16 exercises on mindful breathing (key point 5)

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

16 exercises on mindful breathing (key point 4)

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

16 exercises on mindful breathing (key point 3)

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

16 exercises on mindful breathing (key point 2)

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

16 exercises on mindful breathing (key point 1)

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

2 types of "thinking"

There are two types of "thinking" or "thought". Ordinary people's (ego's) "thinking" or "thought" always causes separation, discrimination, or the duality. However, the enlightened person's (awareness's) "thinking" or "thought" never causes separation, discrimination, or the duality. That's why ordinary people easily misunderstand it. The difference is whether it is based on notions or not. 

In order to avoid misunderstanding I call "thinking" or "thought" which is not based on notions, "insight". Insight is in other word Right View, Wisdom, or Understanding. That's why we can generate love and compassion if we understand the root cause of suffering through insight. If we are mindful and concentrated, we can always attain insight.

So, if the thought is a byproduct of seeing and reflecting the reality as it is, I call it insight. In other words, if the thought is directly linked to the senses without passing through feelings and perceptions (series of notions in the head), I call it insight. (Actually in this direct thinking case, Thay still uses the word "thinking" or "thought". He calls it Right Thinking.)

Anyway, this world is the object of our mind, namely our mind because of the projection of mind. So, the key is whether our mind is calm and clear or not. If our mind is calm and clear, it can reflect the outside reality as it is, and it can see through the inside reality as it is. But if our mind is not calm and not clear, it can not reflect the outside reality as it is, and it can not see through the inside reality as it is. That's why we need to stop and purify our mind.

(Cf.) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04

image of insight

image of thinking

The 7 Factors of Awakening (4)

Listen deeply to the following Dharma talk on The 7 Factors of Awakening by Thay Phap Dang. http://deerpark.libsyn.com/2016-12-04-br-phap-dang-the-7-factors-of-awakening

The followings are excerpts from the podcast.

Quote:
(from  54:45) 
The sixth factor of enlightenment is concentration. Concentration goes along with mindfulness, samadhi. We all need concentration. All schools of meditation come to play of concentration. No concentration, no enlightenment. Whether you belong to zen school or belong to the school of tantric, all need concentration, samadhi. Samadhi is equivelent to Samatha which means that your mind comes to rest and your mind comes to concentrate, focus. Your mind comes to the body. You don't fix your mind but you get a feeling that is always resting, that is always there for you. 

So, the continuity of mindfulness is actually concentration. So, the spectrum of mindfulness is actually concentration of the mind. The longer mindfulness you have, the longer concentration you have. And your mind comes to tranquility all day long. Quietness and tranquility. We need quietness because we are so active in the end. 

So, we need concentration in order to see our mind. Because most of the time we are controlled by the seed in our mind. It (seed) actually tells us what to do. We have no control. Like when you are lonely, "I need somebody to talk". ... Actually we are manipulated by our own mind. That's why the Buddha said, "You are riding by the horse but your own mind, you, actually have no sovereignty." 

So, concentration helps us to have concentrated sovereignty of it, freedom, liberation. We see what is happening here. We see the thought before it becomes energy. We see the emotion before it becomes a strong emotion. We see the attachment before we send our energy. Sometimes attachment is so strong and we send our energy out. "I like you. Don't you see me beautiful?" It goes like that. 

(from  1:00:38)
The last one (the seventh factor of enlightenment) is equanimity. This is very important. Equanimity means letting go. ... This factor is so important to be free and to be enlightened. Because most of the time we attach, we hold. Underneath, we want to hold more, grasp more. We want everything belongs to us. So, letting go. 

But the deep down is the fear from attachment. You are afraid of losing them. You are afraid that one day you have to let them go. But you will have to go. One day you have to die. So, the final liberation is actually to let go, to let go of attachment (things belong to myself). Even this body has to let go. And actually when we look deeply, we see this body is the process of birth and death. You are always constantly dying and constantly being born. And this is the law of impermanence. 

