Dear friends, welcome to the retreat for educators.
This is a retreat,
therefore we will be practicing mindfulness.
Mindfulness of breathing,
mindfulness of walking,
mindfulness of eating and so on.
The practice of mindfulness...
...like your regrets...
... because your mind is focusing, only,
on one thing, it is our in-breath.
At the same time we release our fear,
our uncertainty about the future.
And we are freer, much freer.
So three or four seconds of breathing in
can bring us quite a bit of freedom.
Freedom from the past,
freedom from the future,
freedom from our projects, our anger and so on
because while breathing in
we focus our attention only on our in-breath.
And you don't have to suffer
while we breathe in.
In fact, it's very pleasant to breathe in.
We have lungs, still in good condition,
the air is not too bad,
so it is a pleasure to breathe in.
And there is the energy of mindfulness
that is born during the time you breathe in.
Is it OK?
Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something
and when you practice breathing in and out mindfully
that is called mindfulness of breathing.
When you practice walking mindfully that is called mindfulness of walking.
And when you eat your breakfast mindfully that is called mindfulness of eating.
The energy of mindfulness generated by the breathing or the walking
helps you to be there, well established in the present moment.
So breathing in you bring your mind home to your body
and you need only 2, 3 seconds in order to do that:
bringing our mind home to our body.
When mind and body are together
you are well established in the present moment.
And life, joy, happiness and peace
are available in the present moment.
Life with all the wonders and all refreshing and healing elements
are available in the present moment.
Because the past is already gone and the future is not yet there
that is why the present moment is the only moment when you can be truly alive.
You are not lost in the past, you are not lost in the future.
To go home to the present moment, that's easy.
You need to breathe in mindfully and bring your mind home to your body
and you are in touch with all the wonders of life that are there.
Breathing in can be a very pleasant thing to do.
Those of us who are used to the practice of mindful breathing,
we find breathing in mindfully very pleasant.
And when you breathe in mindfully you get in touch with something,
you get in touch with your body.
When you spend two hours with your computer
you forget entirely that you have a body.
And when mind is not with the body,
you are not truly alive, you are lost
in your work, in your worry, your fear, in your projects.
So to breathe in mindfully and bring mind home to our body.
You become fully alive, fully present.
Then you are in the situation to touch the wonders of life.
And our body is the first wonder of life.
It contains mother earth, father son, the stars and everything,
including our ancestors.
Breathing in I know I have a body and our body is a wonder.
So you can enjoy having a body.
But while breathing in you notice that there is tension and pain in your body.
You would like to do something in order to help your body feel better
because we may have allowed tension to be accumulated a little too much in our body.
We have worked our body too hard.
So when while breathing in if we notice there is tension in our body,
then while breathing out we may like
to allow the tension to be released from our body.
That is one of the most practiced exercises of mindful breathing.
Breathing in I am aware of my body and the tension in my body,
breathing out I release the tension in my body.
And this practice is possible when you sit in a car, when you sit in a train.
Everywhere you can practice mindful breathing
to be aware of your body and to release the tension in your body.
Of course, this exercise can be practiced in any kind of position -
sitting, lying down, walking, standing.
You can always enjoy the practice of mindful breathing
and release the tension in our body.
And if we do it well we can transmit the practice to our students
because they also have a lot of tension in their bodies.
There are school teachers who begin the class
by breathing in and out mindfully with their students.
It takes a few minutes; one or two or three.
They are trying together to be there
and to release the tension in their bodies.
It helps the work of teaching and learning.
We know that we don't have to be a Buddhist
in order to breathe in mindfully, breathe out mindfully.
There is another energy that goes along with mindfulness.
That is concentration.
When you are mindful of something, when you are very mindful something,
you are naturally concentrated on that something.
Look at that flower.
If we focus our mind on the flower,
we are mindful that the flower is there as a wonder.
Breathing in I'm aware of the presence of that flower.
If you continue to be mindful of the flower
you are concentrated on it.
So the energy of concentration is born from the energy of mindfulness
and that make us focus more attention.
Insight is a kind of understanding,
is a kind of awakening.
