Here is a dharma talk I shared in yoga class last week honoring Thich Nhat Hanh’s life and legacy, including the teaching of No Coming, No Going; singing, chanting, mudras; and a couple readings from Thich Nhat Hanh.
I am so thankful for encountering Thay in this lifetime and being able to receive and share his teachings with others in local sangha, currentlyPractice Community at Franklin Lakes: Meditation Group, and on retreats and Days of Mindfulness with the larger sangha many years ago at Stone Hill College among others, and in my yoga classes.
When the practice becomes part of you, it’s like breathing - a very natural part of you, and like oxygen - necessary to live and thrive. You can find Thay's dharma talks and receive his energy in videos on YouTube Plum Village channel. Plum Village also has a free meditation app available and Facebook page: Plum Village
(at Blue Cliff Monastery, Pine Bush, NY)
I am blessed to share the practice in my weekly yoga classes at
Naturally Yoga in Glen Rock, NJ on Wednesdays at 9:30am and at
Thich Nhat Hanh gives many deep and useful teachings in his chapter on Right Mindfulness in his book The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation. We looked at the Seven Miracles of Mindfulness in the previous blog post. This post will focus on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness: mindfulness of the body in the body, the feelings in the feelings, the mind in the mind, and phenomena in phenomena ("the objects of our mind").
As we contemplated the four establishments of mindfulness we came to understand the importance of beginning with the body, then moving to our feelings, then the mind. In our culture we can get so caught up in our mind - stories we tell ourselves either coming from or feeding our fear, anxiety, depression, not-good-enough-ness, not-having-enough-ness, not-doing-enough-ness, etc. It seems so convenient to ignore the body and to see the needs of our body as a nuisance. However, what would we do without a body, where would we be without a body, who would we be without a body?
Our body is a miracle. Our heart beats for us everyday sending newly oxygenated blood to our organs. Our lungs bring that oxygen into the body and release the carbon dioxide. Our skeletal system, endocrine system, immune system, nervous system, each organ...they all have their functions and work amazingly together! What do we do to take care of all of them? Are we thinking about the kinds of food we put into our bodies? Is it full of chemicals and pesticides or GMO's that make it convenient to grow, purchase, store, and eat or are we mindful of how our food is grown and processed and packaged? Do we drink enough water? Are we drinking beverages or eating foods that contain harmful ingredients like artificial sweeteners, lots of refined sugar, artificial food coloring, artificial flavors? Are we getting enough rest and sleep? Are we allowing for the relaxation response in our body so that our immune system can do its job? Are we helping to boost our immune system and take care of our body with healthy foods, teas, juices, and essential oils among others? Remember we just try to do the best we can each day each moment.
There is a beautiful practice in the Buddhist tradition of total relaxation. It is like taking svasana in yoga but with a guided meditation with time focusing on each body part and system, to allow it to rest, to send it our love and gratitude, and recognize all the blessings of our body and the amazing things our body allows us to experience everyday. We celebrate and appreciate whatever degree of health is in our body.
We also recognize our body is made up of the elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Just like every other being or phenomenon is made up of the same. This takes us back to our contemplation on the chakras with an element associated to each. We take time to recognize the earth element in us and around us, the same with air, fire, and water. This takes us into the teachings of impermanence, inter being, and the ultimate dimension, called The Three Dharma Seals, also known as impermanence, non-self, and nirvana. We'll look more deeply into these teachings again in our next entry on Right Concentration. You can see the interconnection of the steps on the eightfold path. We are already touching Right Concentration.
As we see the subtle energies of the elements in the body and how our breath flows through and feeds our body with energy, life force, vibration; we see the seamless progression from body to emotions. Our emotions are vibration, strong or weak, fast or slow, that create a feeling state in our body. For example, we may feel joy in our heart, anger in our stomach, fists, or jaw; sadness in our throat or belly, etc. Some of these experiences may seem universal and perhaps the way you experience them feels quite unique. I think it helps when we realize we are not alone on this journey. We may feel so at different times in our lives but when we start reading books, talking to others and understanding more deeply psychology, physiology, and energy (science), we see that there are these universal experiences that connect us all.
The Buddha invites us to identify a feeling we are having as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral and then to name the feeling.
"Our feelings are not separate from us or caused just by something outside of us. Our feelings are us, and, for that moment, we are those feelings. We needn't be intoxicated or terrorized by them, nor do we need to reject them. The practice of not clinging to or rejecting feelings is an important part of mediation. If we face our feelings with care, affection, and nonviolence, we can transform them into a kind of energy that is healthy and nourishing...Everything that takes place in our body and our mind needs to be looked after equally. We don't fight. We say hello to our feeling so we can get to know each other better. Then, the next time that feeling arises, we will be able to greet it even more calmly."
