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-self are 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
Thay's calligraphy
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
Thay's calligraphy
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
Thay's calligraphy
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
Thay's calligraphy
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)
(Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
Thay's calligraphy
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)
(Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
Thay's calligraphy
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 door of 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
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 -25:00)
In order to unlock the door of happiness, the door of the Kingdom, the door of compassion and love, we need the key. That key according to the teaching of the Buddha is the triple training of mindfulness, concentration and insight. It is possible to cultivate insight and compassion. The Kingdom of God is the place where we can cultivate, we have a chance to cultivate understanding and compassion. And we may like to do that together with other people well with the same concern and desire.
When you grow a corn, you have a corn to eat. When you grow a wheat, you have a wheat to eat. When you grow compassion, you have compassion and understanding, the ground of your own peace and freedom and happiness. And in order to grow, cultivate understanding and compassion, you have to be there. Understanding suffering, understanding anger, understanding depression, to be aware of them, to understand them, is very important. Because to be aware of suffering and to understand suffering is the door to penetrate into the domain of happiness. Unless you understand the nature of suffering, the cause of suffering, you see no path leading to transformation of suffering to happiness.
(from -15:01)
Because Right View is the foundation of Right Thinking. What is Right View? Right View is that everyone has suffering. ... But as a practitioner, you don't have to suffer even if the action or the speech of the person is negative and if you are capable of touching compassion, Right View in you. You say, "Well, I have to help him. I don't want to punish him. I want to help him." That is Right Thinking. And Right Thinking makes you feel much much better. It has a positive effect on your health and the health of the world.
Right Thinking helps you consolidate Right View. And Right Speech also helps you consolidate Right View. And what is Right View? When you are fully present in the here and the now and observe your thoughts, observe your feelings, observe your emotions, you recognize that they are thoughts, they are feelings, they are emotions, and they are not realities. And you are not stuck into it. You retain your freedom. And that is very important. Even if a negative thought or feeling arises, and if you are fully present in the here and the now, and if you remember that your thought is just a thought, is not the reality, that's enough to keep you free and allow your wisdom and compassion to come into action in order to help you.
:Unquote
(To be continued)
(My Commentary)
I understand that what Thay means by Right Thinking is direct thinking which is directly linked to the senses without passing through feelings and perceptions. In other words, Right Thinking means non-thinking. So, Right Speech and Right Action must be based on Right View (insight) without thinking.
Almost all thoughts except for direct thinking (non-thinking) cause separation, discrimination, or the duality. That's why afflictions arise and people suffer. Thay said that mindfulness, concentration and insight are the key for happiness. I understand that this is because mindfulness is for stopping thinking, and concentration is for attaining insight through deep looking. And that insight (understanding) generates love and compassion which bring about peace, freedom, solidity, joy and happiness.
(Cf.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04
The Buddha
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 -33:35)
Within ourselves there is a territory of depression, a territory of hell. And our negative thinking and emotions, they are spinning out from these territories. But we know that in ourselves there is a territory of the Kingdom of God and there is a territory of the Buddha Land. There is a powerful seed of compassion and wisdom in us. And if we give them a chance, they will come in order for us to be rescued.
They have a power to recognize our thoughts. They have a power to recognize our feelings, our emotions, our perceptions. We don't have to suppress them but we want to have the time and space in order to look at them, to recognize them as they are. This is the basic practice. And in order to do that, we have to stay present to be there in the here and the now. Very often our body is there but our mind is elsewhere. And our children do not feel that we are truly present.
If we come to a house, we want to meet someone in the house. You ask, "Is anyone home?" And if someone says, "Yes", and you will be happy. You don't want to go to a house where there is no one. But very often we live ourselves without us. We are not home. We are lost in our thinking, in our worries, in our projects, in our anxiety, in our fear. We are completely lost. We are not there in order to be aware of what is going on. And that is why the practice that is offered to us by the Buddha is not to be on automatic piloting but on conscious breathing, the practice of mindful living.
If you have a depression, or if you are afraid that you go fall back into a depression, this is the way out. If you can stay present, if you can identify the kind of ill-feeling and thought that are responsible for your depression, and then you can be free. You know that these kinds of thinking, these kinds of feeling, will cause a relapse. And that is the beginning of the healing, the beginning of your freedom.
