CONTENTS
Title Page
Other books by Thich Nhat Hanh
Copyright
Foreword to the 2022 edition
Introduction
Verses for Starting the Day
1: Waking Up
2: Stepping out of Bed
3: Taking the First Step of the Day
4: Turning on the Light
5: Making the Bed
6: Opening the Window
7: Turning on the Water
8: Washing Your Face
9: Brushing Your Teeth
10: Rinsing Your Mouth
11: Looking in the Mirror
12: Using the Toilet
13: Washing Our Hands
14: Bathing
15: Getting Dressed
16: Greeting Someone
Verses for Meditation
17: Following the Breath
18: Morning Meditation
19: Placing Your Shoes
20: Entering the Meditation Room
21: Lighting a Candle
22: Offering Incense
23: Praising the Buddha
24: Sitting Down
25: Inviting the Bell
26: Listening to the Bell
27: Letting Go
28: Adjusting Your Posture
29: Cleaning the Meditation Room
30: Walking Meditation
Verses for Eating Mindfully
31: Washing Vegetables
32: Looking at Your Empty Bowl
33: Serving Food
34: Looking at Your Plate
35: The Five Contemplations
36: Beginning to Eat
37: Finishing Your Meal
38: Washing the Dishes
39: Drinking Tea Notes on Eating Mindfully
Verses for Daily Activities
40: Touching the Earth
41: Looking at Your Hand
42: Going Up and Down Stairs
43: Hearing the Bell
44: Using the Telephone
45: Turning on the Television
46: Turning on the Computer
47: Cleaning the Bathroom
48: Sweeping
49: Watering the Garden
50: Plantings
51: Picking a Flower
52: Arranging Flowers
53: Smiling to Your Anger
54: Washing Feet
55: Driving the Car
56: Recycling
57: Hugging Meditation
58: Ending the Day
Verses for Entering the Ultimate Dimension
59: Urinating
60: Putting on Clothes
61: Walking with Your Feet
62: Walking and Touching Eternity
63: Sitting in the Historical Dimension
64: Sitting with Anxiety
65: Weeding
66: Raking Leaves
67: Washing Dishes
68: Washing Dishes in Freedom
69: Sharing the Dharma
70: Eating with Ancestors and Descendants
71: Eating with Compassion
72: Being Angry
73: The Impermanence of Anger
74: Resting
75: Taking Out the Compost
76: Lonely
77: Sitting Meditation
78: Watering the Garden
79: Mending My Clothes
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Other books by Thich Nhat Hanh
Anger
The Art of Communicating
The Art of Living
At Home in the World
Being Peace
Creating True Peace
Fear
Fragrant Palm Leaves
Going Home
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
How to Live When a Loved One Dies
Living Buddha, Living Christ
The Miracle of Mindfulness
Old Path, White Clouds
Peace Is Every Breath
Silence
The Sun My Heart
Transformation and Healing
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
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Parallax Press
2236B Sixth Street
Berkeley, California 94710
parallax.org
Copyright © 1990, 2008, 2022
Plum Village Community of
Engaged Buddhism, Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Drawings copyright © 1993 Mayumi Oda
Cover design by Katie Eberle
Cover illustration by Jean-Marc Moschetti/encre-zen
Text design and composition by Maureen Forys
ISBN: 978-1-952692-22-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-952692-23-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022938289
1 2 3 4 5 / 26 25 24 23 22
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Foreword to the 2022 edition
As mindfulness is becoming more mainstream, a question
many of you may ask is: “How can mindfulness become an
essential part of my daily life?”
In the depths of our human consciousness is the rhythm
and cadence of poetry. We know that there are many levels
of consciousness. Some levels use more effort and more
energy while the deeper levels of consciousness use less
energy. Our deepest insights arise from the depths of our
consciousness where they may have been ripening for a
very long time. Sometimes they arise in the form of a song
or a poem, a phrase, or a sentence. Sometimes they go
beyond words and can only be experienced in the depths of
silence.
