Hành Trình Vô Ngã by
Vô Ngã Vô Ưu
Transcript of Thich Nhat Hanh English Dharma Talks
27 The Practice of Prayer
Published in the Mindfulness Bell, #17 Summer 1996
What is prayer? To whom should we pray? Does prayer bring
results?
A five-year-old boy
who loved playing with his pet mouse was deeply wounded when his mouse tunneled
deep into the earth and didn’t come back, but the mouse never returned. Later,
when he was a college student, the same young man attended a class that began
each day with a prayer. The prayers mostly seemed silly to him, such as, “I
pray it will be sunny tomorrow so we can have a picnic.” But one day a fellow
student came into class crying. She told the professor that doctors had just
discovered that her mother had a brain tumor and might survive only one more
week.
The professor stood
up, looked deeply at each student, and said, “If you do not believe in the
healing power of God, please leave the room. We are going to pray for Nancy’s
mother.” The young man wanted to leave but didn’t have the courage. Then the
professor asked everyone to kneel down, and he offered a short but very
powerful prayer: “God, I thank you for healing Nancy’s mother right now. In the
name of Christ, Amen.” Two weeks later, they learned that Nancy’s mother’s
tumor had disappeared without a trace. Her healing was a miracle, and the young
man’s belief in prayer was renewed.
Why do some prayers
succeed and some not? Are there methods that can guarantee our prayers? If your
prayers do not bring good results, is it because we do not have enough faith or
love? In the Bible, is says that faith can move mountains. If we want our bulb
to light up, there has to be current running through the electrical line.
Last summer a
practitioner at Plum Village was very ill with cancer. Sister Chan Khong
suggested that she pray to her grandmother, who had lived to be 97. Sister Chan
Khong said, “The strong genes of your grandmother are in you. Ask them to help
you transform the sick cells that are also in you.” Sister Chan Khong taught
her for only fifteen minutes, but because she had a lot of faith, she
understood the teaching and put it into practice. The young lady prayed to her
grandmother in herself while she ate, while she walked, while she sat, and
while she touched the earth.
When I practice
sitting meditation, I always send loving energy to my students. Sister Dam
Nguyen in Vietnam and Jim Fauss in California both have had cancer. Whether my
students know I love them or not, when I send my energy to them, I am sure it
arrives. What matters most is that my heart is open. I only need to touch the
source of love in me and send my love in my thoughts and also in my actions.
This is a basic form of prayer that can be practiced not just in church or a
meditation hall, but in every act. You touch the deep source of beauty and
goodness in yourself and share it. When you pray or chant the words of the
Buddha or Christ, it encourages peace in yourself, in others, and in the
environment. Behind it is the practice of mindful living.
All the Vietnamese
Buddhists know this prayer (De Tu Kinh Lay): “I have been a victim of craving,
anger, arrogance, jealousy, and confusion, living in suffering and darkness for
thousands of generations. Thanks to the light of the Buddha, I now see the
roots of my afflictions, and I vow to begin anew to transform these afflictions
in order to live happily.” This prayer is a mirror, an effort to look deeply
into ourselves and see the seeds of craving, anger, ignorance, and confusion in
us. “The light of the Buddha” is our mindfulness. We look deeply into our
negative habit energies, see our shortcomings, and try to transform them.
“I vow to avoid wrong
actions and to take the path of goodness. I ask for the Buddha’s compassion to
help me to have a healthy body and a mind free of suffering and confusion.” We
pray for a body without disease and a mind without suffering, so we can enjoy
peace, stability, and liberty and be released from the cycle of suffering. This
prayer helps us live a life filled with health, happiness, and stability, free
from craving, anger, and ignorance. We make some effort, and outside efforts
follow. In fact, there is no boundary between our efforts and those from
outside.
Whom should we
address our prayers to? God? Buddha? Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva? We have to
look deeply into the nature of God, the nature of the Buddha, the nature of
Avalokiteshvara. Whenever we join our palms and bow our heads, we can ask, “Who
am I and who is the object of my venerations and what is the connection between
us?” If we think there is no connection between God and us, that we are
different from God, our prayer is just superstition.
When I was sixteen,
my teacher asked me to memorize this sentence: “The one who bows and the one
who is bowed to are both by nature empty.” I recited this sentence for ten
years before I realized its meaning. The Buddha is in me, and I am in the
Buddha. We are two, yet we are one. We are both empty of a separate self, so
the communication between us is perfect. We can pray to God, because we are a
part of God. We don’t need time or space. The deep link is immediate. There is
electricity in our power line.