(pg. 72, The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings, by Thich Nhat Hanh)
Feelings are one of fifty-one kinds of mental formations according to the Buddha. They are so important they get their very own category coming second only to the body in The Four Establishments of Mindfulness. As we move onto the third establishment of mindfulness, mindfulness of the mind in the mind, we consider the other fifty mental formations and utilize the practice of naming them and recognizing them as wholesome or unwholesome. Some are considered to be both depending on the circumstances. "When our body and mind need rest, sleep is wholesome. But if we sleep all the time, it can be unwholesome. If we hurt someone and regret it, that regret is wholesome. But if our regret leads to a guilt complex that colors whatever we do in the future, that regret can be called unwholesome." (pg. 73)
Here are some examples:
Wholesome mental formations: "faith, humility, self-respect, non-craving, non-anger, non-ignorance, diligence, ease, care, equanimity, and non-violence." (pg. 73)
Unwholesome mental formations (sometimes called afflictions, obscurations, leaks, or setbacks): "greed, hatred, ignorance, pride, doubt, views; anger, malice, hypocrisy malevolence, jealousy, selfishness, deception, guile, immodesty, arrogance, dullness, agitation, lack of faith, indolence, carelessness, forgetfulness, distraction, lack of attention." (pg. 74)
The buddha teaches that all fifty-one mental formations reside in our store consciousness. We can think of them as seeds. When the conditions are sufficient, they rise up to our mind consciousness. If it is a wholesome one, we want to use mindfulness to keep it alive. If it is an unwholesome one, we want to use our mindfulness to embrace it, transform it and return it to our store consciousness.
"We usually describe mind consciousness and store consciousness as two different things, but store consciousness is just mind consciousness at a deeper level. If we look carefully at our mental formations, we can see their roots in our store consciousness. Mindfulness helps us look deeply into the depths of our consciousness. Every time one of the fifty-one metal formations arises, we acknowledge its presence, look deeply into it, and see its nature of impermanence and inter being. When we practice this, we are liberated from fear, sorrow, and the fires burning inside us. When mindfulness embraces our joy, our sadness, and all our other mental formations, sooner or later we will see their deep roots. With every mindful step and every mindful breath, we see the roots of our mental formation. Mindfulness shines its light upon them and helps them to transform." (pg. 75)
"We may think that our agitation is ours alone, but if we look carefully, we'll see that it is our inheritance from our whole society and many generations of our ancestors. Individual consciousness is made of the collective consciousness, and the collective consciousness is made of individual consciousness. They cannot be separated. Looking deeply into our individual consciousness, we touch the collective consciousness." (pg. 75)
Taking the time to observe the state of our body, feelings, and mind is so important. We notice our suffering and our joy. Then we go to the next layer of noticing how we interact with the world. This is the Fourth Establishment of Mindfulness, phenomena or objects of mind. How our state of body, feelings, and mind allow us to encounter the world and how the world impacts our body, feelings and mind. Thay gives us many tools within this establishment of mindfulness to see about this.
He gives us the tool of The Eighteen Elements which include the senses, the sense organs, and the consciousness attached to each: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. "These Eighteen Elements make the existence of the universe possible. If we look deeply into the Eighteen Elements and see their substance and their source, we will be able to go beyond ignorance and fears." (pg. 77) We can see how different sights and smells, for example, trigger different parts of our consciousness attached to those senses and sense organs. And, if it is a liberating or joyful experience, we can stay with it and strengthen this energy in us. However, if we notice an encounter through a particular sense or sense organ takes us into our suffering, we can try to name it, go to the root causes, embrace it with mindfulness, and try to transform that experience.
He gives us further measuring sticks to use - another Six Realms: happiness and suffering, joy and anxiety, letting go and ignorance. We can use these pairings to see where on each continuum we land as we encounter an object, relationship, situation, or moment in our lives. It may seem like a tedious practice but it need not be. The more we strengthen the muscle of self-awareness (our witness consciousness), the more naturally it just functions. Remember there is no judgement if you find yourself in suffering, anxiety, and ignorance. Come back to the practices of pranayama, metta meditation, and asana; and talk to your sangha (supportive communitity of practice), your friends, classmates, family, therapist, etc. Recognize the times you need extra support and care then give it to yourself or go get it.