There is nothing called you in that moment because you change all the time. People don't have this practice, so they don't see this process of everlasting changing. So, they are afraid of dying. They are afraid of being sick. They are afraid of departure from the loved one one day. You are like that, or your loved one is like that. 

So, that's life. That's why we need to devote our time into this practice of enlightenment, enlightenment of every step we make. If in each step we don't have enlightenment (no joy, no tranquility), something is wrong. We are wasting our time. Some monks and nuns, or lay practitioners, we don't fulfill our aspiration. We don't continue the career of the Buddha and the teacher. It's so sad to put them down. 

So, the practice is throughout the day. It's not just when you come to the meditation hall. We said training the horse within. So, don't let the horse ride you. You control the horse. In zen, they say that you ride the buffalo, (you should) not allow the buffalo ride you. Actually there must be another animal, a monkey. I said that my consciousness was a monkey. The buffalo is just the alaya consciousness. The seeds, the totality of our behavior, of our mind, so that is called the buffalo. And usually it's very dark because of the negative energy. 

But the one who lives, who controls our life, is the monkey, the monkey who fabricates our life, who creates things in our life, who brings us hell or heaven, who brings us love or hate. So, the monkey is the one who is very intelligent. We need to pay attention to him. So, shine the light of mindfulness on the monkey. Make the monkey sit quiet. Tame the horse to be calm and relaxed. And that is our practice. 

You don't need to look for the true nature of the beginner's term of purity or whatever. Who cares about that? You don't need even to look for the Buddha outside. You don't need to get enlightenment at the end of the vow. You can get enlightenment in every step you make. 
:Unquote

(End)

(My commentary)
I understand that equanimity is the most difficult factor of enlightenment. That's because equanimity means non-discrimination, non-separation, non-duality, inclusiveness, the wholeness, or unconditional love and compassion. So, other 6 factors of enlightenment are means or tools to attain the 7th factor as the fruit. 

Non-thinking for 24 hours a day is essential for the full enlightenment. So, the extinction of all notions is essential for that. We must throw away all notions to stop thinking completely. And for that we need to understand the ultimate truth of emptiness, or interbeing through insight. In other words, we have to understand that all notions made up by ego are wrong because all notions cause separation, discrimination, or the duality. 

When we attain the insight, we are fully enlightened and can stop thinking completely. So, there will be no more separation, discrimination, or the duality. And no afflictions such as fear and anger will arise anymore. Therefore, sufferings will be eliminated completely. Or, I should say that there will be no notion of sufferings made up by human ego. All animals, plants and minerals enjoy living like that. Only most humans are the living dead (corpse) except for little children.

(Cf.) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04

The 7 Factors of Awakening (3)

Listen deeply to the following Dharma talk on The 7 Factors of Awakening by Thay Phap Dang. http://deerpark.libsyn.com/2016-12-04-br-phap-dang-the-7-factors-of-awakening

The followings are excerpts from the podcast.

Quote:
(from 35:07)
The second enlightenment factor is investigation of the Dharma. It means that you have to look for the right Dharma, the right Dharma door. ... So, we learned the practice of mindfulness, of concentration, of insight we bring into our daily life to practice. And then we investigate, look. So, investigation is more like looking deeply, Vipassanā. We bring the mind to stop to the present moment. And then we look into our body, into our feelings, into our perceptions. Because we need to understand what is our body. There is a very deep secret in our body. Our body has a vast area to learn.

If we don't understand, we suffer but we don't know why. We create more suffering for the body. We don't know why. So, mindfulness goes along with the investigation of the Dharma. ... But for sure, mindfulness is the way, the Buddha way. No mindfulness, no enlightenment. ... You like or dislike, is very projective. It's not because of him or her. It's the manifestation of our mind.

