Mindfulness Continued

This morning, as I began to listen to On Being with Krista Tippet, Tippet mentions Thich Nhat Hanh's collection on meditative calligraphy in her introduction, an idea that came into my mind's view yesterday as I was wandering around the Tulane University Bookstore. The bookstore sold an item, brought to my attention, which is called a Buddha Board. The Buddha Board is apparently a board that can be drawn on with water, and as that water dried, the image goes away, leaving the artist with a blank slate once again. 

At first, I did not think much of this product until realizing that maybe, it could be a highly effective way of clearing the mind of that which causes us to suffer. I believe that the intention is for the artist to enjoy that particular moment of painting, but I see it differently. I see the product as a way to express something which could be bothersome and then watch that particular something just disappear, leaving you feeling like your troubles just floated away. I've heard this process described as "ritualistic", and for Thay, he has developed this particular method into a form of effective meditation. 

It is interesting that one of the people who were interviewed by Tippet is a police officer in Wisconsin. After going on a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, this particular police officer realized that to do her job effectively, she needed to do it mindfully. There is a possibility that there can be a balance between being fierce and at the same time compassionate, two qualities, that in their own ways, are called for in her occupation yet unexpected. I think that this woman's story goes to show that the practice of mindfulness is not only for those seeking Enlightenment, but also beneficial to ordinary people doing ordinary things, even if it is just walking or breathing. Mindfulness is a path that leads one to do the things that they normally do, better. 

Note: I have been feeling incredibly uninspired and hopefully my next reading adventure, The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav will inspire me to be more reflective. 

Why don't we do this?

While I understand that the American education system and the Vietnamese education system are worlds away, I feel that both would still benefit from working mindfulness into the educational sector. Wake Up Schools:Cultivating Mindfulness in Education, a branch of Plum Village in France is proposing that the Vietnamese education system, and those around the world, integrate mindfulness into their curriculum. As a student in the American system, there is so much stress put on the student to succeed, and while these students are excelling, it is often overlooked that they are going through a ridiculous amount of emotional stress and instability, an aspect that the American school system has seemingly overlooked and address minimally. Since the relief of stress is obviously not coming from the outside, it would be beneficial for students to learn how to manage their emotions internally. The Wake Up Schools initiative seeks to create lasting programs that foster happiness and well-being in students, teachers, administrators, and parents. As a current senior, there is very little preventing the impending stress levels to increase, therefore I can testify to how useful such a program can be. 

I realize the unrealistic nature of this program in an American system, it is still a great idea, and one which I feel should be talked about more.     

Letter to the Viet Nam Ministry of Education and Training

http://plumvillage.org/news/letter-to-vietnam-ministry/

Wake Up School

www.wakeupschool.org 

Update: The World Bank has recently caught on and decided to provide its workers with a Day of Mindful Meditation to ease the stress of everyday life, especially in such an environment as the World Bank. The article states that Thay has been been invited to many other high stress communities, such as the United States Congress and the Google Headquarters. It doesn't seem like such a bad idea. 

Synthesis

The end result of a relatively productive discussion to synthesize the posts from the last few weeks:

         Buddhism, seemingly is a religion put in very simple terms. There are very few rules and regulations, giving the practicer incredible flexibility and yet, so few practice Buddhism compared to other religions, much less reach Nirvana. 

     At its most basic level, the purpose of the practice is relieving the mind and body of suffering. The question that is much harder to answer is what is the source of our suffering? Suffering does not simply come about when we desire something, desire could lead to very positive and beneficial results. The practice of Buddhism fills the desire to reach the ultimate peace that is Nirvana. The suffering comes about when we desire what we know is an impossibility, giving ourselves a burden which we know we cannot alleviate, therefore adding to our suffering. Of course, desire is not the sole cause of suffering and there are many more reasons that warrant exploration.

      Isaac Newton states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction in his third Law of Motion. This is how the universe works, it's an indisputable law of nature. Albeit these actions can neither be inherently good or bad, and neither are their reactions. All actions, when it comes to Buddhism, have neither been defined as inherently good or bad, although that has not stop society from doing so. Yet, in its essence, once an action has been carried out, it is metwith its opposite and equal reaction which could them be classified as good or bad. This is the idea of karma. Karma, however, does not manifests itself immediately, but in the long run can reduce or add to suffering. Of course, it is humankind's natural inclination to decide whether actions in themselves are good or bad and expect rewards or punishments accordingly. 

