Transcript
[0:04] Good morning, dear Sangha.
[0:07] Today is January the 14th
in the year of 2004.
[0:12] We are in Deer Park Monastery
during our winter retreat.
[0:19] Last week we learned the gatha,
"I have arrived, I am home.
[0:30] In the here, in the now.
[0:36] I am solid, I am free.
[0:40] In the ultimate, I dwell."
[0:43] This gatha can be used
for sitting meditation,
[0:49] can be used for walking meditation.
[0:56] When you stand, you can also practice:
"I have arrived, I am home"
[1:01] And when you lie down, you can also
practice: "I have arrived, I am home".
[1:11] At the end of the day,
you would like to rest,
[1:21] go to bed.
[1:23] You lie down in your bed, and you may like
to practice : "I have arrived, I am home".
[1:36] Because several of us continue to run,
even in our sleep, in our dream
[1:43] because running has become a habit.
[1:46] Not only we run during the day,
but we run also during the night,
[1:51] in our sleep, in our dream.
[1:55] That is why, it is good that
we practice, "I have arrived, I am home".
[2:00] I don't want to run anymore.
[2:02] The moment when you lie down
and you enjoy doing nothing.
[2:06] Just feeling that you are home.
[2:08] You are in your bed and
you want to really rest.
[2:25] You like to listen to the music
of your breathing, in and out.
[2:31] Your heart is playing music.
[2:34] Your lungs are playing music.
[2:36] You just tune to that kind of music.
[2:41] And whenever feeling and emotion arise,
[2:44] you allow that music of breathing
to embrace it.
[2:55] And like that, you can enter
your sleep peacefully.
[3:03] And with much pleasure.
[3:08] So,
[3:09] the gatha, the poem,
"I have arrived, I am home"
[3:15] can be used in 4 positions of the body:
sitting, standing, walking and lying down.
[3:32] And that is the practice of stopping.
[3:38] The practice of stopping
is very crucial in the Buddhist tradition.
[3:55] There are moments
when we don't do anything,
[3:58] we just sit there and we lie down.
[4:02] But our body has not stopped.
[4:06] There is tension in our body.
[4:12] There is a kind of energy that
push you, push your body.
[4:18] Your body wants to do something,
to be active, to run, to do something.
[4:25] Your body does not have capacity
to rest, to stop.
[4:29] That is why 'stopping' does not mean just
stopping the mind, but stopping the body.
[4:40] Because body also has
the habit of running,
[4:45] of being in the movement.
[4:49] And there is a feeling
of restlessness in the body.
[4:56] The body and the mind; they inter-are.
[5:01] The body contains the mind
[5:04] and the mind contains the body.
[5:10] They inter-contain each other.
[5:17] That is why helping the body to stop,
you can help the mind to stop also.
[5:23] And helping the mind to stop,
you help the body to stop.
[5:26] You practice with body and mind
at the same time, not just with the mind.
[5:32] That is why, meditation includes the body.
[5:36] You don't just meditate with your mind,
you meditate with your body,
[5:43] And Buddhist term
for 'stopping' is 'samatha'.
[6:05] In Pali, 'samatha', with this
you pronounce /shamatha/.
[6:18] And the first meaning of 'samatha'
is ' stopping'.
[6:24] Without stopping, you cannot do much.
[6:30] And when you come to Deer Park,
[6:35] you can enjoy 'samatha'
as a practice of stopping.
[6:40] You stop during the time you sit,
[6:42] you stop during the time you walk,
[6:45] you even can stop during the time you run.
[6:47] You have jogging meditation.
[6:51] And while you are running,
you have already stopped.
[6:56] Because you are not running
after something.
[7:00] No.
[7:02] You are not searching for anything at all.
[7:05] You are completely at ease
in the present moment.
[7:09] And that is the meaning of 'samatha'.
[7:15] And, it sounds easy,
[7:19] but we need some training.
[7:23] We need a strong will also, we need
a big desire in order to be able to stop.
