Hành Trình Vô Ngã by
Vô Ngã Vô Ưu
Transcript of Thich Nhat Hanh English Dharma Talks
08 The Sutra on The Full Awareness Of Breathing - Part 1
Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh
on January 18, 1998 in
Plum Village, France.
Today is January 18,
1998 we are in the Upper Hamlet. Today we are reading the poem about
impermanence. This poem reminds us that our lives change every day, every
minute, every second in order for us to live more diligently. This is the
evening chant for Monday evening. "This day is already over. My life is
shortened. I try to live more deeply. What have I done with my 24 hours?"
The Gatha continues...I look deeply, what have I done with this day? Perhaps
during this day, because of my forgetfulness has led me to be angry with
someone. I was irritated. I have not treasured my 24 hours. That is what I have
done. I look deeply to see what I have done. Have you made one step toward
mindfulness? Have you lived your life deeper? Have you tried to do something good
for someone you love and someone you don't love? Have you tried to transform a
number of your negative energies?
I propose when you
read these Gathas you read very slowly in order to have time to look deeply. In
the Sino-Vietnamese text there is an imagery of a fish who sees the water in
its pond becoming less. You are the fish living in that pond whose quantity of
water becomes less and the fish starts to become worried. So our practice is to
live deeply in the present moment, our wisdom is to see that we are
inter-dependent. I did not put this imagery into the poem in Vietnamese because
the imagery of the fish is too anguished and I think that is not part of my
teaching. The teaching should be to look deeper and to transmit all your wisdom
to others. So even if the water is no longer there you can continue to be other
things and not just the fish. So there is no fear.
We only try and look
deeply so that we are our own architect of our own life. You construct your own
life. You do not regret anything because you have the decision to construct
your own daily life and when you ask yourself "What have I done during
this day?" you have to stop and look deeply. I decided not to put this
imagery of the gatha into the Vietnamese version because I remember in the past
when I wrote it from the Chinese version of the fish in despair because of the
water in its pond being drained, people became dispirited. We know that when we
cease to be this body we will be something else wonderful so we have no fear
and no sadness. One day is very short so I must look deeply to see what I have
done during that day and urge yourself to be more diligent. The Sangha should
be very diligent and practice whole heartedly and try to live deeply our lives
with a lot of freedom. We have to remind ourselves that life is impermanent and
don't let every second, every minute go by in forgetfulness. Without
mindfulness you cannot live deeply your life. When you live your life deeply
every day is fine. This Gatha is to remind ourselves that life is impermanent
and that everything changes. What you live today will change tomorrow but if
today is lived deeply and if tomorrow it changes, this will also be very deep.
Every change is a treasure. We have no fear. Every changing moment will be a
new experience, a wonderful experience. We don't have to be fearful. I have
made some changes to the poem in Sino-Vietnamese like the patriarchs have done
in the past.
When you look at the
sunset-- you know that the sunset can last only 5-10 minutes. During this 5 or
10 minutes you look deeply. There is this wonderful sunset in this second and
the next second another wonderful sunset. You observe hundreds of seconds of
this sunset. Hundreds of different moments. Every moment is a treat. Every
moment is a joy. So after the sunset you enjoy other non-sunsets -- when you
look deeper. Every moment you look deeply you are not attached. Each wonderful
moment leads to another wonderful moment. You are not stuck to the beauty of
the sunset because after the sunset, there are other beautiful things. To be
happy as a 20-year-old is wonderful, so too as a 30-year-old. Being 40 years
old is also wonderful. 80 year old is also wonderful. If at 20 years old you
live deeply, you are alive. And if at30 year old you live deeply-- you are
alive. You enjoy every moment of your life because you have lived deeply every
moment of our life.
A number of us when
we came here we think we must go to another place to be happy. Before going to
this other place you dream a lot about that place and when you arrive you say,
"Oh, it is nothing interesting" so you dream of yet another place.
There are these people who go around dreaming of other places. If, at first
sight, you see that it is not interesting, then you dwell deeply in the present
moment in concentration and you then discover many wonderful moments in that
place where at first you felt that there was nothing of interest. So every
moment is a wonderful moment, if you live deeply and if you live without
attachment you live in freedom. You enjoy every moment. You know that life is
about change. Don't let any moment pass in forgetfulness. So I wish you to
learn and practice this poem. We will go to the next chant, the chant for
Tuesday morning.
