Listen deeply to the following Thay's Dharma talk on enlightenment from 00:47to 2:49.
The followings are the excerpts.
Quote: Only a Buddha, a full Buddha is someone who is awake all day. But we become awake from time to time. That is why we should practice mindful breathing in order to be more awake in our daily life. I talk about awareness, I talk about enlightenment because enlightenment and awareness, they are of the same substance. And now we have a word, mindfulness which is the same. Because when you are mindful of what is going on, you are aware and you are enlightened. Suppose a practice: Breathing in, I'm aware I have good eyes. Breathing out, I smile to my eyes. That is awareness, that is mindfulness of having good eyes. But that is also enlightenment. Because if I have good eyes but if I don't know it, I am not enlightened at all. So, being enlightened means the same thing as being mindful. And you can get enlightened every minute if you have that kind of awareness. So, many of us spend our days in forgetfulness. We live, and yet we don't. We get lost in the past. We worry so much about the future and we are afraid of it. We make so many projects, we are excited about the future. We have no capacity of being alive in the present moment where everything is. And people who live like that live in forgetfulness. And life is not available to them. And they live like a person who carries the dead body on the shoulder and wanders around. He is already dead, she is already dead. :Unquote (My commentary) Most people are not awake except for small children and the deep sleep state. However, they can't recognize it because they are not mindful. In order to be really alive, we need to be mindful by returning to awareness (non-separate self). The key is to stop thinking. (Cf.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
Listen deeply to the following Thay's Dharma talk on Right View from 21:45 to 25:07. https://tnhaudio.org/2017/02/26/practice-engaged-buddhism/ The followings are excerpts. Quote: In Chinese, it (The Noble Eightfold Path) is translated by "The Path of Eight Right Practices". And the first one is Right View. According to the absolute truth, Right View means the absence of all views. It's called Right View. We have Right View only when we remove all kinds of views. The absolute truth. As far as the relative truth, you can create devices in order to help. And Right View can be considered to be the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truth, the teaching on impermanence, the teaching of non-self, the teaching of aimlessness. And these should not be received as the dogma, theories, doctrines. They should be recognized as the instruments for us to work on our liberation, our transformation. So, we should know that the first meaning of Right View is the absence of all views. And the second meaning of Right View is the kind of instruments that help us for our transformation and healing. And Right View here is the true wisdom. It has the capacity of liberating us and liberating the people around us. :Unquote (My commentary) Right View means the absence of all views. That's because all views are wrong views which cause separation, discrimination, or the duality. So, if we have views, afflictions arise and we suffer. Only if we remove all views, Right Thinking (= non-thinking) is possible. (Cf.) https://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/notion
Listen deeply to the following Thay's Dharma talk on Right Thinking from 25:07 to 28:50. https://tnhaudio.org/2017/02/26/practice-engaged-buddhism/ The followings are excerpts. This Thay's clear explanation of Right Thinking is exactly what I have been looking for and I totally agree. Quote: And then the second aspect of the path is the Right Thinking, Right Thought. As far as the absolute truth is concerned, Right Thinking is absence of all thinking. It is direct encounter with reality. You don't need to think. Like you are tasting a mango, you are having authentic, true, real experience of the mango. You don't need to think that a mango tastes like this, like that, the notion of mango. You don't need any notions of mango because you had a reality of mango. Right? So, Right Thinking is no thinking at all. But when you have not got the real thing, you need some kinds of notions, you need some kinds of orientations in order not to go astray. You have to go into the direction of the mango. So, Right Thinking is the thinking in terms of the four nutriments. Right Thinking is the thinking in terms of impermanence, non-self. It helps. Because if you think in terms of permanence of self, you suffer much more. And it is always important to remember that these are teachings as four nutriments;Four Noble Truths,Noble Eightfold Path, impermanence, non-selfare instruments for the practice. And that is Right Thinking. And if you conceive these as notions, as a doctrine to fight and die for, that's no longer the Right Thinking. Even if these are Buddhist terms, we