Transcript
[13:59] Good morning dear Sanga.
[14:02] Today is March 16th
[14:09] Right?
[14:11] and year 2014.
[14:13] You are in the ??? of meditation hall.
[14:17] ??? temple in the lower hamlet of Plum Village.
[14:23] Welcome to our spring session.
[14:40] When I first learnt English, they talked me
[14:44] How did you do?
[14:46] I did not understand.
[14:50] And until now I don't really understand
[14:52] what it means by How do you do?
[15:00] They want to inquire about what you do
[15:04] correctly. Correct or not?
[15:08] You're a businessman
[15:09] they want to make sure that
[15:11] your business goes well or not well.
[15:16] You are a school teacher,
[15:18] they want to know whether your teaching job is going well or not.
[15:24] Is it the true meaning of the expression of
how do you do?
[15:29] It means whatever you are doing.
[15:35] We want to know whether you are doing well.
[15:38] Whether it is pleasant for you, good or not.
[15:44] But finally I found out that's not exactly
the meaning.
[15:47] What do you do, it means how are you?
[15:54] How do you feel in your body?
[15:57] How do you feel in your feelings and your
perceptions?
[16:00] Are you okay?
[16:03] How are you?
[16:06] So what do you do means
[16:09] is everything okay with you
[16:11] your body
[16:13] your feelings
[16:14] your job. everything.
[16:23] And in the Buddhist tradition,
[16:25] we know that human person is made of five elements.
[16:29] First of all
[16:32] the body, your physical body.
[16:43] they want to inquire about your body
[16:45] is your body okay?
[16:47] Peaceful enough?
[16:49] Are you tired or not?
[16:51] are you stressful or not?
[16:55] Do you have enough peace in your body?
[17:00] Do you have a lot of tension?
[17:03] A lot of pain, a lot of stress in your body
[17:08] that is what they want to know.
[17:10] How are you?
How do you do with your body?
[17:16] then we have our feelings.
[17:19] after the body we have the feelings.
[17:25] Are they want to inquire you about your feelings
[17:27] Do you have a lot of pleasant feelings?
[17:31] or do you have a lot of painful feeling?
[17:41] they want to know about your feelings.
[17:43] How do you do?
How are you?
[17:46] What are the situation of your feelings?
[17:51] And then the third element is perception.
[17:59] You have six sense of them and you perceive the world.
[18:04] what you perceive will bring you happiness
or a lot of suffering.
[18:13] you may have a lot of wrong perceptions
that make you angry
[18:16] fearful and unhappy and so on
[18:20] that's why they want to inquire
about your perceptions.
[18:24] we know that the most our perceptions are
not correct.
[18:31] and because of that we suffer great deal
because of our perceptions.
[18:37] So if I were interested in your being,
[18:40] And I would like to know
[18:42] how about the situation of your perceptions.
[18:48] The next element is the mental formations.
[18:56] Because we have many kinds of mental formations.
[18:58] like anger, fear, despair, jealousy, joy,
happiness, sorrow, hope.
[19:11] In Buddhist tradition we speak of 51 mental
formations.
[19:14] Those who are pleasant, and those who are
not pleasant.
[19:21] Since I am interested in your well being,
[19:24] I want to know about your mental formations.
[19:29] So body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations,
[19:34] and finally, consciousness.
[19:36] Your consciousness.
[19:38] Your mind.
[19:41] There are many wonderful things in your mind.
[19:46] But your mind may contain a lot of suffering.
[19:49] a lot of sorrow, fear, or unhappiness.
[19:55] So I would like to know whether you are light
in
[19:58] your Consciousness
[19:59] or you are overloaded by fear, anger, and
sorrow.
[20:05] That is what I mean by how are you.
[20:09] I want to inquire about the quality of your
being.
[20:13] and how are you?
[20:15] I think that is what they mean by how do you
do.
[20:20] How do you do with your body?
[20:24] How do you do with your feelings?