[7:29] Because the habit of running
is very strong in us,
[7:34] in our body, and in our mind.
[7:37] And the habit of running,
[7:39] the habit energy might
have been transmitted by our parents.
[7:44] Our parents may have run all their life,
[7:47] become a strong habit
[7:50] and they may have inherited it
from their parents,
[7:54] from our grandparents, our ancestors.
[7:58] So the habit energy is very strong.
[8:03] But now as we have the chance
to encounter Buddha Dharma,
[8:08] the Buddha said, "Stop, my child."
[8:11] And then we have a chance
[8:15] to transform that habit energy.
[8:17] And if we succeed in stopping,
[8:20] then we help all our ancestors in us
to stop at the same time.
[8:24] How nice!
[8:27] I have arrived, I am home.
[8:30] It means:
[8:32] I don't feel a need to run anymore.
[8:35] What I am looking for,
[8:37] it is right here, right now.
[8:39] And that is why,
[8:40] we need the insight
in order to really stop.
[8:44] And the insight is not
by the other wing of the bird.
[8:53] That is 'vipasyana'.
[9:04] 'vipasyana' is the practice
of looking deeply
[9:07] in order to get an insight.
[9:11] In Chinese, you write 观 (guan)
[9:16] and 'samatha' you write 止 (zhi).
[9:25] 'Samatha' and 'vipasyana'
are the two wings of a bird.
[9:31] (Laughter)
[9:33] And they transport us
on the path of insight
[9:37] and stopping.
[9:45] We just said that
when we have gotten the insight,
[9:52] that everything is already there.
[9:55] You are already what you want to become,
[9:58] namely, a Buddha.
[10:05] And then, you feel that there is no longer
any need to run.
[10:12] That is why, the insight allows you
to really stop.
[10:17] Without the insight,
no matter how hard you strive,
[10:23] you cannot stop.
[10:25] It is why, 'samatha' is not possible
without 'vipasyana'.
[10:31] And 'vipasyana' is not possible
without 'samatha'.
[10:38] Imagine a bird, flying only with one wing.
[10:41] It's very difficult.
[10:49] So, the first meaning of 'samatha'
is 'to stop running'.
[11:05] To stop altogether the running.
[11:10] When we are in the retreat like this one,
[11:14] it's a good opportunity for us
to learn how to stop.
[11:21] You may have some wound
[11:26] in our body.
[11:29] You may have a cancer.
[11:32] We have something like that in our body.
[11:37] You may have wound in our soul,
[11:41] in our consciousness,
[11:44] we may have some despair,
[11:47] a lot of injustice,
[11:51] a lot of anger.
[11:56] You feel deeply wounded.
[12:00] And we have come with all these wounds
[12:03] in our body and in our consciousness.
[12:07] We want to heal.
[12:10] And healing is possible
with the practice of stopping.
[12:15] If you don't know how to stop running,
[12:18] the healing cannot take place.
[12:20] That is why, the purpose of 'samatha'
[12:27] is to help you to heal.
[12:33] When you breathe in, you breath in
in such a way that make healing possible.
[12:43] Because your in-breath is not a fight,
[12:47] not a act of fighting.
[12:49] Your in-breath is an expression
of arrival.
[12:53] I have arrived, I don't need to run.
[12:59] And if your in-breath is like that,
[13:01] it has the power of healing.
[13:06] And that in-breath releases all tension,
[13:13] releases all the tension,
[13:19] that in-breath allows your body
and your feeling to relax.
[13:27] As Buddha said: Breathing in,
I relax my body.
[13:38] And in another exercise, the Buddha said:
[13:42] Breathing in, I relax my feeling,
my emotion.
[13:56] (Vietnamese)
[14:05] (Vietnamese)
[14:11] "thân hành" means your body.
[14:21] the formation called body.
[14:24] "an tinh" means relaxing.
[14:37] Breathing in, I relax my body.
[14:42] You can only relax your body
[14:47] when you stop.
