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There is a text called
'Mindfulness of Breathing'

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in which the Buddha proposes
16 exercises on mindful breathing.

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It's very practical.

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And everyone can do it.
Not complicated.

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You can already notice the effect
of the practice after one or two hours.

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The first exercise is so simple.

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To be aware of your in-breath
and out-breath.

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This is what we practiced this morning.

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Breathing in,
I know this is an in-breath.

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To identify the in-breath as in-breath,

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and to identify the out-breath
as an out-breath.

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Breathing in, I know
I am breathing in. So simple.

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And yet the effect can be great.

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Aware of...

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Aware of in-breath and out-breath.

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[1. aware of I + O]

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As you breathe in, you pay attention
to your in-breath only.

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Your in-breath becomes
the only object of your mind.

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And if you are truly focused,
mindful of your in-breath,

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you release everything else.

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You release the past, you release
the future, your projects, your fear,

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your anger, because the mind
has only one object at a time.

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And the object of the mind now
is the in-breath.

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Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.

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So you focus your mind on your in-breath
and you release everything else

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and you become free.

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There is regret concerning the past,
sorrow concerning the past.

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There is fear and uncertainty
concerning the future.

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All of that you release in just 1 or 2
seconds because you are focusing

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all your mind into your in-breath.

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So breathing in mindfully sets you free.
You have freedom.

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If you are to make a decision, it's better
you have enough freedom to make it.

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You are not under the influence
of anger or fear,

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and your decision is much better
than if you are not free.

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So just breathing in makes you free.

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And it is pleasant also,
it's pleasant to breathe in.

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So the exercise is so simple
but the effect can be great.

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The second exercise is to follow
your in-breath all the way through

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and to follow your out-breath
all the way through.

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And you may enjoy these two exercises
at any time and anywhere.

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Breathing in, I follow my in-breath
from the beginning to the end.

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Suppose this marker represents
my in-breath.

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It begins here
and this finger is my mind.

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Breathing in, I follow my in-breath
all the way through.

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There is no interruption at all,
not a millisecond of interruption.

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So during the time you breathe in mindfully,
you cultivate concentration.

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You are not only mindful of your in-breath
but you concentrate on your in-breath.

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The energy of mindfulness carries
within herself the energy of concentration.

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And it is also pleasant,

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because to be mindful and to concentrate
on your in-breath can be very pleasant.

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You don't have to suffer.

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In fact you can feel wonderful,
just breathing in,

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especially when the air is fresh
and if the nose is free.

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So the second exercise is...

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[2. follow I + O]

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to follow your in-breath and
your out-breath all the way through.

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We know we can do these two exercises

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anytime we like.

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The third exercise is
to be aware of your body.

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[3. aware of body]

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Breathing in, I'm aware of my body.
You bring your mind home to your body.

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And your mind becomes an embodied mind.

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That will help you to be established
in the here and the now,

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you are fully present,
you are fully alive.

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And you can live that moment
of your daily life more deeply

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if body and mind are together.

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The oneness of body and mind is
what you realize with the third exercise.

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When you spend 2 hours with your computer,

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you forget entirely that you have a body.

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You are not truly alive in that moment.

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You are truly alive only
when the mind is with the body.

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You are fully in the here and the now
and you touch the wonders of life

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in you and around you.

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Many of our brothers
and sisters in Plum Village

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program a bell of mindfulness
in their computer.

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And every fifteen minutes,
they hear the bell, they stop working,

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they go back and enjoy
their in-breath and out-breath,

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smile and enjoy their body.

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And release the tension in their body.

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That is what the Buddha recommended
2600 years ago.

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There's the fourth exercise.

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Breathing in, I calm my body,
I release the tension...

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in my body.

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[4. calm body]

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When you come back to your body,

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you may notice that
there is a lot of tension in your body.

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Then you may like to do something
to help your body to have more peace,

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to suffer less, and with your out-breath
you allow the tension to be released.

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That's the first four exercises of mindful breathing

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recommended by the Buddha

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so that we can take good care of our body.

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And with the fifth exercise
we go to the realm of the feelings.

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The fifth exercise is to generate
a feeling of joy. Generating joy.