And finally, "the Buddha taught the meditation on the Two Realms - the realm of the conditioned and the realm of the unconditioned. In the conditioned realm, there is birth, death, before, after, inner, outer, small and large. In the world of the unconditioned, we are no longer subject to birth and death, coming or going, before or after. The conditioned realm belongs to the historical dimension. It is the wave. The unconditioned realm belongs to the ultimate dimension. It is the water. These two realms are not separate." (pg. 79-80) We will look more deeply into the ultimate dimension - nirvana in the next post on Right Concentration.
"To arrive at liberation from narrow views and to obtain fearlessness and great compassion, practice the contemplations on interdependence, impermanence, and compassion." (pg. 80)
"Contemplation on interdependence is a deep looking into all dharmas in order to pierce through to their real nature, in order to see them as part of the great body of reality and in order to see that the great body of reality is indivisible. It cannot be cut into pieces with separate existences of their own." (pg. 80)
"The object of our mind can be a mountain, a rose, the full moon, or the person standing in front of us. We believe these things exist outside of us as separate entities, but these objects of our perceptions are us. This includes our feeling. When we hate someone, we also hate ourself. The object of our mindfulness is actually the whole cosmos. Mindfulness is mindfulness of the body, feelings, perceptions, andy of the mental formations, and all of the seeds in our consciousness. The Four Establishments of Mindfulness contain everything in the cosmos. everything in the cosmos is the object of our perception, and as such, it does not exist only outside of us but also within us." (pg.80-81)
"If we see the truth of one thing in the cosmos, we see the nature of the cosmos. Because of our mindfulness, our deep looking, the nature of the cosmos will reel itself. It is not a matter of imposing our ideas on the nature of the cosmos." (pg. 81)
(Side note: It has been interesting to encounter these teachings at the same time FOX network is airing a series on television called COSMOS, a return to a series Carl Sagan hosted back in 1980. It has been an eye opening and mind blowing experience for me. Check it out on FOX on Sunday nights at 9pm EST or on demand or perhaps in the library sometime when it comes out on DVD.)
So I leave you with the above beautiful and profound words of Thich Nhat Hanh and the below video with a practice song on inter being and the ultimate dimension: No Coming, No Going.
During the month of October, we are awakening and strengthening our practice of Right Speech. Below are two dharma readings and a chant to support this practice. You might like to read them everyday. I will be reading them in class throughout the month. What a blessing to support each other on the path of practice. The Fourth Mindfulness Training (from pg. 84, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation)
"Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am determined to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I will not spread news that I do not know to be certain and will not criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I am determined to make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small."
Invoking the Boddhisattva's Names (from pg. 17, Plum Village Chanting and Recitation Book)
"We invoke your name, Avalokiteshvara. We aspire to learn your way of listening in order to help relieve the suffering in the world. You know how to listen in order to understand. We invoke your name in order to practice listening with all our attention and open-heartedness. We will sit ad listen without any prejudice. We will sit and listen without judging or reacting. We will sit and listen in order to understand. We will sit and listen so attentively that we will be able to hear what the other person is saying and also what is being left unsaid. We know that just by listening deeply we already alleviate a great deal of pain and suffering in the other person."
To invoke this energy in ourselves and set our intention for loving speech and deep listening, we are chanting to honor the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Bodhisattva means awakened being. The monks and nuns of Plum Village are chanting here. It is lovely.
Our beautiful soundtrack for today's class was Jai Jagdeesh's CD: Of Heaven and Earth. When we absorb such beautiful vibrations and meaningful messages, we restore our freshness which allows us to be completely present, to tune into our inner wisdom, our truth. When we are grounded in mindfulness we are on the path to Right Speech.
Here is Jai Jagdeesh singing Hallelujah. This song is on her new CD.
In the month of September, we focused on Right Thinking in our practice. This is following our study of Right View in August. Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) writes, "When Right View is solid in us, we have Right Thinking (samyak samkalpa). We need Right View at the foundation of our thinking. And if we train ourselves in Right Thinking, our Right View will improve. Thinking is the speech of our mind. Right Thinking makes our speech clear and beneficial. Because thinking often leads to action, Right Thinking is needed to take us down the path of Right Action." (pg. 59, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching)
Often, we are not aware of our thinking. The mind just continues its storyline and this creates a great force in how we live our lives, the mood of the day or moment, and how we interact with others or regard ourselves. In our busy culture, we just keep going and the mind keeps churning. How often do we take an opportunity to stop and notice what is happening in our mind? Or, in our body? The more often we do this, the more we can take better care of ourselves and each other to be a better family member, co-worker, friend, and human being. Our conscious breath can give us the space to notice how we are feeling in body and mind, and what we are thinking. How often do we take a conscious breath? How about right now?
