1. Lectures on Mindfulness
2. Eating with Mindfulness
3. Allusions to Zen Buddhism
4. Protecting Thoughts
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1. Speech on Mindfulness
The so-called mindfulness refers to maintaining awareness of the reality of the moment. One of Thich Nhat Hanh’s students was once invited to attend a forum to introduce mindfulness. He was fully prepared, so he performed very well on the podium and received thunderous applause from the audience.
After the forum, the student ran to ask Master Thich Nhat Hanh for his evaluation of the speech. As a result, Master Thich Nhat Hanh told him not to do this again. This kind of speech is not in a state of mindfulness.
Speakers are unprepared before giving a speech, so they will move according to their heart and give random instructions during the speech. What a speaker should do is to say what needs to be said at the moment.
2. Mindful eating
Confucius once said something in "The Doctrine of the Mean", which is called "Those who rarely know the taste". People throughout the ages eat every day, but rarely eat. Someone can really taste it.
One thing Joe Kabat-Zinn, the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy, often does before giving a speech is to give each audience three raisins and ask them to eat them one by one instead of Swallowing dates wholeheartedly.
Because if we all eat like Zhu Bajie in "Journey to the West" who ate ginseng fruit and swallowed it in one bite, what else would we taste?
Eat one raisin one by one, chew it slowly and slowly. You may find that the raisin is particularly sweet, and you will enter a state of mindfulness. At that moment, all your attention is on the one thing in the present moment, and you will be in the present moment.
Kabat-Zinn believes that Buddhism is a way of life that allows us to change from doing to being. Have you noticed that many people are busy running to distant places, but they don’t know their current status or what they want. They were carried forward by inertia, numb and dizzy, and spent their lives like this.
In fact, life is neither in the future nor in the past. The only place where life can be experienced is in the present moment.
3. Allusions to Zen Buddhism
1. Holding a flower and smiling
It is said that King Brahma asked Buddha Sakyamuni to preach on the Vulture Mountain, and the Buddha only picked up a flower. A golden flower, with a peaceful attitude, but said not a word.
No one understood what he meant, only Mahakasyapa smiled gently. The Buddha said on the spot: "I have the Dharma Eye, and the wonderful mind of Nirvana. I teach it to outsiders. I do not write any words, and I have given instructions to Mahakasyapa."
He intends to pass on his mantle to Mahakasyapa. , from then on Mahakasyapa inherited the mantle of Buddha and founded Zen Buddhism.
2. Seeking Dharma with a Broken Arm
Bodhidharma, the 28th ancestor of Zen Buddhism, went to the East and founded the first generation of Zen Buddhism in the East. He is known as the ancestor of Chinese Zen Buddhism. It is said that Bodhidharma was once on the wall of Songshan Mountain. Huike (the Dharma name after he succeeded in seeking the Tao) went to pay homage and seek Taoism, but Bodhidharma ignored him.
Huike stood outside the cave, his determination unwavering even if the snow reached his knees. Bodhidharma hesitated a little after seeing it. Huike immediately took a sharp knife and cut off his left arm and placed it in front of Bodhidharma to show his determination.
Finally Bodhidharma asked: "What do you want?" Huike replied: "I am uneasy, and I ask the master to help me feel at ease." Bodhidharma answered: "I will give you my peace of mind." Huike replied Unknown: "I searched for my heart but couldn't find it." It means that he couldn't find his own heart. Bodhidharma replied: "I am calming down for you." This means that Bodhidharma has calmed down his mind for Huike.
Huike attained enlightenment and became the second ancestor of Zen Buddhism. Why is this? Because when a person's heart is uneasy, he only needs to pay attention to his heart, and his heart will naturally feel at ease.
4. Kindly protect thoughts
Teacher Fan Deng said that he once went hiking in the desert with some entrepreneurs, and after walking more than 30 kilometers, he had to receive coaching in a tent. Stretch. Everyone was frightened when they heard the sound of a slaughtering pig coming from the tent, worried that they would not be able to bear the pain of stretching.
Teacher Fan Deng tells everyone how to practice mindfulness, focus your attention on the pain, stare at the feeling of pain, take care of your emotions, and you will feel much better.
So, when it was Teacher Fan Deng’s turn, everyone came to watch him. When he was being stretched, he felt the soreness and pain. As expected, there was no strong rebound or resistance in his body because he was taking care of his own pain.
It’s not just pain, it’s also true for anger. When you have anger, learn to observe and pay attention to it, and you will find that your heart will gradually become calmer.
This is the "good and protective thought" mentioned in the "Diamond Sutra". Good protective thought means observing oneself and taking care of one's emotions. What is "I"? In the definition of psychology, "I" is my observer. When you are able to observe yourself, you will find that the ups and downs of emotions are a normal thing.
When the Buddha became enlightened, he once realized: "All living beings have the wisdom and virtue of the Tathagata, but they cannot achieve it due to delusion and persistence." In fact, each of us has a bright Buddha nature in our heart, and it will not increase if we go to heaven. , going to hell will not be reduced.
However, this Buddha nature has been obscured by accumulated habits, and it will last for countless eons. What we have to do is break old habits and change inertia.
Kindness of care also involves focusing on breathing. Sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves alternate day and night to help us breathe on our own. Many emotions are between our breathing and breathing, so breathing is very important. When we have troublesome emotions, as long as we focus on the breathing at the moment, the troublesome feeling will be reduced a lot.
Buddhism says that people have eight kinds of suffering: not being able to get what they want, resentment and hatred, love and separation, the five aggregates of clinging, birth, old age, illness and death. However, Teacher Fan Deng believes that the greatest pain in life is that he believes that he should not suffer. This feeling will double your pain and make you think that you are the unluckiest person in the world, but this is not the case.
So, how to deal with negative emotions through mindfulness? Teacher Fan Deng came forward to give his own account. He mentioned that he once went home for the Chinese New Year, but because he was in a hurry, he only bought a hard-seat train ticket. He had not had such an experience for a long time. The car was very crowded, smelled different, and the environment was extremely noisy, but he had to ride all night. He admitted that he was very uncomfortable at first.
But then he looked at the living beings around him. Everyone was laughing and cursing, with different expressions. He always maintained righteous thoughts in his heart, and slowly realized that this was life, and gradually developed a joy in it. .
In the face of impermanence, if we can maintain mindfulness, understand and take care of our emotions, you will find that no matter where you are, it is actually a kind of meditation.
Conclusion
We are not sages, and bad emotions are inevitable. When pain, anger and other negative emotions strike, what we have to do is not to escape and resist, but to experience it and take care of it. If you take good care of your thoughts, your mind will be at peace.