Awakening Together – to Restore Our Future
September 19 – 23, 2007, Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, CA

Offered by Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks, nuns, and dedicated friends of the international Plum Village community

“Enlightenment is not an individual matter. We need a collective awakening in society. A Sangha is a community or group of people practicing and supporting each other. What we need most on our planet today is to learn and practice cooperation, understanding and acceptance. Sharing our daily life we can encourage each other and together build solidity, peace and joy. Trusting in one another and practicing together is the best solution of all.”
                                                                                                                        -Thich Nhat Hanh-
We hope you can join us on this five day retreat with Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (known as Thay). Through the simple practice of mindfulness we develop our capacity to dwell happily in the present moment and find peace within ourselves.  Practicing together as a community the collective energy of mindfulness will support us all. It will give us new ways to relate to our rapidly changing world, to realize harmony and reconciliation within our own family and to look upon all beings with the eyes of compassion. Awakening together, we will be at ease, aware that our happiness and non-fear in the present is the only foundation for a meaningful future.
   In this retreat Thich Nhat Hanh will give daily Dharma Talks, and everyday we will practice sitting meditation and outdoor walking meditation in order to develop our calm, stability, peace and joy. We will have time to enjoy our meals in silence, taking time to contemplate the food and the presence of other practitioners around us. We will meet together in small groups to share our experience of the teachings and practice of mindfulness. We will learn how to rest and relax our bodies and our minds in the practice of Total Relaxation. In retreats at Deer Park we all share in daily ‘working meditation’ periods, learning to work together in harmony and with ease to help the retreat run smoothly. This could include helping with food preparation or clean up, keeping common areas clean or working in the garden. There will be a period of Noble Silence each day to help us cultivate our inner wisdom, and we will enjoy periods of personal time to reflect, absorb the beauty of the mountains and connect with other retreatants.
   All these practices, experienced in the presence of a supportive community of monastic and lay retreatants, will help us to transform our pain and anger and cultivate the seeds of compassion and peace in our everyday lives, as individuals, families, communities, and as a society. Being firmly grounded in the practices of mindfulness is the foundation for compassionate action.
   Everyone is welcome to this retreat, including those new to mindfulness practice. This is a family retreat and children and teenagers are welcome. The first part of Thây’s Dharma talks is normally dedicated to the children. A mindfulness practice program will be offered for children (from 6 to 12 years old), with the help of parents. A teen’s program will also be offered (from 13 to 17 years old). Below is a list of the usual daily activities at a retreat. Actual times will be set just before the retreat. We usually start the day at around 6 a.m. and end the day at around 10 p.m.
Sample Schedule:

All meals will be vegetarian.  We are unable to cater to individual dietary needs. Retreatants are requested to refrain from smoking and drinking alcohol during the entire retreat and to practice The Five Mindfulness Trainings which are the foundation of the international Plum Village communities, bringing happiness and meaning to all that we do. A full text of the Five Mindfulness Trainings will be sent along with the retreat confirmation package after you have registered. There will be an opportunity for retreatants and others to formally receive the Five Mindfulness Trainings with Thây on Sunday morning. If you cannot attend the retreat but would like to receive the Mindfulness Trainings, please contact Deer Park Monastery.
The retreat begins with check-in from 1 to 5pm on Wednesday, Sept. 19th, with dinner served at 5:30 pm, and an orientation talk by Thich Nhat Hanh at 7:30 pm. The retreat will end after lunch on Sunday, Sept. 23. Please plan to attend the entire retreat.

Our dorm rooms are limited but there is plenty of outdoor space for tents. We will rent trailers for additional dormitories.  Please register early to reserve a room. Some scholarships/deferred payment plans will be available for those with financial need. Please call for a scholarship application form.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a poet, peace activist and a monk. During the Vietnam War he founded the School of Youth for Social Service and the movement of Engaged Buddhism, practicing to bring about peace non-violently without taking sides in the war. He was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"...this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam...is a scholar of immense intellectual capacity.  His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity." 
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in nominating Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967                     

Deer Park Monastery is in Escondido, 45 minutes northeast of San Diego, CA. On 400 acres of rocky mountain, sage brush and ancient oak groves, there are quiet hiking trails and spacious valleys. We offer year-round retreats in the art of mindful living, healing and transformation.

Transportation to Deer Park Monastery:

• Nearest Airport: San Diego International Airport (SAN), 36.7 miles from Deer Park. You can link to a rideshare bulletin board on our website to coordinate shuttle rides from the airport to Deer Park.
• Nearest bus station: Escondido Transit Center, 700 W. Valley Parkway, Escondido, CA 92025, 4.9 miles from Deer Park. Greyhound Bus, www.greyhound.com.
• Nearest train station: Oceanside Amtrak Station, 235 S. Tremont Ave., Oceanside, CA 92054 USA, 17.39 miles from Deer Park.

Sorry, this retreat is now full. We are no longer taking new registrations.

For More Information please contact:

Awakening Together – to Restore Our Future, Deer Park Monastery, 2499 Melru Lane, Escondido, CA 92026.
Tel: (760) 291-1003, ext 100 OR 1-800-331-2621 Fax: (760) 291-1010 OR (760) 291-1172
Email: deerpark@plumvillage.org OR ustour@plumvill.net