Monday, February 15, 2016

Practice of non-practice (2)

Watch the following Thay's video from 27:15 to 36:00.


The followings are excerpts from the above video. They are Thay's precious advice to revive awareness for healing.

Quote:
And if you observe, you see that mother earth has the power, has the capacity to heal herself and heal us, and you believe in that power of healing of mother earth. And that belief comes from your own observation, your own experience, and not something people tell you and ask you to believe in. Mother earth can renew herself, can transform herself, can heal herself and can heal us. And that is the fact. And if we recognize that fact, faith is there. We have faith, we take refuge. We allow ourselves to be healed by mother earth. And while sitting, we get the healing. While walking, we get the healing. While breathing, we get the healing. We don't have to do anything at all. Just surrender ourselves to mother earth and she will do everything. 

When it is breathing in, I don't want to say, "When you are breathing in", when the breathing-in is taking place, you say, "Nourishment is taking place. Nourishment, nourishment."Allow yourself to be nourished. You are nourished by the air. You are nourished by the sunshine. Because the air is embracing you, penetrating into you. And the sunshine is also penetrating into you. Father Sun and mother earth is there 24 hours for us. Even during the night, the sun is there. Tathagata is there during the night, otherwise we will freeze. And it's like mother earth that father Sun is also in us. And not up there, outside. When I wrote "The Sun My Heart", I had that insight, that vision that the sun is my heart inside of me. 

So, if we know the practice of non-practice, we don't have to strive, to fight in order to practice. We know that the healing will be difficult if you don't allow your body to be healed, you don't allow your mind to be healed. We believe that we need a lot of medicine, we need a lot of exercises whether physical or mental exercises. But the only exercise that can heal you is the exercise of non-exercise. Don't try anything. Allow yourself to relax and release all the tension in your body and all the worries and fears in your mind. Because these things are preventing you to be healed. To let go, to release, to take full refuge in the earth, in the sun and allow ourselves to be healed. And that in the four positions, sitting, lying down, walking, standing. Always in the refuge. Allow mother earth, father Sun to penetrate, to be acting in order for us to get the healing. 

And it is our experience that there is no healing possible without releasing, relaxing. So when you sit, sit in such a way that you don't have to try to sit. You just enjoy deeply your sitting. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go. I just enjoy my sitting. And if you have half an hour sitting like that, you have half an hour healing. You enjoy every in-breath. It's not you who are making in-breath and out-breath. You don't have to make in-breath and out-breath. It will do it by itself. The in-breath there is no need of self in order to happen. I don't have to breathe. The breathing just happens by itself. I just enjoy. 

And if I know how to enjoy the breathing, the breathing will become more pleasant and the quality of breathing will increase. Because I don't try to interfere, to force it. So, the sitting should be natural. Without effort, the breathing also, the walking also, you don't have to walk like this. You allow yourself to walk. Don't try to walk. The walking will take place without you. You don't need your will to walk. Allow the walking to take place. Be there only and enjoy it. Because every step like that is healing. Every step is nourishing if there is letting go and the relaxation. No healing is possible without relaxation and letting go. 

And we should practice this simple thing in order to get healed and to help heal the society and the world. If you do it one hour, you have one hour of healing. If you do it one day, there is one day of healing. This is possible. Make it pleasant. Make it healing and nourishing. In everything you do, don't try, don't make effort. Take refuge in mother earth. She knows how to do it. She continues to do it for you. Just like the time during the time you were in her, in the womb of your mother.
:Unquote

(My commentary)
Thay often means "ego" by "you" and he means "awareness" by "yourself". Ego means separate self who separates oneself from others. And awareness (awakened consciousness) means non-separate self who never separates oneself from others. Ego thinks but awareness doesn't think. So, ego can't touch the wonders of life and see the reality as it is, due to the projection of mind, namely illusion. Meanwhile, awareness can touch the wonders of life and feel joyful and happy. Awareness can recognize what is going on inside and around oneself and touch the true nature of reality. Awareness is always mindful, concentrated and insightful.   

(Cf.) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04


Walking meditation