are to be free from the teachings of the Buddha. We have to be free even of the teachings of the Buddha. If you should not get caught in the teachings of the Buddha, you should make good use of the teachings, not get caught in it. And the Right View(the absence of all views, the capacity of liberating us) helps very much with Right Thinking. Because the writers are your view the better of your thinking. And they interact with each other. If your thinking is in good direction, and then your right view will grow, your freedom will grow. :Unquote <Key phrases> Right Thinking is absence of all thinking. Right Thinking is no thinking at all. Right Thinking is the thinking in terms of the four nutriments. Right Thinking is the thinking in terms of impermanence, non-self. Four Noble Truths, Noble Eightfold Path, impermanence, non-self are instruments for the practice. And that is Right Thinking. If you conceive these as notions, as a doctrine to fight and die for, that's no longer the Right Thinking. Right View (the absence of all views, the capacity of liberating us) helps very much with Right Thinking. Because the writers are your view the better of your thinking. Right View and Right Thinking interact with each other. (Cf.) http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/09/right-thinking-non-thinking-insight.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2017/01/2-types-of-thinking.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2017/01/right-thinking.html
Listen deeply to the following Dharma talk by Thay Phap Dang. http://deerpark.libsyn.com/2017-02-12-thay-phap-dang?tdest_id=113448 The followings are my memos.I totally agree. 1. What is mindfulness? mindfulness = heartfulness≠ head (brain, thinking) mindfulness = clear mind = pure mind = clear all ideas = Buddha mind = clear consciousness = clear awareness (cf. Demon mind = anger, hatred ...etc.) 2. How to take care of the suffering The way out is in. ⇒ take care of one's suffering 1) Recognize the suffering (Hello, my anger!) 2) Accept it (I will take care of you, my anger.) 3) Look deeply into it 4) Understand the root cause 5) Transform it by the energy of compassion 3. What to do 1) Keep the precepts (no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, ... etc. = Buddha mind. = compassion) 2) Control the senses (non-attachment, non-craving) 3) Moderating in eating (eat less) 4) Strong determination to overcome the habit energy 5) Uproot your internal knot (seeds of afflictions) 6) Love yourself and others by understanding
The key point of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is as follows. Please refer to the URL below for the original text and my commentaries: http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html Exercise 13-16: Perceptions (13-14): Impermanence & Craving Exercise 13-16 are the exercises for attaining full enlightenment and require very deep observation. What we must understand before these exercises is that this world is our mind itself because this world is the object of our mind, or the projection of our mind. In other words, the projection of our mind is this world. The object of mind is the object of perception, the object of perception is the perception (series of notions in the head), so the perception is this world. In other words, the perceived is the perceiver.David Bohm, Quantum physicist, said, "The way we see depends on the way we think." And his statement is consistent with the Buddha's above findings. In Exercise 13, you deeply observe the impermanent nature (nature of 'emptiness' in terms of time) of all dharmas (object of mind). Because everything is changing, you can observe the impermanent nature of all objects of your mind. And you observe the impermanent nature of all perceptions because all objects of your mind are the projection of your mind (perceptions). Therefore, this world which is the object of your mind is your perception itself, and it has the impermanent nature. In Exercise 14, you deeply observe the disappearance of craving (negative desire). And you deeply observe the disappearance of idea (thought). Therefore, your craving is just an idea and will disappear after a certain time. (15-16): No-self & Nirvana In Exercise 15, you deeply observe the no-birth, no-death nature of all phenomena. No-birth and no-death means that nothing can be born and nothing can die. Everything (all human beings, animals, plants, minerals) just continues (keeps living) by changing its forms. So, they can not be born because they have never died, and they can not die because they have never been born. And you deeply observe that everything is made of everything else. In other words, everything else is in everything. Therefore, everything is everything else. You are observing the nature of no-self(nature of 'emptiness' in terms of space) which means that everything is empty of separate existence (separate self). This is the ultimate truth. In Exercise 16, you deeply observe letting go of all notions (everything). The extinction of all notions is Nirvana. Because you are convinced that all notions are made up by human ego(separate self, fake self) and all notions are wrong, it is easy for you to throw away all notions. If all notions are extinct, there is no object to think about. So, you will be non-thinking completely and be able to attain insight 24 hours a day as awareness (non-separate self, true self). Attaining insight means that without making any efforts (without thinking), your calm mind reflects the outside reality like still water (mirror), and your clear mind sees through the inside reality. This is the full enlightenment, so you are fully awake. (end) (Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