An insight may happen in just a few seconds
of mindfulness and concentration.
Suppose we practice breathing in mindfully.
Breathing in mindfully, I know I'm alive.
I am alive is an insight.
Many people are there but they are not aware that they are there, they are alive.
Albert Camus, the French novelist,
he spoke about a person
who was about to be executed
because he had killed someone.
Spending time in his cell in prison,
suddenly he saw the blue sky through the skylight.
It was the first time he saw the blue sky like that.
Of course he had seen the blue sky many times,
but this is the first time he saw the blue sky so deeply
because he had that kind of awareness.
(French) One moment of awareness.
He only had a few days in order to live before the execution.
A Catholic priest came
in order to perform the ritual that is needed for a dying person.
He did not want to allow the priest to come
because he believed that he is awake.
He is alive but the priest, he is not alive.
That mindfulness inhabits him but not the priest.
He said there are people who live like dead people.
It becomes a morgue.
There are people around us but they are not truly alive.
They carry their dead body and circulate around us
because they are not inhabited by the energy of mindfulness.
So when you breathe in that insight comes:
'Breathing in, I know I'm alive.'
Knowing that you are alive is already an insight.
To be alive is a miracle. It is a miracle to be alive.
That is the greatest of all miracles.
A person that is already dead does not breathe in anymore.
You who are breathing in, you are alive.
So just breathing in you touch the wonder,
the fact that you are alive.
That is an insight,
and that insight liberates you from forgetfulness, anger, fear.
Because life is so precious.
When you breathe out you can already celebrate the fact that you are alive.
Breathing in, I know I am alive.
Breathing out, I smile to life in me and around me.
That is a celebration of life.
You need only 2, 3 seconds in order to wake up to the fact that you are alive.
You are walking on this beautiful planet and every minute is precious.
Mindfulness allows you to live deeply every moment that is given you to live.
Mindfulness brings concentration and insight.
That insight has the power to liberate you from the things that are not so important.
You realize that to be alive
and to witness the wonders of life
that are fully present in the here and the now
is what you want the most.
Breathing in, I know I have a body.
Breathing out, I smile to my body,
because my body is my first true home.
Breathing in, I know there is tension in my body.
Breathing out, I allow the tension in my body to be released.
That is something everyone can do.
At any time of the day.
And it can become a habit, the habit of being relaxed.
The habit of being peace, peaceful.
Then more insight will come.
When you bring your mind home to your body,
your mind becomes one with your body.
This state of oneness between body and mind
you can recognize the many conditions of happiness
that are already there.
Many of us think that happiness is not possible now.
They don't believe it.
They think you should run into the future
and get some more conditions for happiness.
Most of us think and behave like that.
But with mindfulness we can establish ourselves in the present moment
and we can realize that we have so many conditions of happiness
that are already available.
More than enough for us to be joyful and to be happy,
right here and right now.
If we take a sheet of paper and write down the conditions of happiness that you have,
one page is not enough, two pages are not enough,
three pages are not enough,
ten pages are not enough.
We are very lucky, we are much luckier than many people on this planet.
So mindfulness allows us to recognize the many conditions of happiness
that are available.
That makes you generate a feeling of joy,
a feeling of happiness
easily and right away.
Suppose we practice mindfulness of the eyes.
Breathing in, I'm aware of my eyes.
Breathing out, I smile to my eyes.
When I'm mindful of my eyes I discover the insight
that I have eyes still in good condition.
If I open my eyes I can get in touch
with the paradise of forms and colors.
A paradise of forms and colors is available to me
in the present moment.
Because I have eyes, still in good condition.
For those of us who have lost our eyesight
our deepest desire may be
to recover our eyesight in order to enjoy,
just contemplate the paradise of forms and colors.
So our eyes, in good condition,
is one of the conditions of happiness.
Breathing in, becoming aware, mindful of our eyes
helps us to recognize one condition of happiness.
If we continue like that,
we see thousands of conditions of happiness
in our body; our heart still operates normally,
our lungs, our feet are strong enough for us to walk and climb.
So many conditions of happiness inside of us and around us.
