.  A delicious day honoring the Buddha! 

Watch for Vesak in 2027!  May your day be well, and may your year be filled with blessings.  _(())_  

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April 27, 2025.  Pine Bush, NY.
Two Laughing Rivers Sangha members ordain into Thich Nhat Hanh's Order of Interbeing at the Blue Cliff Monastery in Upstate NY. 

The Buddhist Order of Interbeing (OI) was founded by Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, in February 1966, amidst the bitterness and destruction of the American-Vietnamese War.  Nhat Hanh's first six ordained members were young peacemakers in his School of Youth for Social Services (SYSS), a Peace Corps with thousands of students and young monastics. The SYSS were rebuilding bombed-out villages during the week, and returned to the monasteries on weekends to calm and heal their minds and bodies.  Since 1966, more than two thousand lay men and women have joined the OI in 61 countries.  

Charlie Yuill, from Ligonier, and David Elliott (originally from the Pittsburgh area, now near Seattle, WA) formally received Transmission of the 14 Mindfulness Trainings, the foundational tenants of the Order once referred to as Precepts.  Both had studied and practiced with OI Mentors for more than two years. These  Fourteen vows of ethical and compassionate living evolved from the original five Teachings given by the Buddha in the Bodhisattva Vow, and were expanded to emphasize Openness, Non-attachment to Views, and Equanimity in the face of a war of divisiveness and hatred.  Novice monks and nuns also receive these Fourteen Trainings in order to become members of the Order. OI Members commit to living with compassion - for themselves first -  and to deep listening. right speech, mindfulness, concentration, simplicity, and also to taking a stand for social justice, without taking political sides.  

More Photos:  This 3-minute video offers a look into the beauty of our Blue Cliff Monastery, and into some images of the Ordination Ceremony itself which was lead by Elders of the Plum Village Tradition who had come from the main Monastery in Southern France.  The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism has ten other Practice Center with both monastics and lay members spanning 3 continents.  Thousands of Sanghas (local lay communities of mindful practice) are also active, with more than 500 in North America.   For more information, see: https://laughingrivers.org/

 On April 26, 2023, Harvard 's Chan School for Public Health launched and dedicated its Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness with a powerful Symposium.  Thay, as his students refer to Thich Nhat Hanh, was the driving force behind introducing Mindfulness to the West in the 1970's and since.  Monastics from Plum Village in France and other North American monasteries joined leaders and teachers from Harvard and many others like the well-known Mindfulness teacher Jon Kabatt-Zinn.  Very Exciting ! And a great day for Public Health. 

Enjoy this article from the Harvard Gazette: ​https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/04/harvard-chan-school-opens-thich-nhat-hanh-center-for-mindfulness/

Every Lunar New Year, Thich Nhat Hanh would help his students ground themselves in their practice by offering a couplet of gathas for the next 12 months. These gathas have become known as the Parallel Verses.  This wonderful practice - like all of Thay's teachings - continues in 2023. We are all continuing Thay in the world. 

The 2023 Parallel Verses are particularly rich, especially in these times of many crises across the planet from climate destruction to war and political division.   We can find Peace, and Be Peace, in every step.  Even in the face of much suffering, both personal and societal, we can find Freedom and offer Freedom, with just our smile. We are free to choose which seeds we water -seeds of despair and pain, or seeds of joy and gratitude.  We stop, breathe in, and recognize all the gifts we have already in our lives.  We already have all we need to be happy.  May we choose Peace and choose Freedom, in every moment.

To download  a  wallpaper image of these verses, click here, and then right-click to "Save Image".  Enjoy !  _(())_