We always begin by
siting meditation and the slowing walking meditation around the zendo before we
start the chanting. We turn our attention to the Buddha and the Sangha in the
Katha Mountain, meaning that everyone in the Sangha will be together facing the
Buddha. We go to the Anapanasati Sutra, the Sutra on the 16 methods of
breathing taught by the Buddha. The other day Thay received a letter from a
Spanish woman of 23. She was so impressed after reading Thay's book she said,
"thanks to your book I discover something very wonderful. I only need to
go back to my breathing and then I have happiness. How things are so simple! I
tried it and it really works. Really. As I go back to my breathing and look
deeply into the present moment suddenly I realised I am very happy. In the past
I looked for my happiness in dreaming about this or that and I am not satisfied
when I have them. I never have happiness. After reading your book I go back to
my breath and I look deeper and I say "Oh, how wonderful1" looking
into my present moment at the conditions available to me. I discover that I am
so happy. At 23 I have my youth and I have good health. I have all the
conditions to be happy. Yet, in the past, I was running and searching for
happiness. It is so wonderful and I want to come here." Thay was the same.
The day he discovered this Sutra he was so happy because in the past he tried
to learn this sutra and was satisfied with a lot of knowledge but he didn’t
know how to enjoy the present moment. He did not know how to look deeply into
this life, where he was able to enjoy his youth, the conditions he had. So the
day he discovered this Sutra he was so happy, he thought he discovered the
greatest treasure in the world. That Sutra is called Anapanasati in Pali.
Looking deeply into
the first exercise, breathing "In and Out". This Sutra has been
circulated in Vietnam during the first century after Christ. The one who
translated it was An The Cao. He was Chinese and lived in China but because
there was a war in China so he went to Vietnam at that time called GiaoChau,
the former name of Vietnam. When he arrived at GiaoChau he saw a larger centre
of practice of Buddhism than where he was back in China. He met with a teacher
called Tang Hoi whose parents were of Sochen origin. The family emigrated from
India to Vietnam because they were commercial tradespeople. His father married
a Vietnamese girl and then when they gave birth to a little child both of them
died. This orphan was taken care of by the monks in a temple and later went on
to become a very famous monk called Tang Hoi. He became the abbot in charge of
a large practice centre in Vietnam. When An The Cao went to Vietnam he came
across this large Buddhist centre where Tang Hoi belonged. Tran Tue brought to
Tang Hoi this sutra and asked him to do a commentary on it and he would write a
foreword. Tran Tue made commentaries on this. We then put this into the
Tripitaka. In Chinese you have this Sutra translated by Tang Hoi and placed in
the Tripitaka. This sutra has been translated into Vietnamese by Thay and has
been published in the Vietnamese Buddhist history. Sister Chan Duc has already
translated these parts into English. All these stories took place around the
3rd century. Tang Hoi translated many sutras into Vietnamese and at the end of
the 3rd century he went to China in order to teach Buddhism to the Chinese.
When the Chinese came to Vietnam they destroyed all our books and history so we
had to restore them. Thanks to the Chinese history, we discovered Tang Hoi came
from Vietnam because it was described that Tang Hoi was a Chinese monk who came
from a small province of China called GiaoChau. They called GiaoChau a little
province of China. It was also the largest Buddhist centre in the country.
It is said that this
monk was half-Vietnamese and half-Indian. He travelled from south to north and
converted King Ngo Dong Quyen into Buddhism. After this the first Buddhist
temple was built. King Ngo Dong occupied a large amount of the southern state
of China. He was so impressed by Buddhism and built beautiful temples. We only
need to know that this sutra existed in Vietnam at the beginning of the third
century. The Vietnamese practised a lot of these sutras around Vietnam. The one
we are reading here I translated not from the Chinese but from the Pali Sutra.
In the Chinese text of the Tripitaka this sutra has the name "The Great
Sutra on Breathing". In this Great Sutra I don't know why the main text is
not very clear. Why the commentaries are so long. Why the main text was not
very obvious-- not very simple and clear like it is in the Pali text. That is
why I use the Pali text in order to translate directly into Vietnamese.
This sutra exists in
many other sutras in Chinese. It is also in the Agama sutra. If I combine the
three sutras; 815, 803, and 810 of the Agama then these three together equals
the Anapanasati sutra in Pali. There are so many parts lost whilst the
commentaries remain I discovered these 16 exercises in the Pali canon. In the
Majimanikaya 180 everything is so simple and very clear, the 16 exercises put
in a very clear way. So when I read these three sutras in the Chinese canon I
see them in the Majimanikaya 180, they are almost 95% correct and similar,
there are a few differences that are not so important.
This Sutra has been
transmitted in Sanskrit by the Sravasti School in Kashmere and transmitted in
Pali in Sri Lanka. What has been transmitted verbally into Sanskrit and
verbally and directly into Pali spread to Sri Lanka and then to northern India
and then to China. And now 2500 years later you find almost the same translation.