More than enough for you to generate a feeling of joy,
a feeling of happiness, right here and right now.
You don't need to run into the future
to look for more conditions of happiness.
A good practitioner of mindfulness should be able to create a feeling of joy,
a feeling of happiness whenever she wants.
For her enjoyment, for her nourishment and healing.
Schoolteachers can afford joy and happiness
by the practice of mindfulness of breathing, of walking.
From your parking lot, walking to your school.
You can enjoy every step.
You can enjoy the practice of mindful walking.
You can combine your breath and your steps.
Breathing in you may like to make two steps.
You pay attention to the contact between your foot and the ground.
Don't let your mind here,
bring it down to the sole of your foot
and touch the ground mindfully.
Walk as if you kiss the Earth, Mother Earth, with your feet.
You are mindful of Mother Earth.
You are mindful of your touching of Mother Earth with your foot.
That can be very pleasant.
You don't have to suffer.
You don't have to make a special effort in order to do so.
While you touch the ground with your foot you can say, "I have arrived."
"I have arrived."
You can combine your in breath with two steps.
"I have arrived, I have arrived."
I have arrived at the destination of life
because life is in the here and the now.
I have arrived in the here and the now where life is available.
So, "I have arrived" means I have arrived in the present moment,
In the here and the now where life is available.
You arrive with every step, you arrive with every breath.
Because we have been running for our whole life.
We have been sacrificing the present moment
for the sake of the future.
We are not capable of being happy right in the present moment.
So now this is a kind of revolution.
A kind of a resistance.
You resist the running.
You don't want to run anymore.
You feel comfortable and at peace
in the present moment,
and that is why you pronounce the words,
"I have arrived in the here and the now, where life is.
I don't want to run anymore."
Mindfulness gives us enough strength in order to resist the running.
The running has become a strong habit for most of us.
So we stop running with every step,
I have arrived, I have arrived.
For those of us who are used to the practice
we can arrive 100% to the here and the now.
When you can arrive 100% to the here and the now
you feel peace and happiness right away.
In the beginning we might like to try slow walking meditation.
Breathing in you just make one step, not two steps.
And you say, "I have arrived."
Invest all your mind and body into the step
and try to arrive 100%
into the here and the now.
If you have not arrived 100%,
you might have arrived only 20%, 25%.
In that case don't make another step.
Stand here, breathe out and breathe in again.
Challenge yourself.
Until you can arrive 100% in the here and the now.
Then you smile, the smile of victory
and then you make another step.
I have arrived, I am home.
My home is right here in the present moment.
If you know how to walk like that,
touching the present moment deeply
you will find out, like us,
that the Kingdom of God is available in the here and the now on Earth.
You don't need to die in order to go to the Kingdom of God,
it may be too late.
But if you are inhabited by the energy of mindfulness,
concentration and insight
one step is enough for you to touch the Kingdom of God
in the here and the now.
It is very healing, very nourishing.
From the parking lot, walking to your classroom
you can walk like that.
Every step releases the tension in your body,
every step helps you to enjoy your body,
the blue sky, the white cloud,
the beautiful trees.
You are in the Kingdom of God.
That flower belongs to the Kingdom for me.
If you look deeply into a flower you see the Kingdom inside.
You see the Kingdom of God
and you see God in it.
A flower, a tree, a cloud,
everything is a manifestation from the Kingdom of God.
If you get in touch deeply with mindfulness and concentration
you get insight,
you know that the Kingdom is available
in the here and the now.
If you have some mindfulness, concentration,
then you have the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is available,
the problem is whether you are available to the Kingdom.
You don't have to go and look for the Kingdom elsewhere
or in the future. It is right there.
To make yourself available to the Kingdom,
that's not too difficult.
Just breathe in mindfully,
concentrating on your step and you touch the Kingdom.
With the practice,
you touch the Kingdom deeper and deeper every day.
The Kingdom is happiness.
You realize that true happiness is made of mindfulness,
concentration and insight.
True happiness is not made of fame,
power, wealth and sex.
Because there are those who have plenty of these four things
but they suffer very deeply.
True happiness is made of understanding, insight and love.
