Keep the Naturalness and Aliveness of the Practice | Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh (EN subtitles)

Regarding the third part (of observation of the body
in the body), i.e. observation of bodily actions,

we need to do our best to apply this part...

in our daily life

because our body is always...

on the move.

In the previous talk,

Sister Giới Nghiêm...

did illustrate.

It means, she dropped a...

marker on the floor.

And when the marker dropped on the floor,

She knew that the marker dropped on the floor.

And then she...

wanted to bend down

to pick up the marker.

So, when one's body is bending down like that,

one is fully aware that one's body is bending down.

And when one reaches out

to pick up the marker,

one is fully aware that one is reaching out

to pick up the marker.

When one stands up,

one is fully aware that one is standing up.

That's an...

an example.

In our practice in everyday life,

we should apply that teaching in all bodily actions.

Whatever we do,

we are fully aware

of...

that

—of what we're doing.

That's why, in...

in "Sa Di Luật Nghi Yếu Lược,"
or "Stepping Into Freedom,"

we see there are gathas to practice mindfulness with.

They are to embody

this teaching of the Buddha.

Let's say, when we're reaching out

and touching the light switch

to turn on the light,

we need to be fully aware
that we're reaching out

and touching the light switch.

Instead of doing this mechanically,

we follow the gatha,
"Forgetfulness is the darkness.

"Mindfulness is the light.

"I bring my awareness

"to shine upon all life."

Then we switch it on.

When the light switch is flipped,
the light...

starts flashing, it starts coming on.

We see clearly that, that light is of the light bulb,

but—at the same time, it's also the light of mindfulness.

A practitioner needs to practice like that.

It's not that, whenever we feel like,
we just turn on the light out of force of habit.

Because that way is how they've always done out there.

But in the spiritual practice, we need
to turn on the light in a different way.

So, the gathas that we practice mindfulness with
are to help us

dwell peacefully in mindfulness in each bodily action

in our daily life.

When we take off our robe,

when we put on a shirt,

when we go into the bathroom, etc.,

all these bodily actions

need to be accompanied by mindful awareness.

If we want to be able to do that,

i.e.

practice in such a way that the light of mindfulness
can shine upon all bodily actions

in our daily life,

we need to practice until it becomes a habit.

But this habit

can be best practiced in retreats.

Because in retreats, there are many people

and everyone practices like anybody else.

Thanks to that, we practice together.

After a few days, it becomes a habit.

And whatever we do, we always
do it in mindful awareness.

Walking. Standing. Sitting. Lying down.
Eating. Drinking. Working.

This practice is found in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra
(Kinh Hoa Nghiem 大方廣佛華嚴經).

In Avataṃsaka Sūtra, there's a chapter called
"Pure Conducts" ("Tịnh Hạnh" or "净行品").

In the chapter "Pure Conducts,"
there are many gathas

which we can recite
when we put on a robe or shirt,

when we defecate,

when we...

cross a river,

when we wash our feet,

when we rinse our mouth.

This mindfulness tradition

has existed since a long time ago.

It originated from the Discourse
on the Full Awareness of Breathing.

It's like when we...

light a candle.

Holding the matchbox,

we're fully aware that we're holding the matchbox.

When we...

strike the match against the side of the box
to light the match,

we're fully aware that we're striking the match

and flame ignites.

When we hold the match to light the candle,

we're mindfully aware that
we're holding the march to light the candle.

"Lighting this candle,
offering lights to countless Buddhas,

"the peace and the joy I feel,
brighten the face of the Earth."

We breathe in when we recite the first line.

We breathe out when we recite the second line.

With that,

we reestablish our body and our mind
in the circle of mindfulness.

This creates the beautiful substance and material

that makes a monastic, a practitioner.

That beautiful substance and material
—that substance and material of mindfulness,

brings about concentration and insight.

That's why, each bodily action

must be illuminated by the light of mindfulness.

In the Theravāda school,
sometimes people push this practice

to the point where it becomes quite...

quite meticulous.

And...

sometimes if we practice that way,

we feel like

it's a bit too contrived.

Life becomes no longer...

no longer natural.

