Overcoming Fear, Part 2 February 22, 2009
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: civilization, death, fear, Five Remembrances, impermanence, meditation, no-birth, no-death, old age, peace, sickness
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This week we finished reading Chapter 5, “Overcoming Fear,” of Thich Nhat Hanh’s The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology. A summary follows.
A drop of rain falling on the ground disappears, but is still there in another form, in the soil or as vapor. A cloud can become rain or snow or ice, but it cannot die. Meditation helps us understand our true nature of no-birth and no-death. Birth and death are just notions. This insight removes fear. Understanding that we cannot be annihilated releases us from fear, gives us peace, and helps our civilization find peace.
We are afraid of dying, of being abandoned, of getting sick. One day we will die; our attempts to forget will not change this fact. The Buddha has taught us to practice recognizing these seeds of fear instead of running away from them by meditating mindfully with the Five Remembrances:
- I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old. - I am of the nature to have ill health.
There is no way to escape having ill health. - I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death. - All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them. - I inherit the results of my actions of body, speech and mind.
My actions are my continuation.
We bring up these seeds and face them with mindfulness and courage. The strength of the fear is reduced and the seed becomes weaker. We feel better after facing these realities, accepting them rather than denying them. By accepting, we find peace, can relax, and can possibly overcome sickness. Though we have the technology to save the planet, we cannot use it in fear and despair. Touching the truth of impermanence, we have peace and can then use technology to save our planet. With the insight of interbeing, we can touch our true being of no-birth no-death, and can die peacefully, with love.
We may also practice these as a breathing exercise, following this pattern:
Breathing in, I know I am of the nature to grow old.
Breathing out, I know I cannot escape old age.
Accepting these essential truths in this way helps us live healthfully and compassionately without bringing suffering to ourselves and others.
Many civilizations have come and gone. Our current one will have to die in order to make room for the next one. Global warming may be an early symptom, and our overconsumption will bring the end more quickly. If we can accept our death in this human form, we can accept the inevitable end of our civilization. When we accept that our own true nature is no-birth no-death, we will no longer act with anger, denial and despair. Acceptance brings peace, and with peace civilization might have a chance. We can make a genuine contribution when we have found this real insight – not just a verbal expression of it – in looking deeply during sitting, walking and reflecting.
We have the technology to save the planet: renewable energy sources and hybrid, electric and vegetable oil-powered vehicles. But our despair, anger, division, discrimination, busyness, and lack of peacefulness and collaboration prevent us from taking advantage of it. Saving the planet requires us to combine the technological with the spiritual. Meditation is not an escape. It provides the courage, wisdom and insight we need to look at reality and throw away our wrong views and misperceptions. We can use our skills and insights to wake up people, nurturing non-fear, brotherhood and sisterhood. We don’t have to go outside daily life. The Buddha proposes we help ourselves and those immediately around us; this will bring about the collective change of consciousness.
Two Final Commentaries, Heart Sutra December 7, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: Avalokiteshvara, dualistic ideas, fear, gate gate, Heart Sutra, illusion, interbeing, mantra, mindful eating, mindful hugging, mindfulness, peace, Prajnaparamita, skandhas
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This week we read the final two of Thich Nhat Hanh’s commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra in The Heart of Understanding. Summaries follow:
Freedom
The obstacles which are our dualistic ideas and concepts about birth and death, increasing and decreasing, inside and outside, Buddha and Mara, are no longer obstacles when we see them with the eyes of interbeing. Seeing this way, we are free of illusion and fear.
Svaha!
When you dwell in deep concentration of body, mind, and breath, you can look into and see things clearly. Avalokiteshvara looked deeply into the five skandhas, saw the nature of interbeing, and overcame all pain. During his state of joyful liberation, he provided us with a mantra. A mantra is a statement which, when uttered with one’s whole being, has the power to transform the world.
Avalokiteshvara’s mantra is, “Gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha.” One translation of this is “Gone, gone, gone all the way over, everyone gone to the other shore, enlightenment, svaha! “ Gate means gone, from suffering and forgetfulness to liberation and mindfulness; paragate means gone to the other shore; sam means everyone. Bodhi means light inside, enlightenment, or awakening. Svaha is a cry of joy or excitement, like “Welcome!” or “Hallelujah!” Study of the Heart Sutra with all body, heart and mind, accompanied by recitation of the mantra with all your being, will bring you real communication with Avalokiteshvara and will help to transform you in the direction of enlightenment. It is not just a chant or object of worship; it is a gift of Avalokita, a tool for liberation of all beings. This gift of non-fear is the heart of the Prajnaparamita.
The Prajnaparamita provides ground for making peace with ourselves. Peace and happiness in yourself help you begin to realize peace in the whole world. If you cannot give yourself peace, how can you share it with the world? When we do something as simple as eating a tangerine in genuine mindfulness, we work for peace. We do not struggle for enlightenment five or ten years from now. Each moment becomes real life. We eat a tangerine for eating a tangerine. We sit for sitting. We walk for walking, alive for each step in real life. This kind of mindfulness can be practiced when we eat breakfast or hold a child or look at another person. When we hug a relative, a spouse, or a friend, we should add conscious breathing to it. Three conscious breaths during a hug will multiply your happiness ten-fold. When eating, we can be happy to have such wonderful food, but we should also be mindful that many people, especially children, are suffering for lack of food. Seeing this way makes us sane, because it shows us that we can make peace with ourselves and the world.