There is more to come.

     

The Noble Eightfold Path

     

From: Fo Guang Shang Temple in Toronto

    The Noble Eightfold Path, one of the principle teachings of the Buddha (the fourth of the Four Noble Truths) describes the path one must take in order to cease suffering and achieve Enlightenment. The practice of right view, right thinking, right mindfulness, right speech, right action, right diligence, right concentration, and right livelihood is much easier to describe than it is to enact.
     It is basically human instinct to stray towards greed and hatred yet these eight different elements, either individually or together can bring the human mind back to the now and help overcome those challenges that we face. I find it interesting that the set of eight elements are all interconnected. One depends on the other and so on and so forth. The path to Enlightenment could not be complete without all the parts of this practice present. While each of these elements can be broken down much deeper, the face value of each element is important in understanding how we can apply this practice to modern life. I also am fascinated by the fact that more than half of the eight are all practiced within the mind. This only goes to show how individualize this whole process is. 
     It was never apparent to me, but when it comes to anything religious, my thoughts switch to Vietnamese. For example, all of my thoughts are in English, but when I go to pray, my prayers will always be in Vietnamese. It almost feels wrong for me to pray in English. I could easily say that this small factor is inhibiting right view, right thinking, and right concentration. My thoughts aren't being directed towards what really matters, but is focused on what language I'm using. The whole language barrier, for me, is defeating the purpose of the actual practice. In modern life our minds are stretched very thin at all moments of the day, and it is just so easy to forget where we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. 
     It is also important to note that this path is the way for Buddhists to keep their morals in check. Our thoughts and actions all have effects on others, whether it is providing them with joy or adding to their suffering and our own. The Noble Eightfold Path regulates our actions towards others so that we can be free from suffering. These morals brings us back to the idea of karma, in that our actions directly affects what happens to us in the future or in another life.

In the Moment

After reading a very well rounded history of the Buddha’s life in Karen Armstrong’s Buddha, I proceeded to learn more about the make-up of Buddhism, the principles that are the basis of it. I turned to The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who has gained a Western following, especially in Plum Village, a monastic community in France. 

This book very much represented my view of Buddhism in that it was a very simple book. Everything was very clearly written out, and I found this monk to be, in a sense humorous and instructive. Thich Nhat Hanh has opened my eyes as to how the Buddhism I grew up with is very different from that which is generally considered Buddhism. After reading this book, the Noble Eightfold Path made much more sense to me. I was introduced to these ideas recently through a monk who resides in Alberta, Canada, a monk who has become very familiar in my household. Listening to this monk was probably my very first legitimate introduction to Buddhism. This book fully developed the ideas I learned there. The Noble Eightfold Path involves 8 parts which I believe if practiced little by little, even if enlightenment is not achieved, could truly help relieve some of the suffering we as humans experience. Right view, thinking, mindfulness, speech, actions, diligence, concentration, and livelihood all depends on the person who chooses to practice them to be connected to the present. I think even for those who are not practicing Buddhists, the idea of being in the moment is still an important one. We often let our minds wander much too far from where we are at that moment, lessening out concentration on any one thing. It’s encouraging to know that by practicing these eight pieces, one could establish a more peaceful whole. It’s interest to me to see how each of these parts relies on each other. One naturally leads to the other and so on and so forth.   

That brings me to my next observation. Since embarking on this journey, I’ve been paying close attention to everything that could fall under the category of “religious” which goes on around me. In these observations, the more I realize how hard it is to achieve this sought after peaceful state of mind in the world we live in. Last weekend, I found myself accompanying my mother to temple to what could only be described as a Buddhist mother’s day. With my limited yet newfound knowledge, I found myself leaving frustrated. First of all, I now feel a desire to leave temple feeling lighter, and calmer, and yet that was not the case. I became frustrated because I could not tell the difference between ritual and “the show”. I felt that the foundation of Buddhism was lost and what I was witnessing was not at all what it I expected. I didn’t feel like I was part of a group of people coming together to practice the aforementioned eight factors, but a group of people were there for the sake of being there. At the end of the day, I guess that is just another source of suffering which I should strive to overcome.