[14:49] So, your in-breath has the capacity
of stopping.
[14:53] And when your in-breath has the capacity
of stopping, it becomes very pleasant.
[15:02] Your in-breath is not an act
of fighting anymore.
[15:09] It is deeply enjoyable.
[15:12] That is why you are here,
breath in in such a way
[15:15] that every in-breath
has the power to heal.
[15:19] Every in-breath allows your body to heal.
[15:24] And if you feel relax,
[15:28] the fighting is no longer there,
[15:30] the struggle is not there, you know
[15:32] that your in-breath
has the capacity for healing.
[15:36] And you have faith in it.
[15:39] You have faith in your in-breath.
[15:41] You don't need to have faith
in Buddha or in God.
[15:46] You need to have only faith
in your in-breath.
[15:48] Because you know your in-breath well.
[15:51] It is you who know
whether your in-breath is relaxing,
[15:56] is helping you to stop altogether,
[15:59] whether your in-breath allows
your body to be free from tension.
[16:07] And if you can breath in like that,
[16:10] you can touch your in-breath in depth,
[16:14] you know that your in-breath
has the power for healing.
[16:24] And when you make this step,
[16:31] in mindfulness,
[16:33] a step that can bring you home
to the here and the now.
[16:36] A step that can help you stop
altogether the running.
[16:41] A step that can allow your body to relax,
completely.
[16:45] You know that, that step
has the power of healing.
[16:50] And you can afford yourself,
[16:53] one step like that, two steps like that.
[16:56] Walking from the Upper Hamlet
to the Lower Hamlet,
[17:02] you may make several steps like that.
[17:05] 50, 100, 200 steps,
[17:09] and every step brings healing.
[17:14] Why don't you do that?
[17:17] And each step is a healer.
[17:23] And when you make step like that,
you don't have to struggle at all
[17:27] because making a step
[17:30] is not an act of struggling,
an act of fighting.
[17:35] It is total surrendering.
[17:39] You surrender yourself
to the present moment.
[17:43] You surrender yourself
to the power of healing
[17:48] that is inherent in your body
and in your consciousness.
[17:53] Because you need to believe
in the power of healing
[17:56] of your body and of your consciousness.
[17:58] Nature has the power of healing.
[18:06] You may believe that
when the Buddha touches you, you heal.
[18:09] or he just touches you, you heal.
[18:13] But this kind of healing,
you can witness too by yourself.
[18:31] When you cut your finger,
[18:34] when you cut the vegetables
without much mindfulness
[18:38] you may cut your finger.
(Laughter)
[18:42] But you don't panic.
[18:44] Why don't you panic?
[18:46] The blood is running, but you don't panic
[18:50] because you believe that
[18:53] your body has the capacity
of mending the wound, of healing.
[18:58] You don't have to do much,
you just clean it.
[19:03] Because you believe that
in few hours, it will --
[19:06] it will heal itself.
[19:12] We have to believe in the power
of our body to heal itself.
[19:18] The only thing we should do
is to allow our body to heal
[19:22] and not to intervene a lot.
[19:30] When an animal in the forest here
is wounded,
[19:34] it knows how to heal.
[19:38] And it knows the art
of stopping, 'samatha'.
[19:42] The animal finds a place
that is quiet and just lie down.
[19:47] Not thinking about running
after another animal,
[19:53] no thinking about eating,
[19:56] no thinking about anything,
[19:58] just lie down.
[20:00] And that is about everything
an animal can do in order to get healing.
[20:06] Just lie down, trusting your body.
[20:11] Allowing your body to heal itself.
[20:15] We humans, we used to have
that kind of capacity of trusting our body
[20:22] but now it seems that
we have lost that capacity.
[20:27] We don't believe in capacity of our body
to heal anymore.
[20:32] We panic very easily,
[20:34] we go to the doctor,
we do a lot of tests.
[20:39] And we live in fear, in panic.