[20:26] How do you do with your perceptions?
[20:29] How do you do with your mental formations?
[20:31] How do you do with your consciousness?
[20:34] And not just do you do with your business?
[20:39] Your business is very small part of your life.
[20:43] If you are not doing well with your five elements,
[20:48] then your business cannot go well.
[20:57] So to practice Buddhism
[20:59] to practice mindfulness is to take care
[21:01] of our five elements.
[21:05] We have them do well.
[21:12] so that the well being become in reality.
[21:17] This is possible with a practice.
[21:20] You know how to bring peace into your body.
[21:25] You know how to bring peace into your feelings.
[21:28] You know how to bring joy into your perception.
[21:32] into your mind.
[21:37] We have to learn.
[21:41] And then, there are mental formations that
are negative
[21:46] like fear, anger, worries, sorrow.
[21:50] and when they come up, you suffer.
[21:55] You become practice to learn the way to handle
[22:01] this kind of emotions and pains.
[22:06] When anger is coming up,
[22:08] do you know how to take care of your anger.
[22:14] do you know how to handle your fear
[22:20] your distress, your despair.
[22:23] That is what we have to learn.
[22:28] Buddha was a teacher, he is a teacher
[22:31] who told us how to handle the suffering in
us.
[22:37] So the practice consist of two things.
[22:40] First of all,
[22:41] how to bring peace, joy, and happiness
[22:44] into our five elements.
[22:48] and secondly,
[22:52] how to handle the suffering when they come up.
[22:57] The teaching of Buddha is very practical.
[23:01] Very concrete.
[23:02] into in these two things.
[23:05] Today, I would like to speak about one of
the mental formations,
[23:14] called Restlessness.
[23:15] and all of us know what it is about.
[23:32] Restlessness.
[23:36] What is the French word for it?
[23:49] Agitation.
[23:51] If you want to know the Chinese (word for
it),
[23:58] We have a very precise word for Chinese.
[24:05] It is Buk-An (不安).
[24:09] You don't feel peace, you are not peaceful.
[24:16] You are agitated, on the French usage of the
word Agitation.
[24:29] From time to time,
[24:34] we feel the mental formation in us
[24:37] we don't feel the peace at all.
[24:41] we do not know what to do in the present moment.
[24:49] we are assailed by many things
like worries, fear, anger, loneliness.
[24:55] and we don't know what to do.
[25:00] we do not have peace.
[25:03] so Restlessness means the lack of peace,
[25:07] the absence of peace.
[25:11] An(安) means peace.
[25:13] Buk(不) means absence.
[25:15] The absence of peace (不安).
[25:18] First of all, we have to learn how to deal
with
[25:22] that kind of mental formation,
called Restlessness.
[25:32] and if you are assailed by restlessness day
and night,
[25:35] you cannot continue to live.
[25:39] Those of us who have to go and commit suicide,
[25:41] just because we do not know to handle restlessness.
[25:45] In the beginning that is small,
[25:49] but if you don't know how to handle it
[25:51] it will grow
[25:53] until we cannot bear it anymore.
[25:55] and you think that the only way to end the
suffering is
[25:58] to go and kill yourself.
[26:01] That is why many young people today commit suicide.
[26:09] because they don't know
how to deal with the strong emotion
[26:15] coming from the feeling of restlessness.
[26:23] I am sure if their parents and teachers know
[26:26] how to handle the strong emotion,
[26:30] how to handle restlessness,
[26:32] they will be able to help their children,
their students, to do the same.
[26:42] If you are a school teacher,
[26:44] you might like to spend some time talking
to your students
[26:48] about how to deal with the feeling of restlessness.
[26:53] If you know how to do it,
[26:55] then you can tell them
[26:56] can go and help them.
[26:59] and they go
[27:01] They will have more capacity to learn,
[27:05] and the teaching job will become easier for
you.
