Brother Phap Hai

Brother Phap Hai “There’s nothing to it!” By Phil Cartwright

I traveled to Deer Park Monastery in Southern California to meet with Brother Phap Hai one of the senior Monastics and Dharma teachers in Thich Nhat Hahn’s tradition there.

Deer Park Monastery is in Escondido, they have in excess of 460 acres of natural nature reserve there, and it’s a very impressive place. Despite the rattlesnakes, poison oak, and scorpions. I loved every minute of my time spent there practicing. Staffing the many retreats open to the public. The heat of the Southern California desert was very beneficial to me, as was the very strong Monastic energy and presence in this Monastery.

I first engaged with Brother Phap Hai’s teachings through a series of talks he gave over the 2012/13 Winter (Rains) retreat. This is a series of talks one for each week available through Better Sound with the accompanying worksheets. The Rains Retreat is primarily a time for the monks and nuns to come together to study and deepen their practice, and during the 90 days the monastics do not leave the monastery to teach outside.

It is a time for everyone to deepen and strengthen their spiritual roots. The emphasis is on generating the powerful collective energy of mindfulness, as they live, practice and work together in the monastery. The book There’s Nothing To It was based around the transcript of these talks. I believe you can access the talks through audible now.

The talks are based around the character Sopeka, who the Buddha discovered as a child in the Graveyard. There are four aspects to this; Study, (one hour of Study equals seven hours of practice is what Thich Nhat Hahn recommends), Practice, Work—doing this wholeheartedly, Play—having an element of joy, to be nourished by surprise and delight. Taking delight in our breath and steps. Brother Phap Hai emphasises play as being important. One thing he offers to his Novice trainee’s is to create a mandala of practice. Folding a sheet of paper into four, and focusing on the four areas of Study, Practice, Work, and Play.

I extended my stay at Deer Park Monastery by many weeks, thoroughly enjoying my time spent in practice within the community there.

Brother Phap Hai’s second book is also currently being written. It's autobiographical in nature, along with the teachings based around the eight verses of transforming suffering into liberation. In lighter moments, his working title is “Without me, I’m nothing.” The theme is taking a look at who we think we are. He was once stopped at a gas station, and saw a young girl there who asked him “What are you?” Using the subject later in his meditation, what is there beneath all of our layers on a deeper level. We can expect the book to be released hopefully before 2025, the first draft having been completed already.

When asked about engaged buddhism, he says it is about bringing the practice out of the meditation hall, and applying it in every aspect of our daily life. It allows us to use these tools to respond appropriately to each moment. To invite each moment to open our heart, waking up. Both generating and offering insight.

Every Sunday is a Day of Mindfulness at Deer Park Monastery, and many hundreds of people attend this day. Along with their families and friends. They also run a whole host of retreats for the public throughout the year.

They offer practice and techniques to help them deeply touch the beauty in washing dishes, and the magic of taking a step. All this is offered on a donation basis and your contribution is based on what you can afford. Many people benefit from their time spent living within the Monastic community at Deer Park Monastery, and other practice centres around the world. It’s just like stopping and taking a very deep breath!

You can listen to the audio interview with Br. Phap Hai below

Music by kind permission of Joe Reilly,