RETREAT
WITH VENERABLE THICH NHAT HANH
AT PLUM
VILLAGE MONASTERY, FRANCE, JUNE 2006
Some things are beyond words, like an experience of Nirvana, and
like an experience of spending 3 weeks at Plum Village Monastery
with Thich Nhat Hanh (THAY). The blessings and richness of the
experience cannot be captured and portrayed in black ink on computer
paper. THAY says that if you have Buddha eyes that can see
interconnectedness, then you can see everything in everything else.
You can see sunshine and rain and trees and the earth in a piece of
paper, so maybe you will be able to see something of our experience
in this newsletter …
Plum Village is a place where concepts become possibilities, and
possibilities become realities. Enlightenment becomes more than a
concept, it becomes something real and accessible. You can read
about saints and enlightened beings. To spend time in the presence
of one, and to meet people who are on the Path to becoming
enlightened, prospective Buddhas-to-be, makes a profound impact on
your mind. It gives you faith and confidence that this state of
being is possible, for you can see it with your own eyes, a living
example is there for you to witness. You don’t have to do deity
visualisation, and construct an image in your mind, you just have to
watch THAY and the Buddha has manifested in front of you in human
form.
The
enlightened reality exists in the here and now, but our capacity to
access it is limited, except when we are in very special places, or
with very special people, then it is made easier for us to do so.
Whenever I go to Plum Village (and this was my third time), I have
the experience of entering a kind of miraculous energy field where
miracles happen every day. It is an experience of entering the Pure
Land that has manifested around THAY, and of living in a
Buddha-field. You don’t have to wait until you die to experience the
Kingdom of God, you can experience it here on this very earth.
Thanks to holy beings like THAY who make it possible here and now.
In
the world, the pull of gravity pulls you down. In the ‘normal
world’, there is conflict and friction. Everything seems to be a
struggle. Just before the Buddha got enlightened, he threw his
begging bowl into the river and it floated upstream, against the
worldly current. This symbolises the great effort we have to make
following the spiritual path, which goes against the ways of the
world.
In the
‘other-world’ of Plum Village, the pull of grace lifts you up so you
can glimpse what it must be like to live in the Buddha Lands. The
environment supports and inspires you.
When surrounded by the company of angels wearing brown monastic
robes, it is easier to be like one.
Effort becomes
effortless, and it seems that things happen by themselves, with no
‘doer’. When you let go of your(separate)self, you are aware that
you are a part of a miraculous whole. You fit into place in a
miraculous way, and the whole functions in total harmony and
synchronicity, smoothly, flowingly, peacefully, joyfully.
When we
experience this, we call it magic or miracles. It can be a reality.
It is a higher reality, and if we are very lucky, we get to live
there for a while. It is easier to access this higher dimension of
reality in nature, but for me the real miracle was to access it with
other people, and there were nearly 1000 people on retreat. When
people live and work together in loving-kindness and co-operation, a
unified energy field is created. There is unbelievable harmony,
because everybody and everything is working together as a whole,
instead of competing against each other as separate parts /
individuals. The Truth of no-separate-self becomes a lived reality
in such places.
EPIGENETICS AND QUANTUM ENERGY FIELDS
“There is
a new science called EPIGENETICS, which is about the influence of
the environment on genes. The environment can intervene and
influence your genes. These are 2 important aspects that determine
the value of your life – your genes, and the impact of the
environment. You can improve the quality of your genes, and you can
improve the quality of your environment.
The
environment plays a very important role in our happiness and
well-being. A good environment can heal and transform. A good
environment nourishes your good seeds and gives them a chance to
grow. We must take care of the environment because the inner and the
outer are not separate. It is not enough to just take care of
yourself. The body of the cosmos is also your body.
When we
practice Mindful Breathing, our cells start vibrating together in
harmony and unison. Each individual particle acts together with the
whole. There is no disharmony, no clashing, no noise. Every particle
behaves as the whole and not as a separate self. A quantum field is
created, because all our cells join together without discrimination.
This quantum field has (w)holistic properties and is very healing.
This is a
wonderful way to touch Nirvana / God. You can touch it in one step.
You can touch birth and death in the present moment with each step.
The cells in our body are dying and being reborn in each moment.