[27:10] If you are parents, and if you know how to
deal with restlessness,
[27:17] then you can talk to your children,
[27:18] and tell them how to take care of themselves.
[27:22] when they feel restless,
[27:25] and then you can communicate
with your children much more easily.
[27:38] First of all,
[27:39] we look at our body.
[27:43] because our body is one of the five elements
[27:46] that make us a person.
[27:53] Maybe in our body, there is a lot of tension.
[27:58] Stress
[28:00] because you have been working so hard
[28:03] You have accumulated
a lot of tension in your body.
[28:09] So your body is restless.
[28:14] You do not have peace in your body.
[28:21] Do you know how to help your body to feel
better?
[28:27] How to remove the tension in your body
[28:30] so that you can feel better in your body?
[28:36] So we are talking about the restlessness of
the body.
[28:41] In Plum Village, we have many ways
[28:47] of practice
[28:51] in order to remove the tension in our body.
[28:57] Among them is the practice of total deep relaxation.
[29:06] maybe today is a good to have a chance to
offer
[29:10] a session of total relaxation.
[29:14] You have accumulated
a lot of tension in your body
[29:19] and you don't know how to release the tension
[29:23] that is why you have to learn
[29:24] how to release the tension from your body.
[29:32] and in the Sutra of mindful breathing,
[29:36] mindful breathing
[29:41] Buddha proposed 16 exercises
[29:47] and there are many exercises that help us
[29:49] to release the tension
[29:51] not only in our body
[29:53] but also in our feelings and emotions.
[30:06] When you come to a practice center,
[30:09] you learn concrete things you do not learn
philosophy,
[30:13] doctrines.
[30:14] But you learn how to practice
[30:18] in order to transform yourself.
[30:28] I have talked about the 16 exercises
[30:33] proposed by the Buddha
[30:36] Exercise number 1, number 2, number 3,
[30:40] and number 4
[30:44] The third exercise is like this.
[30:48] Breathing in, I'm aware of my body.
[30:56] I know I have a body.
[31:02] So while you are breathing in,
[31:05] you pay attention to your in-breath
[31:09] and during that time,
[31:11] it may last, your in-breath may last
[31:14] two or three or four seconds.
[31:21] So during the time you breathe in,
[31:23] you do not think of anything else
[31:26] but you produce the awareness
that you have the body.
[31:30] Breathing in,
[31:31] I know I have a body
[31:36] This is the exercise number 3
offered by Buddha.
[31:43] When you spend three hours with your computer,
[31:47] you are totally absorbed into the computer.
[31:51] And you forget entirely that you have a body.
[31:58] You don't remember that you have a body.
[32:03] And we know that when the mind is not with the body,
[32:06] you are not fully alive.
[32:11] You are alive only when your mind is with
your body.
[32:18] And this exercise is
[32:19] to help you to realize something we call as
[32:23] "oneness of body and mind".
[32:25] "oneness of body and mind".
[32:32] 身心一如
[32:37] Breathing in,
[32:48] I am aware of my body.
[33:00] I know I have a body.
[33:02] So while breathing in, you bring your mind
home to your body.
[33:10] Because you have abandoned your body
[33:13] you have neglected your body
[33:15] for 3 hours.
[33:18] Now you bring your mind home to your body,
[33:23] and there is a kind of family reunions
[33:25] between body and mind.
[33:27] and when body and mind are together,
[33:29] you are there.
[33:31] You are fully present in the here and the
now.
[33:34] And you can get in touch with
the wonders of life.
[33:37] in you and around you.
[33:41] Your body is a wonder of life.
[33:50] Biologists spend all their life
[33:52] in order to study about
[33:53] that wonders of life,
[33:56] which is your body.
[34:02] Because you have been so busy,
[34:06] you have neglected your body
[34:08] you are looking for some happiness in the
future,
[34:16] elsewhere.
[34:18] And you don't know that
happiness can be found in your body.
[34:24] Because your body is your first home.
[34:32] When you are not in your home,
[34:34] you cannot happy.