The energy of mindfulness, concentration and insight
brings you understanding, compassion, love and joy.
So a practitioner of mindfulness
is capable of generating a feeling of joy,
a feeling of happiness whenever he wants.
Because the energy of mindfulness helps him
to get in touch with the many conditions of happiness
which are already available,
even the Kingdom is available.
The practice of mindfulness is the practice of joy.
It is an art of living.
With mindfulness, concentration and insight
you can always generate
a feeling of joy and happiness for yourself.
Then with the energy of mindfulness you can also handle a painful feeling,
a painful emotion.
If you do not have the energy of mindfulness,
you'll be afraid of being overwhelmed by the pain,
the suffering inside.
That is why many of us are trying to run away from ourselves.
We think that if we go home to ourselves
we have to encounter a block of pain,
sorrow, fear and despair in us.
That is why most of us are trying to run away from ourselves.
We try to consume in order to cover up the suffering inside.
We try to eat something, we try to listen to music,
we try to go to the Internet.
We try to pick up a newspaper, we try to do everything
in order to get busy
and not to have to encounter the loneliness,
the despair, the anger inside of us.
We are afraid of our own suffering.
But those of us who know the practice of mindfulness,
we are not afraid.
Because generating the energy of mindfulness
we can go home with strength,
with that energy of mindfulness
we can recognize the pain and embrace it tenderly.
You can smile to your pain, your sorrow, your fear.
The suffering inside yourself,
you know how to handle it.
So mindfulness, beside the power to help you to create joy and happiness,
it helps you know how to suffer,
how to handle pain, sorrow and fear in us.
The way a mother does, holding her baby.
When the baby suffers,
the mother picks the baby up
and holds the baby tenderly like this.
The mother is made of tenderness.
The mother does not know yet why the baby suffers.
But the fact that she's holding the baby tenderly, like this,
can help the baby suffer less.
Already.
The practitioner of mindfulness does very much the same.
First of all, he recognizes the pain inside of him,
and secondly he holds, he embraces that pain tenderly.
Breathing in I know that anger is in me,
that despair is in me.
Breathing out, I smile and hold my anger,
mindfully and tenderly.
If you continue to breathe and to walk like that,
embracing your fear, your anger, you suffer less.
After a few minutes of practice
like the baby being held by the mother
suffers less.
The fact is that if we know how to suffer
we suffer much less than other people.
We are not overwhelmed by the suffering.
And the way is simple.
With the practice of mindful breathing, mindful walking
you have enough of that energy called mindfulness.
And with that energy
you will not be overwhelmed by the pain inside.
With that energy you can recognize your pain
and embrace it.
Maybe in the beginning we need someone else to support us.
Someone else sitting with us,
walking with us, breathing in mindfully,
walking mindfully.
who lends us his or her energy of mindfulness.
Because if we are a beginner in the practice
our mindfulness might not be strong enough
to do the work of recognizing and holding the pain.
So with a friend, with a co-practitioner doing the same, we are stronger.
If you have 3 friends, 4, 5 doing that then it is much easier for you
to recognize the pain in you and to embrace the pain
and suffer less after a few minutes of practice.
If schoolteachers know how to do that, they can teach their students.
Because although they are still young,
but already they have a lot of pain and suffering in them.
We can, as teachers, breathe in and out
generating the energy of mindfulness
and help our students to suffer less.
That is a very beautiful thing to see.
If teachers know how to do that,
they can transmit the practice to the students.
And then, holding the suffering and listening to our suffering
we'll come to understand the nature of our suffering.
Understanding suffering will always bring about compassion.
And compassion is the fourth kind of energy
born from mindfulness, concentration and insight.
Compassion has the power to heal.
It can transform anger.
Anger makes us sick.
Compassion is the antidote for anger.
When you look at him or her,
if you are mindful enough, concentrated enough,
you can see a lot of suffering in that person.
That person has a lot of suffering in him or in her,
but does not know how to handle the suffering,
does not know how to suffer less.
That person continues to be a victim of his own suffering.
No one, so far, has helped him to suffer less.