[20:45] And we eat a lot of medicine,
[20:47] inject a lot of medicine,
intervene so much.
[20:51] And there is something
we need to do, it's to rest.
[20:55] But we don't know how to rest anymore.
[20:59] The mankind has lost
the capacity of resting.
[21:05] And resting is the ground of healing.
[21:09] Because resting like that you allow,
you authorize your body to heal.
[21:14] But you don't authorize your body to heal
[21:18] because of your panic, your worries,
[21:20] you are running around
and search for healing.
[21:23] But the healing is obtained
when you don't do anything,
[21:27] you just rest and allow nature
to do its work.
[21:35] Many of us complained that
we don't have time to rest
[21:39] and we claimed we want our vacations.
[21:46] But when they give us 2 weeks
or 3 weeks of vacation,
[21:49] we don't know how to do with it.
[21:51] And after we go for vacation,
we come back more tired
[21:54] than before the vacation.
[21:56] (Laughter)
[21:58] That is why, it is very important
to learn how to rest,
[22:02] how to allow our body to stop and rest.
[22:06] And in the Sutra,
the Buddha instructs us,
[22:10] how to allow our body
and our mind to rest.
[22:20] In one of the exercises
of mindful breathing, he said:
[22:24] "Breathing in, I relax my body."
[22:30] "Breathing in, I allow my body to relax."
[22:34] Whether you are in a sitting position
or in a lying down position,
[22:39] your mindful breathing helps you
to totally relax.
[22:45] You authorize your body to rest.
[23:00] In Plum Village,
[23:02] In Deer Park,
[23:04] we offer the practice
of total deep relaxation.
[23:10] This is based on the teaching
of the Buddha.
[23:18] In a sitting position
or in a lying down position,
[23:21] you allow our body to relax.
[23:25] And we use the technique
of mindful breathing
[23:28] in order to allow our body to rest.
[23:32] First of all, we may consider
our body as a whole,
[23:39] a totality, an organism.
[23:43] Breathing in, I am aware of my body.
[23:47] That is a nice exercise.
[23:54] Because this is an exercise
of going home to your body.
[23:58] Breathing in, I am aware
of my body, my whole body.
[24:03] This is an attempt
to come home to your body.
[24:07] You have restricted your body.
[24:09] You have neglected your body.
[24:11] You have made war to your body.
[24:13] You have made your body suffered
by the way you live your daily life.
[24:17] You are an enemy of your body.
[24:20] Now you want to go home as a friend.
[24:23] That is why, this exercise proposed
by the Buddha;
[24:26] breathing in, I am aware of my body.
[24:30] Good morning, dear body, I am back to you.
[24:33] That is what we practice.
[24:35] I have neglected you for a long time.
[24:37] I have made you suffered so much.
[24:39] Sorry, I am home to you.
[24:41] Breathing in, I am aware of my body.
[24:47] And you may like to continue:
breathing out, I smile to my body.
[24:52] I want to reconcile with my body.
[24:55] So using your mindful breathing
to generate the energy of mindfulness,
[25:01] the energy of fully present,
of being fully present,
[25:06] in order to recognize
your body as a reality
[25:09] in order to embrace your body
with tenderness.
[25:13] This is the first step.
[25:16] Before you can embrace
your feeling, your emotion,
[25:19] you have to learn
how to embrace your body.
[25:23] Hello there, my body, I am home to you.
[25:26] And you use energy of mindfulness
of your capacity of being fully present
[25:32] in order to recognize
your body as being there,
[25:36] you embrace it tenderly.
[25:38] That is already the practice of love.
[25:45] Darling, I am home to you.
[25:50] I take care of you.
[25:54] That is one exercise.
[25:56] The other exercise, as follows:
[25:58] Breathing in, I allow my body to relax.
[26:05] And when you breath in,
you recognize your body.
[26:09] When you breath out,
you smile to your body.
[26:12] The smile is already the energy of love,
[26:14] the energy of concern,
the energy of compassion.
