Food for thought at Buddhist retreat
The Mindfulness Ireland “Living Mindfully Today” event is taking place at the national event and conference centre attached to the Gleneagle Hotel, where the INTO teachers’ conference has just finished.
The centre hosted the Fianna Fáil ard fheis in 2005, but unlike Fianna Fáil’s mantra of the time, “A lot done, more to do”, the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh stresses the joys of the present moment.
“His key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live in the present moment instead of in the past and in the future.
“Dwelling in the present moment is, he reminds us, the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world,” said Deirdre Kerins, spokeswoman for Mindfulness Ireland mediation network.
Also, unlike ordinary beef or salmon conventions, tonnes of vegetarian food, including soya and tofu, have been ordered in by the hotel as special menus are prepared.
There will be no late night nattering over pints as participants are asked not to drink or smoke, Ms Kerins said. There is also a pervading atmosphere of silence, with gentle monks manning doors.
Nominated at one stage for the Nobel Peace Prize, Thich Nhat Hanh is also a poet, peacemaker, human rights activist, and author.
Fifty monks and nuns are leading the retreat with him.
The Killarney retreat is a private event, Ms Kerins stressed.
The retreat would normally book out a convent, but numbers were simply too big this year.
The retreat, which began on Thursday and continues until tomorrow, is offering followers the chance to experience the solidity, stability and practices of Plum Village — a Buddhist monastic retreat centre in the south of France — in Ireland.