Don’t wait until you die – you may be too weak or too ill to
practice. You can get out of this world, not by going anywhere else,
but by going deeply into your body. The pathway is inside you. The
breath is the door to enter the body. You can touch the world of no
birth and no death and no suffering.
When we
practice being together as one, each person behaves as the whole
Sangha. This creates a powerful quantum energy field, which is very
healing and transforming. Very powerful energy is produced.
Collective energy depends on individual energy, but the individual
energy disappears.” [Extracts from my notes of Dharma talks by THICH
NHAT HANH]
NIRVANA
IS HERE AND NOW
Another miraculous experience was the deep feeling of inner peace
and spacious heart and mind. Normally, I am aware that there is
background tightness and tension around my heart. At Plum Village
there was just space, vast space inside me. It was as if my heart
was so open that there were no walls around it to protect it. They
dissolved because you didn’t need any walls and protective layers.
The safety of a retreat environment and the spiritual refuge it
offers, allows you to open and experience the freedom of living with
an open heart. Oh, to be like that all the time … that must be
permanent Nirvana, the cessation of all suffering, stress, anxiety,
worry and fear. In other words, bliss.
THAY confirmed that Nirvana
can be experienced every moment of our daily life. During one of the
Dharma talks, I was lucky enough to get a front row seat, right in
front of THAY, (after getting to the meditation hall before 5am for
the talk at 7am). THAY said that each moment you are aware is a
moment of enlightenment. Breathing in you can experience Nirvana,
your nature of no-birth and no-death. Maybe your experience is still
shallow, but that is an experience. He was staring into my eyes, and
talking about touching Nirvana, and I was falling into his eyes and
touching it …
Now you know why some
experiences are hard to describe, but what I have tried to do is
make you know that there is a miraculous reality and it can
manifest, it can become a reality in the here and now. As THAY says,
don’t wait until you die, you have to be very alive to touch the
Kingdom of God. Do it now! The more you touch it, the more real it
will become. If enough people touch it, we can create the collective
energy to manifest heaven on earth. Let us try to remove the
separation so that Nirvana can become visible all around us.
LIVING IN THE PURE LAND
“In the
teachings of Christianity and Judaism there is the Kingdom of God.
In Buddhism we speak about Buddha Land, the Buddha Field. In Plum
Village we say that the Kingdom of God is now or never, and this is
our practice. In Plum Village the Kingdom of God, the Pure Land of
the Buddha, is not just an idea. It is something you can taste, you
can touch, you can live in your daily life … Many of us think of the
Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Buddha, as something that belongs
to the future, after this life. In terms of time and space, it is
far away. This is not true. The Kingdom of God is right now, right
here, and you don’t have to die in order to step into the Kingdom of
God. In fact, you have to be very alive in order to step into it.
Being alive, is to be mindful, to be concentrated, to be free. That
is the kind of passport you need to be allowed into the Kingdom of
God: mindfulness, concentration, freedom.” [THICH NHAT HANH:
Quote from Mindfulness Bell, Summer 2006]
SUTRA ON MINDFUL BREATHING
We haven’t
reached the Kingdom yet, so we have to practice living like angels
or bodhisattvas. This is what we do on retreat: we receive teachings
and we practice them. THAY transmitted exercises taught by the
Buddha for the PRACTICE OF MINDFUL BREATHING, so we can learn to
breathe like a Buddha. The Buddha practiced Mindful Breathing before
and after becoming enlightened.
The SUTRA ON MINDFUL BREATHING (Anapanasati Sutta) is a seed that
was planted 2500 years ago by the Buddha. It is still producing
flowers and fruits today. THAY taught
the relationship
between Mindful Breathing and the FOUR FOUNDATIONS OF MINDFULNESS:
body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind (Satipatthana Sutta).
These Practices bring about the SEVEN FACTORS OF LIBERATION:
mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquillity,
concentration, and equanimity. The Seven Factors of Liberation bring
about Knowledge and Emancipation.