Let's say one is...

picking up a piece of food with chopsticks

or spooning a morsel of food,
and putting it into one's mouth.

When one spoons a morsel of food, one...

says silently, "Spoon. Spoon. Spoon."

When one brings it to one's mouth, one says,
"Bring it up. Bring it up. Bring it up."

When one puts it into one's mouth,

one says, "Put it into mouth.
Put it into mouth. Put it into mouth."

Then, "Chew. Chew. Chew.
Chew. Chew. Chew."

One repeats the short description
of one's action every time.

And finally, "Swallow."

Probably mindful awareness is there,

and one's mindful awareness
is guided by initial recognition,

and guided by short phrases.

"Spoon. Spoon
Bring it up. Bring it up. Bring it up.

"Put it into mouth. Put it into mouth.

"Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew.

"And swallow."

That's how they practice sometimes.

Probably, while practicing this way,

the...

resolve to practice mindfulness diligently is there.

But it can subject us to a situation
of being too contrived and inflexible.

We don't feel the sense of aliveness,

the sense of inner peace, happiness, and contentment,

nor the sense of naturalness in such a way of practice.

If you have...

ever joined...

such a retreat, you'll see that when people walk,

instead of...

instead of initially recognizing,

"This is left foot stepping.

"This is right foot stepping.

"This is in-breath.

"This is out-breath,"

people can...

people can practice much more meticulously.

Here's how they practice.

Lifting.

Moving.

Placing.

Lifting.

Moving.

Placing.

Lifting.

Moving.

Placing.

Lifting.

Moving.

Placing.

Lifting.

Moving.

Placing.

That's how the mindfulness practice has been done

in many retreats

in the...

Theravāda tradition.

We see very clearly that they want to enforce

the Buddha's teachings.

Some people even go further.

Wanting to lift.

Getting ready to lift.

Having lifted.

Wanting...

to go forward.

Going forward.

Having already gone forward.

Getting ready to place the foot.

Having already placed it on the ground.

And they chop it up into...

split-seconds, into...

jiffs like that.

We see there's this determination

to follow very closely

each action of the body,

and there's the wish to do it very well, to do it best.

But we can fall into the mistake

of making our mindfulness practice
contrived and inflexible,

depriving it of life.

Meanwhile, the Plum Village tradition

is very well-defined,

i.e. we practice mindfulness in such a way

that, the whole time practicing, there is life,

that there's this sense of our being present,

that there's aliveness,

and there's also joy and happiness.

Why is that so?

Because life is teeming with wonders.

Those wonders are in us

and around us.

When there's mindfulness,
when there's full awareness,

we get to be in touch with that life

and with those wonders.

That's why mindful awareness

brings about joy,

inner peace, happiness,

and life.

That's Plum Village's principle.

If you say,

"lifting, moving, placing"

and "lifting, moving, placing,"

and walking that way for an hour,

you don't feel any joy and
you're not in touch with life whatsoever,

that practice is done for the sake of appearances only.

We can say what matters most

is that we train ourselves to have concentration...

to have mindfulness and concentration.

Wherever there's mindfulness and
concentration, there's insight.

We can say that.

However, mindfulness...

this is the kind of mindfulness

that brings about life, the sense of being alive.

We all want to do very well

and do...

very perfectly

our practice.

But we know that

the Buddha's teachings have been uttered from...

the mouth of the Buddha.

"My teachings

"bring about peace and happiness

"during the whole time practicing,

"in the present and in the future.

"My teaching, my practice,

"is lovely in the beginning,

"in the middle,

"and at the end."

The inner peace, joy, and happiness today

bring about inner peace, joy, and happiness tomorrow.

If there's no inner peace, joy, and happiness today,

how can inner peace, joy, and
happiness be possible tomorrow?

Today's inner peace and happiness

makes tomorrow's inner peace
and happiness possible.

For that reason, in the practice,
there must be aliveness,

and there must be...

inner peace, happiness, and well-being.

If in our practice we find no aliveness,

no inner peace, no happiness,
nor well-being,

we know that, according to the standards
defined by the Buddha,

it's not yet true Dharma,

it's not yet the "living Dharma."

