Dharma Topic: Our Psychic Circulation

Our Psychic Circulation
Thursday, November 15, 2007

Dear Still Water Friends,

This Thursday evening, after our meditation period, we will begin our program watching a segment of a Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh (from the Stonehill Retreat) in which he explains good and poor psychic circulation.

Good psychic circulation is when we are able to recognize and embrace anger, fear, anxiety, and other psychic energies that make us suffer. We recognize and embrace them with mindfulness, concentration, and insight. When we do this, the seeds of our suffering lessen and our capacity to recognize and embrace grows larger.

Poor psychic circulation is when instead of recognizing and embracing our suffering, we distract ourselves with food, movies, conversations, and other entertainments. The distractions bring additional toxins into our minds and bodies. The suffering grows, as does our tendency to distract ourselves.

An excerpt from the talk is below. I hope you can be with us.

The best times to join our Thursday evening gatherings 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.

You are also invited this Thursday to share an informal dinner with other Still Water practitioners -- beginning at 5:45, at The Lebanese Taverna (next to the fountain on the Ellsworth Avenue Restaurant Row). If you have questions about the dinner, please email Steve Allen at sallen@jubileemd.org.
If you are interested in attending our Working Group Planning Retreat on November 17, please let us know by emailing the Working Group at info@StillWaterMPC.org. For more info, click here.

There will be no Thursday evening program next week because of the Thanksgiving holiday. On Thanksgiving morning you might enjoy the Trot For Hunger organized by So Others Might Eat. It is a pleasant 3 mile run or walk around the monuments. For more information, click here.

Warm wishes,

Mitchell Ratner
Senior Teacher

Facing our Suffering,
Thich Nhat Hanh at the Stonehill Retreat, August 14, 2007

We want to forget our suffering, we don’t want to look face to face with our suffering. The Buddha advised us to be brave enough to hold the suffering and to look into it. The practice recommended by the Buddha is that when a feeling of anxiety, of fearfulness, comes up, you should not try to suppress it with the method of consumption. Don’t bring anything from outside. . . . Invite the energy of mindfulness to manifest. Practice mindful breathing, mindful walking, and invite the energy of mindfulness to take care of the energy that makes you suffer, such as fear , anger, anxiety, sorrow, or despair.

For those of us who have practiced mindfulness for several months or several years, it is easy to bring up that kind of energy in order to recognize and embrace tenderly the feelings of fear, anger, sorrow, and despair.

For those of us who are beginners in the practice, we should apply our efforts in the daily practice of mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful cooking, and mindful driving, so that the seed of mindfulness becomes more important. Every time we need it to provide us with the energy of mindfulness, it will do it very quickly. And when you have enough of this energy of mindfulness, you are no longer afraid of anger or fear, you know how to take care of it. You are mindfulness, concentration, and insight, and you are also your fear, your sorrow, your despair.

The practice is not mindfulness fighting fear and anger, but mindfulness recognizing and embracing fear and anger.

For those that don’t practice, they don’t have the energy of mindfulness, which is why they have to practice consuming to prevent the negative energies from coming up.