[34:37] And that is why
[34:38] the third exercise is to bring you home to
your body.
[34:42] Your mind has been wandering around for a long time.
[34:46] It has neglected your body.
[34:47] It has created a lot of tension and stress
in your body
[34:52] so you have to go home to your body.
[34:55] And that is the purpose of the third exercise
of mindful breathing.
[35:04] Aware of body.
[35:17] You need only three seconds or four seconds
[35:21] in order to bring your mind home to your body
[35:25] When mind and body are together,
[35:30] you have established the here and the now.
[35:34] You become alive,
[35:36] you can touch,
[35:38] you can get in touch with the blue sky.
[35:41] with the fresh air,
[35:42] with the ???,
[35:43] with the all the wonders of life
[35:46] that are available in the here and the now.
[35:49] and that is life.
[35:51] So that is the third exercise of mindful breathing
[35:57] proposed by Buddha.
[36:00] Breathing in, I am aware of my body,
[36:03] Breathing out, I smile to my body.
[36:07] That smile is
[36:09] a Reconciliation.
[36:11] You are reconciled with your body.
[36:14] It is a smile of compassion.
[36:19] Because you have compassion with your body.
[36:22] You have worked so hard.
[36:27] You have not shown your compassion to your
body.
[36:31] So the third exercise is to go home to your
body
[36:36] and reconcile.
[36:37] And as you are in your body,
[36:44] you notice something
[36:46] there's a lot of tension
[36:48] maybe there is a lot pain, ???
[36:53] So you become compassionate.
[36:55] You say,
[36:56] "oh, my dear body,"
[36:59] "I have left, I have neglected you for a long
time,"
[37:06] "Now, I'm back to my body."
[37:07] "I would like to do something in order to
help my body suffer-less."
[37:14] That is why Buddha proposed the next exercise,
the forth exercise.
[37:19] Breathing in, I release the tension in my
body.
[37:24] Breathing out, I allow my body to release
the tension.
[37:31] The teaching was 2600 years old,
[37:35] (Yet) this is very important today for us,
[37:40] because we are very busy,
[37:42] we are very stressful,
[37:44] we don't know how to help our body to suffer-less.
[38:24] In our practice center,
[38:27] and in many other practice centers,
[38:29] when you hear the bell,
[38:36] you stop your thinking
[38:39] about future
[38:40] about your project
[38:42] about your business.
[38:44] You begin to breathe in
[38:47] in order to bring your mind home to your body.
[38:50] That is what we do here in Plum Village every
time we hear the bell.
[38:58] You stop your thinking.
[39:00] you stop doing things.
[39:02] You just focus your attention on your in-breath,
[39:05] you breathe in mindfully,
[39:08] and you bring your mind back to your body.
[39:14] If you stay in Plum Village for one week or
two,
[39:18] you will practice like us.
[39:20] Every time you hear the bell,
[39:22] you know that is a signal
[39:26] for you to stop the thinking,
[39:29] to stop the talking,
[39:31] and to breathe in mindfully to bring your
mind home to your body.
[39:37] Everyone of us practice like that.
[39:44] And even those who have practiced 30 years,
40 years
[39:47] we still continue to practice like that.
[39:50] It's not only for beginners.
[39:55] It is also for experienced and practitioners
[39:59] because we always need to go home to a body,
[40:02] recognize our bodies as home
[40:06] and help release the tension in our body.
[40:14] And after you have heard the sound of the
bell,
[40:18] you practice breathing in and out slowly and
deeply
[40:23] at least three times.
[40:26] And you practice according to the third exercise
[40:29] and the fourth exercise.
[40:32] Breathing in, I'm aware of my body,
[40:34] Breathing out, I smile to my body.
[40:37] Breathing in, I'm aware of the tension in
my body,
[40:41] Breathing out, I allow my body to release
the tension.
[40:49] Whether you are sitting
[40:51] or walking or standing or lying down
[40:55] when you hear the bell you practice the same.
