[Bell]
THE PATH OF THE BUDDHA Summer Retreat 2009
Plum Village Sơn Hạ Temple
THE MAIN TAKEAWAYS OF THE DISCOURSE ON MINDFUL BREATHING
July 21, 2009 — Sư Ông Làng Mai (Plum Village Grandpa Teacher)
[Thay bowing in]
Dear Sangha, today is July 21, 2009.
We are currently at Sơn Hạ Temple, Plum Village France,
in the Summer Retreat 2009.
I've promised that today I'll be talking about the 16 mindful breathing exercises succinctly.
In fact, it will need 21 days
in order to fully explain the 16 mindful breathing exercises.
But we only have 1 hour today so we're speaking about it succinctly.
When I wrote "Old Path White Cloud,"
it was wintertime.
It was very cold.
There was no central heating.
In my room, there was a...
a wood-burning fireplace.
And I held my left hand over the fire to keep it warm.
And I used my right hand to write "Old Path White Cloud."
Every day I spent many hours writing.
And...
there's a lot of happiness writing "Old Path White Cloud."
Even though...
in the hut, there was no central heating, and there wasn't much material comfort,
the happiness was very great.
And while writing, I was certain the readers would be happy.
Because if the writer was happy,
the readers would be happy, too.
When Mr. Modi
proposed a film adaptation of "Old Path White Cloud,"
I told him, "As you're making this film,
if you work and practice mindfulness at the same time,
the film will have much more value.
While making this film, if you're happy and if you practice mindfulness at the same time,
when the film is released for the public to see,
viewers will feel happy and inspired to practice mindfulness.
And so, from director to actors and actresses,
all should practice mindfulness at work.
And after we're done making the film,
we'll have already been transformed and happy ourselves — we'll have changed.
And certainly when the audience see it, they will change.
They will be very happy."
So does Parallax Press publisher. So does Palm Leaves Press publisher.
We publish books that many people read and practice accordingly.
Working at these publishers, we have to practice mindfulness ourselves.
When we print the books,
when we release the books,
we have to practice what we have mentioned in the books.
And with that, when the seeds are good, the fruits will come along nicely.
And so, I really hope that you,
while figuring out ways
to share the mindful breathing practice to the world,
you yourselves will also practice mindfulness during the whole time.
And practicing like that will bring about immediate happiness for all of us,
in the here and now, while at work.
The day I discovered the Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing,
I was extremely happy.
It's like I'd just discovered a treasure chest.
And
it felt like I was the happiest person in the world.
And for that reason,
I have taught, I have presented, I have instructed
many, many practitioners.
And as always, I've had a lot of happiness.
And those who get to hear the teachings
and practice accordingly have also had a lot of happiness.
And so,
I believe, in the following hour or so,
I'll present the 16 breathing exercises in such a way that allows you to
grasp the teachings and practice successfully right away.
And while looking for ways to share this practice with others,
you will have already dwelled in the happiness of practicing it.
The Buddha did propose 16 exercises for mindful breathing.
And I have studied them very carefully.
I have put the teachings into practice, in my own life.
And what I have taught is from direct experiences
rather than academic research and book knowledge.
And I believe while making this film, building up the plot of narrative,
we have to also live that Dharma, that true teaching.
So that when the viewers watch the movie,
they'll be able to receive the practice in a concrete way
and apply them into their daily life.
We know that the 1st exercise that the Buddha suggested practicing
is "mere recognition."
Mere recognition here means merely recognizing the breaths.
When we breathe in, we know that this is an in-breath.
And when we breathe out, we know this is an out-breath.
So the...
the purpose of the 1st exercise
is recognizing the in-breaths, recognizing the out-breaths.
When we breathe in, we know we are breathing in.
When we breathe out, we know we are breathing out.
So, this exercise is not difficult at all.
Even children can do it.
But its benefit is unparalleled.
It's because when we want to recognize something,
we have to be present to recognize "something" is there.
When we breathe in, we know it's an in-breath.
Naturally, our mind takes hold of the breaths.
It's aware that this is an in-breath.
And when putting our mind to the breath, we no longer ruminate about the past,
we're no longer worried about the future. The mind is with the body.
That's the result you get right away while practicing recognizing the breaths.
Breathing in, I know this is an in-breath.
Breathing out, I know this is an out-breath.
We humans
live in forgetfulness,
the opposite of mindfulness.
So the body is in one place, and the mind, another.
And so, the body and the mind are not in unison.
And for that reason, we are not truly present.
We are not truly present in the moment.
And we cannot live deeply the present moment.
So, this 1st breathing exercise
is to bring the mind home to the body.
And when the mind already comes back to the body,
we are truly present.
And when we are truly present, we touch deeply the miracles of life
that are currently available in and around us.
By merely recognizing the breath,
"this is an in-breath," and "this is an out-breath,"
we can already do this.
And so, while driving, we can practice this exercise.
Breathing in, we know this is the in-breath.
Breathing out, we know this is the out-breath.
Doing the dishes, we can do the same.
At any moment of our daily life, we can always practice this 1st exercise,
bringing the mind back to the body
to truly be present, to live deeply that moment.
Recognizing the breaths is the practice of the 1st mindful breathing exercise.
The 2nd exercise is "following the breaths."
Each breath has its own length — with the starting point and the ending point.
And while breathing in, we should follow the breath from the beginning till the end.
I am breathing in and I know I am breathing in.
Our attention is completely devoted to the breath.
And not a single moment is our attention diverted from the breath.
We stick our attention to the breaths, which is called "following the breaths,"
or "tùy tức" in Vietnamese — with "tùy" meaning "to follow closely behind."
For example, this marker represents the in-breath.
And this finger of mine represents the attention of my mind.
When I start breathing, my finger sticks to the marker. My attention sticks to the breath.
And for the entire in-breath, I'm completely focused on the in-breath,
and so my concentration is not at all interrupted.
Perhaps in the 1st breathing exercise,
although I was able to recognize "this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath,"
the concentration might not have been as devoted as that in the 2nd exercise.
