Buddha’s retreat

During the last 30 years of his life, Buddha often withdrew to Vulture Peak. He and many of the monks had small huts on Vulture Peak. Buddha enjoyed meditating at Vulture Peak at sunset. The peak has a 360 degree view and offers those sitting among its craggy rocks silence and vision.

We spent the last day of the retreat, from sunrise to sunset at Vulture Peak. There was sitting meditation and initiation for those who wanted to make a commitment to the Buddhist path as well as for those who wanted to renew their vows.

Sitting on Vulture Peak watching the sunset, I had two important realizations. The first was the realization of how completely extraordinary and unexpected it was that I should sitting on Vulture Peak, surrounded by a group of people who also were devoted to peace and understanding and that I was sitting less than five feet away from my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Suddenly, I understood, although there were not really words for the understanding, that I had been on this path from the moment I came out of my mother’s womb. At the moment of emergence, there was a golden ray of peace and joy within me. The second realization was a sense of my defenses crumbling. Defenses that I had acquired over a lifetime were no longer needed to be maintained and were crumbling from within.