Last March, Plum Village France, hosted the biannual Great Precepts Transmission Ceremony, and transmitted the Dharma lamp to a record breaking 54 new Dharma teachers. Among them Wake Up ‘veteran’ Elli Weisbaum, as one of our tradition’s youngest lay Dharma teachers.
Elli is an assistant professor at the Unversity of Toronto, with mindfulness practice as her main field of study. She has helped bring our practice to healthcare practitioners, and facilitate Plum Village’s ‘science retreats’. She currently works as the program director of the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Program at the University of Toronto, where she co-teaches a class with Brother Phap Linh (Brother Spirit). The lineage name she received as an Order of Interbeing member is ‘True Blue Stream’. (More about Elli)
Wake Up International had the pleasure to sit down with Elli. In the first part of this two part interview, we discuss with Elli how it was to ‘grow up’ in the Sangha and to ‘graduate’ into being a Dharma teacher.
The joy and freedom of growing up in the Sangha
Wake Up: How did you discover the practice?
Elli: It was my mom who first discovered Thay’s books. She worked in schools and used the practice of Dharma sharing to help overcome racial separation between students in the classroom. My dad was a physician and curious about mindfulness from that angle. My parents tried to bring the teachings into the family as well. We would have monthly family meetings, where we would practice beginning anew.
In 1998, when I was 10 years old, we went on our first retreat together. Thay and the Sangha used to host a family retreat during their biannual US tour. The children’s program was very small at the time, just 6 or 7 of us. Thay would come by and watch us draw. He wouldn’t say anything, but a whole exchange happened without words (smiles).
Wake Up: You have been with the Sangha for over 25 years now, ‘graduating’ from the children’s program, teen’s program, going to Wake Up, and now receiving the lamp. How was it to ‘grow up’ in the Sangha?
So beautiful! I have so many precious memories, so much joy and play. It didn’t seem like anything special or different at the time, I was just a kid. We joined the family retreat every year and being in the Sangha was just my life at the time.
The first part of Thay’s Dharma talks would always be for the children. After that, Thay would invite the children to stand up, bow to the adults and go out and play. I remember parts of these talks, but I was also just rolling around and losing attention all the time (laughs).
I remember playing a lot with the monastics, for instance with Sr. Man Nghiem who was around my age. Now that I integrate the practice in my work, I also teach kids, and there is a lot of playfulness and spontaneity that comes with it. Being exposed to the teachings as a child, brought them into my body. I can be comfortable and creative with them. That is the joy and freedom of growing up in the Sangha. When I come to any practice center, I just feel at home. I have reverence for the monastics, but, knowing them, I can also just see them as human beings. At retreats, we also play, eat pizza and have fun together. They are like family to me.
When I was a kid, I never attempted to explain to my friends what I was doing. I didn’t talk about the retreats. I would just say I went on holiday with my family. I didn’t have to do so in order to apply the practice. In conversations I could just offer deep listening, without explaining what that was.
When I went to college, I was less active in the Sangha. I studied fine arts and started working in film production. Coming from a privileged background, this was the first time I really encountered the suffering I had heard about. I went to alternative schools in Toronto where we spoke a lot about social justice, but in the film industry, for instance, I could experience sexism first hand, as it is an industry dominated by men. This eventually led me back to the practice
It was around the time that Thay started Wake Up. Then I became a Sangha builder. Although, actually, I have always been a Sangha builder, I love bringing people together. Wake Up gave me the permission to shift into that role and start a Wake Up Sangha in Toronto.
Take space to make space
During the lamp transmission ceremony, the aspirant Dharma teacher offers an insight Gatha (poem) to the community. The Dharma teacher who is transmitting the lamp – Thay Phap Dung in Elli’s case – receives the Gatha, and then offers a response Gatha from the Sangha, along with an explanation of the Gathas. These are the Gathas Elli offered and received:
Insight Gatha
Countless generations of wisdom flow into me
Bathing me in love, pain, sorrow, and joy
With daily practice, the water flows on, clearer, sweeter
Pouring into future generations
Replenishing the vast Dharma Ocean
What a gift, to be part of this endless stream of love
Ancestral Reply
From youthful roots, the True path unfolds with grace,
A radiant blue stream of hope flows on, bright with Dharma’s glow,
The blade of understanding opens the path to peace,
A boundless current of love enters into the sea of suffering
Wake Up: How was it to receive the lamp?
Elli: In one way, it is a natural flow and continuation of my life. I have been on this journey with Plum Village basically my whole life. But something about it is also beyond words. During the transmission, I could feel a shift in myself. It was deeply moving to be part of the ceremonies. I am so grateful and touched by the trust of the community. I felt so loved and embraced.
When I was receiving the lamp, there was a moment when I felt everything fall away. I have known Brother Phap Dung for so many years. I had so many moments where he shone light on my practice. We have laughed, played, practiced and led retreats together. He knows my parents as well. The transmission was full of laughter and joy. There was a direct teacher-student transmission. The last line of the ancestral reply really resonates with me. I imagined myself as a stream of boundless love. I can hear this phrase in my head now as I enter into spaces and go to class.
When I received the lamp, I realized I was given the responsibility of continuing our linage. We are a living lineage, and this means we need to renew in every moment. We need more Dharma teachers, and we need more young Dharma Teachers. ‘Take space to make space,’ is what my indigenous librarian at university always says.
In my work, I build bridges between science and Sangha. I want to continue to build bridges and to let everyone know they belong to our Sangha. Sometimes we are a messy family. People haven’t always felt safe and wanted. There can be reactivity between different groups. All that is welcome. I have such a sense of belonging in this Sangha and I am curious how I can offer that to everyone.
Now we just started a Wake Up OI study group in North America. We have over 50 aspirants, all under 45, many of them are BIPOC and/or queer. In this moment, when the world is on fire, we need boddhisattvas. The study group is facilitated by Wake Up alumni, and Dharma teachers are coming to offer talks. We are bringing them all together, to be the renewal and continuation of our Sangha. That’s the fire in my heart from getting the lamp.
Someone asked us how we were going to vet all these aspirants. I asked Dharma Teacher Larry Ward, and he said: “With all that is happening in the world right now, the last thing I am concerned about is people who want to study the 14 Mindfulness Trainings. We need all of them.”
In part 2 “You are not alone” we look together with Elli at the birth and the future of the Wake Up movement.