The key point of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is as follows. Please refer to the URL below for the original text and my commentaries: http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html Exercise 9-12: Mental formations & Consciousness (11-12): Concentration and Liberation Exercise 11-12 are the Exercise to look deeply the mental formation, attain insight and understand the root cause, generate compassion and transform the mental formation by the energy of compassion. We generate the energy of concentration by looking deeply, we attain the insight (understanding) of the root cause by the energy of concentration, we generate compassion by the energy of insight, and we transform the mental formation such as fear and anxiety by the energy of compassion.Transforming our mental formations is liberating our mind. In other words, the insight (understanding) of the root cause which we attain in Exercise 11 corresponds to the second truth (cause of suffering) of the Four Noble Truths. And the transformation of mental formations which we attain in Exercise 12 corresponds to the third truth (secession of suffering) of the Four Noble Truths. Afflictions such as fear and anxiety are the cause of suffering. Therefore, as long as you have fear or anxiety, you can not accept yourself unconditionally. Sometimes you may have self-hatred. If you always think too much and if your mind wanders in the past, you suffer from regrets and sorrow, and if your mind wanders in the future, you suffer from fear and anxiety. This vicious circle can not be cut off unless you understand the root cause of suffering through insight. If it can not be cut off, even if you can temporarily stop thinking and become mindful by conscious breathing, you will resume thinking by some chance and return to the state of forgetfulness. Therefore, in order to stop thinking stably and keep the mindful state for a long time, it is absolutely essential to understand the root cause of suffering through insight. Of course, because the extinction of all notions is not attained yet, thoughts will revive once in a while. That's why real practitioners meditate everyday (Thich Nhat Hanh says that he is meditating 24 hours a day) and never neglect the practice to maintain the mindful state. In order to completely stop thinking 24 hours a day (to be always mindful), attaining full enlightenment through the extinction of all notions is the only way. (to be continued) (Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LA87R7A
The key point of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is as follows. Please refer to the URL below for the original text and my commentaries: http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html Exercise 9-12: Mental formations & Consciousness (9-10):Selective watering The objects of Exercise 9-12 are mental formations and consciousness. It may not be easy to understand the difference from the object of Exercise 5-8 (Feelings). In fact, feelings and perceptions(series of notions in the head) belong to 51 mental formations but they are spun off from mental formations because their impact is outstanding. So, there are 49 kinds of mental formations in Exercise 9-12. Meanwhile, there are 8 kinds of consciousness in Buddhism and they are the source of the body, feelings, perceptions and mental formations. 8 kinds of consciousness are the Sense consciousness (five senses), Mind consciousness (conscious mind), Manas (ego) and Store consciousness (Alaya consciousness, subconscious mind). Feelings in Exercise 5-8 are limited to feelings manifested in Mind consciousness (conscious mind), but mental formations and consciousness in Exercise 9-12 include the seeds of mental formations which are stored in Store consciousness (Alaya consciousness, subconscious mind). So, the realm of Exercise 9-12 is much deeper than the realm of Exercise 5-8. And we take care of both of them (mental formations and the seeds). Briefly, if we water the wholesome seed, the wholesome mental formation will manifest, and if we water the unwholesome seed, the unwholesome mental formation will manifest. Therefore, the selective watering will be as follows: 1) Water the wholesome seeds. 2) Do not water the unwholesome seeds. 