本当の自分 & エゴ True self & Ego

<本当の自分>                               <エゴ>

マインドフルネス（念）            失念

集中                                             分散

   ↓                                                  ↓

理解                                             誤解

洞察                                             思考

   ↓                                                  ↓

愛                                                 執着（愛着）、依存症

思いやり                                      悪意

   ↓                                                  ↓

平和                                             怒り、憎しみ、抑うつ

希望                                             絶望

(協調)                                          (競争、比較)

   ↓                                                  ↓

喜び                                             痛み

幸せ                                             苦しみ

【ヒント】
1. 呼吸しているのは誰ですか？熟睡している時も呼吸しています。あなたは意識して呼吸していませんよね？呼吸しているのが「本当の自分」です。

2. 考えているのは誰ですか？熟睡している時は考えていません。あなたは意識して考えていますよね？考えているのが「エゴ」です。

3. 考えているのが本当の自分だと勘違いしていませんか？もしそうなら、脳が本当の自分になってしまいます。本当の自分は考えません。脳は本当の自分ではありません。

4. 考えるのを止めた瞬間に洞察を得たことがありますか？もしあれば、それが本当の自分です。洞察は取りに行くものではなく、何もしなくても自然に入ってくるものです。

5. 生命の奇跡に触れていますか？生命の奇跡に触れると喜びと幸せが湧きだしてきます。幼子のように。考えていると生命の奇跡に触れることはできません。

6. 現実を見ていると勘違いしていませんか？考えている限り目に映るものは全て幻想です。洞察を通してしか現実に触れることはできません。

7. 目に映る世界はあなたの心の投影であることに気付いていますか？あなたの心をあなたは見ているのです。心を止めると、穏やかな心が鏡の如く現実を反射できます。

8. 苦しみを相手のせいにしていませんか？それでは何も解決しません。苦しみの原因は全て自分の心の中の障害にあるのですから。

（参考）
https://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-46874436
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B012YZBHHS
http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2017/05/blog-post_25.html

<True self>                                   <Ego>

Mindfulness                                   Forgetfulness

Concentration                                Dispersion

      ↓                                                     ↓

Understanding                              Misunderstanding

Insight                                           Thought

      ↓                                                     ↓

Love                                               Attachment, Addiction

Compassion                                  Ill-will

      ↓                                                     ↓

Peace                                             Anger, Hatred, Depression

Hope                                              Despair

(Cooperation)                               (Competition, Comparison)

      ↓                                                     ↓

Joy                                                 Pain

Happiness                                     Suffering

【Hints】
1. Who is breathing? You are breathing even in your deep-sleep state. You are not breathing consciously, are you? The breather is 'True self'.

2. Who is thinking? You are not thinking in your deep-sleep state. You are breathing consciously, aren't you? The thinker is 'Ego'.

3. Don't you misunderstand that the thinker is 'True self', do you? If so, your brain must be 'True self'. 'True self' never thinks. Your brain is not 'True self'.

4. Have you ever attained insight right after stopping the thinking? If yes, that is 'True self'. Insight is something which enters into you naturally, not something to take.

5. Are you touching the wonders of life? You can generate joy and happiness when you touch the wonders of life. Like a child. You can never touch the wonders of life while thinking.

6. Don't you misunderstand that you see the reality, do you? As long as you think, everything you see is an illusion. You can touch the reality only through insight.

7. Are you aware that everything you see is the projection of your mind? You are watching your mind. If you stop your mind, your calm mind can reflect the reality like a mirror.

8. Your suffering is because of the other's attitudes? If you think so, nothing will be solved. That's because your suffering is because of obstacles in your mind.