For prayer to bring
results, the first condition is the establishment of communication and the
second is the establishment of the electrical line, which is mindfulness,
concentration, understanding, and love. When we have these conditions, the
power line will surely work, and the result of our prayer will be realized
immediately, beyond time and space. When body and mind are in oneness, when
there is concentration and understanding, you can touch the actual cells of
your grandmother in you, and these cells can be transformed and healed. When
you touch God, the Buddha, or the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in you, their
energy and your energy become one. Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva is the symbol of
love. Manjushri is the symbol of understanding. Samantabhadra is the symbol of
action with understanding. We cannot deny their existences. When love exists,
Avalokiteshvara exists.
If God’s will decides
everything, what is the use of praying? How can we change the fruit of our
actions? The answer is understanding. When we understand deeply that our
ancestors are in us, that there is no distance at all between our cells, our
grandmother’s cells and our cancer can be transformed. The will of God is also
our will, because we and God are one. If we decide to change, everyone, even
those hostile to us, will change also.
To pray, we must have
great understanding. If we want God, the Buddha, or a bodhisattva to do
something for us and if we make a kind of program for them to follow, we may
think that will make us happy. We might pray that no living beings will be
killed, no trees cut, or no river polluted and we create a program for God to
implement point by point. But in God’s program, there is also death. If insects
don’t die, millions of acres of wheat may be destroyed. Living beings eat other
living beings, and the result is a kind of balance. Do we have the insight to
create a balanced environment? If we do not, our prayer may be naïve. We pray
for ourselves and those we love, but if God fulfills these prayers it may cause
disorder in the world. Our prayers must always go together with understanding
and insight. To develop insight, we practice mindful breathing to calm
ourselves and restore the peace and serenity in us.
An American doctor
has said that God is like a communications satellite. Our wishes and
aspirations are sent to that satellite, and then God sends back grace to those
we pray for. Buddhists would call that satellite our collective consciousness
(alaya vijnana). Whenever there is a transformation in our individual
consciousness, there is also a transformation in the collective consciousness,
including the consciousness of those we pray for. In this way, our mind is a
creator of the collective consciousness. So we have to go back to our mind and
transform ourselves. When we do so, it is quicker than a satellite. When you
send a prayer to a satellite, it takes a few ksana (a fraction of a second) to
arrive. Even light takes time. But when we touch our store consciousness and
thereby the collective store consciousness, the part of God that is within us,
we touch God right away. This satellite is not out in space; it is within us.
As long as we have the notion that we and God are separate entities, it takes
time for our prayer to reach the satellite and for God to receive and send it
to the one we pray for. But in deep Christianity and deep Buddhism, we see that
the one we pray to and the one we pray for are both in the same satellite,
which is in us. Collective consciousness and individual consciousness exist
simultaneously. When we are in touch with our own consciousness, we are already
in touch with the collective consciousness. Touching the collective
consciousness, we also touch our individual consciousness.
We think that those
who have passed away no longer exist, but according to Buddhism, that is not
correct. They are still there, everywhere, including in us. Although your
grandmother has passed away, she is still in you. When you understand this,
your prayers will be effective. Buddha is the nature of beauty and goodness in
you. When you touch the Buddha in you, you can do what he had done. When you
are angry or sad, if you touch those seeds of beauty and goodness in you, you will
see more clearly. The Buddha in you helps you overcome difficulties. He helps
you accept thinks that are difficult to accept. He transforms you.
If you hear that the
Buddha will lead a walking meditation on Gridhrakuta Mountain and if you want
to fly to India to join him, I would certainly understand. But if you practice
walking meditation every day and know how to be deeply in touch with life, you
will not need to fly to Gridhrakuta Mountain. Buddha is not a concept, but the
true nature of awakening. You can take a step right here and now, and you are
already walking hand in hand with the Buddha.
We can pray not only
to God, the Buddha, or our ancestors, but also to those who are still alive.
When we have difficulties, if we think of someone who has stability, joy,
peace, and a clear mind, we feel supported. These living bodhisattvas have the
ability to listen to us and use their energy to help us. We should pray no only
to bodhisattvas who are in the clouds, like Avalokiteshvara, but to those who
are alive on earth. Your own roommate may be a bodhisattva, but if you don’t
hold her in high enough esteem, you will not see her. If she listens with all
her heart, with all her attention and compassion, she is Avalokiteshvara. If
you open your heart only to bodhisattvas in the clouds, you may miss many real
bodhisattvas here who have love and care, who listen to you deeply.