Because in the 2nd breathing exercise, I've been able to completely follow the breath,
never leaving the in-breath, and never leaving the out-breath.
It's called "following the breath," "tùy tức."
And in this 2nd exercise, we see clearly that our mindfulness and concentration
are more stable, deeper, more solid and strengthful.
And of course, when our mindfulness and concentration become more stable and solid,
we are more stably and solidly present in the moment.
And when we are truly present in this moment,
we can touch the wonders of life more deeply.
We are truly living our life.
For example, we are standing in front of a brilliant, majestic sunset scenery.
If our mind is not there, the beauty of the setting sun is not for us.
Other people, because they are truly present, can truly dwell in that beautiful scenery.
Meanwhile, although we're physically there, our mind is in the past, or the future,
feeling worried and afflicted, so we are not there at all,
and we cannot be nourished by the beautiful sunset scenery.
And so, the 1st exercise brings the mind back to the body so that we can be truly present.
And in the 2nd exercise, we are present continuously — uninterruptedly,
so the brilliant and majestic sunset is all ours.
All the miracles of life in and around us are always there.
But because we aren't present, we cannot be nourished by them.
Therefore, these first two breathing exercises help us to come back to ourselves,
to be truly present, and to touch these miracles of life — that is called "living."
From being a dead person, we become alive.
Living like a dead person, like Albert Camus wrote in "L'Étranger," or "The Stranger",
that man lived like a dead person.
We live like someone who is alive because we have the mind being with the body.
The 3rd breathing exercise is "being aware of the whole body."
While breathing in and breathing out,
we are generating an energy called "mindfulness."
This energy allows us to be present, or makes us present, in the moment.
And so, we can define "mindfulness" as the energy
which helps us be truly present in the moment, and aware of what is going on in that moment.
That's the definition of "mindfulness."
And that energy is generated by ourselves while breathing in and breathing out.
And with that energy, now we can recognize the presence of our form, our body.
That is the purpose of the 3rd breathing exercise.
Breathing in, I am aware of the presence of my whole body.
And with that, it's like we're using the energy of mindfulness to embrace the whole body.
A true homecoming, a true reunion, between the body and the mind.
Very deep.
Breathing in, I am aware of the presence of my whole body.
Here, we have the awareness of the body. But that "body" is only limited to the breath.
Because the breaths belong to the body.
And we begin our homecoming. And our breaths are the gateway.
First of all, we come back to our breaths.
Once we already come back to the breaths, we come back to the whole body.
So the 3rd exercise is different from the 1st and the 2nd.
It has a very good order.
Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I know my body is here.
It is a reunion between the body and the mind.
And while driving, while doing the dishes, while sweeping the floor, or making breakfast,
we can practice this 3rd exercise,
as well as the 1st and the 2nd exercises.
And when we're present for the body, we can...
discover one thing, that is, in our body, there are pains and aches.
That is, in our body, there are stress and tensions that we've bottled up for so long.
Because all these years, we haven't practiced mindfulness.
We've allowed all the stress and pains to be accumulated.
And with time, illnesses manifest one after another.
And now we come back to the body.
We are awakened. We realize there are pains and there are tensions in the body.
And so we really need the 4th breathing exercise.
The 4th exercise is "releasing and relaxing the whole body."
"Releasing and relaxing the whole body" means to calm, or to soothe, our body.
It means we practice in such a way that these tensions can go out of our body.
And when these tensions are relieved,
pains and aches will follow that lead to be reduced as well.
When we have a lot of stress, there will be plenty of pains and aches.
And plenty of stress and pains will bring on one disease after another.
First come physical illnesses, then mental illnesses.
And so, the... the...
the 3rd and the 4th exercises have enormous healing powers.
They have the value of prevention, and they have the value of healing.
If we practice, we will not have stress, pains, and those illnesses.
And if we have already had tensions, pains, and illnesses,
practicing these exercises will embark us on the healing journey. Very wonderful.
And all it takes is breathing to prevent illnesses.
All it takes is breathing to help treat already-manifested illnesses.
So "releasing and relaxing the whole body" can be done in a sitting position,
or in a lying position.
Even in the positions of standing and walking, we can still release and relax the whole body.
When practicing walking meditation, we don't feel stressed at all.
Each of such mindful steps helps us unclench and abandon all the stress and tensions.
Walk like jaunting.
"The endless path is turned to joy." (from poem "Peace is every step")
So the path is no longer long.
And we have happiness in each footstep, we no longer walk like being chased by ghosts.
And so, while walking, we can still release and relax the whole body,
and let go of all the tensions.
And walking meditation, first of all, is to drop all the stress and tensions
so that we can walk in the Pure Land.
And if we loosen up and take mindful steps,
each step will help us get in touch with the wonders of the earth and the sky,
of the blue sky, the white clouds,
the birds singing, the pines cheering, the flowers blooming.
And the Pure Land is present in the here and now.
The Pure Land is no longer a dream for the future.
For the blue sky, white clouds, singing birds, cheering pines, and blooming flowers
are all miracles of life that are truly present.
If they don't belong to the Pure Land, what do they belong?
We ourselves are also the same, we also belong to the Pure Land.
But we don't know that so we cause ourselves pains and sorrows.
We become increasingly estranged from the Pure Land.
And when we come back to ourselves, when we can release and relax,
dwelling peacefully in the present moment,
suddenly we can be in touch with the Pure Land all around and right inside our own body.
Our bodies also belong to the Pure Land.
They are also belongings of Amitabha Buddha, and of Shakyamuni Buddha.
Our bodies... Don't spoil our bodies,
poor Amitabha and Shakyamuni Buddhas.
So, these first four breathing exercises relate to the body.
Contemplation of the body in the body.
And it brought... It can already bring about a lot of happiness for us.
So far, we've just practiced with the body, not the mind yet.
Simply coming back to the body, we can already let go of pain and suffering,
and start having happinesses.