(cf.) 
https://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/3-versions-of-oneself

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04

Charlie Chaplin

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

Thích Nhất Hạnh

The 7 Factors of Awakening (1)

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 9:18)
I thought maybe Plum Village practice doesn't work for me. ... After 4 years as a (novice) monk, I became a young bhikkhu (fully ordained Buddhist monk). I went to Thay's room and said, "Thay, I would like to leave you. I would like to leave the monastery and leave you. I want to go to Dalai Lama to learn the different practice. Because after 4 years, I don't find anymore peace. At the beginning I do had a lot of peace, joy and happiness. ... But now I feel very exhausted and very sick with my body. I want to go. Maybe your way of practice doesn't work for me. I need something like mantra in a something more complicated, more mystic than this breathing in-and-out and walking meditation." (lol)

And you know what Thay said? "Can you do the mindful breathing from the beginning to the end at the sitting?" I said, "No, I can't do that." "Can you do the mindful step? Can you really feel the earth from the beginning of the walk to the end of the walk?" (Usually we have about 45 minutes (of walking meditation) in Plum Village.) And I said, "No, I can't do that." And he (Thay) said, "You have to stay." (lol) That means that he doesn't give me the permission to go. And it's true because I hadn't trained yet. I had not been training fully this simple practice yet. And I already wanted to go because I was confused. I faced a lot of sufferings in me and I was running away from my sufferings. I had been running away from my own sufferings, thinking I need to go to the different traditions to learn more sophisticated way of the practice, mystic mantra, tantric (tantra).

(from 11:55)
Now after 27 years as a monk, I always ask a question to myself, not "who I am", but "What am I doing?" "What am I doing right now?" And that question brings me back right into, you know, the basic practice. "What am I doing here?" And "What am I doing for my life in the monastery?" So, it brings me back right away to the basic practice; breathing in, breathing out, walking meditation, eating meditation. 

My mind kept wandering. ... Sometimes searching for enlightenment. My aspiration to become a monk was to become a Buddha. ... Because I wanted to become a Buddha, I wanted to get an enlightenment. So, that tendency of "who I am", you know what is the purpose in life as a human being, is to become a fully enlightened Buddha, which was very deep in me. It doesn't help at all in my daily practice. 

But it is very deep anxiety (that is) running, looking for the state of mind where identified that I'm completely enlightened. But it's nonsense. It doesn't work that way for sure. Because I know now that enlightenment is not the state of mind. Enlightenment is not ideas. Enlightenment is not that you go deep inside, searching inside. No. 

Enlightenment is a daily moment to moment practice. And what are we practicing? The practice of mindfulness. That's why mindfulness is the first factor of enlightenment. You know the Buddha spoke about enlightenment in seven factors, seven characteristics of enlightenment. Very concrete, very clear. And the first one is mindfulness.
:Unquote

(To be continued)

(My commentary)
I understand that Thay Phap Dang is fully enlightened (one of several fully enlightened persons in the Plum Village tradition). He is very open and frank to have shared his very concrete experience before his full enlightenment. His method to be mindful was to bring him back right away to the basic practice by asking "What am I doing?". And he seems to have attained the full enlightenment through his daily moment to moment practice of breathing in-and-out or walking meditation. I want to ask him, "Is that all?" Because I understand that it's not so easy to remove the deep anxiety. My guess is that he must have understood the root cause of his very deep anxiety during the basic practice. That's because unconditional self-acceptance, or self-love is essential to remove the deep fear and anxiety. By the way, my self-inquiry method of asking "Who am I?", was very successful as below.

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

Thích Nhất Hạnh and Thay Phap Dang

My question to Thich Nhat Hanh

Please refer to my following post to Thay's Facebook page. 
https://www.facebook.com/thichnhathanh/posts/10154349910279635?comment_id=10154350854029635&notif_t=like&notif_id=1480597439075147
Recently I feel that there is a contradiction in Thay's teaching. My question is "How can those who have fear and anxiety return to true self?" I want to ask this question because my understanding of Thay's teaching is based on the following flow (1) and my experience is based on the following flow (2).