That is why he continues to be the victim of his suffering.
And if you suffer you are the victim number 2.
Because when you suffer
and you don't know how to handle your suffering,
you make the people around you suffer also,
even if it is the closest people to you.
So when you have time and mindfulness to look into that person
and if you can recognize the suffering in that person,
the difficulties in that person,
seeing that he's the victim of his own suffering,
he's helpless,
anger in you is dissolved.
Because your insight about suffering
has brought in compassion in your heart.
So getting in touch with suffering always helps us to be compassionate.
That is mindfulness of suffering.
Mindfulness of suffering is a kind of practice
that can generate the energy of compassion.
When you are mindful of his or her suffering,
you begin to understand the suffering in him or in her.
And that understanding removes the anger from inside of you.
You don't have the intention to punish him anymore.
To say something or to do something to punish him,
because he has dared to make you suffer.
So it is clear
that understanding suffering always brings the energy of compassion.
And the energy of compassion always heals and you suffer less.
When you suffer, you look at him or her
and don't suffer anymore.
It means you already have compassion in your heart.
Now you can practice deep listening,
compassionate listening to help him suffer less.
The other person may be our partner,
our husband, our wife, our colleague.
When you have seen the suffering in that person,
you are motivated by a desire to help him or her suffer less.
Mindfulness of speaking, mindfulness of listening
helps you to do so.
Compassionate listening and loving speech can restore communication
and help you to reconcile with that person.
So if you can see the suffering in him or in her,
you just come to that person and say,
"My friend, darling,
I know you have suffered quite a lot during the past many years.
I have not been able to help you to suffer less.
In fact, I have reacted in such a way
that made you suffer more.
I'm sorry.
It is not my intention to make you suffer, darling,
just because I did not see and understand your suffering.
If I had understood your suffering,
I would not have reacted the way I have.
So please help me, tell me what is in your heart.
Tell me of your suffering, your difficulties,
help me to understand."
That is the kind of talking we call loving speech.
If you have some amount of compassion in your heart,
you can talk like that.
In the beginning you don't believe
that you can talk to him or to her like that,
because you are so angry at that person.
But now, as you have seen and understood the suffering in that person,
you are motivated by a desire to help him or her suffer less.
So you can talk like that with him or her
in a language called loving speech,
compassionate speech.
That can always open the heart,
open the door of the heart of someone.
Then you can sit there and listen.
During the time of listening,
you maintain compassion alive in your heart
so you can listen for one hour or more.
Because compassion protects you.
While telling you things the other person may be bitter, angry.
What the other person says
may be full of bitterness, full of wrong perceptions.
What you hear might touch on the anger and irritation in you,
and you lose your capacity of listening.
But if you practice mindful breathing
and preserve compassion in you, you are protected.
Breathing in and out you remind yourself
that I listen to him with only one purpose,
to help him empty his heart and suffer less.
Therefore, even if he says wrong things,
I will not interrupt him and correct him.
Because if I did,
I would transform the session into a debate
and I ruin the session.
Later on, in a few days,
I may offer him or her some information
to help him or her to correct his perceptions.
But not now.
Now is only listening.
If you can breathe in and out and maintain that awareness alive,
you are protected by compassion
and you can listen for the whole hour deeply.
That will be very healing to him or to her.
The practice of listening to the suffering has to begin with ourselves.
We have to go home and listen to our own suffering.
Then, when we have suffered less,
when we have enough compassion,
we begin to listen to the other person.
The other person is our partner,
or our father or mother
or whoever lives with us in the same house.
Then, when we have restored communication
and reconciled with that person,
we are stronger.
Then we can bring the practice to our school.
We can practice with our colleagues in school
and our students,
because all of them suffer.
The students may believe
that their teachers do not suffer,
only they suffer, not their teachers.
We should tell them that that's not the truth.
We, schoolteachers, we suffer like you.
But as I have learned how to handle my suffering,
I suffer less now.
If you want, I can help you to practice
in order to suffer less.
You have difficulties with your parents,
with your family, with your studies.
We can spend time together and help each other to suffer less.