[26:26] In the Sutra, The Contemplation
of The Body, the Buddha uses this exercise
[26:35] this example:
[26:37] there's a farmer who goes up to the cellar
and brings down a bag of seeds.
[26:47] And he opens one end of the bag
and uses the other end
[26:53] to allow all kinds of seed
to flow on the floor.
[26:58] And good eyes are still in good condition,
[27:01] he recognizes what kind of seeds
that are on the floor.
[27:05] This is the seed of kidney beans,
this is the seed of mung beans,
[27:11] this is a seed of corn.
[27:13] And he recognizes every kinds of seeds
that are there on the floor.
[27:18] So, the practitioner does the same thing.
[27:21] She lies down, she practices
mindful breathing and she said:
[27:25] this is the hair on my head,
[27:27] this is my eye, this is my ear,
this is my nose.
[27:31] Breathing in, I am aware of my eyes,
[27:34] breathing out, I smile to my eyes.
[27:36] Breathing in, I am aware of the brain,
[27:39] and breathing out, I smile to my brain.
[27:43] And you go from the top to the bottom
and you go through your body.
[27:50] It's like the scanning of your body
but instead using X-ray,
[27:55] you use the ray of mindfulness.
[27:58] And it takes 20 minutes to do it totally.
[28:03] And you don't need a doctor,
sitting, standing near you,
[28:10] you can do it by yourself.
[28:12] So using the beam of mindfulness,
you go through your body.
[28:18] When you go through your heart to say:
[28:20] breathing in, I am aware of my heart,
[28:23] breathing out, I smile to my heart.
[28:26] How kind of you!
[28:30] You have the time to pay attention
to your heart.
[28:34] But maybe it is the first time
you really pay attention to your heart.
[28:39] Your heart has been working very hard
[28:42] to maintain your well-being.
[28:45] You have the time to sleep every night,
[28:48] but your heart has no sleep,
[28:50] your heart continues to pump, non-stop,
[28:54] the blood to nourish all the cells.
[28:57] And yet, you have not been
very kind to your heart.
[29:00] You smoke, you drink alcohol,
you sleep late,
[29:04] you do many things in order
to give your heart a hard time.
[29:09] You have not been very kind to your heart.
[29:12] And this is the first time
you come back to her:
[29:14] Breathing in, I am aware
of my darling, the heart.
[29:17] Breathing out, I smile to you.
[29:19] I'm sorry, I have been neglecting you.
[29:22] Now I am home to you.
[29:25] I will take good care of you.
[29:27] This is the meditation of love, on love.
[29:32] And if you stay longer,
a little bit longer on your heart,
[29:36] it will give the chance to you.
[29:43] When you go to the liver,
you embrace your liver.
[29:48] When you are full of awareness:
[29:50] Breathing in, I am aware of my liver.
[29:53] Breathing out, I smile to my liver
with compassion.
[30:00] Alcohol, fat.
[30:05] You have ingested so many toxins.
[30:10] You have made the life
of your liver so difficult.
[30:14] And your liver has been sending you
a message:
[30:17] S.O.S, S.O.S, day and night,
[30:19] but you ignored it completely.
[30:26] Fortunately, now you have a chance
to go home to your liver.
[30:32] Breathing in, I am aware of my liver.
[30:37] Breathing out, I smile to my liver.
[30:42] And if you have some problems
with your liver,
[30:48] stay with it, stay with her,
stay with it longer.
[30:52] She needs you.
[30:55] If needed, you stay with her five minutes,
just breathing in and out.
[30:59] And that will bring a lot of healing.
[31:03] And you know exactly
what to do and what not to do
[31:07] in order not to inflict any more hardship
to your liver.
[31:14] If you don't know how
to take care of your body,
[31:18] If you don't know how to love yourself,
[31:21] how can you talk about loving
another person?
[31:29] So the exercise given
by the Buddha, first,
[31:32] is to recognize and embrace your body
as a whole and to allow it to relax.