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[5. Generating Joy]

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A good practitioner knows
how to generate a feeling of joy,

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because she knows that
mindfulness allows her to recognize

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all the conditions of happiness
that are already available.

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We can remind ourselves and we can remind
our beloved ones that we are very lucky.

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We can be happy right here and right now,

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we don't have to run into the future
to look for happiness.

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There is a teaching given by the Buddha.

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That is the teaching of
"living happily in the present moment."

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Life is available only
in the present moment.

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And if you go back to the present moment

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you will notice that there are
so many conditions of happiness

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already available.

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That is why joy and happiness
can be born right away.

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The expression living happily
in the present moment

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was found in a sutra...

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five times.

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The Buddha was teaching Anathapindika,

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a businessman, in the city of Sravasti.

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That day Anathapindika, the businessman,

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came with many hundreds
of businessmen to visit the Buddha.

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And the Buddha gave them that teaching.

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"Gentlemen", he said, "you can be happy
right here and right now.

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You don't have to run into the future,

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you don't have to look for success
in the future in order to be happy."

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I think the Buddha knew very well
that businessmen,

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they think a little bit too much
about the future and their successes.

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And that is why
the expression living deeply,

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"living happily in the present moment"
was used by the Buddha five times

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in the same sutra, the same scripture.

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Drstādharmasukhavihara.

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[drstādharmasukhavihara]

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"Vihara" means to dwell or to live,
"sukha" means happily,

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and "drstā-dharma"
is the present moment.

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(Chinese: 現法樂住)

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So a good practitioner
does not look for happiness in the future.

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He knows how to go home
to the present moment

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and recognize all the conditions
for happiness that are available

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and make joy and happiness
available right away.

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And she does that for herself
and she does that for the other person.

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Creating happiness is an art.
The art of happiness.

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So the fifth exercise is to generate joy
and the sixth is to generate happiness.

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[6. Generating Happiness]

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The seventh is...

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to be aware
of a painful feeling or emotion.

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Breathing in, I know there is
a painful feeling, a painful emotion

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that is coming up in me.

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[7. Aware of Pain]

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The practitioner does not try to fight
the pain, to cover up the pain inside

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or to try to run away from the pain.

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In fact, because she is a practitioner

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she knows how to generate
the energy of mindfulness.

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With that energy she recognizes the pain
and she embraces the pain tenderly.

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'Hello my little pain. I know you are
there. I will take good care of you.'

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Whether that is anger or fear
or jealousy or despair.

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We have to be there for our pain.

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There is no fighting.

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There is no violence
done to our suffering.

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Yesterday we spoke about a mother
holding the crying baby.

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Our pain, our suffering is our baby

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and the energy of mindfulness generated
by our practice is the loving mother.

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And the mother has to recognize
that the baby suffers.

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She takes the baby up and holds
the baby tenderly into her arms.

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That is exactly
what a good practitioner will do

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when a painful feeling arises.

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You have to be there
for your painful feeling or emotion.

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You continue to breathe
and to walk in such a way,

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that the energy of mindfulness
continues to be produced.

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With that energy of mindfulness
you recognize the pain

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and you embrace the pain tenderly.

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In Buddhism we speak of consciousness
in terms of "store" and "mind."

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There are at least
two layers of consciousness.

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The lower layer
is called "store consciousness."

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Our fear, our anger, our despair are
there in the bottom of our consciousness

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in the form of seeds.

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There is a seed of anger here

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and if the seed of anger
accepts to sleep quietly down there,

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we are okay.

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We can laugh, we can have a good time.

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But if someone comes and says something
or does something

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and touches off that seed of anger,
it will come up as a source of energy.

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Down here it is called a seed.

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[seed]

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(Chinese: 種子)

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Bija.

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[bija]

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And when it comes up here
on the level of "mind consciousness,"

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it will become a kind of energy
called mental formation.

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[mental formation]

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And this is the mental formation
called anger.

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[M.F.]

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So when the practitioner notices
when anger is coming up,

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she, right away, breathes

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and invites the seed of mindfulness
to come up as energy.

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Mindfulness is another seed that is here.

