(Bell)
When you started learning meditation, did you suffer?
(Sr. Pine) When you started learning meditation, did you suffer?
No, not at all.
Meditation is something very pleasant to do.
In fact, when I was ordained as a novice monk,
my teacher gave me a book of verses to memorize.
Meditation at that time consisted in reciting these verses.
Each verse has four lines.
You breathe in with the first line,
breathe out with the second line, and so on.
So it is very pleasant.
When you put on your shirt,
there is a verse for you to read
in order to breathe in and out while you put on your shirt.
When you brush your teeth,
there is one verse for you to recite and to breathe
while brushing your teeth.
Even when you go to the rest room
there is a verse for you to use
while being in the rest room.
When you are about to turn on the light...
At that time there was no electricity in my temple.
There was no running water in my temple.
We novices, we had to go and fetch water from the well.
We had to use kerosene lamps.
Every time you light up the lamp
there is a verse for you to breathe in and breathe out.
That is the practice of mindfulness.
Before you go to walking meditation,
you read one verse
so that you can concentrate on each step.
But the first verse of the day is when you wake up.
Upon waking up,
before searching for your slippers,
you should breathe in and out with a verse.
That verse is very nice.
It goes like this:
'Waking up this morning, I smile.'
'24 brand new hours are there for me.'
That is when you breathe in and breathe out.
'I vow to live each hour deeply'
'and learn to look at people with the eyes of compassion.'
Breathe in and out, and in and out.
Only after that you rise.
And when you search for your slippers
there is another verse, which is very nice.
It goes like this:
'From the morning until the evening'
'everyone has to look to protect himself, herself.'
'If by accident I step on one of you'
'I'm sorry.'
'I wish that you will be reborn right away into the Land of the Buddha.'
Because while walking, you may crash a tiny insect below.
That is very nice.
That is a practice of meditation on compassion.
That is one of my favourite verses.
'From the morning until the end'
'everyone, every living being has to try to preserve himself, herself.'
'If by accident I step on one of you, I am sorry'.
'I wish you will be reborn right away into the Land of Bliss.'
That is a very good way to cultivate compassion.
That kind of meditation does not make you suffer.
It makes you very happy.
And I learned sitting and walking.
So don't think that to meditate you have to suffer.
No.
(Bell)