[Touching the bell once]
[Bell]
As for the 5th exercise, we move on to the arena of feelings.
We can look at our own body as a river.
In that river, each cell is a drop of water.
Because the body is in a momentary flux of change.
In each moment, there are cells that have just died.
And in each moment, there are cells that have just been born.
It is not an inanimate reality.
It is impermanence. It is a river.
So now, we are sitting on the bank of the second river,
also within our body, which is the river of feelings.
There's a river of feelings flowing night and day. And each drop of water...
Each feeling in that river is a drop of water in the river.
The feelings arise, stay for some time, and fade away
to give place to newly-arisen feelings,
and we have a river of feelings.
And the 5th exercise helps us learn to bring ourselves the feeling of joy.
A practitioner must be capable of bringing a feeling of joy for themselves.
Because we really need nourishment.
"Bringing ourselves the feeling of joy."
Or we can make it short, "bringing ourselves joy".
And the 6th exercise is "bringing ourselves the feeling of happiness."
It means, a practitioner should be capable of generating their own joy.
A practitioner should be capable of generating their own happiness.
And so, we can...
we can call the 5th exercise,
"generating our own joy"
— "generating our own joy,"
and the 6th exercise, "generating our own happiness."
If you brother haven't been able to generate joy for yourself,
you're not a good practitioner yet.
If you sister haven't been able to generate happiness for yourself,
you're not a good practitioner yet.
But how do we generate joy and generate happiness?
Because we really need moments of joy, and moments of happiness
in order to be nourished.
Because we all have pain and suffering that need to be embraced and transformed.
But if we're not strong enough, we won't be able to embrace and transform our own sufferings.
And for that reason, the Buddha said,
in order to have enough strength to embrace and transform our sufferings,
we have to nourish ourselves with the joys and happinesses that we can generate ourselves.
And so, the 5th exercise is to create joy.
The 6th exercise is to create happiness.
Joy, in the sutra, is called "hỷ."
"Chế tác hỷ," or "generating joy."
And happiness, in the sutra, is called "lạc."
"Chế tác lạc" or "generating happiness."
You know, the Buddha taught us many, many methods
to bring ourselves the feeling of joy, and to bring ourselves the feeling of happiness
Anytime we want, we can always have joy, and we can always have happiness.
It's that wonderful.
First of all,
it's the method of letting go.
Letting go.
Letting go can bring joy and happiness.
This, in Vietnamese, is called "ly sinh..."
"ly sinh hỷ"
and "ly sinh lạc,"
meaning "joy is born out of letting go," and "happiness is born out of letting go."
Here's an example.
Let's say we are living in a big city, very noisy, very polluted.
And on the weekend, we want to get away from that cityscape.
We get our car or motorbike ready.
We bring some...
...water and food with us.
And we purposely go to the country to spend the weekend.
And an hour later, we leave the city behind.
And we start seeing in the distance luscious green paddies and terraces,
feeling the wind blowing against our cheeks,
hearing the birds singing, and seeing coconut and palm trees.
We feel so happy.
This kind of happiness that we have is all thanks to our ability to leave behind
that polluted and noisy city.
And so, letting go is one of the practices that can bring joy and happiness.
It's called "letting go gives birth to joy," and "letting go gives birth to happiness."
There are many things we can let go of.
For example, we have an idea.
We have an idea, like "If I don't have that, I'll never feel happy,"
or, "If I don't..."
"If I don't get rid of that, I'll never feel happy."
We have many ideas like that.
And these ideas don't make us happy.
Because perhaps we have those ideas but we never can implement them.
"If I can't marry that person, perhaps I should no longer live."
"If I don't have that degree, if I don't have that social status,
living means nothing to me."
We put into our mind ideas like these.
And we end up suffering all the time, there's no joy or happiness.
But if we can rid ourselves of those ideas, happiness will naturally flood in.
Joy and happiness will suddenly flood in.
So, our ideas, our perceptions, can also be...
the very causes of our pain and suffering.
So, we should examine whether we have any ideas, or perceptions,
or prejudices, or stereotypes, that need to be let go.
The more one can let go, the happier one becomes.
It's called, "ly sinh hỷ," and "ly sinh lạc."
Happiness and joy are there all thanks to letting go.
The second method that the Buddha taught to create joy and happiness for ourselves is...
the practice of right mindfulness,
called, "Right mindfulness gives birth to joy and happiness."
Right mindfulness, as you've already known, is the energy
that allows us to be truly present in the moment,
and to be aware of, to merely recognize, what is going on in that moment.
Right mindfulness allows us to be aware that "this is an in-breath."
And when we breathe in,
we know we are a creature,
that we are a person who is still alive.
And the awareness of our being alive is such a great happiness.
Because how can those already dead breathe in?
And so, when we breathe in, suddenly we're awakened
to the reality that we are still alive.
And being alive is such a miracle.
And we can celebrate that miracle with breathing in and breathing out.
It only takes an in-breath and it only takes an out-breath to feel content and happy.
Because we breathe in mindfully, because we breathe out mindfully,
the energy of mindfulness allows us to be aware that we are a miraculous reality.
And around us is teeming with life in all its glory.
And so, when there is mindfulness, it means there are joy and happiness.
And we can say that,
"Right mindfulness is an endless source of happiness."
Right mindfulness brings out... It brings forth a lot of joy and happiness.
For example, I practice, "Breathing in, I am aware of my heart."
My heart
is very...
very kind to me.
It works night and day to pump blood through the body and nourish the cells.
I myself can sleep 5 or 6 hours a night. But my heart works non-stop.
Yet, I have never cared for, or paid loving attention to my heart.
I can smoke cigarettes. I can drink alcohol. I can stay up late.
I've worked my heart too hard. Poor thing.
So right here and right now, I take a full breath
and I bring the energy of mindfulness to recognize the existence of my heart.
Breathing in, my dear heart, I know you are there.
We embrace our heart with deep appreciation, with our mindful awareness.