Bodhisattvas are people who have practiced day after day so that their insight
has grown. When you walk in mindfulness and have more peace and joy, your
insight is growing. It is not only the Buddha who has insight. You also have
your insight. You might have been less compassionate in the past, but through
the practice your compassion has grown.
I often pray to those
who are still alive. There are many small Sanghas everywhere of people who
really practice and transform their suffering. I feel deeply supported by them.
This is real prayer. I also pray to trees, the moon, and the stars. They are
strong and stable, and they can support us. Do not pray to God as a concept.
Touch God in His creations. You are a creation, so you can touch God in
yourself and in those around you. Let us look at The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
“Thy Kingdom come.”
The best way to chant, sing, or pray is to touch the kingdom of God right here
and now. ”Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the key. The
Lord’s will must be realized not only in heaven, but also on earth. Don’t wait
until you reach the kingdom of God – until you pass away – to obtain stability,
peace, and joy. Touch it here and now. A Zen master was asked, “Where do you
find the world of no-birth and no-death?” And he said, “Right in the world of
birth and death.”
“Give us this day our
daily bread,” is the practice of mindfulness. We only need food here and now.
“Form is emptiness” is not enough. Emptiness is also form. We always want to
save for the future, but to live in the present moment deeply is most
important. We have to pray throughout the day, not only before going to sleep.
How can there be eternity if there is no present moment?
“Forgive us our
trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Trespasses are the
mistakes we have made with those we love. We have said something unkind; we
have acted or thought in ways that have caused suffering. We have made many
mistakes and hurt others. We have to live in a way that allows us to forgife
ourselves and forgive those who have hurt us. We have not been mindful, and we
have to release our hurts and the hurts of others. The Lord’s Prayer is a
prayer of action.
“Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.” What kinds of temptation? – craving,
anger, arrogance, doubt jealousy, suspicion. Practice is much easier with a
Sangha, a community of friends. When you are alone, you are easily tempted, but
with a Sangha, when you become angry or afraid, your brothers and sisters will
help calm you down. With a Sangha, you are very stable and will not fall into
the lower realms. Many people are in hell right now, living in loneliness,
anger, or despair. Others are in heaven, living beautifully.
We have to learn the
art of praying deeply. Usually, when we have some difficulty, we call upon God
and say, “Help me.” This is okay, but we also have to learn to pray on a large
scale. Our aim is to cross the ocean of birth and death without fear. Asking
God to do something for us is too superficial. At other times we bargain with
God: “If you give me such and such, I will shave my head and be a vegetarian
for three months.” When they cross the ocean, many Vietnamese boat people say
that if they survive they will shave their heads for three months. There is
nothing wrong with that. I only want you to practice more deeply, so you can
smile to that bargaining part of you.
We usually pray for
good health, success, or harmony. But it is a dream to think our health can be
perfect. We are alive now because we were sick in the past. Thanks to our
illnesses, we have immunity from certain diseases. Don’t dream of perfect
health. Please learn to live with these little diseases, and enjoy the 98%
health you have.
There has been a lot
of progress in medicine in the past fifty years. People now see that the health
of the body is deeply linked to the health of the mind. If we learn how to resolve
the blocking points in our mind, many of our diseases will be cured. A good
physician must look deeply.
We are at the gateway
to a new step in medicine, that can be called
“collective-manifestation-medicine” or the “medicine of one mind.” We see that
many elements, near and far, make us sick and cure us. We may suffer from
something our grandfather did two generations ago, or from the effects of an
atomic bomb that was dropped in the South Pacific, or from someone else’s
unhappiness. When someone is unhappy, he may hurt us deeply. Because we don’t
have a separate self, we are connected in all directions, through time and
through space.
Success is also
usually seen as an element for our happiness. But our success may requires
another person’s failure. When we are able to pray for ourselves, for those we
love, and also for those who cause us problems, the energy of mindfulness,
concentration, understanding, and love in us grows stronger. If you cannot pray
for those who cause us difficulty, do not blame God or the Buddha if you do not
have good results.