So that kind of deep listening and loving speech,
practiced with our students,
helps remove the obstacles between teachers and students.
If they understand your suffering,
they will not continue to make you suffer anymore.
If we understand their suffering,
we will know how to help them to suffer less.
Together we improve the quality of teaching and of learning,
and the classroom becomes a very pleasant place to be
for both sides.
(Bell)
Dear friends, you may massage your feet if you like.
I draw a circle,
representing the schoolteacher.
The schoolteacher has his partner,
his son and daughter and so on.
So we are eager to help our partner, other members of our family
to suffer less.
And we are eager also
to help our colleagues in schools and our students
to suffer less.
We have the tendency of trying to do something.
"I want to do something to improve the situation."
That's what we want.
But according to this practice,
we should not be too eager to do something right away.
The first thing is to go home to us.
With the practice of mindful breathing,
with the practice of mindful walking,
we can calm down our feelings, our emotions,
we can bring in a feeling of joy and happiness to nourish us.
We can listen to our own suffering
in order to allow the energy of compassion
to be born and to heal.
That is what we should begin with.
We can do that with the support of co-practitioners.
Those who share the same kind of insight
as how to improve the situation.
When you have enough peace, joy and compassion,
and you suffer less,
you can go to him or to her, your partner,
the person who is closest to you
and help him or her to do the same.
Of course, the other person has to do like you.
You help him or her to go back to herself
and take care of the things inside.
How to release the tension in the body,
how to generate a feeling of joy or happiness,
how to listen to the suffering inside
and understand the suffering inside.
The suffering inside of us carries within itself
the suffering of our father,
of our mother, of our ancestors, of our nation.
If we understand our suffering,
we understand the suffering of our father, our mother,
our ancestors, our nation.
We suffer less.
We have enough compassion to help.
After having helped the people in our own family,
we have a stronger support at home.
Now we can begin to go
and help the people in our workplace,
our colleagues and our students.
The principle is very much the same,
helping them to go home to themselves and take care.
Always we have to begin like this.
They can also help you to help other people.
The principle is: the way out is in.
The way out is in.
Tomorrow we shall have walking meditation together.
There are those of us who know the practice.
We shall practice
and support those of us who are new in the practice.
Every step can generate the energy of peace.
Every step can release the tension in our body,
every step can help us get in touch
with the wonders of life that can nourish and heal.
If we have enough mindfulness and concentration,
we can touch Mother Earth,
we can touch the Kingdom of God with every step.
Later on,
we can walk like that on the railway station,
on the airport,
from the parking lot to our school,
and enjoy the Kingdom with every step.
I have arrived,
I have arrived.
Two steps while breathing in.
If you like, you can make three steps.
I have arrived,
arrived, arrived.
I have arrived is not a statement.
That is a realization,
because you have to arrive truly in the here and the now
with every step.
We have to train ourselves walking in the Kingdom of God.
If you make two steps while breathing in,
then you may like to make three steps while breathing out.
You say, "I am home,
I am home, home."
So the rhythm is 2-3.
I have arrived, I have arrived,
I am home, I am home, I am home.
In Plum Village we teach the children to do the same.
We begin saying...
to teach them how to say 'yes'.
Breathing in, you say
(French) 'yes, yes'.
Teaching the children to say 'yes'.
Because many of them say no, no, no.
(Laughter)
There are so many things that you have to say yes to.
The blue sky, the flowers,
many things you have to say yes to.
So breathing in, they make two steps
and they say,
(French) 'yes, yes'.
While breathing out, they say,
(French) 'thank you, thank you, thank you.'
So you can invent your own words
in order to help you to concentrate.
I have arrived, I have arrived,
I am home, home, home,
are words that can help you to concentrate
so that you can arrive truly.
I have arrived, I am home.
Later on you may change,
"In the here, in the here,
in the now, now, now."
Because that is the address of life,
the address of the Kingdom of God.
Later on, you may say,
"I am solid, solid.
I am free, free, free."
That is not autosuggestion.
Because if you are mindful
and making steps and arriving at every step,
you are truly solid.
You are anchored,
you are established in the here and the now,
you are not being pulled away by the past or by the future.