3) Maintain the wholesome mental formation if it is manifesting. 4) Transform the unwholesome mental formation (to the wholesome mental formation) if it is manifesting. 5) Water the unwholesome seed intentionally to let the unwholesome mental formation manifest and to transform it to the wholesome mental formation and return it to Store consciousness as the wholesome seed. (Note) 5) has a high risk unless you are an advanced practitioner, so is not recommendable for beginners. If you are mindful, you can recognize what is going on inside and around yourself. So, if you practice the selective watering as soon as you recognize what's going on, you can control your mind as you wish. And it will be wise also that you request people around you to practice the selective watering to you as well as you do it by yourself. This selective watering means the "Right Diligence" of the Noble Eightfold Path. (to be continued) (Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
(My question to Thay) At the beginning, Thay said, "There is indeed a place like that, called the Pure Land of the Present Moment. That land is not limited in space or time. Speaking in Buddhist terminology, that land is outside of space and time." At the end, Thay said, "Therefore, if we practice mindful breathing and mindful walking, we can return to the Pure Land of the Present Moment in that very space and time." So, that very space and time must be outside of space and time. Thay said, "Speaking in terminology of quantum physics, it is nonlocal and nontemporal." So, the Pure Land of the Present Moment must be in the noumenal world, not in the phenomenal world. In this sense, I understand that our body can't dwell in the Pure Land of the Present Moment but only awareness (awakened consciousness) can dwell in the Pure Land of the Present Moment. I have a question to Thay. Can there be notions such as suffering and happiness in the Pure Land of the Present Moment? I understand that in the noumenal world (the ultimate dimension, nirvana) there are no notions. That's because the extinction of all notions is nirvana, as Thay taught us. (Steps for dwelling in the Pure Land) I understand that only if we can stop thinking, we can dwell in the Pure Land. And the steps for dwelling in the Pure Land 24 hours a day will be: (1) conscious breathing, (for temporary enlightenment) (2) insight of the root cause of suffering,(for long-lasting enlightenment) (3) the extinction of all notions.(for full enlightenment)
The key point of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is as follows. Please refer to the URL below for the original text and my commentaries: http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html Exercise 5-8: Feelings (5-6):Joy and Happiness Exercise 5-6 (generating joy and happiness) occurs automatically at the same time when we establish ourselves in mindfulness in Exercise 1-2. So, in time series, Exercise 5-6 should be placed as Exercise 3-4 rather than Exercise 5-6. However, joy and happiness belongs to the category of feelings, so I guess that these exercises was placed as Exercise 5-6. Anyway, if mindful breathing is attained in Exercise 1-2, that is a proof that we have returned to awareness (non-separate self, true self). So, we can touch the wonders of life, and joy and happiness can be automatically generated. The expressions of our realization of joy and happiness may be "just blooming like a flower without thinking". If a flower is replaced with a human being, it may be "just smiling without thinking". Even if you try to concentrate on your breathing, if you have fear and anxiety and can't stop thinking (if you are wandering in the past or the future and can't return to the present moment), unfortunately you are still ego (separate self, fake self) and can't generate joy and happiness. Therefore, those who can't generate joy and happiness by Exercise 1-2, will have no chance to recognize, embrace, relieve the pain and suffering even if they go ahead, because they have no energy of mindfulness. So, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us that we should keep conscious breathing or walking without going ahead until we return to awareness (non-separate self, true self), or until we can practice mindful breathing and walking. In this sense, we can say that Exercise 5-6 is a mean to check whether or not we are practicing Right Mindfulness by ourselves. (7-8): Painful feelings Exercise 5-6 are exercises to recognize and keep positive feelings, while Exercise 7-8 are exercises to recognize and calm negative feelings (painful feelings). If the whole body in Exercise 3-4 is replaced with painful feelings, what we are supposed to do in Exercise 5-6 is exactly the same as Exercise 3-4. By the energy of mindfulness, we recognize our painful feeling, embrace it and calm it by releasing the tension in the feelings. When we recognize our feelings, we are witnessing or observing our feelings. Therefore, we are not the feelings. Our true self is awareness (awakened consciousness) who is witnessing our feelings. So, we don't have to be overwhelmed even by our strong emotions like despair. If we just keep observing it, it will disappear in time. Feelings are impermanent (always changing) and are like a temporary storm, so should not panic and react right away. (to be continued)
