The Blooming of a Lotus
Page 13
In meditation you realize that your parents are in every cell of your body. When your parents die they continue to live in you and in others. If you never knew your parents you learn to look deeply into your five skandhas in order to discover your parents there. Feelings, emotions, and ways of perceiving the world come from your upbringing, education, society, and friends, but there are also vestiges of the feelings, emotions, and perceptions of your parents. Mindfulness of your feelings and mind in daily life helps you recognize these vestiges.
You may have an idea of your father and mother outside of you. When you meditate, as in the above exercises, you will also have an idea of your mother and father within you. These two different ways of perceiving your parents interare and influence each other. If your father and mother never had an opportunity to practice meditation in their daily life, now, in a new continuation, they can enjoy the lightness and ease that meditation brings. If your parents are still alive, you will see that they benefit from your practice of breathing with them.
Appendix: Reciting the Five Mindfulness Trainings
Opening verse:
The Dharma is deep and lovely.
We now have a chance to see it,
study it, and practice it.
We vow to realize its true meaning.
Brothers and Sisters, it is now time to recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Please, those who have received the Five Trainings kneel with joined palms in the direction of the Buddha, our teacher.
Brothers and Sisters, please listen. The Five Mindfulness Trainings are the basis for a happy life. They have the capacity to protect life and to make it beautiful and worth living. They are also the door that opens to enlightenment and liberation. Please listen to each precept and answer “Yes” silently every time you see that you have made the effort to study, practice, and observe it.
The First Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, and plants. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.
This is the first of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have you made an effort to study and practice it during the past two weeks?
(bell)
The Second Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to cultivate loving-kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, and plants. I am determined to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on earth.
This is the second of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have you made an effort to study and practice it during the past two weeks?
(bell)
The Third Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to protect couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.
This is the third of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have you made an effort to study and practice it during the past two weeks?
(bell)
The Fourth Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I vow to learn to speak truthfully, using words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
This is the fourth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have you made an effort to study and practice it during the past two weeks?
(bell)
The Fifth Precept
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest food or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in my self and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.
This is the fifth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have you made an effort to study and practice it during the past two weeks?
(bell)
Brothers and Sisters, we have recited the Five Wonderful Mindfulness Trainings, the foundation of happiness for the individual, the family, and society. We should recite them regularly so that our study and practice of the mindfulness trainings can deepen day by day.
Hearing the bell, please bow three times to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha to show your gratitude.
Closing verse:
Reciting the mindfulness trainings,
practicing the way of awareness,
gives rise to benefits without limit.
We vow to share the fruits with all beings.
We vow to offer tribute to parents, teachers, friends, and
numerous beings
who give guidance and support along the path.
Exercise One
Touching the Earth[1]
With undivided concentration,
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha,
Which are in the ten directions
And also in myself,
Which are in all Dharma realms
Transcending past, present, and future,
Prostrate and surrendering
I wholeheartedly go for refuge.
This poem can be used as we stand with joined palms before the object of our respect and when we bow down before the object of our respect. As you or a member of your Sangha reads or chants this poem, on the first, third, fifth, and seventh lines, you breathe in. On the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines, you breathe out. When you touch the earth, you bend with a slow, graceful movement toward the floor. Before placing your knees on the floor, position your hands, one on each side of the place where your head will be. Finally, lower your forehead to the floor. The back of your thighs rests on your calves so that your whole body is close to the floor. Remaining in that position for as long as you want, follow your breath and be mindful of the words of the poem. You do not have to be mindful of every line if that is too much to concentrate on. One or two lines of the poem may be sufficient for your meditation.
The ten directions are the eight directions of the compass plus above and below. We say that they contain the Buddha because the Buddha is the awakened aspect of our minds, which can manifest itself anywhere. We do not have to go to Bodhgaya in India to find the Buddha. The Dharma is the teaching about the way things are. If the awakened aspect of the mind
is present, then anything can be used to teach us: a flower, a rock, even a harsh word. Sangha is a combination of elements, human and nonhuman, that helps us in the practice. The soft grass on which we sit and meditate, as well as our friends who sit with us, are our Sangha.
Within ourselves as well, we see that every cell contains the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The parts of our bodies that we usually see as clean and those we usually see as unclean are all Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Every cell in our bodies contains the earth element, and we prostrate ourselves on the earth. We could not be nearer to the earth, and we are not really different from the earth on which we prostrate ourselves. In this position, you may experience an overwhelming happiness. Tears may come to your eyes, and you will see that there are many fragrant flowers all around being watered by the rain. Even when the earth seems to manifest no living thing, it contains seeds that may become flowers. Even when you die, as you have done so many thousands of times, a new flower blooms to welcome you home. To touch the earth is to die—to die and be happy. Those of you who long to die and shake the red dust of this earth from your feet do not have to wait for death to call you. You can surrender yourself right now.
Dharma realms are the objects of our minds. Any element can be the object of our minds and can then be called a Dharma realm. A Dharma realm has something miraculous about it because, though it is phenomenal, it can express the ultimate nature of things. The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha are thus found in everything we can conceive of.
We can transcend past, present, and future. Buddha is not just in the past, in the fifth and sixth centuries b.c.e. Buddha is here with us now, when we know how to be mindful. What were you before you were born as a human being? Were you a cloud? Buddha was in that cloud. Maybe you were a mosquito and Buddha was in that mosquito. What will you be in the future? Will you be a drop of rain? Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha will be in that drop of rain. We should not think that it is only in this life that we have the capacity to meet the Buddha. We have had many opportunities in the past to be the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and we shall have many more opportunities in the future.
In touching the earth, we move down because we are becoming something very humble, and we move forward because we are becoming something very great. We are really nothing, yet at the same time we are in harmony with all the elements in the universe. When you practice meditation as you touch the earth, make sure you feel comfortable. You can just surrender and enjoy your conscious breathing. In this position, it is very easy to surrender all thoughts. You can surrender yourself and every thought about yourself. Surrender yourself until you are nothing. This means that there will be no more complexes in you. You will not think how intelligent or unintelligent you are, how worthy or unworthy. The complexes of superiority, inferiority, or equality are a burden that we are able to put down when we touch the earth.
[1] This important practice has a whole book devoted to it. See Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching the Earth: Intimate Conversations with the Buddha (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2004).
Beacon Press
25 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2009 by Thich Nhat Hanh
English translation by Annabel Laity
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Text design by Christine Leonard Raquepaw
Composition by Wilsted & Taylor Publishing Services
This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper ANSI/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.
The Library of Congress has catalogued the previous paperback edition as follows:
Nhat Hanh, Thich.
The blooming of a lotus : guided meditation exercises for healing and transformation. / Thich Nhat Hanh ; translated by Annabel Laity.
p. cm.
Translated from the Vietnamese.
ISBN 978-0-8070-1237-6 (pbk.)
E-ISBN 978-0-8070-9748-9
1. Meditation—Buddhism. I. Laity, Annabel. II. Title.
BQ5612.N47 2009
294.3'443—dc20 93-4191