Gatha
is a Sanskrit word meaning a verse of poetry. We
use it in a very special sense in Plum Village to refer to
short verses, usually of four lines. Gathas are the Thich
Nhat Hanh poems that come from deep within the
meditator. We entrust them to memory so that they can
arise without effort as we go about our daily tasks in order
to stay with what we are doing. They are a basic ingredient
in the practice of mindfulness because they help us to be
fully aware of what we are doing, so that our mind does not
wander into the past or the future as we go about our daily
activities. The second function of a gatha is to water
positive, healing seeds in our consciousness, because a
gatha will remind us of what is beautiful and wonderful in
ourselves and around us.
You may already be familiar with the poetry of Dhyana
Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and you know that he is a skilled
poet. He has written more than 100 beautiful gathas to
help us in our practice, some of which we wish to present
in English here. As you become familiar with the practice of
gathas, you may like to compose your own.
Our brain, our body, and our mind function depending on
habit energy. In the beginning we have to apply our mind in
order to learn a skill like cleaning our teeth. Soon the skill
becomes a habit, and we brush our teeth without even
being aware we are doing so. Our mind is occupied by
things that have nothing to do with cleaning teeth. We are
not present for life as it is here and now. The purpose of the
verses in this book is to help you stay with the action you
are doing in a positive and meaningful way. As you finish
one action and begin another, you change from one verse to
another.
During this time of Covid-19, many of you have joined us
for online retreats. You have told us that because you have
not been able to come to the practice center to enjoy a
retreat led by the monks and nuns, you have been able to
turn your home into a practice center or a monastery. For
this reason, we should like to add some more verses that
we practice in the monastery for you to use at home.
If you like, you can add a kind of journaling to your
practice of gathas. You can make a list of the verses you
practice every day. You can start with a couple of verses
and then add more day by day. At the end of the day, you
give yourself a certain number of stars depending on the
quality of your practice of the verse in question.
Sun Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat
Waking up
* ** *** *** ** **** ***
Brushing Teeth
* ** *** **** *** **** ***
This is how you can remind yourself to practice more
diligently every day. Although you should memorize the
verses, it is not just a matter of learning the words and
repeating them. You need to feel something deeper as you
remind yourself of the words. You need an experience of
the effect of the words on your life.
In this new edition we have added some verses written by
Thich Nhat Hanh some twenty years ago. Each of the
verses begins with the words “In the historical dimension”
or “In the ultimate dimension.” These are the two
dimensions in which we live our life. The historical
dimension is marked by the limits of time and space and
opposing ideas like same and different, you and I. The
ultimate dimension takes us beyond these limited ideas.
The ultimate dimension is always available for us to touch.
The practice of using verses to accompany our daily actions
in mindfulness has the function of taking us from the
historical into the ultimate dimension. In our own time we
need to be able to touch the ultimate dimension every day
in order to nourish our spiritual life. We need to see how
these two dimensions interpenetrate each other. What
easier way than to use verses of poetry? We have a
historical dimension that we need to live: to go to school, to
go to work, to grow old. We can go to work every day as if
it had nothing to do with our ultimate concern, going from
one activity to the next as if we are on a treadmill. Or we
can live our day at work deeply. It is up to us to choose
whether we live the historical dimension deeply or like an
automaton. When we live the historical dimension deeply,
we are in touch with the ultimate dimension. In this
dimension we can address our ultimate concerns: “What
happens to us when we die? What is the purpose of life?”
Life becomes a kaleidoscope of forms and colors closely
interrelated to each other as we touch the ultimate
dimension.
Sister Chan Duc
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Introduction
Everyone has pain and suffering. It is possible to let go of
this pain and smile at our suffering. We can only do this if
we know that the present moment is the only moment in
which we can be alive. How wonderful to be alive!
Gathas
are short verses that we can recite during our
daily activities to help us return to the present moment and
dwell in mindfulness. As exercises in both meditation and
poetry, gathas are an essential part of Zen Buddhist
tradition. Using a gatha doesn’t require any special
knowledge or religious practice. Some people like to
memorize a favorite verse that they find they can come
back to again and again. Others just like to write the verse
down in a place they are likely to see it often.
