On the occasion of the New Year 2025
Dear Melanie, dear True Light of Aspiration, Peaceful Embracing of the Heart, and all other names you call yourself —
Would you like to go on an adventure? If and when you are ready, imagine a vast redwood forest in the golden mountains of California, on land first stewarded by Indigenous tribes. There is a house there, on a hill, where humans pray and the light dances with the trees. Are you there now? If you accept this invitation, go slowly. Walk the winding forest path in silence. Take care as you cross the threshold. Remove your shoes. Step with bare feet that offer blessings to the earth, with palms that bow in reverence.
Take three breaths upon entering.
An elder, her arms full of wildflowers, will welcome you inside. Together, set up an altar to your teacher and loved ones. Join the ancestors in stillness and begin the prayers for peace.
Later, the elder will share the roots of the word threshold, evoking the farmer who threshes stalks of wheat to separate grain from chaff. She encourages: Strip away all that is unnecessary upon crossing the threshold. What do you put down? What remains when you enter the house of light?
As you return to your body in the present moment, allow the wisdom of the gardener-elder to permeate. What is there to strip away within you? On this threshold of a new year, observe all obstructions to love. Go slowly. Become intimate with the anger, shame, and despair in your consciousness. What may emerge after your own threshing is the nourishing grain of bodhichitta, the mind of love. Let this mind of love steady and uplift you in the work that is yours to do.
The work of threshing - healing - transforming
Learn to hold the violence in Gaza with solidity and compassion. Turn towards your terror and outrage over genocide. Forgive yourself for your paralysis and confusion — even Thay did not stop the war in his homeland. Be kind to yourself. Anchor to the work that is yours to do, within your locus of control. Take refuge in sangha that can guide and support wise action.
Heal your own trauma from your stay in the holy land. Recognize the immobility and panic that arises when thinking about genocide. Notice if and when hatred arises, for yourself and for others. Do not let war harden your heart to anyone, not even Netanyahu or Biden. Practice compassion when that is not possible.
Remain connected to loved ones in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Be steadfast in your love. Provide financial and emotional support as is needed. Make amends with those you love for all the ways you have not been able to show up. Be gentle with yourself as you do so, move slowly. Let reconciliation bloom in its own time.
Practice openness and non-attachment to views while seeing clearly the violence and oppression in Palestine. The sangha is not a political instrument, and it must take a clear stand against oppression and injustice.
Do not support any act of killing in the world. Do not support the violence and killings of the Hamas militants on October 7th, 2023. Do not support the military invasion and bombardment of Gaza or the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Speak out about tax dollars that fund weapons of war. There is no equivocation. Hamas killed roughly 1,200 people and took 200 hostage. The state of Israel has killed 45,000 people; forced thousands to flee homes and shelters; destroyed neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals. Be clear: Israel’s military occupation of Palestine is unjust and oppressive.
Do not take sides in war. Stand for true peace that gives all people a path to safety, shelter, clean water and food, the absence of violence and oppression. Resist the pressure from political actors and organizations to demonize any side. Learn to look with the eyes of interbeing and to recognize that we are all cells in one sangha body.
Grieve the dissolution of two sanghas. Be kind to yourself and seek support from those that love you. This year, two of your sanghas fragmented - one at the escalation of violence in Gaza, the other over internal conflicts about the genocide and how to respond. It’s okay to mourn the loss of these circles. Know that not all is lost; both groups contain valuable lessons for future organizing. Keep seeking out spiritual friends within movement spaces. Forgive yourself for losing your way and disappointing yourself and others. You will fail sometimes, and you are still valuable, lovable, and worthy of being in community. You have gifts to contribute. Do not lose confidence in your path because of failure. Know that I believe in you and love you.
Remember that suffering is one of the noble truths. Happiness too. Take refuge in the four noble truths. Balance happiness and suffering in you. Existing solely in happiness is delusion. Punishing or shaming yourself for the suffering of those around you or in the world is also delusion.
When there is happiness, invite compassion for those that are suffering. Serve and uplift others with kindness. When there is suffering, offer yourself that same compassion. Practice gratitude for the wonders of life. Do not strike yourself with the second arrow.
