Concentrating & Liberating Our Mind | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

And the 11th exercise is concentrating mind, and the 12th is liberating mind, mental formation.

We know that mindfulness is a kind of energy that carries within herself the energy of concentration.

And if we continue the practice of mindfulness throughout the day, our concentration continues to grow.

And when you are concentrated, you discover the nature of what is there.

When you look at the tea with concentration, you can discover that the tea is the continuation of the cloud, and so on.

When you look into a flower, you discover that a flower is made only of non-flower elements.

When you look at a lotus flower, you know that the lotus flower is made of non-lotus elements, including the element of mud.

Mud is not very clean. It does not smell good. But without the mud, a lotus flower is impossible.

And when you look at happiness, you see that happiness is made of non-happiness elements, including suffering.

If you know how to handle suffering, if you know how to make good use of suffering, you can produce happiness.

If you are an organic gardener, you don't want to throw away the garbage.

You can preserve them and make them into compost and nourish the flowers and the vegetables.

So suffering has a role to play in making happiness.

And a good practitioner is not afraid of suffering. She knows how to make good use of suffering in order to create happiness.

And that is why concentration is so important. Mindfulness brings concentration.

And when mindfulness and concentration are powerful, you get a breakthrough.

And you get the insight into the nature of everything that is.

And you can be liberated from our afflictions, our fear, our anger, and so on.

So liberation, freedom is the fruit of concentration.

And in many schools of Buddhism, we learn many forms of practice of concentration.

Samadhi, concentration.

Samadhi is to focus on our mind in just one point, one pointed mind.

When you expose the lens to the sunshine, the lens can concentrate.

The light into one small part.

And when you put a piece of paper there, it will be burned.

The same thing is true with concentration.

When you have a strong, a powerful concentration,

that concentration will be able to burn away your afflictions, whether it is fear or anger.

Or despair.

And there are many forms of, many practices of concentration.

And there are three kinds of concentration that can be seen in every school of Buddhism.

Concentration on emptiness.

Concentration on emptiness.

Sunyata, concentration on sinlessness.

Signlessness.

Vô tư.

The concentration on aimlessness.

And these three forms of practice, these three practices of concentration,

are available in every school of Buddhism.

And they are called the three doors of liberation.

If we master the practice of concentration,

we surely be able to liberate ourselves from our afflictions, including our fear, our anger, and our despair.

And we know that the seven and the eight exercises are just to recognize and embrace the afflictions.

But with the eleven and the twelve, well, we go further.

We get the insight that can help liberate us from that affliction.

Impermanence is one form of concentration.

Non-self is another form of concentration.

There are many wonderful practices of concentration.

Suppose we talk about impermanence as a practice.

We all know what impermanence is.

Everything changes.

The baby becomes a little boy.

The little boy becomes a young man.

The young man becomes a father.

And then a grandfather.

Everything changes.

When you look into the family album, you see yourself, the picture of yourself as a baby.

A baby.

And you ask the question,

Am I the same with that baby or not?

You are so different from the baby.

Form, feelings, perception, mental formation, consciousness.

You are so different from the baby in the picture.

And yet you still keep the same name.

And we know that impermanence is the nature of things.

And we understand perfectly what impermanence is.

But in our daily life, we still believe,

we still behave as things are permanent.

Things are impermanent.

But because we see them as permanent, that is why we suffer.

We are so different from the baby.

Suppose you get angry at your beloved one.

She just said something, or did something that makes you angry.

And in order to suffer less, we want to say something very strong.

Do something very strong.

Do something very strong.

To punish him or her.

And you believe that by doing so, you will suffer less.

That is very childish, but many of us do.

And when you say something strong, do something strong, and the other person will suffer.

And she will try to suffer less, and she will say something even stronger.

And that is an escalation of anger.

But if we know the practice of meditation on impermanence,

we may like to close our eyes and take one in-breath.

And during that time of the in-breath, we can visualize the other person and ourselves.

What will we become in 300 years?

Not 300 years, just 100 years, you become ash, and the other person will become ashes.

And it's not very wise to get angry at each other.

Because you know that her nature is impermanent, and your nature is also impermanent.

It's not a wise thing to get angry at each other, and make each other suffer.

So just close your eyes, and breathe in, and touch the nature of impermanence.

In that person, and in you.

It does not take long for you to touch the reality of impermanence.

And you see that how unwise to behave like that.

And when you open your eyes, you are very glad that she, he is still alive.

And you would like to take him or her into your arms.

Breathe in in, I know you are still there alive.

Breathe in out, I am so happy.

So impermanence as a theory, as a notion, does not help.

Impermanence as a concentration, as an insight, has the power to liberate.

Many of us have the notion of impermanence, the idea of impermanence.

And we accept wholeheartedly the reality of impermanence.

But we do not practice the insight, we do not have the insight of impermanence.

So during our daily life, we should train ourselves to look at everything, at everyone,

in such a way that we can touch the nature of impermanence in everyone, everything.

And we will behave wisely, and will not make, create suffering for us, for the other person.

So according to the teaching, the knowledge about impermanence does not help.

Only the insight and samadhi, the concentration on impermanence, can help liberate us from suffering.

Samadhi means to keep it alive like that, and not to allow it to die.

Samadhi means to keep it alive like that, and not to die.

God is to by God, not to die.

God is to be alive.

Not to die.

That's what we are the most important thing.

God is able to die.

God is able to die.

God is able to die.

Namaste.

God is able to die.

God is able to die.

God is able to die.