The use of gathas goes back for over two thousand years.
When I entered the Tu Hieu Monastery in Vietnam as a
novice in 1942, I received a copy of
Gathas for Everyday
Use,
compiled by the Chinese meditation master Du Ti. Du
Ti’s book of fifty gathas was written for monks and nuns of
former times. At Plum Village, where I live in France, we
practice gathas when we wake up, when we enter the
meditation hall, during meals, and when we wash the
dishes. In fact, we recite gathas silently throughout the
entire day to help us attend to the present moment. One
summer, to help the children and adults at Plum Village
practice mindfulness, we began assembling gathas relevant
for life today. The result is this book of practical, down-to-
earth verses.
We often become so busy that we forget what we are
doing or even who we are. I know people who say they even
forget to breathe! We forget to look at the people we love
and to appreciate them, until it is too late. Even when we
have some leisure time, we don’t know how to get in touch
with what is going on inside and outside of ourselves. So
we turn on the television or pick up the telephone as if we
might be able to escape from ourselves.
To meditate is to be aware of what is going on—in our
bodies, our feelings, our minds, and in the world. When we
settle into the present moment, we can see beauties and
wonders right before our eyes—a newborn baby, the sun
rising in the sky. We can be very happy just by being aware
of what is in front of us.
Reciting gathas is one way to help us dwell in the present
moment. When we focus our mind on a gatha, we return to
ourselves and become more aware of each action. When
the gatha ends, we continue our activity with heightened
awareness. When we drive a car, signs can help us find our
way. The sign and the road become one, and we see the
sign all along the way until the next sign. When we practice
with gathas, the gathas and the rest of our life become one,
and we live our entire lives in awareness. This helps us
very much, and it helps others as well. We find that we
have more peace, calm, and joy, which we can share with
others.
As exercises in both meditation and poetry, gathas are a
key part of the Zen tradition. When you memorize a gatha,
it will come to you quite naturally when you are doing the
related activity, be it turning on the water or drinking a cup
of tea. You don’t need to learn all the verses at once. You
can find one or two that resonate with you and learn more
over time. After some time, you may find that you have
learned all of them and are even creating your own. When I
wrote the gathas for using the telephone, driving a car, and
turning on the computer, I did so within the tradition that I
inherited from my teachers. You are now one of the
VERSES FOR STARTING THE
DAY
1
Waking Up
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.
What better way to start the day than with a smile? Your
smile affirms your awareness and determination to live in
peace and joy. How many days slip by in forgetfulness?
What are you doing with your life? Look deeply, and smile.
The source of a true smile is an awakened mind.
How can you remember to smile when you wake up? You
might hang a reminder—such as a branch, a leaf, a
painting, or some inspiring words—in your window or from
the ceiling above your bed. Once you develop the practice
of smiling, you may not need a sign. You will smile as soon
as you hear a bird sing or see the sunlight stream through
the window, and this will help you approach the day with
more gentleness and understanding. The last line of this
gatha comes from the Lotus Sutra.
*
The one who “looks at
all beings with eyes of compassion” is Avalokiteshvara, the
bodhisattva
of compassion.
*
See Thich Nhat Hanh,
Peaceful Action Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus
Sutra
(Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2005).
In the sutra, this line reads: “Eyes of loving kindness look
on all living beings.” Love is impossible without
understanding. To understand others, we must know them
and be inside their skin. Then we can treat them with
2
Stepping out of Bed
Morning, noon, eve, and night,
may all creatures take good care.
If I step on you by mistake,
may you transcend all fear.
Homage to the bodhisattva who transcends fear.
With this gatha we continue to water the seed of
compassion in our heart. It can be recited right as we get
out of bed and our feet touch the floor. Sitting on the edge
of our bed, looking for our slippers, we remember this
gatha. Every time we put on our shoes, we can also
remember this gatha. We cultivate compassion for small
insects, so when we meet them, we do not feel irritated
with them. On the contrary we want to protect them. We
see clearly that even the smallest insects experience fear of
dying and want to live. The gift of non-fear is the greatest
gift we can offer.