Because we know our heart has never been treated very nicely
because of our smoking, drinking alcohol, and staying up late.
And so, naturally, we give rise to compassion, and we vow, "From now on,
I will stop drinking alcohol, smoking, and staying up late,
so that my heart can have happiness."
When we embrace our heart with mindfulness, we realize something miraculous,
"Our heart is..."
"Our heart is working very normally."
Some people do not have a normal heart,
and they've always afraid that they can suffer a heart attack anytime.
They're living with cardiovascular conditions.
And their deepest wish is to have a normal heart like everyone else.
When we take a breath, we're awakened to the reality that we have a normal heart.
And we can celebrate this reality of our having a normal heart.
It's all thanks to right mindfulness.
Breathing in, I am aware of my heart, I am aware of the existence of my heart.
Breathing in, I know my heart is a normal, healthy heart.
And that awareness brings forth joy and happiness.
It's called, "Right mindfulness gives birth to joy and happiness."
And the heart is not all there is in the body.
My liver may still function relatively well. My kidneys may still work relatively well.
Both of my feet are still strong, I can still jump, walk in meditation, and run.
So many conditions of happiness that are available.
But, because I don't have awareness and mindfulness, I don't have any happiness.
So coming back to ourselves with the energy of mindfulness,
recognizing all the conditions of happiness that we're having,
we'll have an abundance of "hỷ" and an abundance of "lạc."
An abundance of joy and an abundance of happiness.
And looking out the window, we see the blue sky, white clouds,
birds singing, pines cheering, flowers blooming,...
Life has so many miracles.
Our beloveds are still alive, and we still get to live with them under one roof.
Too many conditions of happiness to count and to be happy about right now.
We don't have to run searching for more.
These are all benefits of right mindfulness.
For that reason, as long as we practice breathing in and breathing out mindfully,
coming back to be in touch with all the conditions of happiness that we're having,
as a matter of course, joy is born, and happiness is born — one after another.
That is the method the Buddha taught us to have joy and to have happiness.
And we can sum up by saying,
"The energy of right mindfulness is an endless source of happiness."
And the energy of right mindfulness can be generated
through mindful in-breaths and mindful out-breaths.
"Letting go and right mindfulness give birth to joy and happiness."
And now, "Right concentration gives birth to joy and happiness."
Right concentration is also a kind of energy.
When we have right mindfulness, we're having right concentration.
For example, when we are aware of the presence of the flower,
we have mindfulness of the flower.
But if we maintain that mindfulness over a longer period of time,
we start giving the flower more attention.
And with that, right concentration is born out of right mindfulness.
And the more powerful concentration is,
the more powerful mindfulness is and the greater our happiness becomes.
For example, when we drink a...
...a cup of fragrant tea,
if we have mindfulness, we are truly present in the moment.
When we are truly present, the cup of tea also becomes something real.
But if we are not present, if our mind is somewhere else,
obviously, we're drinking tea but we don't know we're drinking tea.
We're a ghostly figure, not real. And the tea cup is also a ghostly item, not real.
Because we are being caught up in worries, sorrows, anticipation.
There's no one sitting there, drinking tea, and there's no tea being drunk.
Obviously, we drink tea on autopilot.
Meanwhile, when we're accompanied by mindful breathing,
naturally we are truly present.
Body and mind are in perfect oneness.
When we are truly present, the tea cup is also truly present.
Then the contact between us and the tea cup is life in its true form.
And when we drink tea like that — in mindfulness and concentration,
tea tastes much better.
Otherwise, the tea cup is only a ghostly item.
It's the same with our beloveds. If we do not have mindfulness,
if we're not aware that our beloveds are still there, they are but ghostly figures.
We're only living with ghostly figures.
So, with mindfulness and concentration, everything becomes vividly real.
And that brings forth a lot of joy, and a lot of happiness — which we call
"Right mindfulness" and "Right concentration" "give birth to joy and happiness."
The more one-pointed our mind is, the greater our happiness becomes.
And when we have right mindfulness and right concentration, we have right views.
Right views mean understanding.
If we have mindfulness and if we stay solidly concentrated,
we will see very clearly and very deeply, and we come to right understanding.
That right understanding brings us a lot of happiness.
It is called, "Right views give birth to joy and happiness."
So, for that reason,
a practitioner... a practitioner who is wise,
is capable of creating, of generating
their own joy and happiness, "hỷ" and "lạc", at any given moment, using the methods
of letting go, right mindfulness, right concentration, and right views.
[Touching the bell once]
[Bell]
When we have enough joy and happiness,
we will be capable of handling pain and suffering in and around us more easily.
That's why we need the 5th and 6th exercises before moving on to the 7th exercise.
Because the 7th exercise is to embrace suffering,
to merely recognize the existence of suffering.
A practitioner, a person who practices mindfulness meditation,
does not look to hide or run from their suffering.
They do not look to cover up their suffering with consumption,
like alcohol, drugs, food, or any other means that help you forget.
A practitioner who knows how to practice is capable of facing their suffering head-on
and embracing suffering in order to transform it.
But first, I'd like to sort of...
distinguish between "hỷ" and "lạc," meaning joy and happiness.
In the sutra, there is an example.
We're walking in a desert, feeling parched.
But in the distance, we see a grove of trees and a lake.
We jump for joy.
We haven't really drunk the lake's water, or sat under the trees yet,
but on seeing that in the distance, we're excited and joyful.
Although we must walk for maybe half a kilometer to be there,
we have already had joy.
And when we arrive there, kneeling down, and taking some water in our cupped hands
— that feeling while taking the water in our hands is happiness, is "lạc."
Joy and happiness are distinguished at this point.
In joy, there's still restlessness, longing and expecting.
But in happiness, we're completely free from this fever of restlessness and anticipation,
we are completely satisfied and content.
So the practice leads us to joy, and it leads us to happiness.
And when there are joy and happiness, we are then strong enough
to be able to recognize and embrace suffering.
Be aware of the suffering. Recognize the suffering.