It is so wonderful. When the Buddha gave the teaching he gave it verbally. He
refused to use any complicated writing; he said he wanted people to practice
more than to be scholars. It has been transmitted verbally many hundred of
years before it was written down into Sanskrit in the northern part of India
and into Pali in the eastern part of India. After that it spread into all the
countries in the south. The Sanskrit version spread into many countries in the
north like Tibet, Bhutan and China. After 2500 years we compare these two
versions and we find they are almost the same. It is wonderful.
The Sutra was given
by the Buddha in Sravasti in the state of Kusala. It is so basic and so
wonderful. There are so many great sutras but without this one it is like you
want to go to the top of the mountain but there are no path leading there. This
sutra is like the stairs for you to climb into the most beautiful Sutra of
Mahayana Buddhism. When I discovered this Sutra I felt so happy.
In the time of the
Buddha there were neither fax nor telephone. So disciples of the Buddha would
hear of him giving teachings but would not know where, in which region. Thus
there was an agreement that after a 3-month rains retreat, the Buddha stayed in
Sravasti in order for all his disciples from different parts of the country to
have the chance to come and listen to him. So usually after the 3 months rains
retreat in Sravasti the Buddha would stay an extra 4th month. It was on the
occasion of the full moon day of the fourth month of the rains season that the
Buddha taught this Sutra.
At that time in
Sravasti in the Jeta Grove there were many famous disciples of the Buddha like
Shariputra, Moggallyana, Kassapa, and amongst them there were elder monks and
young monks, those who already have the lamp transmission and others not yet
with transmission but are still regarded as Dharma teachers if they had under
went at least 5 consecutive rains retreats. So they have the duty to take care
of themselves and the younger brothers in the Dharma. The senior Bikkhus in the
community were diligently instructing the Bikkhus who were new in the practice.
Some instructed 10 students, some 20 students, others 30 or 40.
When you are a novice
you have to take refuge in one older sister or brother in the practice. So as a
Bhikkhu or Bhikkhuni after 5 years of practice you have the duty to take care
of the novices and younger Bhikkhunis or Bhikkhus .
We have to organise
in such a way that those who have just become a novice monk or nun must have a
supporting brother or a supporting sister. Those who practice longer not only
take refuge in the elders in the practice but have to take care of the younger
persons in the practice too.
There are those who
might have just received the big ordination and become a Bhikkhu or Bhikkhuni
and think "Now that I am a Bhikkhu/ni can I leave the community?" In
fact Thây says that it is the actual beginning of the training and not a time
for leaving.
That night there was
a full moon. Lord Buddha was siting in the open air and his disciples were
gathered around him. Looking over the assembly he begun to speak, "Oh,
Bhikkhus, I am pleased to observe the fruit you have attained in your practice.
Yet I know you can make even more progress." The Buddha praised his
community of practice. He didn't praise his own community to other people but
when he praises it was to encourage the community to be diligent in the
practice.
He said that he is
very pleased that in his community of practice there are those who are mature,
there are those who are not mature but trying their best to practice. "Our
community of practice is truly a community of practice. Our community is not
adorned with superficial things. I see that you all are young in the practice
but you all practice properly and I am very pleased that you practice according
to the teaching.
"Our community
is like the field of merit. When people make offerings to this community they
make a real investment because this community is really practising sincerely in
order to spread the Dharma."
"Dear Friends,
In our community I
see those who have attained Arahantship". An Arahat is somebody who
deserves to receive offerings. An Arahat is someone who is able to transform
all the negative energies like anger, hatred, craving, doubt, jealousy, and so
on.
We call those who
deserve to receive offerings Arahats because they have already let go of all
afflictions and have attained great wisdom and liberation.
"And there are
those who are able to cut off all attachments and have attained the state of No
Return" -- it means you decide to go on the right path and you will never
return to the path of the bandit, of the pirate, of the negative things.
Like those who have
been a drug user and although they decide to give up drugs, but they still long
to go back to taking drugs again, even if they have the good intention to stop.
When conditions are
not favourable they are always pulled by the conditions to use drugs. When
these drug users decide to practice properly they arrive at the state called
‘no return’ meaning they taste all the good fruits of not taking drugs. No
Returning to the direction of drugs, of heroin, of alcohol, of negative things.