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3
Taking the First Step of the Day
Walking on the earth
is a miracle!
Each mindful step
reveals the wondrous Dharmakaya.
This poem can be recited as soon as we take the first step
of the day. It can also be used during walking meditation or
any time we stand up and walk.
Dharmakaya
literally means the “body” (
kaya
)
of the
Buddha’s teachings (
Dharma
), the way of understanding
and love. It also is “the ground of being” manifested as
mountains, rivers, stars, moon, and all species. Before
passing away, the Buddha told his disciples, “Only my
physical body will pass away. My Dharma body will remain
with you forever.” In Zen, the word has come to mean “the
essence of all that exists.” All phenomena—the song of a
bird, the warm rays of the sun, a cup of hot tea—are
manifestations of the Dharmakaya. We, too, are of the same
nature as these wonders of the universe.
Walking on the earth is a miracle! We do not have to walk
in space or on water to experience a miracle. The real
miracle is to be awake in the present moment. Walking on
the green earth, we realize the wonder of being alive.
When we make steps like this, the sun of the Dharmakaya
will shine.
4
Turning on the Light
Forgetfulness is the darkness;
mindfulness is the light.
I bring awareness
to shine upon all life.
When you touch a light switch, you can stop for a few
seconds to recite this gatha before you turn on the light.
Not only will there be light in the room, but there will also
be light within you. Dwelling in the present moment is a
miracle. Every illusion and random thought will disappear,
just as darkness disappears when the light comes on. When
we are mindful, we get in touch with the refreshing,
peaceful, healing elements within ourselves and around us.
Peace and joy are available at any time.
Conscious breathing helps us return to the present
moment. I practice breathing every day. In my small
meditation room, I have a calligraphy of the sentence,
“Breathe, you are alive!” When mindfulness shines its light
upon our activity, we recover ourselves and encounter life
in the present moment. The present moment is a wonderful
moment.
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5
Making the Bed
Making the bed with joy,
I tidy up my life.
As I guard body and mind,
bit by bit the afflictions end.
To guard body and mind means to be aware of what body
and mind are doing and to keep them in the direction we
have chosen for our life, the direction of understanding and
love. Holding the blanket in our hands, we feel that matter
and spirit are not two separate realities. We know that
caring for our surroundings can bring peace into our lives.
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6
Opening the Window
Opening the window,
I look out onto the Dharmakaya.
How wondrous is life!
Attentive to each moment,
my mind is clear like a calm river.
After you wake up, you probably open the curtains and look
outside. You may even like to open the window and feel the
cool morning air with the dew still on the grass. But is what
you see really “outside?” In fact, it is your own mind. As the
sun sends its rays through the window, you are not just
yourself. You are also the beautiful view from your window.
You are all that exists; you are the Dharmakaya.
When we open the window and look out, we see that life
is infinitely marvelous. At that very moment, we can vow to
be awake all day long, realizing joy, peace, freedom, and
harmony throughout our lives. When we do this, our mind
becomes clear like a calm river.
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7
Turning on the Water
Water flows from high mountain sources.
Water runs deep in the earth.
Miraculously, water comes to us
and sustains all life.
Even if we know the source of our water, we often take its
appearance for granted. But it is thanks to water that life is
possible. Our bodies are more than 70 percent water. Our
food can be grown and raised because of water. Water is a
good friend, a bodhisattva, that nourishes the many
thousands of species on Earth. Its benefits are infinite.
Reciting this gatha before turning on the faucet or
drinking a glass of water enables us to see the stream of
fresh water in our own hearts so that we feel completely
refreshed. To celebrate the gift of water is to cultivate
awareness and help sustain our life and the lives of others.
8
Washing Your Face
Washing my face, I clean my mind.
Removing the dust,
the source of peace and joy
fills my whole body.