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If we are a good practitioner,
the seed of mindfulness in us has grown

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to become a very important seed.

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It needs a touch lightly,

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then there will be a lot of that energy
coming up for us to use.

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If we are not a practitioner, the seed
of mindfulness is there but very tiny.

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If you practice mindful breathing,
mindful walking everyday,

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the seed continues to grow.

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Whenever you need that energy,
you just touch it,

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and you have a powerful source of energy

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to help you to deal with
whatever is happening up there.

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So the practitioner begins
to breathe or to walk mindfully.

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The second mental formation
is manifested on this level.

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Another mental formation...
And this one is mindfulness.

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So it is the energy of mindfulness that
will take care of the energy of anger.

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There is no fighting.

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Mindfulness does at least two things.
First of all to recognize,

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a simple recognition of the pain.

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And that is the seventh exercise.
Breathing in, I know anger is in me.

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Or despair is in me or jealousy is in me.

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Recognize simply, not fighting.

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The second thing mindfulness will do
is to embrace.

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And that is seen in the eighth exercise
is to calm down the pain

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[Calm Pain]

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like a mother holding the baby.

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The mother does not know
what is wrong with the baby.

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But the fact that
she's holding the baby gently

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can help the baby suffer less right away.

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The same thing is true
with the practitioner.

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She does not know what is the cause
of that kind of anger or fear.

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But the fact that she is recognizing
and holding that energy of fear and anger

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can help her suffer less right away,
after one or two minutes.

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So this is...

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the art of suffering.

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This is the art of happiness.

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How to generate a feeling
of joy and happiness.

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How to take care
of a painful feeling and emotion.

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How to calm it down, how to get a relief.

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And with the exercises that follow
you can go further

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and you can transform pain, sorrow, fear
into something more positive,

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like making good use of the mud
in order to grow lotus flowers.

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So a good practitioner
is not afraid of pain.

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She does not try
to run away from the pain.

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In fact, she tries to be with the pain.

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She knows how to handle
a feeling of pain,

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a strong emotion.

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And she knows how to make
good use of that mud

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in order to create
understanding and compassion

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which are factors of true happiness.

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So with global ethics,
with the practice of mindfulness,

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with a spiritual dimension
in our daily lives,

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we know how to overcome difficulties
that present themselves in our daily life.

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And that is why each one of us
should bring a spiritual dimension

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to our daily life.

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Without that kind of practice, we
don't know how to handle the difficulties

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that come everyday.

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The image of a mother holding a baby
is very helpful.

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00:25:26,132 --> 00:25:30,250
If your mindfulness is powerful enough,

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00:25:30,992 --> 00:25:35,015
you embrace your pain, your sorrow,
you continue to breathe

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or to practice walking meditation.

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00:25:39,647 --> 00:25:45,783
It's like giving your fear,
your anger a mindfulness bath.

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Maybe 3 minutes, maybe 5, 10 minutes.

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00:25:53,159 --> 00:25:55,857
After that, she will lose
some of her strength

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and go back to the original place,
down there in the store consciousness.

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After having taken a mindfulness bath,

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she goes down into the store and
goes back to where she had been before.

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Losing some of her strength.
That is the power of mindfulness.

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In the Buddhist tradition,

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we speak about 51 categories
of mental formations.

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As a novice monk, I had to know by heart
all these mental formations,

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so that every time one of them came up,

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I should be able
to call it by its true name,

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'Hello my fear, I know your name,
I am going to take good care of you.'

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Recognizing and embracing.
That's the first step of the practice.

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There are wholesome, positive seeds
down here, we mentioned mindfulness.

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We mentioned concentration,
we mentioned insight,

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we mentioned non-violence,
we mentioned joy, we mentioned compassion.

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There are many good things down there.

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And as a good practitioner,
we know how to recognize them

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and help them to come up
as frequently as possible,

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because they will make the landscape
of the mind consciousness beautiful.

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We are happy if we know

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how to invite them to manifest
as mental formations up here.

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As for the negative, unwholesome mental
formations like fear, anger, despair,

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we better keep them down there,
do not give them a chance to come up.