Every step helps you
to cultivate more solidity.
"I am solid, I am solid.
I am free, I am free, I am free."
This is not political freedom.
This is freedom from the past, the future, our worries.
Because as you are solidly established in the here and the now,
you are free from the regrets, the sorrow concerning the past,
the fear, the uncertainty concerning the future.
You walk as a free person.
From the parking lot,
walking to your school,
you walk as a free person.
You stop all the thinking.
Because the thinking removes you from the here and the now.
That is Noble Silence.
There is a radio that is going on all the time
called NST, Non Stop Thinking.
While sitting, breathing and walking,
we turn off that radio, Non Stop Thinking,
and we enjoy more every step, every breath.
The healing and the nourishment take place much more easily
than with the thinking.
That is the mental discourse always going on in our head.
If you are truly focused on your breath, on your steps,
you stop the thinking easily
and you enjoy the Kingdom of God with every step.
It is a habit.
It is like when you learn playing ping-pong,
or tennis,
you need some training.
This is the same.
You get the habit
of enjoying the breathing and the walking.
We have that song,
"I have arrived,
I am home,
in the here, in the now.
I am solid, I am free."
Solidity and freedom make you a happy person.
A person who does not have stability and solidity
cannot be a happy person.
A person who does not have any freedom
from anger, fear, the past and the future
cannot be a happy person.
I am solid, I am free.
That is a conformation.
In the ultimate I dwell,
in the Kingdom of God I walk.
Shall we sing together?
# I have arrived, I am home,
# in the here and in the now.
# I have arrived, I am home,
# in the here and in the now.
# I am solid, I am free,
# I am solid, I am free.
# In the ultimate I dwell.
# I have arrived, I am home,
# in the here and in the now.
# I have arrived, I am home,
# in the here and in the now.
# I am solid, I am free.
# In the ultimate I dwell.
# In the ultimate I dwell. #
(Bell)
So during the walking,
not only we do not speak,
but we also do not think.
Because the thinking removes you
from the here and the now.
I think, therefore I am not there.
You observe what we call Noble Silence.
This is a kind of silence that is very eloquent.
It allows you to be fully alive, fully present
and enjoy every step, enjoy every breath.
When every one of us breathes and walks together like that
we can generate a very powerful collective energy.
That will penetrate into everyone
and help with the healing and the transformation.
The same thing is true
with sitting together and breathing together.
The next thing we do
is to share a meal together.
That is called mindful eating.
We allow the talking to stop,
we allow the thinking to stop.
We just enjoy our togetherness
and the meal.
Because everyone can participate,
can contribute
to the collective energy of mindfulness and joy.
During the time we have dinner,
we focus our attention only on two things.
First of all,
is the food that we are serving, that we are eating.
We breathe in and out
and become aware of the vegetables,
of the rice,
of whatever we are eating.
When I pick up a piece of carrot,
I do it mindfully
and I take one second to look at the piece of carrot.
Only one second.
One second is enough
to see that there is the sunshine in the carrot,
there is the rain in the carrot,
there is the good earth in the carrot,
time, space, the farmer, the transporter and so on.
The piece of carrot carries within itself
the whole cosmos.
One second of looking mindfully
can put you in touch with the whole cosmos.
One second only.
Then you put it into your mouth mindfully.
Don't put anything else,
like your worries, your projects.
Just the piece of carrot.
Get in touch with the piece of carrot that represents the cosmos.
In the Catholic tradition,
celebrating the Eucharist
you see the piece of bread as the body of Jesus.
But in this practice,
we see the piece of bread as the body of the cosmos.
Not very far. It is the same thing.
You get in touch with the wonders of life.
The stars, the sun, Mother Earth
and the cosmos that have come to you
in the form of a piece of carrot to nourish you.
That is love.
And when you chew, you chew only the piece of carrot
and not our projects, our anger, our fear.
Not good for our health.
So we can enjoy eating each morsel of our dinner in that way.
Thankful, joyful,
grateful.
The second object of our mindfulness
is the presence of other practitioners around us.