(from 42:02)
The third factor of enlightenment is energy. We need energy to continue this way of life. So, this energy is like a force, the energy of diligence. So, no energy, no enlightenment. Laziness, it doesn't work. Can you get enlightenment if you become so lazy? ... You have to generate the energy on regular basis. It's just like we need. 

So, spiritual life is like that. We need to be diligent. We enjoy doing it. Because we know this is the most important thing in our life. It's the generating energy of mindfulness, concentration, clear mind. If not, we just go back to the same pattern, or autopilot. Confusion. Habitual energy. And we have a tendency to bring suffering to oneself and others. So, energy is needed. ... Energy makes us stable. The energy you know what is negative, you don't do it. You know what is negative energy, negative thought, negative mental formations, you don't do it, watering it. ... So, watering good seeds is happiness and joy.

(from 50:03) 
Joy is the fourth factor of enlightenment. Sometimes they call it rapture. Can you believe that a depressed person can get enlightenment? No way! So, we need to have some joy. We like to do it. You enjoy to do the practice. You feel the joy. Joy is a skill of way, is like mindfulness to be in touch, to experience. So, it's not auto-suggested. But you feel the joy. We sit quietly and you feel joy. ... Joy comes from tranquility, clear mind.

(from 51:15) 
The fifth factor of enlightenment is relaxation and tranquility. ... True mindfulness is no thinking. True concentration is no thinking. So, tranquility is very important. ... Just sit there. Just be yourself. The most suffering of human beings is that you can not be yourself. Is that right? You are looking for a love but you can not love yourself. You want somebody else to love you but you can't love yourself. You want somebody to pay attention to you but you can not pay attention to you. That is the most suffering of humans. 

So, go back (to yourself) and be relaxed. Be relaxed in the body. Be tranquil in the mind. We have this quality. And actually this is the factor, the energy very straight into enlightenment. Actually you have enlightened. You are the Buddha to be. I hope that everybody can be a Buddha because as human beings we create a lot of sufferings. But when you become a Buddha, you are radiating the energy of relaxing and tranquility. Your mind becomes more clear. That means your perception is more clear and more direct.

(from  54:13)
When you come to the place of perception, we color a lot. Because the bottom of perception is the mind. On top of the perception is the person. So, we color the person with our own mind. Whether we like or we don't like is very projective, very subjective. So, that's why the tranquility of the mind, relaxing the body is very important. 
:Unquote

(To be continued)

(My commentary)
We must keep the following phrases in mind because it is very important and very true.

"You like or dislike, is very projective. It's not because of him or her. It's the manifestation of our mind."
"So, we color the person with our own mind. Whether we like or we don't like is very projective, very subjective."

The above phrases mean that we see our mind, namely ourselves in the other person. So, the way we see depends on the way we think. If we blame the other person, we are actually blaming ourselves.

(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-versions-of-oneself

The 7 Factors of Awakening (2)

Listen deeply to the following Dharma talk on The 7 Factors of Awakening by Thay Phap Dang. http://deerpark.libsyn.com/2016-12-04-br-phap-dang-the-7-factors-of-awakening

The followings are excerpts from the podcast.

Quote:
(from 16:00)
So, if we are practicing mindfulness, we are on the right track. Nothing to be confused. Nothing to be worried about. Sometimes we have learned this very important practice (mindfulness) from Thay and from the Buddha, but for a while we begin to feel like we are not trust, we are not confident in our practice. Because the way Thay makes the practice is so simple. And we thought that it (mindfulness) doesn't work. Something simple, it doesn't work. Something sophisticated, something mystic, it will work because the enlightenment is something high. So, that is a trick that we easily fall into a trap of doubt (maybe this doesn't work for me). Exactly like what I did when I was at a monastic after 4 years. 