When you are carried away by all these things you are swallowed by craving, by
anger, by crime. The Buddha said to his gathering of disciples "Among you
are those who have attained the state of No Return, Arahantship, and have
already cut all afflictions and burdens and realised Great wisdom. No return
means to cut the Five Hindrances: craving, anger, confusion, doubt, and
arrogance. Those who have cut all five hindrances have arrived at the state of
No Return. Others who have cut the first three hindrances: craving, anger, and
confusion but still have some arrogance, some doubt, attain the state called
Once-Returner. They still have to transform their most subtle negative energy.
By cutting the first
three hindrances you attain Stream Entry. You enter into the stream of the
community of practice. Entering the Stream is to join the great many others who
are practising. By continuing to practice you gradually arrive at these
different states. When you become a Stream-enterer it is like entering a stream
of water that will take you to the ocean. It means entering into the stream is
already a big step. So even if you don't come to practice for long, since you
have decided to come here you have already entered into the stream.
"There are those
of you who practice the Four Foundations of Mindfulness."
There are those who
are practising the Four Dilligences which is to develop that which is good and
positive already present in you. If you observe your good energy you develop
your good energy . If you observe your negative energy you learn ways to
transform them.
"There are those
who practice the 7 Factors of Enlightenment, there are those of you who
practice Maitriya, others who practice Karuna, Upecha, others who choose the
practice of looking at the impermanence of the body."
So each person has
chosen the appropriate practice for his or her body or mind. All are learning
ways to practice faithfully according to their appropriate path and the Buddha
is very pleased with everyone.
"There are those
who practice the Four Right Efforts.
There are those who
practice the Four Bases of Success.
There are those who
practice the Five Faculties
There are those who
practice the Seven Factors of Awakening.
There are those who
practice the Noble Eightfold Path.
There are those who
practice Loving-Kindness.
There are those who
practice Compassion.
There are those who
practice Joy.
There are those who
practice Equanimity.
There are those who
practice the Nine Contemplations.
There are those who
practice the Observation of Impermanence.
There are also
Bhikkhus who are already practising the Full Awareness of Breathing. From
practising the Four Foundations of mindfulness by following your breathing you
will arrive at the practice of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment."
When you practice the
Seven Factors of Enlightenment you will not leave your conscious breathing. If
you practice diligently the Seven Factors of Enlightenment you arrive at deep
insight and liberation.
Don't say that if you
practice conscious breathing you will then arrive at the Four Foundations of
Mindfulness. Don't say that only after the Four or Five Measures of Mindfulness
you then arrive at the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. No, you have to practice
conscious breathing in every state until you are liberated. Even while you are
practising the Foundations of Mindfulness or practising the Seven Factors of
Enlightenment you always practice conscious breathing. With the conscious
breath you arrive at deep insight and liberation. I am sure even after the
Buddha was enlightened he continued to follow his conscious breathing..
Conscious breathing means you are always the master of yourself. You are the
conductor of your own car. You know how to handle yourself in a wonderful way.
Even if you become a Buddha you must continue nourishing your body and your
mind in a wonderful way. If you leave your conscious breath you can be pulled
away by other things. So even if you become a Buddha you continue to practice
conscious breathing in order to be in touch with what is wonderful.
"Bhikkhus, the
practice of the Full Awareness of Breathing if developed, practised
continuously will have great reward and bring great advantages. It is like
this; the practitioner goes into the forest or to the foot of the tree or to
any deserted place, sits in stability in the lotus position holding his or her
body quite straight and practices meditation.
Breathing in I know
that I am breathing in; Breathing out I know that I am breathing out.
Breathing in a long
breath I know I am breathing in a long breath.
Breathing out a long
breath I know I am breathing out a long breath.
Breathing in a short
breath I know that I am breathing in a short breath.
Breathing out a short
breath I know that I am breathing out a short breath."
This is the second
exercise in the Chinese text. There are 16 exercises. In the Pali text there is
not the words " I know." So in the Pali text it is:
‘Breathing in, I am
breathing in.’
‘Breathing out, I am
breathing out’, but this is not part of the first exercise.’
In the Chinese text
it differs:
‘Breathing in I know
I am breathing in.
Breathing out I know
I am breathing out’, and this is the first exercise.
The second exercise
in the Chinese text is:
‘Breathing in a long
breath or a short breath I know that I am breathing in a long breath or a short
breath.
Breathing out a long
breath or a short breath I know I am breathing out a long breath or a short
breath’.
The Pali text begins
straight away with the exercise; ‘Breathing in a long breath…’. I think the
Chinese text is more logical, it starts more logically;
‘Breathing in I know
that I am breathing in.
Breathing out I know
that I am breathing out’.
The second exercise
is:
‘I know that my
breath is long or short. Breathing out I know that my breath is long or short.