Not run from it.
Not cover it up. Not suppress the suffering.
Breathing in, I know there's pain in me.
This is a feeling,
an unpleasant feeling.
There are three types of feeling:
pleasant feelings,
unpleasant feelings,
and neutral feelings.
So,
the 5th exercise is to generate pleasant feelings.
The 6th exercise is to generate pleasant feelings.
The 7th exercise is to handle painful feelings,
to embrace pain and suffering.
So
when talking about embracing, there must be the embracer and the embraced.
Our pain is the object that needs to be embraced,
that needs to be...
that needs to be recognized that it's there.
My dear pain, I know you are there.
I'm not running away. I'm not pretending that I don't have any pain.
We must have the courage to admit there are pain and suffering in us.
And we should use the energy of mindfulness that we have already generated
to recognize and to embrace that pain, that suffering, in us.
That is the 7th exercise
that any true practitioner should know how to do.
And if we teach it to young children, they can also do it.
In the "Chant on the Three Jewels for children", one passage goes:
"I bow to you, Buddha. You have given me the wonderful Dharma
"which helps me to nourish true love, brotherhood and sisterhood,
"happiness, smiles, and trust in the practice."
"You have taught me to breathe, to embrace my pain and suffering
"whenever my heart is taken over by greed, anger, confusion, and jealousy."
So these are lines for the children to recite.
But indeed it's also a method of practice for them.
"I bow to you, Buddha" because "You have given me the wonderful Dharma."
"You have taught me to breathe, to embrace my pain and suffering"
whenever greed, anger, confusion, and jealousy make me suffer.
It's the same here. This is a practice.
And when adults can do it, we can show young children how to do it.
And the children who've come to Plum Village from all over the world
have proved that they can do it.
Breathing in,
I recognize the pain, the suffering, in me,
and I am embracing that pain, that suffering.
But if I don't have the energy of mindfulness, how can I...
With what exactly can I recognize and embrace that pain, that suffering?
That pain, that suffering,
has filled me up to the top, it's overspilling.
But if we want to keep pain and suffering from filling us to the top and spilling over,
we must have the energies of right mindfulness and right concentration.
And if we know how to practice mindful breathing,
we can continuously generate mindfulness — the energy of mindfulness.
And with that energy of mindfulness, we can hold the pain and suffering in our embrace.
When there's an embrace of suffering, there's a relief from suffering.
It's like a mother who's doing something in the kitchen.
As soon as she hears her baby crying,
she immediately puts down what she's at, goes into the baby's room,
and holds the baby...
picks the baby up and holds the baby in her loving, gentle embrace.
The mother has no idea what's going wrong for the baby.
But simply holding her baby in her arms with all her gentle, loving care
can already relieve the baby from some suffering.
It's the same here — we are having a nagging pain or suffering.
If we have mindfulness, being able to recognize the presence of suffering and embrace it,
we're already relieved from some suffering.
We haven't done anything other than that, but it's already relieved us from some suffering.
There's an energy which is called the energy of suffering.
And there's also another energy that we've generated to encompass the pain,
which is mindfulness.
The first energy is being looked after and safeguarded by the second energy.
The second energy is doing the job of an elder sister, of an elder brother,
of a mother embracing the child of suffering.
That is the miracle of the 7th exercise
which any real practitioner has to succeed at.
Because every one of us has pain and suffering
which we tend to hide from, or run from, or cover up.
Meanwhile, the Buddha taught us, Don't run from it. Don't cover it up.
Have the courage to recognize and to embrace the suffering.
But if you don't practice mindful breathing,
how can you have that energy to do the work of embracing the suffering?
There must be someone there to embrace it.
There must be a mother there to embrace the crying baby.
We must be truly present to be able to embrace the pain, the suffering.
But to be truly present to embrace the suffering, the only way to go is mindful breathing.
Mindful breathing allows us to have the energy of mindfulness.
And the result is the 8th exercise.
We can calm and soothe the suffering.
Calm and soothe the suffering. Calm it down and soothe it.
We haven't been able to transform suffering at the base.
But with the fact that we've been able to realize its presence
and embrace it in a very gentle and loving way,
that pain, that suffering, will be soothed.
You're now suffering much less.
Although suffering is still there, it's already lessened.
And with other breathing exercises, we can even go further
to completely transform the roots of our pain and suffering.
But here, the simple act of recognizing and embracing can already lessen suffering.
[Touching the bell once]
[Bell]
We are truly present so the tea cup is also truly present
and the sangha is truly present.
As to the 9th exercise,
we move on to the arena of the mind.
The four exercises we've just mentioned
belong to the arena of feelings
— of...
of our joys and our pains.
The 9th...
The 9th exercise
is
to recognize...
recognize the mind.
Here (1st), we see there is recognition of the breathing.
Here (3rd), we see there is recognition...
recognition of the whole body, and then (4th) calming and soothing of the whole body.
"Releasing and relaxing the body" means calming and soothing the body.
Here (7th), we recognize the presence of suffering, and embrace suffering.
And here (8th), we calm and soothe the suffering.
The methods go like that.
Here (3rd) we recognize the whole body. And here (4th), calm and soothe the whole body.
Here (7th), recognize the suffering. And here (8th), calm and soothe the suffering.
They are the same. One is about the body. The other, about the feelings.
Now we have "recognizing the mind."
"Mind" here means mental formations.
Mind is no longer something abstract.
Now we know, with absolute certainty and clarity, what the mind is.
In Buddhism, they talk about 51 mental formations.
51 mental formations.
Our mind is a river in which 51 types of mental formations are flowing.
All the sadness, joy, anger, hate, love, longing... are mental formations.
And when we enroll at a Buddhist college, we have to learn by heart the names
of these 51 mental formations.
Anger, resentment, concealment, maliciousness, jealousy, selfishness,
deceitfulness, guile, desire to harm, pride, lack of inner shame and shame before others,
restlessness, drowsiness,... We have to learn them all by heart.