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And they will grow weaker
and weaker and weaker.

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We do that for ourselves and we do that
to help our beloved ones to do the same.

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(Bell)

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(Bell)

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If we speak about
the life of a school teacher,

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we know that there is suffering
inside of the teacher,

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and there is also suffering
inside of the students.

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That is why if school teachers know
how to handle their own suffering,

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if teachers know how to generate
joy and happiness

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they will become happy teachers,

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they will suffer less,

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and when they go to their class, they can
help their students to do the same.

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00:30:31,057 --> 00:30:34,176
During the last two decades
of the last century,

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00:30:34,382 --> 00:30:38,130
there was a professor of mathematics here,
in Toronto.

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He taught at the French Toronto School.

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He came to a retreat
organized in Montreal.

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He came back
and tried to put into practice

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the practice of mindful breathing
and walking.

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His name is Henry Keekoo

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00:31:06,042 --> 00:31:12,359
and he is director
of the program of mathematics

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in the Toronto French School.

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00:31:23,439 --> 00:31:27,795
Two journalist from The Globe and The Mail

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came to his class to interview him

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about why he wanted to introduce
Buddhism into his class.

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This is forbidden here in Canada.

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And then he invited the two journalist
to come to his class

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and see how he taught his students.

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The day he came home from the retreat
and resumed his class

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00:32:04,750 --> 00:32:09,980
he walked in mindfully,
slowly and mindfully.

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00:32:11,570 --> 00:32:17,361
And he came up to the blackboard
and he erased things mindfully,

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00:32:18,338 --> 00:32:21,785
and the students asked him,
'Papa, are you sick?'

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00:32:22,399 --> 00:32:24,957
(French) 'Papa, es tu malade?'

305
00:32:25,244 --> 00:32:28,339
'No, I am not sick,
I am practicing mindfulness.'

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(Laughter)

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00:32:31,062 --> 00:32:40,294
So he told the students about
what he has learned in the retreat.

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Breathing, walking, easing,
calming and so on.

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00:32:47,384 --> 00:32:53,551
And he proposed that
every half an hour, 15 minutes

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a boy would clap his hands three times,
replacing the bell of mindfulness

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and everyone practice mindful breathing
in and out to calm themselves.

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And the class made a lot of progress.

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there's a lot of joy
and progress in his class.

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00:33:20,773 --> 00:33:27,150
And he taught in many classes
of mathematics in that way.

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00:33:28,312 --> 00:33:32,348
So when the two journalist came,
they witnessed that,

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teacher and students sit down
and enjoy breathing together,

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breath out laughing together.

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00:33:46,368 --> 00:33:49,543
And every time they hear that (clapping),

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everyone stopped teaching, learning,
and enjoyed breathing in and out.

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00:33:56,375 --> 00:34:01,399
That had a good impact on the learning
and the teaching of the school.

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00:34:02,381 --> 00:34:09,344
So when the time for retirement came, they
asked him to stay for another three years.

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And other classes have adopted
his way of teaching.

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So for a teacher,

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or school teachers,

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00:34:37,379 --> 00:34:41,119
the first thing to do
is to come home to himself or herself.

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The way out is in.

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Go back to oneself
and take care of oneself.

328
00:35:03,403 --> 00:35:06,774
Learning how to generate a feeling of joy,

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00:35:06,893 --> 00:35:10,706
learning how to generate
a feeling of happiness,

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00:35:10,824 --> 00:35:18,664
learning how to handle
a painful feeling, a painful emotion.

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00:35:19,816 --> 00:35:22,255
Listening to the suffering

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00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:27,956
allow understanding and compassion
to be born and suffer less.

333
00:35:29,189 --> 00:35:35,189
This is the first step and he or she
has to do that. That is the first step.

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00:35:37,459 --> 00:35:42,630
A sangha, a community of practice
in the neighborhood can help him,

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00:35:43,531 --> 00:35:47,011
can help her to deepen their practice.

336
00:35:47,113 --> 00:35:49,981
You have to begin with yourself.

337
00:35:54,042 --> 00:36:02,273
And the school teacher also
has members of his family;

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a partner, children. So like that.