So I want to advise
you to look at the exercises to see which part is good for your practice and
which is not good. There are those who are not very intelligent in their
practice, when they hear the Buddha teach; ‘Breathing in a very long breath—‘
they then force themselves to have a long breath in order to be faithful to the
words given in the exercises by the Buddha. Throughout your day you are
forgetful and you are not aware that you are breathing. And therefore the first
exercise is to bring you mind to your breath.
‘Breathing in I know
that I am breathing in’. I am not thinking of something else. ‘Breathing out I
know I am breathing out’ . This is the first exercise to bring our mind back to
our breath.
The second exercise
is to recognise whether the breath is long or short. You respect your breath as
it naturally is, whether it is a long or a short breath.
‘Breathing in I am
aware that I have a long breath.
Breathing out I am
aware that I have a long breath’.
So the second
exercise is to recognise what kind of breath you have.
In the first exercise
you recognise a very simple and miraculous thing. You bring your mind back to
your body and to your breathing. You suddenly see, "Oh, I am breathing in,
I am breathing out". Just recognise and identify with your breathing.
When you are
breathing in you know that you are breathing in. Breathing out you know you are
breathing out.
You only need to use
one word; ‘In’ or ‘Out’. Your attention is fully with the length of your
breathing. Your mind can be thinking of many things so to help focus your
attention you can say "In" for the whole of your in breath, saying
"in, in, in, …". As long as your mind is totally with the in breath
as you are saying this, this is fine. By saying "….I know that I
am…", the word "know" means you bring all your attention and all
your mind to the In and Out breath. Because you bring all your attention to
your breath you let go of all worries, anger, craving, since your all the
attention of your mind is totally with the breathing. So jealousy, fear, anger
disappears. Mindfulness is like a guard who keeps watch at the gates of a
fortress. The guard sees when a citizen leaves or enters the fortress, he knows
whether it is a local or a stranger. He recognises "This is a
citizen." or "This is a stranger." Mindfulness is the guard who
knows that you are breathing In, knows that you are breathing Out . Your mind
knows whether something is a good energy, or it knows whether it is bad energy.
Later on when the practice is more developed you recognise "That is
jealousy, that is compassion", but first you train your mind to recognise
your breathing. So the first exercise is ‘To Know’, like the guard who takes
care of the fortress of the city. Know you are making an In breath, know that
you are making an Out breath.
There are those who
put their hand on their abdomen and all attention is brought to the abdomen. My
abdomen is rising, my abdomen is falling;
‘Abdomen rising.
Abdomen falling’.
Because you are
concentrating your attention on the rising and falling of your abdomen all
other thinking stops. When you receive very agitated news and you cannot sleep
you might take a tranquilliser pill to help your problem, but this harms even
more your body and feeds your addiction. The best way is if you are agitated
and you cannot sleep, to bring all your attention to the rising and falling of
your abdomen. By focusing all your mind on the rise and fall of your abdomen
you allow your brain to rest. You allow the agitation, the irritation to rest.
Because you only focus your attention on the rising and falling of your abdomen
for 5, 10, 15 minutes you can enter into a deep sleep.
Sometimes we have,
what we call in Vietnamese ‘That niem" meaning "The 7 Suffering"
and "Bat Dao" meaning "8 things which pushes you to the
edge". 7 destructive causes and 8 destructive energies which drives you
totally lost. When you are like that your savior would be to go back to your
breathing-- know that you are breathing in ---know you are breathing out. Know
that as you are breathing in your abdomen is rising. Know that as you are
breathing out your abdomen is falling. Your mind is focusing on the in breath
and the out breath-- the rising and the falling of the abdomen and your brain
has a chance to rest. The 7 destructive causes and the 8 destructive energies
that carried you away will disappear.
The object of your
mind is your breath. Sometimes the object of your mind could be the blue sky,
it could be your heart. The object of your mind could be compassion, or it
could be your jealousies. But with this practice the object of your mind is
just your in breath and your out breath. In some exercises you focus your attention
of your feeling for example, of jealousy, or fear, but with this first exercise
you only focus attention on your in and out breath. Then the second exercise is
to observe and see whether your breath is long or short. Just know the length
of your breath. Don't think a long breath is better than the short breath or a
short breath is better than a long breath. You only notice the length of your
breath as it naturally is. Sometimes you have a short breath but you feel
better than to have long breaths, like after exerting a lot of energy running
you naturally need to take shorter breaths because this would feel more better
than if you force yourself to take long breaths. Sometimes you might lay down
and take very long deep breaths, this is fine. A long breath is fine, a short
breath is fine, and it depends on what is better for your body and mind at that
moment.