So that when a mental formation manifests, or arises,
we'll be able to tell what it is.
"Ahh, you're the mental formation of Anger. I know you're the mental formation of Anger."
Just like when we study pharmacy, or medicine.
We have to be able to tell one medicinal herb from another.
We have to be able to call them by their names. Likewise, there are 51 mental formations.
There are positive mental formations, like forgiveness and compassion.
There are negative mental formations, like anger and despair.
Whenever a mental formation manifests, we must tell exactly which one it is.
We have to succeed at telling what it is exactly, calling it by its name.
So this is the 9th exercise.
Sitting on the bank of the river of mental formations, we simply observe.
When there is a mental formation manifesting
— be it anger, sadness, longing, attachment, hate, world-weariness, or despair,
we have to recognize them all.
Be it positive or negative, we have to be able to tell.
But we just recognize it — non-judgmentally.
We neither hold on to it, nor shoo it away.
We call this "mere recognition."
Mere recognition.
Just look and observe. Don't attach ourselves to it.
No matter how good or bad it is, don't attach ourselves to it.
If it's good, don't try to pull it toward us. If it's bad, don't try to push it away.
That is called "mere recognition."
"Recognizing the mind" (9th).
And "mind" here is not something abstract but the mental formations that are very specific.
And "feelings" is a mental formation.
"Feelings" is one type of mental formations.
And so, here (9th),
the "mind" here...
51 minus 1 is 50.
Here (9th), we have 50 mental formations.
Because here (6th and 7th), we've had one type of mental formation.
"Joy," “happiness,” and "suffering" belong...
to one mental formation of "feelings", or "sensations."
And a practitioner should always be present.
Thanks to the practice of mindful breathing, we can always be present
so that when a mental formation is born or manifests,
we can immediately tell what it is.
And it cannot get the better of us because it has been 'busted'.
We have sovereignty over it.
And
the 10th exercise
is to...
is to gladden the mind.
To cheer the mind up.
"Aware of the mind" (9th).
Then, "gladdening the mind" (10th).
Cheering the mind up.
Because we really need positive energies to go far on the path of practice,
we must know how to lift our spirits, bringing ourselves joy and happiness.
It goes deeper than...
the 5th and 6th exercises.
The 10th exercise picks up what's being left off in the 5th and 6th exercises,
and goes deeper into other types of mental formations.
So
this exercise is closely related to Right Diligence,
or the Four Right Efforts.
It means, in us, there are good mental formations
like forgiveness and equanimity,
like joy and happiness,
like compassion and true love,
like the desire to help all beings.
They are all very precious.
That is why we have to find ways to invite these mental formations to come up.
It's like in our home, we have many good music CDs on the shelves,
but we've let them collect dust year after year, never listening to them.
It's such a big waste!
The same here. We have many mental formations that are very good,
very wholesome, very virtuous
that our parents and blood ancestors have transmitted to us.
But we have never put them to use.
We've only brought into play bad mental formations
like sadness, anger, worry, fear, discrimination...
Listening to these bad CDs for a while really drives us out of our wits.
And so here, we have to select the right CDs.
When a CD we don't like is being played, right away we have to replace it with a new CD.
That is called "gladdening the mind."
So many good songs that we don't listen to.
Why do we have to listen, over and over again, to songs like,
"I'm dying. If you don't love me, I'll take my own life." Why chewing these songs over and over?
Meanwhile, there's lots of good music that we've never listened to.
So in the past, the Buddha used a very good example.
A carpenter,
he uses a peg
to connect two...
two...
two timber beams.
He drills a hole in one beam and another in the other,
and he drives the peg into the holes, to join the two beams together.
But if it happens that the peg isn't a good fit, or the peg gets a bit rotten, he'll change the peg.
He'll use a brand-new, solid peg, place it on the old peg,
and hammer the new peg into the same hole.
The old peg, already rotten, is pushed out from the other side, and he has the new peg in place.
That's called the method of "changing the peg."
The same here. If we have a mental formation that makes us suffer a great deal,
why do we force ourselves to sit through it?
Change the peg!
Change the CD!
In the past, the Buddha had "changing the peg," now we have "changing the CD" or "DVD."
For example, when we watch TV, that film is undeniably bad,
but we just sit through it.
Why don't you change the channel?
That is the practice of "gladdening the mind."
There are so many good mental formations within a person.
Large-heartedness,
great aspiration, great understanding, great compassion,
forgiveness, generosity, joy, true love, happiness.
Why don't we make the good ones manifest?
Why do we let all the bad ones like pains and sorrows take over our life?
So this is the 10th exercise.
Make sure that we succeed at practicing this exercise.
A practitioner is someone who is very wise themselves,
knowing how to bring happiness not only to themselves, but also to others.
And the Buddha transmitted to us so many good methods (to do this).
The 11th exercise
is "concentrating the mind."
Our mind can be distracted,
mindless, or forgetful.
We use right mindfulness to bring the mind back.
And we use right mindfulness to bring the mind into concentration.
We focus the mind.
When the mind is concentrated, the mind becomes strengthful
and the mind can do many...
many powerful things.
It's like light.
Light travels...
in straight lines.
But we have a magnifying glass here.
And that magnifying glass helps cause light rays to come together in one spot
that we call the "only one point."
And when the light...
When the focused beams of light come together at this one point here,
it has a power.
And if we put a skein of steelwool, or a piece of paper here, it burns.
All the desires born out of ignorance, and the misunderstanding that makes us go astray,
once there's concentration, will be burned by concentration.
And when it comes to concentration, there are many types.
Emptiness. Signlessness. Aimlessness. Impermanence. Non-self. So many types.
When our mind is one-pointed, it's very easy to burn up all afflictions.
This exercise helps bring the mind into one-pointed concentration
so the mind is strong enough to start burning up afflictions and fetters that bind us.
An hour is simply not enough for us to talk about concentration.
Hopefully we will have another chance in the future to learn more about it.
But the 11th exercise is the breath bringing us into concentration.
