A Visit to a Monastery

I had my very first visit to a monastery a few days ago- a Zen Buddhist monastery to be exact called Blue Cliff that was founded by Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh. 

This may sound strange, but for me, this visit was a long time coming.  For a while now I have been intrigued with the narratives of other "lay people" (meaning people who are  not monks and nuns) who feel drawn to monasteries as well.

In my last post I mentioned the writing of Kathleen Norris who has long documented her fascination with and involvement in Christian monasteries.  I have also read about author Sue Monk Kidd's pilgrimages to multiple Christian monasteries in her books When the Heart Waits, Traveling with Pomegranates, and First Light.  Time magazine journalist and author Pico Iyer has himself shared in interviews that he regularly visits a monastery in northern California to replenish himself.

Replenish.  After going myself now, I completely get that.  For starters, as you can see in the photographs above, the rural New York landscape is breathtaking, and as deceased Irish poet and theologian John O'Donohue noted, beauty matters.

Yet beyond that, I found it pretty amazing how quickly I was able to fall into the slow, mindful, rhythm of monastic life.  I think some of it speaks to the welcoming atmosphere of the monastery itself and some willingness on my part. But I think there is also some sort of magnetic appeal because it strikes a cord with a deeper wise knowing inside of us that says a sigh of "yyyeeeessss..."  There is something that just feels "right" about it.

For example, what seemed like every hour on the hour (I didn't have a watch so I don't know for sure) a large community bell would ring, and that signaled for everyone on the monastery grounds to stop exactly where they were for a moment of mindfulness- coming back to the present moment in both mind and body.  This norm or culture of the monastery did not seem (to the outside looker) to be a burden of any kind to the monastics or lay people that day.  On the contrary, folks seem to welcome it, and I was no exception.  In fact, I found myself asking, "why don't we do this outside of the monastery walls?"

There is certainly more to contemplate and unfold from my day of mindfulness at Blue Cliff, but that will be all for now as it is time to get my son off to school and me off to work for our day of service and vocation- another cultural norm of monastic life.

For today though, I will try, and maybe you can too, to stop on a regular basis throughout my day for a 10-15 second pause during which I will take in one or two fresh breaths of oxygen into my hard- working and well-deserving lungs.

Be well.