We also pray for
harmony in the world. But life is filled with harmony and disharmony, successes
and failures, ups and downs. When we are in touch with the ultimate dimension,
harmony or disharmony, success or failure are all okay. We try our best to make
life more harmonious. That’s all. When you step into the world of the
Avatamsaka, into the Kingdom of God, whatever happens to your health is okay,
whether you have so-called success or failure is okay, whether you live one or
ten more years is okay. When you have touched the ultimate dimension deeply,
you can dwell in the cycle of samsara with a smile.
In the past, if you
had a success, you were happy. If you had a failure, you were unhappy. But once
you have touched the ultimate dimension, you see that failure is also fine.
Because of your failure, other people may succeed. Others may see disharmony,
but you see harmony. The deep aim of a practitioner is to touch the ultimate
dimension in daily life. Everywhere you go, you see that you and others are
one. Even if your health is not perfect, even if your success is not great,
it’s okay. The prayer of the practitioner is very deep and not on the level of
the historical dimension and touch the ultimate reality. Then your
relationships with others, your relationship with God, and your relationship
with the Buddha will be relationships of oneness.
At Plum Village, we
try to open many doors of happiness to help you keep your balance. When you
return home, you have to establish your own breathing room, your own Sangha,
where you can breathe, listen to Dharma talks, and have Dharma discussions, so
you have more peace to help you cope with the unhappiness of people. When
others are unhappy and thrown their unhappiness on you, you have to receive it
and transform it.
In the collective
consciousness is the collective consciousness of many bodhisattvas, many
buddhas, you yourself, and also those who are not happy. Try to use the new
step in medicine to bring you to that realm of buddhas and bodhisattvas, where
you will not be drowned in the sickness of negativity. This new medicine is not
limited by time. It can happen millions of years in the past or the future. It
is not limited by space. When Kepler discovered that the tides on earth are
influenced by the moon, no one believed him. Even Galileo thought Kepler had
imagined it. Now we know that the gravity of the moon influences the earth, and
the stars influence us.
Our health is the
same. Those who live far from us can make us very happy or unhappy. In
“oneness-of-mind medicine,” the doctor also has to pray for his or her
patients, because we know that the mindfulness and compassion of our physician
influences us. A physician cannot be just a mechanic: “Here is a prescription.
Open your mouth.” She must go the next step. After making her best prognosis,
she must say, “I will pray for you, too.” And she sends her love, care, and
compassion to her patients. Before seeing a patient, she has to breathe, calm
herself to restore the peace and happiness of her own body and mind, and then
look deeply into the patient, diagnose, and while giving the patient a
prescription, say, “Follow this, and I will pray for you. I will send my love
to you.” We have to do this also, not just physicians. When your brother is
sick, you cannot just say, “The hospital will take care of him.” You also have
to send your love and care to your brother in the hospital. You have to send
your love and care to all who are in danger. You cannot just say, “They will
take care of themselves.” We deeply influence each other.
Dr. Larry Dossey says
that in our time we have to open the door to this new step in medicine. He
proposes that every physician encourage his patients to pray, and physicians
who forbid their patients from praying be subject to suit. Physicians have to
care not only about medicine and the body, but also about spirit. For your
happiness with yourself and the happiness of your brothers and sisters in the
Dharma and in your blood family, you have to send your love everywhere. With
every step I take, I send compassion to myself and to brothers and sisters near
and far away. It heals me and it will heal them. Even though Sister Dam Nguyen
is in Hanoi and Jim Fauss is in California, when I send my love to them, I am
sure they receive it right away.
Sending love to
people is not a superstition. It is based on something scientific. When we sit
together, we create a great collective energy that can support many near and
far. Collective consciousness can be governed by understanding or by ignorance.
The more our collective consciousness is full of ignorance, the more sickness
we have in our body and mind. When we have more understanding, we have more
loving kindness, and health and healing are possible. In the medicine of one
mind, the collective consciousness plays a significant role in the happiness of
our beloved ones and ourselves.
We have to find the
root causes of our diseases, most of which come from the collective store
consciousness. In medical school, they don’t teach you how to go into the
unconscious domain. The unconscious of Western psychology is only a small part
of the collective consciousness, and the healing of most disease comes from
there. If you want to heal a diseases, organize a good store consciousness.
Practice mindful sitting, walking, speaking, and eating. Water the seeds of joy and peace in
yourself every day. Enjoy the present moment and share your peace and love with
other. This is real prayer.
This Dharma talk was
given by Thay at Plum Village in March 1996.
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