(1) mindfulness = stop thinking ⇒ concentration = deep looking ⇒ insight = understanding the root cause ⇒ generate love and compassion ⇒ transformation

(2) understanding the root cause = insight ⇒ unconditional self-acceptance = unconditional self-love ⇒ no fear and insecurity ⇒ non-thinking ⇒ mindfulness 

To summarize the above two flows,
(1) Mindfulness (to stop thinking) is essential to understand the root cause of our suffering.
(2) Understanding the root cause is essential to stop thinking (mindfulness).

The following is my post.
Quote:
How can those who have fear and anxiety return to true self? They can't stop thinking even though they try conscious breathing or walking unless they understand the root cause of their fear and anxiety. To recognize suffering, embrace it, relieve it and look deeply into it, we need to stop thinking first.

Who observes the thoughts (brain)? I understand that's awareness (awakened consciousness). Only if we can stop thinking (stop using our brain), awareness revives. Awareness has just been covered up by ego (separate self). This is my experience. So, I am convinced that brain (maybe left cerebral hemisphere) can stop thinking. In other words, human beings can just bloom like a flower without thinking. Without thinking, awareness always attains insight. 

My answer to my above question is as follows: We need to be fed up with our suffering and strongly want to change ourselves. Then we will have more chance to attain insight of the root cause of suffering. Once we attain the insight, we can accept ourselves unconditionally and stop thinking because we have no fear and insecurity anymore. So, conscious breathing or walking doesn't work for those who have fear and insecurity to stop thinking and to be mindful.

Unconditional self-acceptance is the key. For that, we need to understand the root cause of our suffering through insight. And for the insight, we need to be mindful and concentrated. However, those who have fear and insecurity can't stop thinking through conscious breathing and walking to be mindful. And the truth is that most people think, which is a proof of having fear and insecurity. In this sense, it can be said that mindfulness can't be attained through conscious breathing and walking only. 

I hope that Thay will answer to my important question. This is not for myself because I understood the root cause of my suffering through insight before starting to learn and practice Thay's teaching. Thay's answer will benefit a lot of Thay's followers and practitioners.

We, as humans on this planet, can exist without thought if we revive awareness (non-separate self, true self). I (awareness) am experiencing it 24 hours a day. In other words, I am stopping and meditating 24 hours a day. I am sure that fully enlightened people like Thay must be also experiencing the same thing. And you may not believe it but you revive awareness during your deep sleep state because you can't think. Furthermore, all animals, plants and minerals are always awareness because they don't think.

That "if" is a big IF because it means self-transformation from separate self to non-separate self. The extinction of all notions is essential for the full enlightenment. For that, we need to understand that all notions (thoughts) are wrong through the ultimate truth of emptiness (interbeing, non-separation, non-discrimination, non-duality, wholeness). 

Simply speaking, you may think too much. Who thinks? It is not true self. It is ego (fake self) who was made up by your wounded inner child (true self in babyhood) for self protection from your parents. So, you need to find out what happened in your babyhood. That is the root cause of your fear and insecurity. Through insight, I saw everything in a flash and understood the root cause. "No wonder!" was my first impression.
:Unquote

(My commentary)
My answer to my above question is as follows:
① Intention: being fed up with our suffering and strongly want to change ourselves
② Determination: self-transformation
③ Insight: understanding the root cause of our suffering
④ Unconditional self-acceptance = Unconditional self-love
⑤ No afflictions: no fear and insecurity
⑥ Non-thinking: stopping thinking
⑦ Mindfulness, Concentration, Insight

Unconditional self-acceptance is the foundation for mindfulness. Without unconditional self-acceptance, mindfulness is not possible because we can't stop thinking. No unconditional self-acceptance, no mindfulness. For unconditional self-acceptance, we need to understand the root cause of our suffering through insight. Once we attain insight of the root cause of our suffering, we can stop thinking because we have no fear and insecurity anymore. So, the fruit of understanding the root cause of our suffering is mindfulness. Mindfulness can't be attained through conscious breathing or walking only. For understanding the root cause of our suffering, we need to be fed up with our suffering and strongly want to change ourselves.

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