[31:40] And the second exercise
found in (Vietnamese),
[31:46] The Sutra on the Contemplation
of The Body in The Body.
[31:53] (Vietnamese)
[32:07] You find that exercise:
[32:09] The farmer goes up to the cellar
and brings down a bag of seeds.
[32:14] So you lie down and you generate
the mindfulness ray
[32:21] in order to pass in review,
the 36 parts of your body
[32:27] and you go slowly.
[32:29] You recognize all parts of your body.
[32:32] And when you come to a part of your body
that is healing, stay longer,
[32:38] allow it to get the energy of healing.
[32:44] You may continue your medicine,
but don't trust the medicine alone.
[32:55] And if you succeed in this practice,
[32:58] you may not need a lot of medicine,
just a little bit.
[33:07] And the practice is not a hardship,
is not a hard labour.
[33:13] The practice is very pleasant,
it is healing during the time of practice.
[33:20] You can enjoy deeply the practice
of total relaxation, deep relaxation.
[33:25] You just sit there, you just lie there,
enjoy your in-breath and out-breath,
[33:31] generating the energy of mindfulness
[33:33] in order to recognize and embrace
different parts of your body.
[33:40] And when you are able to do so
and get the healing,
[33:43] you can help your child, your partner,
your friend, to do the same.
[33:50] But do you have the time to do so.
[33:59] Which is more important,
your well-being or more money?
[34:06] Another car?
[34:09] Or better body and more healthy body?
[34:12] You have to choose.
[34:15] You may consume less
but your happiness will be much greater.
[34:22] Don't spend too much time
looking for money, looking for fame.
[34:33] Use your time to live, to love,
[34:38] to take care of yourself
and your beloved one.
[34:44] The teaching of the Buddha
is very practical.
[34:50] I urge my friends to study
the sutra on mindful breathing.
[34:58] All the practical exercises
are contained in that Sutra.
[35:02] And you may explore the sutra in depth
[35:05] in order to offer methods of healing
and transformation.
[35:23] (Bell)
[35:39] When you sit down and eat your breakfast,
[35:44] eat your breakfast in such a way
that make the healing possible.
[35:52] Eating your breakfast is not
just to get the calories,
[35:56] the energy for the morning. No.
[36:00] Eating your breakfast is also to get
the joy,to get the happiness while eating.
[36:09] And you can practice stopping,
total relaxation during time of eating.
[36:16] You may take 15, 20, or 25 minutes
taking your breakfast.
[36:22] But that time can be transformed
into a session of total relaxation.
[36:26] You don't have to worry about anything.
[36:29] You are with every mouth of food,
[36:31] you chew your food
as if you have nothing to worry about,
[36:37] a businesslessness person.
[36:41] The ideal image of Patriah Lin-Chi,
[36:48] businessless, no project,
[36:54] totally free, eat your breakfast
like that.
[36:57] And the time of breakfast eating
becomes healing.
[37:05] Everything you do
in your daily life whole day
[37:09] can be used for your healing.
[37:12] Walking up, walking down, sitting, lying
down, breathing, washing your dishes,
[37:18] it can allow you to completely rest.
[37:22] And you know you can do it.
[37:25] You have received
enough instructions to do it.
[37:33] The Buddha is kind enough to give you
enough instructions to do so.
[37:38] Thay is kind enough to have offerred you
enough instructions for you to do so.
[37:46] And he is doing that too.
[37:52] So profit from your time being here,
to get the healing.
[37:59] Every step, every breath, every act,
can be totally relax,
[38:09] can have the power of healing.
[38:12] And one day of being in the retreat
can already bring a big difference.
[38:19] And when you go home, you can continue
[38:24] and you may have good influence
to other people
[38:27] in your family, in your environment also.
[38:41] (Bell)
[39:19] You have to ask the animals
in Deer Park, in the mountains,
[39:26] as how do they think of us;
[39:29] these human beings who gather here
to do walking and sitting
[39:34] and chanting, are they relaxing enough.