There are some
practitioners who want to bend and twist their breathing the way they think it
ought to be. The Buddha said that is not the correct way. You only be aware of
your breath and do not try to intervene. You don't need to do anything, just
know. You just observe, you do not need to suppress, you do not need to force.
You just be with your breath in awareness. When there is sunshine it just
shines across the land and it doesn’t try to spread its rays everywhere or
force the land to absorb its rays. The sun just shines. We too practice in a
very non-violent, very loving way with our breathing. When you are sitting with
a bent back you just recognise your back is bent and quite naturally your body
adjusts itself to become a little straighter. There is no forcing. If you are
agitated but you are mindful of this feeling of agitation you simply recognise
"I have irritation". You should not say "Irritation is very bad,
I have to get rid of my irritation". No, you just be aware of your
irritation. The teaching of the Buddha is non-violent. If there is irritation
you simply recognise you have irritation. You allow irritation to be there and
embrace it as if it is a baby. You do not judge, you do not force, and you do
not condemn them. You only look at your irritation with compassion. I go back
to my body with non-violence, with care, with compassion. When the sunshine
falls on the vegetation, the vegetation itself becomes green. When your
mindfulness is shinning upon what is happening in you then you do not need to
force but you know right away and you smile with compassion to your irritation
and then your irritation will disappear. You know that everything changes
including your irritation. If you are aware then your irritation becomes
weaker, but if you are not aware then the irritation can grow very fast turning
into anger and stress, and other negative feelings. If you are aware it will
weaken naturally because it is impermanent.
So the second
exercise is to recognise whether your breathing is short, long, or in-between.
You also see whether it is fast or slow. If your breathing is slow and smooth
you can observe it like a tiny stream of water that runs on the sand. If
however your breath is more jumpy, you also just observe it as it is and
recognise that it is jumping, just observe it without interfering.
The third exercise is
to be aware of my whole body as I am breathing. Breathing in I am aware of the
air going into and filling my lungs. I can feel the expanding and contracting
of my diaphragm. I feel my breathing is touching all parts of my body.
Breathing is connected to the movements of the body but in Buddhism it is also
a part of the mind. When you are walking you are aware of your every step. When
you raise your hand you pay attention to the raising of your hand. If you are
attentive to your breathing as you are raising your hand your breathing is the
link between your body and your mind. If you follow your breathing you can
unite body and mind for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, or longer, but if you are not aware
of your breathing your mind tends to wander. A good practitioner always try to
bring body and mind together with the help of conscious breathing. When your
body and your mind are together you can look deeply. If your mind is far away
chasing after thoughts it is hard for you to have concentration. Without
concentration you see things in a superficial way. So the third exercise is to
bring full awareness to your whole body.
There are some dharma
teachers in the past who explained this exercise as "I am aware of the
whole body by my breath". I don’t think that this is correct. I think that
many teachers in Sri Lanka still believe this third exercise is to be aware of
‘the whole body of the breath’. I believe that in this exercise the ‘body’ is
our entire body, not just the ‘breath body’, "I am aware of my whole
body".
I am aware of my
whole body. I think even the well-known teacher Buddhadasa teach this exercise
as to be aware of the ‘breath body’. I also disagree with him because he is
really repeating the second exercise which is already being aware of the length
of the breath – ‘the breath body’. The Buddha has already taught in the second
exercise to be aware of the length of the breathing, to be aware whether it is
long or short. And the Buddha’s teachings is very concise. Therefore in this
exercise it is to be aware of the whole of your body and not just the breath
body.
‘Carya’ means body
and nowadays many teachers in Sri Lanka explain this as the breath-body. They
are caught by the idea that in order to go into deep concentration we must not
be aware of the whole body because if you are aware of the whole body the
concentration object is too wide, you see your liver, your heart…They think
you cannot be deeply concentrated so they are caught by this idea and thus
explain the body in this exercise as the body of the breath. But, the Buddha
does not need for us to become very concentrated in a world outside of our body
and mind and the body and mind of people around us. Because these teachers
think the concentration field will be too large. They think we would be caught
by the heart, the liver, and so on…so they do not practice awareness of the
whole body but just the breath body. But this is a wrong way, many generations
have made that mistake. It is very important that you have awareness of your
body. Your liver is very important, your heart is important, so are your
intestines important for your practice. We have to be at peace, to be a friend
with our whole body. Our whole body is not only our breath but our eyes, ears,
heart, liver, every part of our body.
We have a tendency to
hate our body, and we think the body is the enemy of our spirituality. This is
not correct.