Learn to access the power of anger in healthy ways. Your anger is powerful and speaks to unmet needs for affection, affirmation, presence, appreciation. When anger is present, honor its clarity. Thank your anger for protecting you from the pain of being lonely, misunderstood, or invisible. Take care not to suppress or shame your anger for being present, it can get stuck as tension in your shoulders, neck, or jaw; or arise as nightmares that strike the unconscious. Learn to feel your anger without needing to do anything with it. Often in the last months, your anger has risen in order to take action towards deeper intimacy, to meet the other in a state of vulnerability and tenderness. Your anger longs for this intimacy with yourself first.
Do not speak to others when you are angry. Observe the tendency to criticize even when speaking in a measured tone of voice. Instead, take Gabby for a walk down the canyon. Breathe the fresh mountain air. Do the dishes. Fold your laundry. Take a hot shower or brush your teeth. Let these simple acts of care transform and soothe the anger in you.
Engage in spirited and diligent effort towards healing your brain. Practice accepting your body as it is. After two severe concussions (2020 and 2023), your brain is struggling with frequent and severe migraines, lapses in short-term memory, issues with language recall. It’s frustrating and sad to not recall deep conversations with loved ones, to need detailed notes for every interaction at work. In the past year, you have been active in seeking help from healers and doctors. Establish consistency and diligence in your efforts to heal your brain. Follow the prescribed course of treatment from your physical therapist, new acupuncturist, and neurologist. Take medications on a regular basis. Show up to appointments. Recognize that steady attention and effort will support healing.
In parallel, know that you cannot escape old age, sickness, and death. Your brain will naturally reduce in speed and ability as you age. Practice with unconditional acceptance and regard for your body. Take care of any anger that arises regarding your physical condition; do not let resentment for your body build up and consume you. Remember that your body is a miracle and there are so many conditions for happiness.
The grain of bodhichitta, the mind of love
Cultivate the energy of bodhichitta, for its presence enlivens and strengthens you. Commit to supporting the launch of Action Wake Up at Deer Park Monastery in the winter of 2025. Be patient, the project will take time to be accessible and diverse. Recognize that there is value to starting with what the sangha has to offer: the solidity and beauty of the land, practices for community living, relationships with the hospital and other faith-based initiatives in Escondido. It is okay to start here and build towards other imaginings. Take heart in continuing Thich Nhat Hanh’s vision for the School of Youth for Social Service. Touch the excitement and joy of starting a new project - with potential to become a university of peace. Let this dream of a Peace University embolden and uplift you! Offer fully the gifts of your heart and mind, including the flowers named by Brother Phap Luu: “leadership, fearlessness, and willingness to take up space”.
Keep learning about the life of Thich Nhat Hanh and about the history of peace movements in the United States and beyond. Let this history be your guide. Draw on the many learnings offered this past year during the Returning to our Roots tour in Hue, Vietnam.
Invest time and energy in being with communities that evoke joy, purpose, and solidarity. Return to the Asian American Buddhist Writers retreat in August; gather with the ongoing group of friends from Fierce Vulnerability Network. Commit to organizing a second Veterans Day Retreat at the Quaker Center with Dylan, Maxine, and Wendy.
Continue to learn to love and know Ryan Fukumori for who he is, and to be truly vulnerable with him as you consider a family together. Love Gabby for as long as you have the honor of knowing her. Be her companion as she sniffs her way through parks, fields, and canyons. Tend to your shared happiness in consistent rituals: evening meditations & weekly Beginning Anew sessions with Ryan, afternoon walks with Gabby, treks to visit your family, hikes in the many trails in Berkeley and El Cerrito.
I will close this love letter with affirmations with the Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva, Sadaparibhuta. Melanie, you are a being of great value, a future Buddha, a precious wonder of life. May you remember your true nature in the realm of the ultimate — abiding in complete liberation, freedom, peace, and joy.
May these words encourage deep confidence and self-love within yourself and those around you. You are loved. You are enough. I love you. Welcome to 2025.
Melanie Anne Gin
1/2/25