[39:39] The trees out there seemed
to be very relaxing.
[39:44] The animals live in the forest,
they seemed to be relaxing.
[39:49] You know the snake is sleeping quietly.
(Laughter)
[40:04] So stopping means,
[40:13] to be fully present.
[40:32] To stop running, to be truly present.
[40:40] It means in the here and in the now.
[40:46] And to be present for whom?
[40:49] To be present for ourselves,
for our body, for our feelings.
[40:53] Because our body, our feelings,
our suffering
[40:56] needs to be taken care of.
[41:03] If you are not there for yourself,
who will be there for you?
[41:09] So come home to yourself,
take good care of your body,
[41:13] take good care of your feelings
and emotion
[41:15] and other aggregates within yourself.
[41:21] Samatha has the purpose
of stopping your running
[41:26] of helping you to be fully present,
in the here, in the now.
[41:32] Body together with the mind,
[41:37] established fully in the present moment.
[41:41] And mindfulness is the energy
that can help you to do that.
[41:45] And energy of mindfulness
can be generated by mindful breathing,
[41:49] mindful walking, mindful eating,
mindful washing.
[41:59] And when you are fully present
in the here and in the now,
[42:03] you become fully present,
to be fully alive.
[42:09] Fully alive.
[42:17] How can you be alive
when only your body is there
[42:21] and your mind still wanders
in the past or in the future?
[42:28] You are not really alive.
[42:30] You are not available to you,
you are not available to your beloved one.
[42:34] So come home to yourself,
in the here and in the now,
[42:37] become fully alive
[42:40] and your true presence profits yourself,
[42:43] your true presence profits
your beloved one.
[42:47] And you are in touch with the wonders
of life that are available.
[42:55] You know that wonders of life
are available only in the present moment.
[43:01] The Kingdom of God,
the Pureland of Buddha,
[43:05] they are only present,
available in the here and in the now.
[43:08] That is why to stop, to go home
to the present moment
[43:14] is a very crucial act, an act
that brings you life,
[43:19] that makes you fully present.
[43:28] And we know that the practice of Samatha
is linked to the practice of Vipasyana.
[43:37] Because the insight brought to us
by Vipasyana shows us
[43:41] that the wonders of life
are really there, available.
[43:46] That the Kingdom of God is really there.
[43:51] That what we are looking for
is already there
[43:55] and that make it possible
for the running to stop,
[44:01] make it possible for you to become
fully present and to be fully alive.
[44:09] So talking about Samatha is talking also
about Vipasyana.
[44:32] Another function of Samatha
is to recognize,
[44:42] to recognize what?
[44:50] To recognize what is happening
in the present moment.
[44:59] Because in our daily life,
you may get lost.
[45:07] We often get lost in our worries,
[45:14] in our regret, in our complex.
[45:17] You don't know what is really happening
in the here and in the now.
[45:22] What is really happening
in the here and in the now is that
[45:25] you are still there, you are alive.
[45:28] that the wonders of life
are available in this very moment.
[45:33] It would be a pity if you have no chance
[45:38] to recognize this wonderful thing that
are opening in the here and in the now.
[45:43] And mindfulness is exactly
the kind of energy
[45:47] that can help you to recognize what
is happening in the here and in the now.
[45:51] What is happening is that
you are breathing in,
[45:56] you are still alive,
[45:59] and touch in depth is wonderful.
[46:03] Because many people live and yet,
[46:08] they are not alive.
[46:11] They live like dead man, dead woman,
[46:17] they carry their own dead bodies
and circulate around.
[46:22] They are not alive,
[46:24] they are always caught
in their regret, in their fear,
[46:30] they cannot touch life,
[46:33] they cannot touch the Kingdom,
the pureland.
[46:36] It's a pity.
[46:38] They spend 50 years and 60 years
and 70 years, living like that
[46:42] never been able to touch
the wonders of life,
[46:45] the Kingdom of God,
the pureland of Buddha.