"I am breathing
in I am aware my whole body. Breathing out I am aware of my whole body".
The fourth exercise
is "I am breathing in I calm my whole body. Breathing out I calm my whole
body."
The third exercise is
the awareness of the body, the fourth is to calm your body. Before you can calm
your body you must first be aware of it. Maybe your body is restless, so you
follow your breathing and after a while you calm your body. First, you bring
your mind to your breathing, secondly you observe to see whether your breath is
long or short and when you merely recognise it your breathing becomes smoother.
The third exercise is to be aware of your whole body. You might feel a
restlessness in your body, your liver is unwell, your heart is unwell... So in
the fourth exercise you calm your liver, you calm your heart, you calm your
eyelids, your eyes, your intestines, you calm every part of your body. If you
are a practitioner and if you don't try to calm your body like this, how can
you calm your mind? So first, you must be in touch with your body, to calm
every part of your body, then, you calm every part of your mind. These third
and fourth exercises you can practice when you do sitting meditation. Sometimes
our body is very tense, it has no rest at all. We are under stress. We torture
our body, we do stressful things and put our body through stressful situations.
Sometimes we have so many worries, anxieties, fears, and then our body tenses
up, becomes rigid, then we have so many diseases, not a serious disease but
many little problems because our mind is not in very good shape this affects
our physical body. So first you have to go back to your body. "You are
there my little heart. You work so hard. I don't pay attention to you. I smoke
too much and cause problems for you. I drink too much and cause a lot of pain
to you my heart". You are smiling to your heart. You know that your heart
has a hard time. "My poor liver you are there-- I ate too much. I ate a
number of unhealthy things and caused a lot of pain for you. I know you are
there and I am aware of your presence. I relax you". When you calm
yourself you know what to do in order to help, so you release your body -- you
calm your body. You calm your eyes, your ears, your nose, your tongue, your
heart, your liver, every part of your body. That is the practice. Your liver
maybe calling S.O.S, your heart maybe calling S.O.S, because they are
suffering. Your kidneys suffers, your intestines suffer… We practise calming
not just through words but we need to truly bring and feel peace in our body,
bring peace to our liver, to our heart, to every part of our body.
There will be a
21-day retreat next spring from the 23rd May which will be entirely about this
Sutra so you will have 21 days to practise this sutra. It is wonderful, you
will find that with this sutra you will become a liberated person. Because this
sutra concerns every part of your body and every part of your mind you will see
that within 21 days of observations and practise you will be liberated.
Now we go to four
exercises concerning our feelings. The fifth exercise is about joy, the sixth
is about happiness, and the seventh is about the functioning of our body, our
mind and states of mind. 'Giac' means awareness, so the eighth exercise is to
calm out state of mind and feeling. 'HyGiac' means awareness of joy, so the
fifth exercise is to be aware of your joy;
"Breathing in I
feel joyful. Breathing out I feel joyful.
He or she practices
like this."
You can practice this
exercise by writing down a list of all the things that bring you joy.
"Breathing in I feel joyful" - but don't just say the word you have
to feel this joy in you. Breathing in I have no cancer, no hate, I am still
very young, I still have good health, I am so lucky to be in touch with the
practice. See all the positive things in order to be in touch with your joy.
We can distinguish
between joy and happiness. Joy means, for example, if we are stuck in a dessert
and we suddenly see in the distance and an oasis, you begin to feel joyful and
excited. Because you know soon you will have water to drink. When you get to
drink this water your excitement begins to lessen. There is now some peace in
your joy because you are now tasting the actual water. You really taste the
joy, the happiness is the actual tasting, and it is not the excited joy when
you were anticipating the drinking.
In the West people
mistake excitement for happiness. Many young people misunderstand and think
happiness and joy are the same. They have a lot of excitement but not real
happiness. For example, before coming to Plum Village they are excited at the
prospect of being here, but when they arrive they don’t feel the same
excitement and instead want to go to another centre, then there is excitement
in this new planning. To be excited is not happiness. We have to live deeply in
the present moment in order to be truly happy. When you breathe you have to be
joyful and know that you have a lot of conditions for happiness. You have to be
in touch with all the conditions of happiness. So you write a list of all the
things you have to enjoy all your conditions for happiness.
There is a young lady
of 23 who after reading one of Thay’s books she felt so much joy. She returned
to her breath and was in touch with all the conditions she has; "I am only
23 years old, I still have my youth, my good health, I have all the conditions
to be happy". Even if a person is 60 or 70 years old but knows how to be
in touch with his conditions, he says "I have all my maturity and experiences,
I am also happy." The sixth exercise is to truly enjoy the wonderful
things that you have. You write down all your positive things and feel happy
with them and really live.