To be there and to be aware of your thinking, of your feeling. The feeling that you get in your body, the feeling that you get when you remember something, you are not afraid. If you are truly there, you can allow the difficult materials to come for you to recognize before they go. And you can do something in order to invite the wonderful materials to come for you to recognize. And you may like to ask these wonderful materials of the mind to stay with you to help you to possess the documents that you need to process.
The Kingdom of God is not an idea. It is a reality. Every time we are mindful, every time we are concentrated, every time we get a little bit of freedom, and then we can get in touch with the Kingdom of God for our transformation and healing. Of course, hell is there in the present moment but the Kingdom of God is also there in the present moment. And we have to select, we have to choose between the two.
:Unquote
(To be continued)
(My Commentary)
Everything depends on who we are. We can select hell or the Kingdom of God to live in. However, if we are ego, we can't recognize what's going on inside and around us. So, ego lives in hell without knowing that there are options to select. Therefore, we need to return to true self by stopping thinking through the insight of the root cause of the suffering.
(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-versions-of-oneself
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 -42:15)
We used to allow our mind to chase after the pleasant and to try to avoid the unpleasant. And our thoughts follow the habit, the patterns of thinking. And these patterns follow the principle of running, following, searching for the pleasant, and trying to run away, avoiding the unpleasant. And because of that, we lose all our freedom. Because we are running, we are avoiding, we do not know that we are running after something and we are trying to avoid something. We are carried away by our thoughts, our feelings, our perceptions.
(from -40:30)
Imagine the airplane on automatic piloting. They don't need a person in the airplane. And the plane can go very well to the destination and can do the things that has been asked to do. And there is no man, no human being on a plane. Very often we behave like that. We are on the automatic piloting. We are not there in order to witness what is happening. And the practice that is proposed by the Buddha is to be there, to stay present to be truly alive. When you are truly there, truly present, you can be fully alive at the same time. You know what is going on. And you know the value of each thought, of each feeling and of a perception.
You know that there are territories that has not been discovered within yourself. You don't allow yourself to be carried away. You want to be yourself. You don't want to be on automatic piloting. You want to be there by yourself. And every time there is a thought, there is a feeling that you want to be there in order to control the situation. You don't want to be carried away. You allow yourself to smile to your thinking, to smile to your feeling, to smile to your emotions. You don't to want to react either way to the thought, to the feeling, to the perceptions. Because that is the habit energy in you that try to push you to respond right away to the feeling, to the emotion, to the thought that has arisen. And this is extremely important.
You tell yourself that "Well, this is a thought. This is a feeling. This is emotion. I know they are in me but I am not just the thought, that feelings, that emotions. I am much more than that. I have a treasure of understanding, compassion, love, wisdom in me. I want these elements to come in order to help me to sort out, to solve, to help me to be on the right path."
You give yourself the time to breathe in and out. You don't hurry to react to take action. And why you are breathing in and out? You give a chance to the wonderful, positive element within yourself to intervene. There is a computer within. And the computer has a lot of power and give you know-how to use to make use of these powers. You can transform the situations. You can bring a lot of light, a lot of joy, a lot of compassion into the situation.
By being there, by not allowing yourself to be carried away to react right away, you give yourself alternative perspective from which you can see things more clearly. You are not in a hurry to react to jump to a conclusion that you have to do this, you have to do that. You just notice. You just become aware of the situation, what is going on, what is manifesting in you and around you. And the practice of mindful breathing, mindful walking allows you to have space. And that space is for the positive element to intervene. You allow the Buddha a chance. You allow the Kingdom of God, of the Buddha in you to have a chance.
:Unquote
(To be continued)
(My Commentary)
It is ego (separate self) who is carried away by the thoughts, feelings and perceptions. And true self (non-separate self, awareness) who can witness what is happening is covered up by ego. That's why the clue is to release ego for true self to be uncovered.
The practice of mindful breathing and mindful walking may be effective to have space for the positive element to intervene. But for mindful breathing and mindful walking, it is essential for ego to stop thinking.
For that, I understand that the only solution is to understand the root cause of suffering through insight. Without that insight, we can never stop thinking. So, mindful breathing and mindful walking sounds easy but is actually very difficult to practice.
I understand that nobody (including the Buddha and Thay) has taught the concrete method to attain insight of the root cause of suffering. Before looking deeply into the suffering, non-thinking must be attained by ego to revive true self.
If such a concrete method is shared, this planet will change for the better soon. Through my experience, I understand that the key is to be fed up with sufferings and to determine to change oneself. And I understand that true self is God or the Buddha.
(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/human-mystery
Thay's calligraphy