They are eating the same way,
generating the energy of mindfulness and joy
so that we will be nourished not only by the food,
but by the collective energy of brotherhood, sisterhood,
peace and joy.
Because eating like that can be very joyful.
Although we are silent.
But a Noble Silence is very eloquent.
It speaks a lot about togetherness,
brotherhood, sisterhood and so on.
In Plum Village we always enjoy our breakfast, our lunch,
our dinner together.
Eating like that can be nourishing
for the body and for the spirit at the same time.
Every time we hear the bell,
the bell is a reminder.
It helps us to stop the thinking,
to stop the talking
and begin to be,
to be alive in the here and the now.
To come home to the here and the now.
Sister Dao
will offer us
half a sound of the bell.
(Bell)
That is a half sound.
Again please.
(Bell)
That is a half sound.
When you hear the half sound,
you know that a full sound is going to happen very soon.
So you have about 8 seconds to prepare yourself
to receive the full sound.
When you hear a half sound,
you stop talking, you stop thinking,
you begin to breathe in mindfully and breathe out mindfully.
It takes 6, 7, 8 seconds.
Then you are ready to receive the full sound.
The bell master, after the half sound,
allows you to have enough time
to prepare for the reception of the full sound.
Please.
(Bell)
That sound does not exactly come from the outside.
It comes from the inside.
It is the voice from the Buddha from within
calling us to go home to ourselves.
It is the voice of Jesus Christ
calling us to go home to ourselves,
to be alive again.
To be resurrected again.
Without mindfulness we are not alive.
We live like dead people.
The bell helps us
to come home to ourselves with mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the Holy Spirit.
When we have mindfulness in ourselves,
we are fully alive,
we are fully present to live our life.
Mindfulness has the power to heal.
Jesus is inhabited by the Holy Spirit.
In the Buddhist tradition,
we see that the Holy Spirit is made of three elements:
mindfulness, concentration, insight.
That will bring compassion to you.
So it is not something vague, abstract.
With the practice we can generate
mindfulness, concentration and insight.
We can allow the Holy Spirit to inhabit us
for the healing and the transformation to be possible.
During the time we sit together,
and listen and breathe together,
the bell helps us to go home to the here and the now.
There is a practice called deep listening.
We don't listen just with our ears.
We can invite all the cells in our body
to join us in listening.
The sound of the bell will penetrate deep into every cell of our body.
That is possible.
We know that all our ancestors,
blood and spiritual ancestors,
they are fully present in every cell of our body.
We may like to invite all of them
to join us in listening to the bell.
And become alive again.
We think that our ancestors are no longer alive.
That is not true.
They are always alive in every cell of our body.
We can get in touch with them at any time we want.
We can talk to them.
We can invite them to walk with us,
to breathe with us
and to listen to the bell with us.
When you hear the bell,
you may like to invite all your ancestors in you
to join you in listening.
Listening like that can be very healing,
transforming also.
The bell master is there to help us
to go home to ourselves
and enjoy breathing.
Usually when you hear the full sound of the bell,
you practice breathing in and out three times.
Breathing in you say,
"I listen, I listen."
And if you have all your ancestors listening with you,
you say, "We listen, we listen."
This is not an "I", this is a "we".
"We listen, we listen."
And while breathing out, you say,
"This wonderful sound
brings us back to our true home."
Our true home is here and now.
Our true home is the Kingdom of God.
Breathing in, I say,
"We listen, we are truly listening."
Breathing out, I say,
"This wonderful sound brings us back
to our true home, to the Kingdom of God."
You enjoy breathing in and out three times.
Then the bell master may invite the second sound.
And every one of us have a chance to enjoy
three more in-breaths and out-breaths that way.
Three sounds of the bell mean
nine in-breaths and out-breaths.
A good bell master would allow ourselves
enough time to enjoy...
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... with mindfulness, concentration, insight and compassion
that will help to heal us.
(Bell)
The energy is good.
(Laughter)
Now let us massage our feet
and be ready to stand up when we hear the small bell.
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by viewers like you.)
(Donate at http://pvom.org)
(Thank you for your generosity)
(The Plum Village Online Monastery)