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Dear Still Water Friends,
This Thursday evening, after our meditation period, we will
recite together the Five Mindfulness Trainings and focus our discussion
on the attitude of caring and commitment that underlies the Trainings.
Most of us, when we first come to Mindfulness Practice, are taught to
develop our awareness and concentration. We learn to pay attention to
on an object, such as our breath, and to keep coming back to it when
our mind wavers. If we practice in this way, slowly, over time,
the muscle of mindfulness develops.
When we have greater mindfulness, we can can maintain our concentration
and also expand our awareness to our bodies, feelings, emotions,
and other objects of mind. We develop moments of insight when we see
connections -- such as how this attitude fits with that results, or how
this actions leads to this emotion. With awareness, concentration, and
insight, comes choice -- we can commit ourselves to certain ways of
thinking, speaking and behaving. Based on our own insight and
experience, we understand that acting in this way, with this intention,
is more likely to create less suffering, more likely to nourish
peace and joy, for ourselves and others.
In this context of developing awareness and insight, the mindfulness
trainings are like side railings on mountain paths -- we place
them there in daylight so that at night or in a fog we and others
are not injured.
This Thursday evening, after we have talked some about the purpose of
the trainings, we will write new trainings just for ourselves.
These new trainings can follow the form used by Thich Nhat Hanh: "Aware
of the
suffering caused by" <This condition>, I am committed to <This
action>." Or, if we like, we can focus on the
positive: "Aware of the well-being and joy caused by" <This
condition>, I am committed to <This action>.
You are invited to be with us this Thursday. The best times to join us
are just before the beginning of our 7 p.m meditation, just before we
begin walking meditation (around 7:25), and just after our walking
meditation (around 7:35).
An excerpt from For a Future to be Possible, Thich Nhat Hanh's commentary on the Five Mindfulness trainings, is below.
A copy of the Five Mindfulness Trainings Recitation Ceremony is available on our website, www.StillWaterMPC.org, under Articles and Resources / Still Water Mindfulness Ceremonies.
Warm wishes,
Mitchell Ratner
Senior Teacher
From For a Future to be Possible (2007 edition) by Thich Nhat Hanh
In Buddhism, mindfulness trainings, concentration, and insight always
go together. It is impossible to speak of one without the other two.
This is called the Threefold Training-sila, the practice of the
mindfulness trainings; samadhi, the practice of concentration; and
prajna, the practice of insight. Mindfulness Trainings, concentration,
and insight "inter-are." Practicing the mindfulness trainings brings
about concentration, and concentration is needed for insight.
Mindfulness is the ground for concentration, concentration allows us to
look deeply, and insight is the fruit of looking deeply. When we are
mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing "this," we prevent
"that" from happening. This kind of insight is not imposed on us by an
outside authority. It is the fruit of our own observation. Practicing
the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and
concentrated and brings more insight and enlightenment, which makes our
practice of the mindfulness trainings more solid. The three are
intertwined; each helps the other two, and all three bring us closer to
final liberation-the end of "leaking." They prevent us from falling
back into illusion and suffering. When we are able to step out of the
stream of suffering, it is called anasvara, "to stop leaking." As long
as we continue to leak, we are like a vessel with a crack, and
inevitably we will fall into suffering, sorrow, and delusion.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are love itself. To love is to
understand, protect, and bring well-being to the object of our love.
The practice of the trainings accomplishes this. We protect ourselves
and each other and we obtain even deeper peace and joy.
What is the best way to practice the mindfulness trainings? I do not
know. I am still learning, along with you. I appreciate the phrase that
is used in the Five Mindfulness Trainings: to “‘learn
ways.”We don’t know everything. But we can minimize our
ignorance. Confucius said, “‘To know that you don’t
know is the beginning of knowing.” I think this is the way to
practice. We should be modest and open so we can learn together. We
need a Sangha, a community, to support us, and we need to stay in close
touch with our society to practice the mindfulness trainings well. Many
of today’s problems did not exist at the time of the Buddha.
Therefore, we have to look deeply together in order to develop the
insights that will help us and our children find better ways to live
wholesome, happy, and healthy lives.
Do you care about yourself? Do you care about me? Do you care about
life? Do you care about the Earth? The best way to answer these
questions is to practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings. In that way,
you teach with your actions and not just with words. If you really
care, please practice these mindfulness trainings for your own
protection and for the protection of other people and species. If we do
our best to practice, a future will be possible for us, our children,
and our children’s children.