[41:02] So the third exercise is the awareness of
the body.
[41:07] And the fourth is to release the tension in
our body.
[41:20] Release tension
[41:34] in body.
[41:35] Now, you become curious
[41:36] You want to know about the first two exercises.
[41:44] The first exercise is very very simple,
[41:46] very easy.
[41:47] but it is very helpful.
[41:53] It is like this
[41:55] Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.
[41:57] Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
[42:05] When you breathe in, you identify your breath
as an in-breath.
[42:09] When you breathe out, you identify your breath
as an out-breath.
[42:20] Don't mix up the in-breath with out-breath.
[42:24] Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.
[42:26] Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
[42:30] That is the two identification to be aware
of your in-breath and your out-breath.
[42:48] It sounds very simple
[42:53] and easy.
[42:54] It is not hard work at all.
[42:56] Because when you breathe in,
[42:58] you just know "I am breathing in."
[43:01] You focus your attention only on your in-breath.
[43:07] Suppose your in-breath is represented by this
marker.
[43:15] This is the length of your in-breath.
[43:18] It may last two or three seconds.
[43:21] It begins here,
[43:24] It ends here.
[43:28] And this is your mind.
[43:31] when you breathe in,
[43:32] you follow the in-breath.
[43:37] closely.
[43:40] Your mind is focused only on one thing.
[43:44] Your in-breath.
[43:46] your mind does not think of other things.
[43:49] Just your in-breath alone.
[43:52] Breathing in, this is my in-breath.
[44:03] Just identify your in-breath.
[44:07] you only focus your attention only on in-breath.
[44:11] You have concentration. You have mindfulness.
[44:14] As you breathe in like that,
[44:19] you generate two kinds of energy.
[44:22] The first energy is mindfulness.
[44:24] I am mindful that in-breath is going on.
[44:31] And then you are concentrated on your in-breath.
[44:35] Because your in-breath is the only object
of your mind.
[44:39] You don't think any more of the past
[44:41] of the future of your project of your business.
[44:49] You are free.
[44:50] One in-breath alone sets you free.
[44:54] Free from the past,
[44:55] from the future,
[44:56] from your worries,
[44:58] from your projects,
[45:00] and you can enjoy breathing in.
[45:04] because breathing in is a very joyful thing
(to do).
[45:07] is very pleasant.
[45:11] Imagine someone who is already dead.
[45:14] So he cannot breathe in anymore.
[45:16] and you are alive and you are breathing in.
[45:22] How wonderful.
[45:25] So you can enjoy your in-breath.
[45:27] It is not hard.
[45:30] The practice should be pleasant.
[45:34] So you can say
[45:35] "Breathing in, I enjoy by in-breath"
[45:41] To be alive,
[45:44] to be still alive,
[45:47] is wonderful.
[45:50] Breathing in, you touch the fact that you
are alive.
[45:57] To be alive is a miracle.
[46:00] That is the greatest of all miracles.
[46:08] You need only to breathe in in order to get
in touch with that.
[46:13] Breathing in, I am alive.
[46:18] I'm almost 90.
[46:19] and I am still alive.
[46:25] because I am breathing in.
[46:29] When you die, you cannot breathe in anymore.
[46:32] That is for sure. I guarantee.
[46:36] but now you are breathing in.
[46:38] is wonderful. You are still alive.
[46:42] That is why breathing in can be very pleasant.
[46:46] You can celebrate your in-breath.
[46:51] Breathing is a kind of celebration.
[46:55] You celebrate the fact that you are alive.
[46:58] still alive.
[47:00] So if you think that
[47:02] the practice of Buddhism of mindfulness
[47:05] is hard,
[47:06] then you are wrong.
[47:07] It is very pleasant.
[47:09] Breathing in, you can get a lot of joy
[47:14] and peace.