The key point of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is as follows. Please refer to the URL below for the original text and my commentaries: http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing-whole.html Exercise 1-4: Body (1-2):Breathing These first two exercises (conscious breathing) are very important. That's because we are supposed to stop thinking, or perception, and establish ourselves in mindfulness through this initial conscious breathing. In other words, we are supposed to transform ourselves from ego (separate self, fake self) to awareness (non-separate self, true self, Dharma body) through this initial conscious breathing. If we can stop thinking, this transformation automatically occurs in a moment. However, if a person has strong fear or anxiety, that person can not stop thinking because s/he keeps thinking even though s/he tries to concentrate on breathing. We need to keep in mind that if we do not establish ourselves in mindfulness at this initial stage, we will not be able to expect the effects of the third exercise and after.Thich Nhat Hanh says that one in-breath (a few seconds) is enough to return to our true self. And I understand that what he means by this statement is this initial conscious breathing. (3-4): The whole body When we have established ourselves in mindfulness through the first two exercises (conscious breathing), awareness (awakened consciousness) will be able to automatically recognize what is going on inside and around us by the energy of mindfulness. In fact, we will be able to recognize everything at once (we attain various insights at the same time), but in the 16 exercises on mindful breathing we will be aware of them step by step in order. The objects we recognize are 5 aggregates (the five Skandhas) which constitute a human being, namely body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. Concretely speaking, we will recognize and calm them in the following order; Exercise 3-4: body, 7-8: feelings, 9-12: mental formations and consciousness, 13-16: perceptions. First of all, in Exercise 3-4 we will recognize the pain in the whole body and release the tension of the painful part. Since the body and the mind are closely interacting with each other, we can not concentrate and establish ourselves in mindfulness if the physical pain is intense. Therefore, first of all, we start with checking the health of the whole body with a ray of mindfulness like X-ray, and caring the unhealthy part well by embracing them. As mentioned above, the energy of mindfulness has the function to recognize, to embrace, to ease and relieve the pain and suffering. In addition, as soon as we establish ourselves in mindfulness, there will be the effect of stopping, resting, calming and healing at once. (to be continued)
Watch deeply to the following Dharma talk about Right Thinking by Sister Jina.
The followings are excerpts. (27:03～) Right Thinking means Right View. Our thinking comes from our view. And Right View means seeing the interbeing nature of all that is, seeing the impermanent nature and non-self nature of all that is, seeing that self is made of non-self elements. (53:22～) Right Thinking is also being aware of impermanence. There is a sentence that I use when I get caught into thinking. "The things are going to stay like this forever." When I find myself in a situation that I find difficult, I tell myself, "This too will pass." And this gives me energy. I'm no longer lost in despair. (55:31～) Right Thinking is also an expression of non-self. To know that happiness is not an individual matter. When my sister is not happy, I can not be happy however hard I try. Somehow, her pain is my pain although I don't want to accept that. But my experience is that I can not be really happy. (59:41～) 4 questions to ask to ourselves (given by Thay): 1) Are you sure? 2) What am I doing? 3) Hello, habit energy! 4) To generate the mind of love, the deep wish to cultivate the understanding and compassion (1:13:27～) Whatever I'm doing, my physical actions always bring my mind back to my body. And when I find myself being carried away by some very exciting thought, (but in the end it's not so exciting at all), I can let it go and come back to my training to bring the mind home to the body. In that way, we develop. You need so appropriate attention. And we will have peace and calm to look deeply to see the non-self and impermanent nature of all that is. That is Right Thinking. So, let's start by practicing becoming aware of our daily thinking. That may be the door to Right Thinking. (My commentary) "Right Thinking means Right View." is a good expression. That's because this is possible through