(from 17:18)
And mindfulness, anybody knows mindfulness and you already practice mindfulness, it's also like an enlightenment, not an idea. It's not a notion. It's not a thought. Mindfulness is the energy you can do it, you can generate. Mindfulness is the spiritual energy that we like with it. You can define as the clear awareness that you can see, you can hear, you can feel. And you can really touch this energy. So, this is the right teaching, right practice of the Buddha who passed on his disciples and now it comes to us. So, I'd like to share with you like this, so that you would have faith in your own practice. 

(from 18:27) Mindfulness is defined as body and mind come together. One breath, breathing-in, and if we are aware of the in-breath from the beginning to the end, that is mindfulness. You know it. You can feel the energy. And mindfulness is not just the breathing, the way of breathing. Mindfulness is also to see the flower. You see the flower. That's exactly like that. That's mindfulness. You feel the wind resting your body. And that feeling that (?) of the refreshing of the wind. That is also mindfulness. And you walk in the nature. You feel the sunshine on your face, your shoulder.That is also mindfulness. It's the spiritual energy. It's very clear in our mind. It's a clear awareness. It's the essence of the Buddha. People talk about the Buddha nature. But this is the real Buddha nature. You can touch it. It's not a thought. ... 

Mindfulness is something that the Buddha really did almost every day and his monks were practicing every day. The steps feel the earth. That is mindfulness. So, mindfulness sometimes does not come from the head (brain). Mindfulness comes from the body. You know, more like you feel it, you touch it, experience it. Not above for sure. So, actually thinking about mindfulness, is not mindfulness.

(from 21:05)
That's why there is a state of Dhyana, the second state of Dhyana. There is no thinking. I said thinking is confusing. Thinking is taking us away from life. We are sitting there, thinking a lot of things. And the flower right in front of us, we don't see it. 

(from 25:10)
So, mindfulness is that mind goes back to the body and stays in the present moment. Mindfulness is that you do whatever you have to feel it. It sounds simple but it takes a lot of training because our mind likes to do many things at a time. Multi-tasking. Our mind likes to run away into the distant, into the past, into the future. Our mind is very good at thinking and planning. And the Buddha said that our mind is like a white horse running and running. 

(from 26:55)
The Buddha said the horse is like our mind. Training mindfulness is actually the training of mind to come to play of stopping, stop running, stop even thinking. It's nothing wrong with thinking. But we think too much. Most of thinking is not productive. And most of our thinking is very negative. It has a lot of anxiety and fear in it. A worry.

So, mindfulness is just to be. Just do one thing at a time. ... Really just to be. Because our mind is very crazy. So, just to be is a training, not easy at all. Training a horse, the horse within, is mindfulness.

(from 34:28) 
The second enlightenment factor is the investigation of the Dharma. So, the Buddha was very clear in defining enlightenment. The first is mindfulness, to come back to oneself to be in the present moment. The body and mind come together. So, without mindfulness, no enlightenment. O.K.? For sure. So, moment to moment awareness. Mindfulness is real enlightenment. Real life!
:Unquote

(To be continued)

(My commentary)
Mindfulness is to stop thinking. When we concentrate on our action (intransitive action such as breathing and walking is the best to stop thinking because the objective, or the object of mind is not required.), we can stop thinking and awareness automatically revives upon non-thinking. Then we (awareness) can touch the wonders of life and the true nature of reality inside and around us. So, we can attain insight and generate love and compassion anytime. As a result, our mind is always calm and clear, which brings about peace, joy and happiness. However, this stage is still the temporary enlightenment, not the full enlightenment through the extinction of all notions.

In order to be mindful by stopping thinking, we need to understand the root cause of our fear and insecurity through insight. That's because we can't stop thinking unless we understand the root cause. And I understand that conscious breathing or walking is helpful for stopping thinking temporarily and attaining insight of the root cause of suffering as a supplemental method. But conscious breathing or walking is not so easy for those who have fear and insecurity. That's because it's very difficult for them stop thinking even during conscious breathing or walking.

(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/walking-meditation-62204227

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