And it's not so difficult to practice, say, concentration on impermanence.
Impermanence is a practice of concentration, not a theory.
For example, we're so angry with the other person.
And when we're angry like that, we want to punish them.
We say something hurtful to 'put them in their place' because they dared make us suffer.
Or we want to deal them a blow to 'put them in their place' because they dared make us suffer.
Because in us, there's suffering and there's anger.
So now, if we practice one of the practices of concentration,
let's say, concentration on impermanence.
So you close your eyes, you take a full breath, and you contemplate.
Breathing in,
I see...
... in 300 years what I will become.
Breathing in, I contemplate
what the person standing in front of me will become in 300 years.
Because everything is impermanent.
We don't need 300 years. In just tens of years, we'll have already turned into ashes.
Yet now we sit there, angry with each other. We only have tens of years to play with each other.
But now the two of you are angry, wanting to punish one another. That's sheer stupidity.
And all it takes is to have this concentration on impermanence.
In just 2 seconds, that anger will vanish.
And opening our eyes, we only want to give that person a hug.
"Oh dear, you're still alive, I'm so happy."
That is the practice of concentration.
Non-self's a type of concentration. Impermanence is another type.
Emptiness is another. So is Signlessness. So is Aimlessness.
There are many types of concentration that work wonders.
And when we concentrate the mind, we can burn up all afflictions.
And the burning up is likely to be very quick.
That is "concentrating the mind."
Mr. Director, please think about bringing this into the film. That'd be very nice.
Number 12.
The 12th exercise is "liberating the mind."
Or "untying the fetters of the mind."
Chinese loanwords in Vietnamese, "mental focus" (11th), and "mental liberation" (12th).
"Mental focus" (11th) means "concentrating the mind".
Using pure Vietnamese to make it easier to understand.
"Mental liberation" (12th) means "untying the fetters of the mind."
Our mind is being tied up by many fetters.
The fetters of anger and hate, of revenge, of despair. They make us suffer.
And thanks to practicing these types of concentration, we can burn them up.
We can untie the knots. That's "liberating the mind." We are free.
Four more exercises to go.
The exercise...
With the 13th exercise, we move on to the arena of our perceptions.
These four exercises belong to the mind, or mental formations.
From the 13th exercises onwards, it goes into our perceptions.
Vietnamese term "tri giác" means "perceptions" in English.
Let's say, looking at this marker, we know it is a marker. That is one perception.
And the technical term for this, in Vietnamese, is "tưởng."
"Tưởng."
"Tưởng" means "perceptions."
"Perceptions" is one of the five aggregates,
which are form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.
"Perception" in Chinese characters has the upper component meaning "form."
"Form" means the looks of things, how something appears to be.
We recognize it's a marker because it has the form of a marker.
That flower we can recognize it's a flower because it has the form of a flower.
Because of the way things look, we have perceptions.
And the lower component of "perception" in Chinese character means "the mind."
The "mind" which perceives the "form," that is called "perception."
And our perceptions can be erroneous. It's a rope, but we mistake it for a snake.
That is called "erroneous perceptions," "wrong views," or misunderstanding.
And we suffer a great deal because of wrong views.
And so the ultimate calling of Buddhism
is to dig up the roots of all wrong views, and throw them all away.
And so the last four breathing exercises are closely linked to perceptions.
But "perceptions" is also one of the 51 types of mental formations.
And so, 50 here minus 1 comes to 49.
49 mental formations plus 1 mental formation ("feelings" in the 5th and 6th)
equals 50,
plus 1 here ("perception" in the 9th), means 51.
Observing impermanence.
When we look into our own body, our form, we see that it is a river.
And the cells
Each cell is a...
a drop of water.
And we see that our body is not something inanimate
but a stream of change.
We can see the true nature of impermanence of the body.
When we look at the family photo album, we see the photos of us at 5 and of us now...
Such a big difference.
Obviously nothing stays the same.
Like bodily form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.
None is the same. Yet we still have the same name.
The name is still the same, but the five skandhas
— form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness — change.
We have to see that impermanence.
And impermanence is a meditation practice that works wonders.
And... and...
although
in theory we know everything is impermanent,
we still behave as if everything was permanent.
Theoretically, we know the person with whom we live will die one day.
And that we ourselves will also die one day.
But in our daily life, we tend to assume that person will live forever and ever.
And we have treated that person not very nicely.
If we know that person is impermanent, today we can do something
to make that person happy right away, because tomorrow may be too late.
And so observing impermanence brings about a lot of happiness.
If we know what we can do for the other person to feel happy, do it right away, today. Don't wait.
And we know that all the accumulations, and all the overexertion
that haven't brought any practical benefits to true happiness
— we should stop pursuing. Let them all go.
It's very wonderful!
Be realistic.
So observing impermanence brings a lot of happiness to us and to our beloveds.
The 14th breathing exercise is contemplating not-worth-desiring-ness.
Not-worth-desiring means not worth being hungry or thirsty for.
Not worth running after. Not worth pursuing.
Looking deeply, we can see the dangers lying deep in the objects of our desire.
The objects of our desire look very enticing.
And we are like a moth to a flame, just wanting to throw ourselves into it.
Not knowing what it is, we just throw ourselves into it, we burn in the sizzle, and we're done for.
So we should look deeply to see the objects of our desire have all sorts of hidden adversities.
For example, we cast to the river a fishing line, the hook baited with very mouth-watering bait.
When a fish sees that, he or she immediately bites the bait
and gets pulled up by the throat.
Perhaps the bait it bites is only made from plastic, but it looks extremely attractive.
And so, look very carefully
into the objects
of your pursuit.
That can be fame, or position, or power, or sex appeal, or sensual desire.
They all have hidden dangers.
It's not worth pursuing, not worth sacrificing our whole life for it.
That is called "contemplating not-worth-desiring-ness."
And once we can successfully contemplate not-worth-desiring-ness,
we are liberated, we have peace of mind. And that happiness is very great.