The practices of yoga and meditation give us the space to witness the body, mind, and breath. Once we realize we have a witness consciousness, the ability for meta-analysis (to think about our thinking, to observe the observer), we find we are greater than just our thoughts, our running commentary or habitual cassette tape playing in the mind. There is a space where our greater wisdom resides, the part that resonates with universal truth, divine light, the beauty and wonder of nature. From this place of peace, equanimity, resourcefulness, we can name our suffering, look deeply into it to find the root causes, realize there is an end to our suffering - well being exists in us, and keep coming back to the practices of the Noble Eightfold Path to restore our well being.
Thay outlines these four practices to help us with our Right Thinking: (pg. 60)
1) "Are you sure?" "Wrong perceptions cause incorrect thinking and unnecessary suffering." I was so happy to find this as a small framed calligraphy on retreat years ago. It was so liberating to me, I wanted to bring it home. Thay recommends writing, "Are you sure?" on a large piece of paper and hang it where you will see it often. The more we can release our wrong perceptions, the more liberated and happy we will feel.
2) "What am I doing?" Often throughout our day, we are so lost in our thoughts, we don't pay attention to what we are doing. Do you ever find yourself "waking up" from a mind hijack in the car and wondering where you were going or even missed a turn because of it? We end up going on automatic pilot so often in the car or while doing the dishes and even at work or with friends and family. I'm not saying it is easy to stay completely present in each moment with each task and each person. I will say it is a worthy practice to come back to as often as possible. Thay invites us to ask "What am I doing?" to help release our thinking about the past or the future and return to the present moment. Taking good care of the present moment, we transform the suffering of the past and are prepared for the future. The most important moment is this moment.
3) "Hello, habit energy." "We tend to stick to our habits, even the ones that cause us to suffer...Our way of acting depends on our way of thinking, and our way of thinking depends on our habit energies. When we recognize this, we only need to say, "Hello, habit energy," and make good friends with our habitual patterns of thinking and acting. When we can accept these ingrained thoughts and not feel guilty about them, they will lose much of their power over us. Right Thinking leads to Right Action."
When I was on retreat with Thay and the monastics years ago in Massachusetts, we were walking to the meditation hall early in the morning with the sunrise. Waking up early has never been one of my favorite things to do (even on retreat). So as we were walking and I was feeling grouchy, which I believe was partially from the early wake time as well as the space for suffering to arise and be held by the energy of the sangha, I saw a little note written beautifully and sitting up in the grass: "Hello, habit energy." Just like that (with a snap of the finger) the energy of irritation lifted in me. A smile was born on my lips. I had taken refuge in the sangha, in the present moment.
If we are lucky, we will find mindfulness bells like that sign in the grass in our lives throughout our days, not just on retreat but everywhere. For example, a red traffic light, the telephone ring, catching a glimpse of the beauty of the changing leaves in fall or breathing in the crisp air of autumn -- whatever catches our attention to stop and say: Are your sure?, What are you doing?, Hello, habit energy, or to take a conscious breath and just be in the moment is a mindfulness bell. Keep looking for those bells and keep putting them up around you and in your life.
4) "Bodhichitta. Our 'mind of love' is the deep wish to cutivate understanding in ourselves in order to bring hapiness to many beings. It is the motivating force for the practice of mindful living. With bodhichitta at the foundation of our thinking, everything we do or say will help others be liberated."
This is a good place to establish our thinking and from there grow our speech and actions, yes? How do we discover our Bodhichitta again and again? Breathing, asana (yoga postures), consuming wholesome food and images and sounds; taking refuge in our teachers, the teachings, and the community of practice (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha); and reciting the Love Meditation every day to practice loving kindness towards ourselves and all beings. (see below)
Thay also teaches us this practice for Right Thinking:
"...replace an unwholesome thought with a wholesome one by "changing the peg," just as a carpenter replaces a rotten peg by hammering in a new one."
So when we are caught in negative thinking or wrong perceptions, we can "change the peg." Recite the Love Meditation, take a deep breath, allow the healing elements of nature to penetrate you, remember we are more than our thoughts, more than our body, more than just this lifetime.
Here is one more "new peg," a gatha I heard while on retreat. It is a beautiful intention to carry and remember to bring us back into right thinking:
May we transcend the boundaries of a delusive self, Liberating from the Superiority Complex, the Inferiority Complex, and the Equality Complex.