“Each breath we take, each step we make, each smile we realize…is a necessary step in the direction of peace for the world.”
Love in Action July 6, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: anger, awakening, bodhisattva, consciousness, George H.W. Bush, Iraq, peace, suffering, Thich Nhat Hanh, violence, war
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This week’s dharma reading was Chapter Seven, “Love in Action,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living, pp. 73-79. Here’s a summary:
We are all bodhisattvas, aware of what is happening and trying to help others wake up. But we are not perfect, of course. Whatever we are feeling, be it peace and joy or anger and hatred, vibrates throughout the cosmos. A bodhisattva angry at another bodhisattva sets up obstacles everywhere in the universe.
The first war in Iraq, ordered by President George H.W. Bush, caused suffering among many people in many places. Thich Nhat Hanh himself nearly canceled his planned trip to the U.S., but later relented and decided to go, realizing Americans working for peace needed his support and his sharing in their suffering. He understood that bodhisattvas and leaders like George H.W. Bush need help and understanding, expressed in language of love and intelligence; anger will not help. When ordering the ground attack, President Bush said, “God bless the United States of America,” but we must tell him, without anger, that God cannot bless one country against another. Simply electing another president will not transform the situation. We can only transform greed and violence in ourselves and our society by changing our own consciousness and our own way of life.
The soldiers in America and other countries and in Iraq could only do what they did by plunging their bayonets into sandbags, practicing killing during the day, and even in their dreams at night. Only in this manner could they become inhuman, learning to kill, practicing fear and violence, in order to survive. The war came, the killing was massive, and we called it a victory. The troops that returned were deeply wounded from practicing violence both in reality and in their consciousness. Generations following them would receive their seeds of violence and suffering. Their wounds will be with us for a long time. How can we call this a victory?
From war, young people learn to see violence as a way to solve problems, making it easier to support the next war. To protect life, we have to see the reality, the true nature of war. Otherwise we will not be ready. Simply protesting the next war when it begins is not enough; that’s too late. We must practice peace now. If we establish peace in our hearts, war will not come.
Those who have experienced a war directly have a duty to communicate the reality of it to those who have not. “We are the light at the tip of the candle. It is very hot, but it has the power of shining and illuminating.” We can “wake people up,” so that we can “avoid repeating the same horrors again and again. The war is in us, but it is also in everyone.” Thich Nhat Hanh uses the example of Rodney King. Watching that incident, we were all beaten. But looking more deeply, we were also the policemen doing the beating. “They were manifesting the hatred and violence that pervades our society.” We are all co-responsible. We all suffer. We accept violence as a way of life, watering the seeds of violence, even by watching violent TV programs and movies. We must transform this violence, or it will be our own child beaten or doing the beating.
Take your little boy or little girl by the hand, away from TV, Nintendo, and war toys, for a slow walk in the park. Sit together, and look closely at the tiny yellow and blue flowers among the blades of grass. Contemplate these miracles together.
Peace Treaty June 29, 2008
Posted by Alan in sangha.Tags: anger, mindfulness, peace, peace note, peace treaty, Plum Village, refuge, relationships, sangha, suffering, Thich Nhat Hanh
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Today’s dharma reading was Chapter Six, “Peace Treaty,” from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living, pp. 61-71. Here’s a summary.
The first three pages of the chapter consist of the text of a treaty the monks and nuns at Plum Village have drafted to help re-establish peace between persons whose relationship has been interrupted by anger. The treaty opens with “In Order That We May Live Long and Happily Together, In Order That We May Continually Develop and Deepen Our Love and Understanding, We the Undersigned, Vow to Observe and Practice the Following…” It then contains two sections: first, for the one who is angry, and second, for the one who has made the other angry, each with a number of resolutions to observe. It closes with “We Vow, with Lord Buddha as Witness and the Mindful Presence of the Sangha, to Abide by These Articles and to Practice Wholeheartedly. We Invoke the Three Gems for Protection and to Grant Us Clarity and Confidence,” followed by space for the parties’ signatures. The remainder of the chapter consists of commentary on each of the resolutions.
For the angry person, the articles are to:
- refrain from saying or doing anything to further escalate the situation;
- not suppress the anger, but wait a certain period of time before expressing it;
- practice breathing and take refuge in one’s island;
- calmly tell the offender within 24 hours, verbally or by Peace Note, of the anger;
- ask for an appointment to “look deeply into the matter” together, verbally or by Peace Note;
- not to pretend, out of pride or avoidance, not to be angry (We are brothers and sisters; “my pain must be his pain. My suffering must be his suffering.”);
- during activities of daily life, look deeply into the various causes of the anger. Among these is recognition that the other person suffers, and that he or she cannot really “cause” the anger. Only when that other person “overcomes his suffering will happiness in the community be authentic;”
- apologize immediately upon realizing one’s own unskillfulness and lack of mindfulness;
- postpone the appointment, if one is still not calm enough to discuss the matter.
The articles for the person who has made the other angry are to:
- respect the angry person’s feelings without being dismissive;
- not press for immediate discussion;
- confirm the appontment, verbally or by note;
- practice breathing and take refuge in one’s island, recognizing that making another suffer does not relieve one’s own suffering, but in fact increases it;
- apologize immediately upon realizing one’s own unskillfulness and lack of mindfulness, without attempting to justify oneself.
The Peace Treaty is a mindfulness practice. It should not be signed unless one is mindfully committed. When mindfully signed, not only the two partners, but all others as well will benefit. “Be harmonious and happy!”