Let's say, if someone goes to Thay, inviting,
"Hm, I see you are quite intelligent, why don't you run for office
and become the Minister of Education, or the Prime Minister?"
Thay see that being a monk is such a great happiness,
why do Thay have to trouble himself with that?
No, I am begging you, dear sir, please spare me the job,
I'm in such a great happiness right now. Going into that place?
I'm not hungry or thirsty for it. No desire, no craving whatsoever. Not even a tiny bit.
Absolutely cold to this matter.
And so, the happiness is very great.
Because Thay can see all the perils, dangers, hardships, and unavoidable consequences
of all of that, and Thay do not want any of them.
That's the benefit of contemplating not-worth-desiring-ness.
It's thanks to one mindful in-breath, we can see things clearly.
Breathing in, I can see the true nature of the objects
of my desire.
In the sutra called
Samiddhi Sutra,
the Buddha taught,
“Not knowing the true nature of desire, people throw themselves into desire.
"Knowing the true nature of desire, nothing or no one can tempt you."
We are a truly free person.
The freer we are, the happier we are.
No freedom, no happiness.
And as a practitioner, the most important thing is...
freedom.
The 15th breathing exercise
is "contemplating no birth, no death."
No birth, no death and nirvana.
This is a very wonderful method of practice.
On the surface, there seems to be birth - death, being - non-being, coming - going, gain - loss.
But when we look deeply, we see that the true nature
of all that exists is no birth, no death, no coming, no going, no being, no non-being.
And that's the subject of the Heart Sutra we chant every day.
Let's say, a cloud.
Its true nature is no birth.
Its true nature is no death.
The cloud is not nothing that becomes something.
Before becoming a cloud, it's water of the ocean and heat of the sun.
And the existence of the cloud is simply the continuation
of the sun's heat and the ocean's water.
And so, it's not that the cloud comes from nothing and becomes something.
And the cloud is in essence a continuation. That's why its true nature is no birth.
Because what does "birth" mean? From nothing, it becomes something.
But the cloud can't come from nothing and become something.
Nothing that comes from nothing becomes something.
The same to you brother. The same to you sister. The same to me.
We do not come from thin air.
So saying "come from thin air and back into thin air" is not correct.
And when we say "a cloud dies,"
how can a cloud die?
"Death" means from something, it becomes nothing.
How can a cloud become nothing? A cloud can become snow or rain,
it can become mist or hail.
But the cloud can't become nothing.
And so, the true nature of a cloud is no birth, no death.
So is the true nature of our beloveds, no birth, no death.
The true nature of the Buddha is no birth, no death.
So is the nature of us ourselves, no birth and no death.
And when we see that our true nature is no birth and no death,
we have nothing more to fear.
Non-fear.
And when there's no more fear, our happiness is truly perfectly whole.
As long as there's fear, happiness will never be fully-satisfying, never be perfectly whole.
For example, a wave goes up and then goes down.
That wave has a beginning and it has an end.
That wave does go up and does go down.
That wave can claim that it's high or low,
that it's beautiful or ugly,
that it's more or less beautiful than the other waves.
All of those comparisons and those notions put the wave on edge and make it suffer.
But when the wave looks deeply, it can see its true nature is no birth.
Saying that 'I was born at this point' is not correct because I'm already water.
Before I manifest as a wave, I've always been water.
I am of no birth.
And so when the wave knows it is water, going up it is joyful, going down it is joyful.
It sees itself beautiful and the other person — the other wave, also beautiful.
And so, we have to be in touch with our true nature of no birth.
The true nature of ours, which is called "no birth."
No birth means no death, no coming, no going.
No birth represents the 8 no's:
no birth, no death, no being, no non-being, etc.
And so this is a very miraculous practice of deep looking.
When looking deeply and seeing its true nature
of no birth and no death, the cloud is happy being a cloud.
It's happy being rain. And it's also happy being a river.
We're like that. We no longer fear death. We no longer fear birth.
Because birth and death are just notions.
And this is the 15th exercise.
Once the 15th exercise has already been practiced well,
the 16th exercise will come very easily.
Which is "contemplating letting go."
What are we actually "letting go" of?
It's letting go of notions.
Notions about before and after,
about inside and outside,
about
birth and death,...
We let go of all these notions
because we're afraid, we're sad, we're worried because of notions.
But once we can get in touch with the true nature of no birth,
we can let go of everything.
For example,
we have a notion about time.
That time is a stream that flows
constantly.
And
because we have an idea about time,
we choose a point in time to be the point of our birth (B).
And because we have birth, we have to have death.
So there has to be some point in time that we call
death (D).
And from these two notions of "birth" and "death,"
there comes the notion of "allotted span."
A "lifespan."
Or "allotted span."
Which means from B to D, it could be 80 years or 90 years,
or 100 years if we live too long.
So that notion is called "thọ mạng" in Vietnamese.
Or "lifespan."
We can have a life 20 years long, 50 years long, or 100 years long.
And we think that before point B, we do not exist.
Only from point B, do we start to exist.
And when we reach point D, our life ends.
That from something, we become nothing.
From nothing, you become something. From something, you become nothing.
So notions like being and non-being, before and after, birth and death,...
they drive us nuts.
And so, "letting go" here means letting go of all of those notions.
And we become a completely free person, with no fear.
And that's when our happiness is divinely perfect.
That's the happiness of a world-honored one.
And the Buddha said that, as a human, anyone can reach that state.
[Touching the bell once]
[Bell]
Brother Pháp Niệm, a Dharma teacher of Plum Village, has just finished translating
the book "The Path of Emancipation" into Vietnamese,
which explains the 16 mindful breathing exercises in much detail.
And a publisher in Saigon is publishing it.
And I'd like to entrust that book to you so that you can continue learning these exercises.
Today we've only been able to cover the crux of the matter.
And we really need to dig deeper into it,
especially put what we've learned into practice in our daily life.
That will deepen our understanding about the practice day by day.
Thank you, dear friends.