I know this post is a lot to digest. I am sharing all of these practices as a summary of what we covered in September and hoping that at least one will resonate with you that you can carry with you to alleviate some suffering.
I close with the Love Meditation and our September chant: Asatoma Sat Gamaya (Lead me from untruth to truth, from darkness to light...)
May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit.
May I be safe and free from injury.
May I be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety.
May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.
May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in myself.
May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day.
May I be able to live fresh, solid, and free.
May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent.
"We begin practicing this love meditation focusing on ourselves. Until we are able to love and take care of ourselves, we cannot be of much help to others. Next, we can practice towards others (substituting he/she or they), first with someone we love, next with someone we like, then with someone neutral to us, and finally toward someone who has made us suffer."
* Adapted from the Visuddhi Magga. For other practices to nourish love, see Thich Nhat Hanh, Teachings on Love (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1997).
Asatoma Sat Gamaya
Lead me from untruth to truth
Tamasoma Jyotir Gamaya
Lead me from darkness to the light
Mrityorma Amritam Gamaya
Lead me from the fear of death to the wisdom of immortality,
from attachment to what is temporary to the wisdom of what is eternal.
Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Blessings of Peace, Love, and Ease of Living to you and your beloveds and to all beings!
"Our happiness and the happiness of those around us depend on our degree Right View. Touching reality deeply -- knowing what is going on inside and outside of ourselves -- is the way to liberate ourselves from the suffering that is caused by wrong perceptions. Right View is not an ideology, a system, or even a path. It is the insight we have into the reality of life, a living insight that fills us with understanding, peace, and love."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, pg. 54, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
"Peace isn't an experience free of rough and smooth; it's an experience that's expansive enough to include all that arises without feeling threatened."
-- Pema Chodron
"Know that whatever task you do is God's task. He is giving you the interest, the capacity, and the knowledge to do it. If you think of yourself as an instrument in the hands of God, you will always succeed in whatever you do."
-- Swami Satchidananda
During the month of August, we have contemplated Right View during our yoga classes and in our lives. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches part of practicing Right View is recognizing whether we are watering wholesome or unwholesome seeds in our consciousness with our thoughts, words, actions, and livelihood. We try to recognize that we have both a store consciousness and mind consciousness. We all have the same seeds in our store consciousness (love, compassion, joy, mindfulness, anger, irritation, jealousy, hatred, etc). Our ancestral lineage, life circumstances, and habits determine which seeds when watered sprout more readily into our mind consciousness. If we use the four noble truths to recognize our suffering and the root causes of our suffering, we may be more likely to selectively water our wholesome seeds. With the support of the energy of the sangha and the teachings of the dharma, we notice our habit energies that keep us stuck in our suffering and work to change our habits to more quickly and easily restore well being and peace.
Interbeing is another foundational teaching in Buddhism and is at the heart of Right View to help us work with our Right Thinking and Right Mindfulness. I was delighted to hear this beautiful example stated by Lorian and Sebastian in the Childrens' Program at the Day of Mindfulness this weekend at Blue Cliff Monastery. The children were having their snack and when the sister asked the children what they tasted as they ate their apple, Lorian said a cloud and Sebastian said dirt. Do you know why? Because without the cloud, there would be no rain. Without the rain the apple tree would not grow and without the apple tree, there would be no apple. (We could have also noticed that the apple tastes like rain and sky.) And, the seed needs the dirt along with the rain to grow into the tree. This is the practice of interbeing. The apple is made up of non-apple elements. It is empty of a separate self. It inter-exists with everything...the farmer who tends and harvests the apple, the mother and father who conceived the child who grew to be the farmer. Do you see? We can make the same connection between you and me, between all beings. It is a deep and wonderful teaching. Don't worry if it is just beginning to root in you. It continues to grow with selective watering : )
In Saturday's class we discussed more about the historical and ultimate dimensions. I shared a reading from Thich Nhat Hanh's book about The Two Truths, relative and absolute truth, which to me, in a sense, parallel the concepts of the historical and ultimate dimension. Again, this is a deep teaching, so I'll try to describe briefly. Just know that this is the beginning of watering the manifestation of understanding of it. We have our whole lives to let it sink in and root to grow. That's why we have each other in the sangha and our dharma teachers to keep discussing it and applying it in our lives.
We live in the historical dimension. Our speech, actions, livelihood, and diligence are examples of how we exist here and now. When we get stuck in our suffering, we may tell ourselves stories about life and the others in our life and even ourselves. We narrow our view and perception because we are stuck in attachment or aversion. We think we know what is true. But what we are caught in is relative truth. Sometimes we may find ourselves stuck in suffering and all of a sudden a bell of mindfulness may open our eyes to nature or to another perspective. That bell can be setting foot outdoors, seeing the eyes of your child or beloved in a new way, catching a glimpse of the mountains or sky while driving as if for the first time, etc. We wake up and see that there is more to life than our limiting thoughts and views. There is a grander bigger existence. We see the solidity of the tree and know that solidity is in us. We see the freshness of a flower and know that freshness is in us. We see the expansiveness of the sky and we know that expansiveness is in us. We taste it when we sit still and breathe or stand in nature and take a deep breath, when we really absorb the joy of a child, the beauty of a sunset, when we do our yoga practice with pranayama (breathing practices) or asana (postures) that balance us, restore us, open us up to these absolute truths -- interbeing. We find that we can touch the ultimate dimension even though we are walking in the historical dimension. We don't need to go anywhere, just arrive fully in the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh says the Kingdom of God can be found in the present moment.
We look deeply into our suffering in the historical dimension to notice the patterns (habit energies) that exist within us and recognize this as our relative truth. In naming our suffering and working to identify the root causes of our suffering insight can arise to help transform the suffering. Perhaps with insight we touch the absolute truth of interbeing which fortifies and eases the way back to well being, the cessation of that moment of suffering. So we don't belittle or dismiss the historical dimension or relative truth. We live in them and we need to look deeply into them to touch the ultimate dimension, the absolute truths, here and now -- in this lifetime, in this body -- that we might exist more often or navigate our lives more often from these more expansive places and more fully enjoy this historical dimension.
I will close with the lyrics to this Plum Village practice song. You may have heard me sing it in class.
I have arrived, I am home, in the here and in the now. I have arrived, I am home, in the here and in the now. I am solid, I am free. I am solid, I am free. In the ultimate I dwell. In the ultimate I dwell.
This is the title of my favorite chapter in Thich Nhat Hanh's book, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation, (pages 24-27). I have heard it read so many times at Sangha (mediation group) both in PA and NJ. And, I remember feeling so relieved when I heard Thay (dear teacher - Thich Nhat Hanh) give a dharma talk referencing the following concept from the chapter:
"Calming allows us to rest, and resting is a precondition for healing. When animals in the forest get wounded, they find a place to lie down, and they rest completely for many days. They don't think about anything else. They just rest, and they get the healing they need."
"Our body and mind have the capacity to heal themselves if we allow them to rest."
I was on retreat during a very busy and ambitious time with my work as a high school math teacher and going to graduate school for my Master's degree in counseling. I had always struggled with low energy and added more suffering to that by beating myself up about it. In other words, feeling guilty when I needed to rest or when I did in fact take the time to rest. But, who can argue with nature? We're animals too, right? However, I have to confess this is still a challenge for me. Now with a young child and a marriage and work that I am growing, it is still difficult to give myself permission to rest or to get the opportunity to rest.
Our culture is so ambitious and fast paced. It takes a lot of support and validation to give ourselves permission to stop and rest so that we can heal whether it is a physical ailment or emotional or mental strain. Being on retreat with Thay and hearing the dharma has always been a profound practice in taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Do you know how that feels when you really feel held by someone or something and you can just let go and trust and that whoever you are, however you are is ok?
Part of that sense of surrender and softening comes when listening to Sister Chan Khong sing to us during Total Relaxation. While I was driving to class today, a song she often sings came into my mind and I found myself singing it out loud: Please Call Me By My True Names which is a song based on the famous poem written by Thich Nhat Hanh with the same title. During the dharma talk for class today, I was inspired to sing it as our discussion developed into talking about how when dealing with challenges, we can try to see the blessing in them and recognize the impermanence of all circumstances so that we can deal with our suffering and fully experience moments of joy since life is made up of both conditions.
My benign example of a blessing in the midst of suffering was being stressed about arriving to the airport for a recent trip with just enough time to board the plane given a last minute stop my husband needed to make before we got there. While it was stressful for me, it turned out to be a blessing that we didn't have to sit on the plane as long as we would have otherwise since the air conditioning was under repair in 104 degree weather on the ground. The plane was delayed over an hour as well but thankfully I had my Peppermint oil to help keep me cool.