The
World-Honored One told the Bhiksus:
“Dear friends,
let us enjoy the practice of Mindful Breathing. If a Bhiksu knows
how to skilfully practice Mindful Breathing, and does so
consistently, he will find his body and mind peaceful; he will
acquire positive investigations and reflections; his mind will be
calm and pure; and he will have perceptions leading to Wisdom and be
able to bring his practice to completion.” [SUTRA ON MINDFUL
BREATHING translated by THICH NHAT HANH]
COMPLETE PATH TO LIBERATION
THAY teaches Mindful Breathing. This is all
THAY teaches, but it is enough, it is all that is needed. THAY’s
teaching is a complete Path to Liberation. Mindful Breathing can
bring calmness, it can transform suffering, and it can help you
touch Buddha nature within. If taught properly, one practice
includes all, because the Dharma is of the nature of interbeing. All
dharmas inter-are: one dharma contains the others, so if you
practice one, you practice all. MINDFULNESS (smirti)
+ CONCENTRATION (samadhi) + INSIGHT
(prajna) go together = the TRIPLE TRAINING. All practices
interpenetrate each other and rely upon each other. ‘One practice
opens the door for the other practices’ says THAY, and they
gradually help bring each other to completion.
“Ananda!
All practices are linked to each other, all practices rely on each
other and all practices interpenetrate one another … one practice
serves as the support for another practice, and they gradually help
bring each other to completion.”
[The
BUDDHA: SUTRA ON MINDFUL BREATHING]
THAY brings the
teachings from the theoretical to the applied level. He is one of
the most skilful Buddhist teachers in the world, with the capacity
to explain profound philosophy in simple ways that we can
understand. His approach is non-sectarian and includes all major
Buddhist traditions, and also embraces the true teachings of
Christianity. THAY is like a beautiful tree that gives shelter to
all the birds of heaven.
His teachings and meditation techniques are
rooted in original Buddhist Sutras from the THERAVADA tradition. The
branches of the tree spread to include the Bodhisattva ideal of the
MAHAYANA tradition and the importance of Engaged Buddhism, so that
we can be of service and benefit to the world. The interpretation of
the Chittamatra (Mind Only) School of Buddhism is the philosophical
basis of concepts such as non-duality, and emptiness of self and
phenomena.
THAY’s tradition is often referred to as
MAHAYANA ZEN. THAY is a Vietnamese Zen Master (Vietnamese Zen has a
different style to Japanese and Korean Zen). The ZEN tradition is
expressed in the way we practice and apply the teachings to our
daily life, with very strong emphasis on bringing mindfulness to
everything we do.
The flowers of
the tree allow us to touch Nirvana, our Ultimate nature, right now.
ZEN is similar to the VAJRAYANA tradition in that our true nature is
already enlightened and is accessible to us in the present moment.
We don’t have to wait for countless great eons to become it. The
mind can be free even though there are still seeds of afflictions in
our Store Consciousness.
“Some of you can touch the
Kingdom of God, Nirvana, but you cannot stay there for very long.
Mindful Breathing keeps you there. You just need to learn and
practice this art. You don’t have to first transform, and get rid of
all your suffering – because then you will have to wait a long time.
You can touch the Pure Land right now.” [THICH NHAT HANH]
PRACTICE OF MINDFUL BREATHING
“Skilfully, he practices breathing in, fully aware of his in-breath.
Skilfully, he practices breathing out, fully aware of his
out-breath.”
[The
BUDDHA: SUTRA ON MINDFUL BREATHING]
Mindful
Breathing brings joy, happiness and nourishment.
Mindful Breathing is very healing - it has the power to sooth, calm
and relieve. Pain, sorrow, anger, fear, depression and despair can
all be transformed by the practice of Mindful Breathing. Mindful
Breathing strengthens us and frees the mind. Through practice, you
can sustain this state of mind.
Through practice, you generate the energy of mindfulness so that it
can grow powerful and strong. Then you can develop what is good and
beautiful and transform what is not.
True
happiness cannot exist without relaxation and peace. Mindful
Breathing releases tension in the body and mind, it releases tension
in emotions, it stops thinking so we can feel lighter and more
peaceful. We can use our way of breathing, walking and sitting to
cultivate peace. Enlightenment is described as something tangible,
in terms of peace, lightness and joy. Every time we feel peace,
lightness and joy, we are touching Enlightenment, because these
qualities are Factors of Enlightenment.
Mindful Breathing is a non-sectarian, non-religious practice that
can be practiced by everyone. You don’t have to be a Buddhist. By
practicing Mindful Breathing, we can heal ourselves, and we can heal
the world. We can touch the Ultimate dimension, the Buddha Land, the
Kingdom of God, Nirvana.