339
00:36:14,035 --> 00:36:21,524
So after he has done it for himself,
he can help the other to do the same.

340
00:36:22,527 --> 00:36:26,355
It's much easier. When you
have not changed yourself,

341
00:36:26,545 --> 00:36:30,105
it's very difficult to help
change the other person.

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00:36:30,266 --> 00:36:32,975
To help him or her suffer less.

343
00:36:33,207 --> 00:36:39,587
So with loving speech and deep listening,
with more peace and gentleness in yourself

344
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you become more pleasant.

345
00:36:42,257 --> 00:36:46,299
That is why you can help
the other person much more easily,

346
00:36:46,477 --> 00:36:52,118
and she or he will be able
to do the same thing.

347
00:36:53,228 --> 00:36:56,758
And we become co-practitioners.

348
00:36:57,739 --> 00:37:02,139
We share the same values,
we share the same spiritual practice.

349
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:07,580
Because we know that each day
the situation improves;

350
00:37:08,469 --> 00:37:12,860
there's more peace, less suffering,
more joy, more happiness

351
00:37:13,460 --> 00:37:17,400
and the children will profit from that.

352
00:37:21,882 --> 00:37:26,192
Because the children
can practice very well also.

353
00:37:26,721 --> 00:37:31,309
And when you have
a united harmonious family,

354
00:37:32,163 --> 00:37:36,294
then you can bring that
into your workplace.

355
00:37:38,653 --> 00:37:46,794
Then maybe first you have your class
and you transform your class.

356
00:37:47,854 --> 00:37:50,905
Your class becomes a happier place.

357
00:37:51,095 --> 00:37:54,455
Your class can become a family

358
00:37:54,795 --> 00:37:58,735
because there are many children
who are unfortunate.

359
00:38:00,674 --> 00:38:04,675
Their parents are not in good terms
with each other. They fight,

360
00:38:04,815 --> 00:38:06,995
they make each other suffer

361
00:38:07,243 --> 00:38:12,354
and the child has had no chance
to learn what love is.

362
00:38:18,234 --> 00:38:24,294
The class may be the second chance
for the child.

363
00:38:24,696 --> 00:38:29,165
And the school teacher can play
the role of the father or of the mother

364
00:38:29,547 --> 00:38:35,425
and can teach the young person
how to love, what is love.

365
00:38:36,566 --> 00:38:38,867
It's something real.

366
00:38:40,207 --> 00:38:44,147
I remember this summer opening
in Plum Village

367
00:38:47,537 --> 00:38:55,938
there was a child that
came up for questions and answers

368
00:38:57,808 --> 00:39:01,629
and she made the whole sangha cry.

369
00:39:02,929 --> 00:39:07,579
She said that her parents are divorced.
They fight each other,

370
00:39:08,189 --> 00:39:11,320
they make each other suffer

371
00:39:11,570 --> 00:39:17,841
and when they come, they still fight
each other in front of the child.

372
00:39:18,405 --> 00:39:26,364
And the child asked, 'What is love?
I don't know, what is love?

373
00:39:26,664 --> 00:39:31,245
Why do they fight so much,
even in front of us?'

374
00:39:31,425 --> 00:39:35,796
Many people cried. Very disturbing.

375
00:39:37,866 --> 00:39:46,786
So it is possible to give children
like that one a second chance

376
00:39:47,022 --> 00:39:51,894
by transforming the classroom
into a family,

377
00:39:52,604 --> 00:39:55,862
and Henry Keekoo was able to do so.

378
00:40:01,822 --> 00:40:08,393
There are other classes in the school
and there is the administration,

379
00:40:09,323 --> 00:40:16,196
and of course they will do everything
in order to improve the quality of life,

380
00:40:16,524 --> 00:40:20,014
the quality of teaching and learning
in the whole school.

381
00:40:29,519 --> 00:40:31,955
We continue tomorrow.

382
00:40:39,167 --> 00:40:40,535
(Bell)

383
00:40:43,977 --> 00:40:49,838
(Bell)

384
00:41:01,749 --> 00:41:07,549
(Bell)

385
00:41:47,096 --> 00:41:49,435
(Bell)