non-thinking. (Namely, Right View ⇒ (non-thinking) ⇒ Right Speech and Right Action) In other words, Right Thinking means non-thinking. That's why Right View can be directly the basis of Right Speech and Right Action, without passing through Thinking process. So, Right View must be directly linked to the senses without passing through feelings and perceptions. Right View means insight (understanding). Only if we are mindful and concentrated, we can attain insight. In other words, only if we return to our true self by stopping thinking, we can attain Right View (insight) by looking deeply (concentration). The following is the whole picture. stop thinking ⇒ return to true self ⇒ mindfulness ⇒ look deeply (concentration) ⇒ insight (understanding) ⇒ love and compassion ⇒ transformation⇒ peace ⇒ joy and happiness (Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/walking-meditation-62204227
Watch deeply the following Thay's Dharma talk video on 'Taking Care of our Thinking'. https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/videos/vb.7691064634/10154446854299635/?type=2&theater The followings are excerpts from the above video. Quotes: (from -11:08) Mindfulness, concentration and insight bring you freedom. The practice of mindfulness helps you live your life. I want to live my life. I don't want to be a victim of my negative thinking, my negative perceptions. And this is possible with the practice of mindfulness. If mindfulness allows us to touch, to recognize the negative things, and to touch the positive things, and if we can open the doorof the Kingdom of God in us, and then we can get in touch with many wonders of the Kingdom that are available in our daily life. It is possible for us to walk all day in the Kingdom of God. It is possible for us to get in touch with the wonders of the Kingdom of God all day. And the door, the key of the Kingdom is there to stay alive, to stay present in the here and the now, and to allow ourselves the time to recognize to get in touch deeply, and not to respond right away, not to react right away in the way we used to do in the past. (from -8:33) There are very concrete things that I like to do, that we like to do. And these concrete things may bring us a lot of happiness and freedom. Whenever I walk, I need to walk, as you are walking, in such away that a step can bring me freedom. I don't lose myself in walking. I don't lose myself in the past or in the future, or in my projects while walking. While walking, I want to taste to get in touch with the wonders of life, the wonders of the Kingdom of God. Those of us who are capable of walking like that, while breathing in the sitting position or standing position, we may breathe in such a way that help us to recognize the fact that we are alive, we are pleasant, we can get in touch with the wonders of life. While eating, we know we are there fully present. It is us who do the eating and not the machine. We are not on automatic piloting. We are on consciousness, on conscious living. We are on mindful living. The greatest success, the most meaningful kind of success you can get is freedom. We have to fight for our freedom. It's not by going somewhere or in the future that we have freedom. It is right in the here and the now that we can get freedom, And the beginning is to stay present, to stay alive to be yourself in every moment. It depends on our way of living our life. And freedom is the ground of happiness. And the way of freedom is the way of mindfulness. And mindfulness, the practice of mindfulness as it is presented in Plum Village, is to learn how to live mindfully each moment of our daily life to be always present. And that kind of training should continue if we don't want to fall into the base of the suffering, depression and so on. And as we have a sangha that is practicing mindfulness, mindful living, we are supported by the sangha. :Unquote (End) (My Commentary) The easiest way to check if we are mindful or not may be to ask a question to oneself,"Can you accept yourself unconditionally without separation?". If you can say "Yes" without hesitation, you are awareness (non-separate self, true self) who is mindful. If you hesitate to say "Yes" right away, you are ego (separate self, fake self) who is not mindful. That's because if we can accept ourselves unconditionally without separation, we have no fear and insecurity. That's why we can stop thinking and return to awareness (non-separate self, true self) automatically. So, the key is how to attain unconditional self-acceptance, or unconditional self-love. In other words, it is how to understand the root cause of suffering through insight. However, those who have fear and insecurity (ego) can't stop thinking due to the lack of unconditional self-acceptance (self-hatred), so it's not easy for them to be mindful. I wonder how many people are ready to transform themselves from ego to awareness on this planet right now. (Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-versions-of-oneself
