Saturday, July 25, 2015

Contemplating the body in the body

I felt that the followings are important messages from Thay in the video below.
(Watch from 18:20)

"Breathing in, I see my mother in me. 
Breathing out, I smile to my mother in me." 
The body of our mother is inside of our body.
You are the continuation of your mother.
"Breathing in, I see my father in me. 
Breathing out, I smile to my father in me."

All our ancestors are in us. 
"Breathing in, I recognize the presence of all my ancestors in me." 
I know I am nothing but a continuation of my ancestors. I carry all my ancestors in me and I carry them into the future. 

Not only we have human ancestors but we also have animal ancestors, vegetal ancestors and mineral ancestors. In our past lives, we have been a deer or a bird, a tree, a rock. This is not a problem of belief but this is very scientific. Not only we were a swallow, a rock, a tree in the past but in this very moment we continue to be a tree, a rock, a swallow. Looking into our body, we can see that we are made of a cloud, of a forest, of air, of river. And we continue to see that the river not only is there but the river is in us. The cloud not only is up there but it is in us. And we carry everything in the cosmos within this body. So, we recognize our human ancestors in us and we smile to them. We know that they are always in us. We recognize our animal ancestors in us and we smile to them. We recognize our vegetal ancestors in us and we smile to them. And we want to be kind to them now because they are our ancestors. Our ancestors within and our ancestors without, we want to respect them and protect them. And this is the deep ecology. Because they are us. If we protect them, we protect ourselves. And we recognize our mineral ancestors and we smile to them and we vow to protect them inside of us and around us. 

So, that kind of contemplation of the body in the body will bring the wisdom, knowledge that will show us the past for us not to make mistakes. But to live our life in such a way that not only humans are protected but also animals, the vegetal and minerals are protected.

"Breathing in, I'm aware of my children. 
Breathing out, I smile to my children within myself."
Your children are not exactly only outside but your children are inside of you.

(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/spiritual-ancestors

Thích Nhất Hạnh