Page 65 - EH58

NEWS | EASTERN HORIZON 63

Carolyn Gregoire is a senior writer at the Huffington Post, where she reports
on psychology, mental health, and neuroscience. She has spoken at TEDx and
the Harvard Public Health Forum, and has appeared on MSNBC, the Today
show, the History Channel, and HuffPost Live. Gregoire lives in New York City.
She is also a co-author of Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the
Creative Mind.

free land that Buddhist organizations and individuals Six major projects are currently under way at the center,
can build upon with their own funds. His mission including the Deer Mountain Retreat Center, which
is to nurture the American Buddhist community by can house up to 500 guests. (Do hopes it will become
providing more dedicated spaces to practice in areas “a Plum Village for the United States.”) So far, three
where they can connect with nature. local sanghas— as well as France’s Plum Village—
have pledged their support, and it is expected to be
Do arrived in Kentucky as a young man in 1975 after completed in three to four years.
fleeing Vietnam on a US Navy plane, just one day before
communists took over the country. His family settled Other projects in various stages of development include
in Louisville, where he went on to study engineering, a chanting hall, scenic overlook and meditation deck,
then work at Ford Motor Company for 30 years. From three villages (including a cave village for extended
a deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to the periods of solitary silent retreat), the Stupa of
country that supported him and his family, Do dedicated Enlightenment, and the Mindful Forest Monastery, all of
his retirement to service, which he sees as part of his which are associated with Thich Nhat Hanh’s sangha.
spiritual practice.
The first monk to join the monastery, Louisville native
Do comes from a family of temple builders. In 1920, his Michael Kavish (Thich Tinh Tri), now serves as its
grandfather built the 10,000-square-foot Buu Thanh abbot, and four other monks are slated to take up
Temple, which today continues to serve more than a residence there by the year’s end.
thousand families in two villages in southern Vietnam.
His uncle and great-uncle both constructed temples in a The BuddhaLand is also open to other traditions, not
neighboring village, and two monks and one nun in his just those that follow Thich Nhat Hanh. A small temple
family serve as abbots in temples elsewhere in the country. is being built to serve Vietnamese Buddhist families, and
the monks at Mindfulness Forest Monastery host retreats
The BuddhaLand was created especially for groups and teachings for Vipassana and other local groups.
associated with the lineage of Do’s lifelong teacher, the
Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh. “It’s a very peaceful place to practice,” said Kavish.
“There’s a lot of good energy here.”
“Most of [their centers] in the US are in cities,” he said. “For
the mind, we have to seek out mountains and forests.” Source: www.lionsroar.com, Dec 3, 2018. EH