[46:50] And if you send him or send her
a ray of mindfulness,
[46:54] you may rescue him or her and
bring him back to the here and to the now
[46:59] for him, for her
to get in touch with life.
[47:03] You can do that.
[47:06] You are a Buddha,
[47:08] you can rescue people,
countless people in one day.
[47:16] So Samatha helps us to recognize
[47:24] what is happening in the present moment.
[47:27] You are alive, you can smile,
[47:32] you can look with the eyes of compassion,
[47:35] you can help living beings to wake up,
[47:38] you can help people to become alive again.
[47:41] It's very wonderful thing,
to be and to do.
[47:45] You can perform like a Buddha,
you can perform like Jesus.
[47:52] You can save so many people,
[47:54] you can bring them from the realm
of death to the realm of life.
[47:59] You are able to come home to recognize
the wonders of life that are available.
[48:15] When you are able to recognize,
you get in touch deeply.
[48:25] The blue sky is always there for you.
[48:30] But because of your worries, your anger,
[48:34] you cannot touch the blue sky,
[48:38] the blue sky that
has been waiting for you.
[48:45] So, to go home to yourself,
to go home to the present moment,
[48:49] mind and body together,
[48:52] you have the chance to recognize
the fact that the blue sky is there!
[49:01] And that is why, to recognize,
help you to get in touch.
[49:07] How wonderful to get in touch!
[49:09] To get in touch with yourself and
get in touch with the wonders of life.
[49:15] And there are many things in us,
and around us
[49:21] that has the power of healing.
[49:29] You listen to the birds,
[49:30] you listen to the stream of water,
[49:34] you listen to the wind,
[49:37] you contemplate the trees,
the blue sky, the mountain,
[49:43] they are very refreshing,
they are very healing and nourishing.
[49:47] That is why, to recognize them and to get
deeply in touch, you get the healing
[49:56] that you so much need.
[50:02] And if you don't do that, you allow
[50:09] the toxins created by our environment
to invade you.
[50:18] Because out of forgetfulness,
[50:25] you have created many negative elements,
many poisons, many toxins,
[50:32] that can be seen on television,
[50:36] on the news bulletin and on the films.
[50:42] They allow all these elements of anger
and despair and hate to penetrate into us.
[50:49] That is not for our healing,
our transformation.
[50:54] And in our daily life, we don't practice,
[50:56] we always allow this poison
to penetrate into our body and mind.
[51:03] We allow our children
to be penetrated by these poisons.
[51:10] That is why it is very crucial
to come home
[51:14] and to get in touch
with the healing, refreshing,
[51:20] and nourishing elements that
are still available in the garden of life,
[51:27] in the garden of Eden
that is still available.
[51:36] To recognize, to get in touch,
[51:49] to get the nourishment,
[51:57] to get the healing.
[52:09] Later on, someone may ask you,
[52:12] what is your purpose
of being in the Deer Park?
[52:17] I went there to practice stopping.
[52:19] (Laughter)
[52:20] That is good enough.
[52:22] Because when I am able to stop,
I become fully alive,
[52:28] I recognize the wonders of life,
[52:31] I can get in touch with them,
[52:33] I can get the nourishment
and I can get the healing.
[52:37] That is why, Samatha
is a very important practice.
[52:49] I would like to repeat this sentence,
I would like you to remember:
[52:55] It is possible for us to live every moment
in our daily life in such a way
[52:59] that every moment becomes
a moment of healing.
[53:03] When you make a step, make sure that
the step has a power of healing, relaxing.
[53:09] When you breath in, make sure that
[53:11] your in-breath has a power
of stopping, of healing.
[53:17] This is the voice of Buddha,
directly to you
[53:23] and from yourself,
[53:26] not coming from outside.
[53:51] (Half bell)
[53:56] (Bell)
[54:21] (Bell)
[54:37] (Bell)
[55:07] Subtitles by the Amara.org community