And we know that, in any religion,

people can easily blend in some formalism.

That's why we should avoid falling into formalism.

Take eating.

There should be inner peace and
happiness in us the whole time eating.

That inner peace and happiness
comes from our being truly present

during the whole time eating
with the sangha, the community.

We get in touch with the food

—the gift of the Earth and the Sky.

And we get in touch with the community
sitting around us.

If we ruminate on the past,

or worry about the future,
if we sit there but we're not present at all,

well,

our practice yields no success.

If we fail to be fully aware that we're sitting here,

that we're alive,

eating these food items

and being surrounded by
a beloved community of practitioners,

life is not available,

and joy and happiness are not available.

And if we...

if we practice mindfulness but...

we get caught in things like, "This is
'spooning the food, spooning the food';

"this is 'bringing it up, bringing it up';

"this is 'putting into mouth, putting into mouth';

"this is 'chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing';

"And this is 'swallowing',"

perhaps in terms of outward form,
it's undoubtedly the mindfulness practice.

However, in terms of spirit and content of the practice,

this is still a problem because...

—according to our definition,

right mindfulness means...

being fully present...

being fully present....

being fully present...

and being in touch with life.

To be mindful

is to be totally

present.

To be mindful is to be totally present,

to be touching life in every second,

and to experience the wonders of life

in every second. That's our definition.

To be mindful means to make ourselves truly present

in every moment of our daily life,

with body and mind in perfect oneness.

To be mindful means to be able
to be in touch with life

and the wonders of life currently available

in the present moment.

That's why, when we practice mindfulness mechanically,

we probably fail to get in touch with those miracles.

When we walk and we say,

"Lifting, lifting, lifting;

having already lifted;

moving, moving, moving;

placing the foot, placing the foot;
having already placed it,"

that can be considered successful

in terms of...

closely following each bodily action.

But that action of the body
is no longer a natural action.

It's no longer a natural action of the body.

We lose our naturalness.

It can make us not be truly present

because we're being so caught in the outward form.

With that,

we cannot get in touch with life.

In the Plum Village tradition,
we can see very clearly,

that in each moment of our everyday life,

life must be present.

We must be present

—we must be truly present.

Only with that, will life be truly present.

When these two things—us and life, are truly present,

very naturally, we get in touch with the wonders of life.

Being alive, we're aware of our being alive.

Eating, we're aware of our eating.
Walking, we're aware of our walking.

That means we have awakened awareness.

It's called awakening.

A person who is walking
but is not aware that they're walking

is a sleepwalker.

A person who is eating
but is not aware that they're eating

is a sleep-eater.

A person who is sitting but is not aware
that they're sitting is a sleep-sitter.

For that reason, we need to be skillful,

wise, and..

down-to-earth when training ourselves.

Let's say we organize
a 3-day, 5-day, or 7-day retreat.

In that retreat, everyone...

trains themselves in such a way

that

being mindfully aware of each bodily action
becomes second nature.

Everyone practices the same.

Taking a step, one is fully aware
of one's taking of a step.

Chewing...

rice and tofu, one is fully aware
of one's chewing of rice and tofu.

Our mind, our attention, is put right there.

That,

in Christianity, is called "tâm tại,"
which means "present mind".

However, when you do something
but you're not mindful of doing it,

when your mind and attention are somewhere else,
it's "tâm bất tại" ("unpresent mind")

—your mind is not there.

[Touching the bell]

[Bell]

For that reason, we should not follow the practice

called "dividing a strand of hair into fourths,

then taking that one fourth and
dividing it into fourths again."

Doing it this way,

although there's the good intention to practice
the Buddha's teachings the best we can,

we may probably fail to practice in the spirit
taught by the Buddha.

"Dividing a strand of hair into fourths"

—the tendency to overanalyze,

has existed for millennia.

In Abhidharma (A Tỳ Đàm) literature,

there's also the same tendency,

which analyzes a strand of hair
in fourths, and then in eighths.

If in our practice we do the same,

it's afraid that, such a way of practicing

will deprive us

of the essence and the aliveness in the practice.