There are those who
spend all day long thinking negative things about himself and others. The more
they think the more they get angry, getting frustrated. Therefore the Buddha
taught "Nourish yourself with joy and happiness". Write down
everything positive available to you. Write down the joy. Live deeply your
happiness, so that you will be very strong and go far in your practice. In life
there is also pain and hurt but if you balance the negative with your other
conditions of happiness, this negative aspect is not enough to cause you
suffering. Now you know how to transform. Find ways to transform your difficult
situations.
The practice of the
fifth and sixth exercises is not for you to go through quickly, you really
practice to live your joyful feelings, live concretely the joy and happiness
that is around you and in you. Be in touch with your wonderful eyes, I can see
the blue sky, I can see the green vegetation, I can hear the singing rain, I
can hear the singing of the birds, I can enjoy many things! Use your
intelligence to construct your own happiness. There is suffering true, but
first return to what is wonderful in life in order to be nourished, then you
will be able to look at what is negative with serenity and transform them.
There are those in
society who always feel they are sitting on a bed of charcoal. There are many
wonderful things around but they are blind to them and feel only the heat of
this bed of charcoal.
"Breathing in I
feel joyful. I am joyful because I know that there is plenty of chance for me
to be happy". I am happy with my eyes, I am happy with my ears, I am happy
with my lungs, I am happy with my heart, I am happy with my kidney, I am happy
with my strong hand, I am happy with my strong legs, I am happy with many
things. "Thien diet phi thuc" means "Use the joy of the practice
to be happy". The joy of the practice nourishes you, feeds you. A
practitioner who does not know how to feed themselves with joy and happiness
cannot go far.
Do you miss
meditation? Do you miss joy, joy in deep looking and seeing many happy things
in the practice? During meal times I wish that every living being would have
joy and happiness from the practice to be their food. While I am eating my food
I also wish that others could enjoy the practice as food for joy and happiness.
Everyday when you are cooking and preparing food for the Sangha it is the same
as when we sit in the meditation hall we are also preparing food for others. It
is food for happiness. I am cooking for you now, I try and offer to you the
Dharma-- the joy of the Dharma, the joy of the practice so that you can feed
yourself and make yourself strong and healthy on your spiritual path.
Meditation is a food,
happiness is a food. Joy and happiness should not remain only words, you have
to write down the things that makes you happy in order for you to be aware of
them. If your sitting meditation is not bringing you peace and joy this means
your practice is not yet correct. In sitting meditation you should try to
discover many fruits of joy and happiness..
The seventh exercise
is to be aware of all your mental states of mind - to be aware of your
feelings. We have 51 different states of mind of which in Buddhism we call
'Mental Formations'. In the seventh exercise we practice the awareness of our
feelings, using our mindfulness to be in touch with what is happening. If it is
a joyful feeling we are aware of this feeling so that we can continue to
nourish it. For example if you are eating an orange you are aware of its sweet
taste. If while eating the orange you are jealous or angry with someone, the
sweet piece of orange is like a phantom because you cannot fully appreciate it.
The practice is to just be aware that you are eating an orange. It is very
wonderful. You could also be aware of the negative things like when colleagues
offer you alcohol and as you drink you realise the damage it maybe causing your
liver as well as your mind. With awareness you can begin to know how to refuse
that which causes harm to your wellbeing. If you are jealous you can recognise
your jealousy and say "My little jealousy I am aware that you are here"
without criticising or judging your feeling. So in this exercise you just be
aware of your sensations, the sweet piece of orange, your jealousy, the glass
of alcohol. If you are not mindful you might drink many glasses, or because of
jealousy you could utter very cruel words to someone, without mindfulness you
could do many harmful things.
To be aware is easy
to say, but it is not an easy practice, so we practice with a community to
support one another. In order to help other brothers and sisters to be aware
you learn and train yourself to be aware, to be aware of what is going on in
your body and your mind.
The eighth exercise
is to calm all these feelings. At the mealtime there might be a very delicious
dish and you feel excited to eat it, learn to calm this feeling. You become
angry when a certain thing happens, calm your anger with awareness. You learn
to calm every mental formation, every feeling, whether negative or joyful
When I got hold of
this sutra I felt I possessed the most wonderful treasure of humanity. I didn't
know what merit I had done in the past that had brought me into contact with
this sutra. But you need a teacher to share with you in order to make good use
of this sutra. We will continue next Thursday.
09 The Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness - Part 1
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