Hi I am Natalie and I had the pleasure of meeting Aaliyah, a lovely and inspiring 23 year old woman, while on retreat this summer at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, which is a Zen Buddhist center in the lineage of teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. I was impressed with Aaliyah's commitment to a monastic path, her own inner growth, and being a light in the world. She is in need of support to continue to do the Rain's Retreat at Deer Park, which is a 90 day immersive in mindfulness with the nuns and monks. The retreat starts in October and it is a requirement in becoming a nun in their lineage. Thank you for reading her story and intentions below, and for any donation she is truly grateful! We are aiming for the full amount but she hopes to qualify for a scholarship as well.

Many thanks- peace, love and gratitude to all ~

More on the Rain's Retreat and Deer Park Monastery:

https://deerparkmonastery.org/visit/events/rains-retreat-2025-2026/

From Aaliyah:

Since childhood my heart has been led with the force of pure desire for a higher understanding of reality. In April 2024, I graduated from college and became free from institutionalism, my terrestrial conditioning had been uplifted. Through a sea of confusion and ignorance, I had been unable to recognize the root of my spiritual inclinations. Now I lead my life with perseverance and tranquility. My divine seeking for omniscient perception and unconditional non-dual loving bliss was discovered. Living alongside monks and nuns/ ordained disciples of Gautama Buddha /Shakyamuni Buddha/ Lord Buddha in the United States, India, Nepal, and Thailand over the past three years illuminated many delusions in my path. While also traveling alone in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, and London I sought to connect with the global African diaspora. I have faced eclectic trials and tribulations while traveling solo abroad, sometimes in financial poverty but always in spiritual wealth! Relying on profound faith and fearlessness, I overcame the dangers of a nomadic lifestyle; fighting off sexual assault and kidnapping attempts in India and Nepal, my courage and perseverance to fulfill my ethereal potential could not be destroyed by the acts of suffering in humanity in its vast deranged displays. Stabilizing my presence in Buddhist monasteries and Hindu ashrams brought deep transcendental insights into my heart and allowed me to dissolve wrong understandings and develop clarity within the true nature of transcendental reality. As well, exploring the manifestations of the expressions of the Aftican Diaspora melted away the pressures and isolation I felt from being marginalized in the US. Seeing myself in the faces and bodies, aunties, children, sisters, and mothers of the people of the Dominincan Republic broke me into a deeper realization of interconnectedness, for the first time not feeling inferior or superior in my race and skin color, love for humanity persisted in my heart every day and brought me to further realizations of physical and energetic connection. In Morrocco, I traversed through the Merzouga Village and took solitude in the desert dunes for meditation only to be met with wandering village children full of curiosity. Distant longing in my heart was fulfilled, I heard the echoes of myself as a child finally getting to laugh and play with children that look like me. Same skin, curly hair, and strong attitudes with no bigotry to suppress or shame the expressions of our joyful harmony.

How can devoted spiritual practitioners maintain a lifestyle free from financial and material concern? In India I lived as a mendicant alongside Sadhus and devotees and in Buddhist monasteries with my work and dedication as currency. I could continue living in Asian countries where asceticism is common and accepted but my ancestors known and unknown allow me to carry an honorable connection to the African Diaspora that I can't quite shake. In my spiritual quest for a devout and dedicated disciplined lifestyle and daily communion with my highest potential, I also kindly beseech that others who share an affinity with my situation inevitably encounter a smoother path free from the dichotomies that I have faced. Currently with minimal material needs and an abundance of motivation, free from distractions, I continue to study and practice to integrate my Buddhist discipline, ancestral callings, and cultivate Bodhicitta. Born and raised adopted in the suffocation of bigoted rural Virginia, I insist on transmuting both mine and collective ignorance and perpetuation of spiritual hindrances. Everyday I work towards the stabilization of higher consciousness and the realization of the interconnectedness of phenomena on all levels of gross and subtle. 

 My discipline and steadfastness in Buddhism began in the Plum Village tradition in 2022 at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate New York when I attended my first retreat at the age of 21. Through volunteering, scholarship, and generosity of community members I had been able to live and practice in Thich Nhat Hanh's monasteries in New York, Mississippi, and California for the past three years; staying long-term is a blessing and a revered opportunity as the conditions have brought me to higher states of meditation, dissolved separations between self and other, and dwell in profound levels of awareness free from conditioning and attachment. I know that attending the three month Rains Retreat at Deer Park monastery will allow me to fulfill my desire of a diligent and prosperous life in the community of ordained monks and nuns. My aspirations include working towards stainless spiritual maturation and expansion for myself and others like me as I resolve to have the conditions and resources to connect and intertwine my unique life experiences as a young mixed Black woman and ambitious practitioner striving to supersede the vigorous oppression and exploitation in the conditions of society that continue to perpetuate physical and spiritual improvement on a global level.

Thank you so much for reading my words and goals and for your kind and generous support!