The inspiration for the dharma talk which grew beyond this example from my life that came up in casual conversation about my trip was expanded by an introductory conversation I had prior to class with a student (like many others) who was telling me about a pain in her body and was wondering what yoga poses she could do to help. I saw and heard her suffering from the pain in her body as well as the mental and emotional suffering it was causing her. I know it is not always easy to hear but I try to remind myself and others as skillfully as I can that physical pain or any life difficulty can be seen as a teacher, maybe even a blessing - a chance to slow down and take care of ourselves - to rest and heal more than just our bodies. Body is just one layer of the five koshas, just one of the seven chakras. We are more than just our body. But sometimes it seems like we need a wake up call from our bodies to stop and recognize that we need to heal and transform more than just our bodies. We don't always listen when the mind or emotions are the siren. But the body can be a loud enough siren to get our attention.
"We have to learn the art of stopping -- stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm, we have no peace. We turn on the tv and then we turn it off. We pick up a book and then we put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger, and craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy." (pg. 24-25)
We can use the four noble truths to recognize that suffering is a part of life. To believe that we shouldn't have to deal with suffering only causes us to suffer more. Then we can see that there are root causes to our suffering and "call them by their true names." This can often lead to insight into the suffering which can shine a light towards the path that can transform our suffering. The third noble truth says there is an end to suffering (in other words, there is well being!). And the fourth noble truth is the way to that well being: the noble eightfold path - which includes Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.
Thay gives a summary of the Buddha's teaching techniques for calming body and mind on page 26:
(1) Recognition - If we are angry, we say " I know anger is in me. "
(2) Acceptance - When we are angry, we do not deny it. We accept what is present.
(3) Embracing - We hold our anger in our two arms like a mother holding her crying baby. our mindfulness embraces our emotion, and this alone can calm our anger and ourselves.
(4) Looking deeply - When we are calm enough, we can look deeply to understand what has brought this anger to be, what is causing our baby's discomfort.
(5) Insight - The fruit of looking deeply is understanding the many causes and conditions, primary and secondary that have brought about our anger, that are causing our baby to cry. ... With insight we know what to do and what not to do to change the situation.
I remember being on that retreat while I was also still dealing with grief over the loss of my mother and grandmother, struggling with my feelings about being single, and working on finding a sense of belonging in other places and relationships. It was these feelings of suffering that allowed me to go deep into the practice and thus feeling held by the sangha in their mindful presence, the singing of the monastics and Sister Chan Khong, and just watching Thich Nhat Hanh walk and drink a cup of tea as well as soak up his gentle and clear presentation of the dharma.
I listened to my first dharma talk by Thay on a cassette tape given to me by a peer in my graduate program shortly after my mom died. A few months later, a colleague at the high school where I taught invited me to my first Thich Nhat Hanh based sangha, and I knew I had come home. "No mud, No lotus." I don't know where I would be now in navigating my life, the challenges and the joys, had I not discovered the path of practice. I am so thankful to Dave and Val for putting the teachings in front of me.
So here is Sister singing the chorus to this beautiful song, Please Call Me By My True Names:
(She is singing at the beginning of the video then it transitions into something else. You can stop at 52 seconds.)
Please call me by my true names
Please call me by my true names
So I can wake up, wake up
So the door of my heart could be left open
The door of compassion
The door of compassion
My joy is like spring so warm
It makes flowers bloom all over the earth
My pain is like a river of tears
So vast it fills the four oceans
And just for good measure, here is another link with her facilitation of deep relaxation. Perhaps you'd like to comfortably lie down and soak up her love and compassion, receive the warm embrace. And, even if you can't, just listen...
I hold my face in my two hands
My hands hollow to catch what might fall from within me
Deeper than crying, I am not crying
I hold my face in my two hands
To keep my loneliness warm
To cradle my anger
Shelter the flames from the windstorm that rages
Two hands preventing my soul from flying in anger
Here is a video of the song we sang for the month of November to help us look more deeply into the practice of Aparigraha (non-greed, non-possessiveness, non-attachment). Read the blog two posts below this one for commentary on Aparigraha.
No Coming, No Going
No coming, no going
No after, no before
I hold you close to me
I release you to be so free
Because I am in you and you are in me
Because I am in you and you are in me
The following verses are written by Thich Nhat Hanh, based on
traditional Buddhist teachings. Reading them aloud is a beautiful way to
begin a meal.
The Five Contemplations
· This food is the gift of the whole universe: the earth, the sky and much hard work.
· May we live and eat in mindfulness to be worthy to receive it.
· May we transform our unskillful states of mind including our greed and learn to eat with moderation.
· May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.
· We accept this food so that we may realize the path of understanding and love.
"The sun, the moon, the earth, infinity. Totality of experience, I am Thou."
Our chant for this month reminds us of the buddhist concept of interbeing. Thich Nhat Hanh writes beautifully about this in his book, Peace is Every Step. Could you exist without the sun, the moon, the earth? What do you feel inside when you contemplate the awesomeness of the sun? the light of the moon? the support of the earth? Do you know that you contain those qualities of the elements in nature? Within us, we have the power and self-effulgence of the sun; we have the light and cooling quality of the moon, we have the regenerative power of the earth and the ability to transform difficulty (garbage) into wisdom and beauty (flowers).
As we contemplate the second yama, Satya - truth, we remember these universal truths to help us navigate our difficulties and to enjoy moments of delight. We take the time to notice what is true for us in the body, with the breath, and in the mind. We take care of our body with yoga, healthy food, water, and rest. We take time to breathe fully, deeply, slowly, to help care for the body by oxygenating the blood and regularly releasing all the carbon dioxide in our lungs. As we care for our body and breath, we are preparing the way for our mind to become calm and clear. In those moments when the mind is clear and calm, we can see what is true in our "wisdom body" - our intuition - vijnamaya kosha. This is where we tune in to find our truths, get clarity about our path in this life, and open up to the possibility for them to manifest. When we align these layers of body, breath, mind, and wisdom, we easily feel the quality of interbeing, the sense of expansiveness and connection to all that is, the bliss body - anandamaya kosha.
Remember we are not alone. Our sangha is all around us: our yoga class, our family, our pets; the sun, the moon, the earth; the trees, the flowers, the birds; the rain, the snow, the wind; the streams, the lakes, the oceans. Wow! There is so much awesomeness around and within you! Let us remember and take it all in.
Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hung
"The sun, the moon, the earth, infinity. Totality of experience, I am Thou."
The following is from Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village Chanting and Recitation Book.
May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit.
May I be safe and free from injury.
May I be free from anger, afflictions, fear, and anxiety.
May I learn to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness in myself.
May I learn to identify and see the sources of anger, craving, and delusion in myself.
May I know how to nourish the seeds of joy in myself every day.
May I be able to live fresh, solid, and free.
May I be free from attachment and aversion, but not be indifferent.
"We begin practicing this love meditation focusing on ourselves. Until we are able to love and take care of ourselves, we cannot be of much help to others. Next, we can practice towards others (substituting he/she or they), first with someone we love, next with someone we like, then with someone neutral to us, and finally toward someone who has made us suffer."
* Adapted from the Visuddhi Magga. For other practices to nourish love, see Thich Nhat Hanh, Teachings on Love (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1997).
This was my offering of metta mediation for this week's classes. Metta can be translated as loving kindness or compassion. I share this Buddhist practice to deepen our study of Ahimsa (non-violence/compassion) from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. There are many versions of the metta meditation. I consider our chant, Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu, to be one of them. I have shared other versions in the past and will share them here eventually. Perhaps you might feel inspired to create your own.
We learn, in the Buddhist tradition, to begin the metta meditation with ourselves so that we cultivate our own inner peace and freedom since only then can we be a light to others. The next step is to offer the wishes to our beloveds, then to those who are neutral to us, and finally those who have caused us harm. It may feel quite easy to send the wishes to your loved ones. Your heart will sing and dance as you send them this love. For those neutral to you, you might like to think of others in the world who are just like you, trying to find happiness in their daily lives. You can send the wishes to the service people you come in contact with throughout your day: the gas pump attendant, grocery store clerk, bank teller, person driving in the car ahead of you or sitting on the train next to you.
Sending the wishes to those who have caused us harm may be more difficult. However, it can be a very helpful and liberating practice. We can start with the mildest harm if we aren't ready to face the more difficult ones. We approach this by understanding that people often cause harm to others when they are fearful or hurting as an unskillful way of expressing themselves (ourselves). We do this practice knowing that we have also caused harm to others. And, we hope they will forgive us for our shortcomings. That we will forgive ourselves for our own shortcomings. We send these wishes to those who cause harm and terror in the world in hopes that they will find freedom from their suffering and stop hurting others.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes a beautiful poem for us to see our interbeing with all, to soften our hearts with compassion for all. We are reminded, "There, but for the grace of god, go I." We can be thankful for our resources, our teachers, our life circumstances that provide us with the tools we need to transform our suffering, to make good choices, and live a good life. We also become thankful for the difficult experiences we have lived through that teach us to appreciate how amazing all the wonders of life truly are since we have seen the other side. May we keep reminding each other with loving kindness.
Please Call Me By My True Names by Thich Nhat Hanh
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow--
even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all this is alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am a frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.
My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up
and the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.
(from the book Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh)
