Mindfulness Meditation Group, Roanoke, Virginia

Sickness and Health, Death and Dying August 30, 2010

During the months of May and June, we read the fifth chapter, “Sickness and Health, Death and Dying” of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses to Life’s Burning Questions. Below are a few of the questions with abbreviated versions of the answers.

Q: We’ve heard about terminally ill people who have prolonged their lives after they started practicing Buddhism and meditation. What is the connection between illness and meditation?

A: Mindful breathing and walking can release tension in both the body and mind. When we don’t let tensions accumulate, the body’s natural capacity to heal itself can begin to work. When an animal gets wounded, generations of ancestors tell it what to do: it lies down and rests quietly for days until it is healed, then can get up and continue. We humans have lost this capacity for resting; we have forgotten how, and need to learn it again. Meditation is very healing, allowing nature to do its work.

Q: Our child is gravely ill. How can we transform our fear?

A: Looking deeply into reality, we can see that when conditions are right something can manifest beautifully. When they are not right, the manifestation can be stopped partway through. If a child doesn’t continue, he or she will seek other ways to come back. Thay tells of a winter in Plum Village when the buds of a Japanese quince tree were frozen and he concluded that there would be no flowers for the Dharma hall. But a week later new buds appeared and he knew there would be flowers after all. Babies are like this. If conditions are not right and a baby withdraws, don’t worry. You won’t lose her; she will come again. This is true with every species. Impermanence is a reality. Wisdom helps us stand firm, knowing that nothing is lost.

Q:What will happen to our consciousness after we die?

A: We’re very much on the surface of things. We can’t see ourselves or others clearly. That’s why our notions of birth and death, being and non-being, are very shallow. Buddhist meditation gives you a deeper perception of what is there. Don’t wait until your beloved dies to look deeply for him or her. Looking deeply, we see a river of cells, a river of feelings, a river of perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. Consciousness, like the body, is not an unchanging, permanent entity. Both are streams, processes. Seeing a person deeply with eyes of signlessness, you won’t grieve when the outer form is no longer there. When the body disintegrates, your beloved is still there somewhere. Nothing is lost. If we don’t have this form, we have another form. Body, presence, and consciousness overlap and occupy all time and space. If we don’t have the cloud, we have rain; if we don’t have the rain, we have tea. That is the practice.