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May 12 - May 14, 2023
It is difficult to describe the actual experience of translating his words, but my awareness of the feel of pen and paper, awareness of the position of my body and of my breath enabled me to see most clearly the mindfulness with which Thay had written each word.
Plum Village is open every summer to visitors from around the world who wish to spend a month of mindfulness and meditation.
1 June, Thich Nhat Hanh writes to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, urging him to oppose the Vietnam War publicly, which Dr King eventually does.
1967Thich Nhat Hanh is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr Martin Luther King, Jr,
you think I don’t know how to wash the dishes?” I answered, “There are two ways to wash the dishes. The first is to wash the dishes in order to have clean dishes and the second is to wash the dishes in order to wash the dishes.”
When you are walking along a path leading into a village, you can practice mindfulness. Walking along a dirt path, surrounded by patches of green grass, if you practice mindfulness you will experience that path, the path leading into the village.
If we’re really engaged in mindfulness while walking along the path to the village, then we will consider the act of each step we take as an infinite wonder, and a joy will open our hearts like a flower, enabling us to enter the world of reality.
Thus mindfulness is at the same time a means and an end, the seed and the fruit.
That’s why I suggest to those who come to the meditation sessions that each person should try hard to reserve one day out of the week to devote entirely to their practice of mindfulness.
Don’t do any task in order to get it over with. Resolve to do each job in a relaxed way, with all your attention. Enjoy and be one with your work.
You cannot go as far in meditation lying down as by sitting. It is possible to find total rest in a sitting position, and in turn to advance deeper in meditation
For beginners, it is better to sit no longer than 20 or 30 minutes. During that time, you can readily obtain total rest. The technique for obtaining this rest lies in two things – watching and letting go: watching your breath, and letting go of everything else.
Often it helps to meditate on the image of a pebble thrown into a river.
The essential thing is not to let any feeling or thought arise without recognizing it in mindfulness, like a palace guard who is aware of every face that passes through the front corridor.
And if an unwholesome thought arises, acknowledge it as well: “An unwholesome thought has just arisen.” Don’t dwell on it or try to get rid of it, however much you don’t like it. To acknowledge it is enough.
The mind experiences itself directly within itself.
Mind contemplating mind is like an object and its shadow – the object cannot shake the shadow off. The two are one. Wherever the mind goes, it still lies in the harness of the mind.
In the first six months, try only to build up your power of concentration, to create an inner calmness and serene joy. You will shake off anxiety, enjoy total rest, and quiet your mind.
Your mind will take hold of mind in a direct and wondrous way which no longer differentiates between subject and object.
Drinking a cup of tea becomes a direct and wondrous experience in which the distinction between subject and object no longer exists.
People normally cut reality into compartments, and so are unable to see the interdependence of all phenomena.
Meditate like that, knowing that your own body will undergo the same process. Meditate on the corpse until you are calm and at peace, until your mind and heart are light and tranquil and a smile appears on your face. Thus, by overcoming revulsion and fear, life will be seen as infinitely precious, every second of it worth living.
To see the almond tree is to see the way. One Zen Master, when asked to explain the wonder of reality, pointed to a cypress tree and said, “Look at the cypress tree over there.”
Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.
Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.” Tolstoy’s story is like a story out of scripture:
