ARCH ACADEMY GLOBAL TRIP 2016 - DAY 12

May 12

ERIC:

A day of lasts here at Plum Village: last morning meditation (goodbye noble sangha!), last Day of Mindfulness (goodbye Dharma talks!), last Dharma sharing (goodbye making monks compete to hear Arch kids share their feelings!). If we're being honest, however, it won't be the last day Drew wears unlaundered socks that look like potato skins (hello airport security!).

Our day of mindfulness went much like Sunday's with the exception being that the minds of New Hamlet came to our little hilltop retreat for the bulk of the day. That necessitated a little tidying up in preparation. Diana and I helped arrange the tables and benches in the dining hall before the sisters began pouring out of a passel of upright French minivans. The Dharma talk was delivered in French, THANK HEAVEN, because all this English was killing me. The speaker related the tale of Kieu (accents omitted), something of a Vietnamese epic love poem. He used the life of its main character, a girl named Kieu, to talk about the three types of love: Eros (passion), Philia (friendship), and Agapé (unconditional love). Betsy Rose once again sang a few songs, one of which was a poem by Tich Nhat Hanh put to music called... "My Face in My Hands." I find it deeply moving and as I looked around the room, I noticed that the students seemed particularly taken with its--oh, who am I kidding. They were all sleep.

The Dharma sharing that followed, however, was unique enough to keep everyone at attention. Cheryl encouraged us all to consider how to take the changes we've made here back with us, especially C.J. who has been not only calm but thoughtful (he's willingly reading Hemingway! Shh! Don't break the spell!) Wesley noted how Plum Village has been full of positive and negatives. And Noah... well, Noah's the mindfulness pro we all aspire to be. Everyone here has experienced some kind of change, even if it's something as simple as eating with more consideration of where the food came from (Matt's commitment). The difficulty comes in knowing that this change hasn't been experienced by our loved ones back home. Consequently, there's one question that dogs us all: Will the change stick or when, once back in the same environment I left, well I revert to... less mindful habits?

The only sure thing is that we're soon homeward bound. Speaking for all the chaperones, I know I'm looking forward to the 24-36 hour coma that I intend to slip into Saturday evening, hopefully after getting home. I expect everyone will have questions galore but they'll have to wait (unless you speak international air travel zombie, which... no you don't.)

So, life is set to return to normal come Monday morning. Just how normal none of us quite knows yet.