[47:17] So it takes about 2 to 3 seconds to breathe
in
[47:22] and during that time,
[47:25] not only you have mindfulness, the concentration,
[47:28] but you have the insight that you are alive
[47:31] that to be alive is a wonderful thing.
[47:35] so breathing in can be very pleasant
[47:38] and that is the first exercise.
[47:40] Although it is simple,
[47:44] you focus only on your in-breath
[47:46] you release everything else.
[47:49] Your past,
[47:50] your future,
[47:51] your project,
[47:52] your business,
[47:53] and you are a free person.
[47:57] Freedom is possible with your in-breath.
[48:08] If you are to make a decision,
[48:13] this decision is good.
[48:16] Because you are a free person.
[48:19] If you are overloaded with anger,
[48:22] fear, worries,
[48:24] your decision made in this state of mind
[48:28] is not a good one.
[48:31] And that is why breathing in and breathing
out mindfully
[48:36] make you a free person.
[48:39] In that state of freedom,
[48:40] you can make better decisions.
[48:42] Next time when you are to make a decision,
[48:46] be sure to breath in and out while making
the decision.
[48:59] That is about the first exercise:
[49:02] Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.
[49:04] Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.
[49:07] So simple,
[49:08] but it can be very profound as you practice.
[49:11] It can bring a lot of joy,
[49:17] happiness
[49:18] and freedom.
[49:22] The second exercise is
[49:25] Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the
way through.
[49:37] My in-breath may last three or four seconds.
[49:40] During that time, I am truly focused on my
in-breath.
[49:45] There is no interruption.
[49:47] I do not think of anything else.
[49:52] I become very concentrated on my in-breath.
[49:57] And this exercise is called
[49:58] "To follow your in-breath".
[50:06] The first exercise is to be aware of your
in-breath.
[50:17] The second exercise is to follow your in-breath
[50:29] all the way through.
[50:30] your out-breath
[50:32] all the way through.
[50:40] With the second exercise
[50:41] your concentration become deeper and stronger.
[50:44] The more (you are) concentrated,
[50:50] the more you enjoy your in-breath and out-breath.
[50:52] Because you don't pay attention to anything
else,
[50:57] except your in-breath and out-breath.
[51:00] And that is why
[51:01] sitting there and just breathing
[51:04] can bring you a lot of pleasure.
[51:06] Whether you are sitting on the grass,
[51:09] on the bench,
[51:11] on the sand of the beach,
[51:15] you can be very happy
[51:16] if you know the art of mindful breathing.
[51:20] You stop your thinking.
[51:24] Stopping the thinking
[51:25] can help you to enjoy more.
[51:27] There is a kind of radio, called NST,
[51:44] Non-Stop-Thinking.
[51:47] You always listen to that radio.
[51:51] And that prevent you (from) to be aware
[51:54] that you have a body,
[51:55] that there are many wonders of life
[51:58] that are available in the here and now.
[52:02] So stopping the thinking is very important.
[52:06] That radio,
[52:07] you can stop it
[52:11] not by pushing on a button,
[52:14] but by focus your attention on your in-breath.
[52:18] When you begin to focus your attention
[52:20] on your in-breath and out-breath,
[52:22] you stop the thinking.
[52:23] It is very nice way to stop the thinking
[52:29] and begin to be truly alive.
[52:33] Descartes said that
[52:36] "I think therefore I am"
[52:39] Maybe we say
[52:40] "I think too much therefore I am not there
to live my life"
[52:48] So stopping the thinking is very helpful,
[52:50] so that you can begin to live your life,
[52:53] to feel that you are alive.
[53:04] So when you sit in the lotus position,
[53:08] like we just did in the morning,
[53:14] what you may like to do
[53:15] during sitting is to allow yourself the time.
[53:22] To breath in and out
[53:26] to release your tension,
[53:28] and to feel peace.
[53:30] That is one of the way to end
[53:36] the mental formation, called Restlessness.
[53:39] Sitting and breathing.
[53:44] [Please finish making the caption from here]