In the verse that the Master Shenxiu presented to the fifth
patriarch of the Chinese Meditation school, it is said that
the mind is a mirror, and every day we need to remove the
dust from it. The very action of washing our face makes us
feel good already, and we need to recognize that we are
feeling good, otherwise we lose a precious opportunity of
watering positive seeds. As we remove the dust from our
face, we contemplate that we are removing the dust of
afflictions from our mind, and gently remind ourselves to
practice awareness of mind.
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9
Brushing Your Teeth
Brushing my teeth and rinsing my mouth,
I vow to use truthful and loving speech.
When my mouth is fragrant with right speech,
a flower blooms in the garden of my heart.
Each toothpaste advertisement promises that this
particular brand will make our mouth clean and our breath
fragrant. But if we do not practice Right Speech, our breath
can never be completely fragrant. In Vietnamese we say
“Your words smell bad!” to mean “Your words are not kind
or constructive, but rather they are sharp, slanderous, and
misleading.” Our speech can build a world of peace and joy
in which trust and love can flourish, or it can create discord
and hatred. Right Speech means that our words are both
truthful and beautiful.
In 1964, several of us founded a new Buddhist order, the
Order of Interbeing. The order developed fourteen
mindfulness trainings. The ninth one reads:
Aware that words can create happiness or suffering, we
are committed to learning to speak truthfully, lovingly,
and constructively. We will only use words that inspire
joy, confidence, and hope as well as promote
reconciliation and peace in ourselves and among people.
We will speak and listen in a way that can help ourselves
and others to transform suffering and see the way out of
difficult situations. We are determined not to say
untruthful things for the sake of personal interest or to
impress people, nor to utter words that might cause
division or hatred. We will protect the joy and harmony
of our Sangha by refraining from speaking about the
faults of another person in their absence and always ask
ourselves whether our perceptions are correct. We will
speak only with the intention to understand and help
transform the situation. We will not spread rumors nor
criticize or condemn things of which we are not sure. We
will do our best to speak out about situations of
injustice, even when doing so may make difficulties for
us or threaten our safety.
When we remember to speak words that are true, kind,
and constructive, we nourish a beautiful flower in our
heart, and we can offer its sweet fragrance to everyone.
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10
Rinsing Your Mouth
Rinsing my mouth, my heart is cleansed.
The universe is perfumed with flowers.
When actions of body, speech, and mind are at peace,
the place where I am is at peace.
This gatha follows on the gatha for brushing our teeth. A
pure land is not somewhere else. It is where the actions of
body, speech and mind are at peace.
Often in daily life, our body and mind are separate.
Sometimes our body is here, but our mind is lost in the past
or focused on the future, possessed by anger, hatred,
jealousy, or anxiety. If we can breathe mindfully, we bring
mind and body together, and they become one again. This
is what is meant by the expression “oneness of body and
mind.”
In rinsing our mouth, we can also take the time to clean
and clear our hearts and minds. There is no separation.
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11
Looking in the Mirror
Awareness is a mirror
reflecting the four elements.
Beauty is a heart that generates love
and a mind that is open.
The moments during the day of looking in a mirror can be
moments of deep awareness. The mirror can serve as a tool
for cultivating mindfulness so that we develop a broad
capacity to understand and love others. Anyone who
maintains awareness in the present moment becomes
beautiful and naturally emanates peace, joy, and happiness.
A calm half smile and a loving heart are refreshing, and
they allow miracles to unfold. The Buddha’s smile is
beautiful because it expresses tolerance, compassion, and
loving kindness.
In the teachings of the Buddha, the four great elements
are earth, water, fire, and air. The Vietnamese poet Tru Vu
wrote:
The flower and its ephemeral fragrance
is made of the four elements.
Your eyes, shining with love,
are also made of the four elements
The four elements are neither mind nor matter. They are
the universe itself revealed to us. When your mind is the
clear mirror of meditative awareness, you will know that
you are the outward expression of the essence of reality. So
12
Using the Toilet
Defiled or immaculate,
increasing or decreasing—
these concepts exist only in our mind.
The reality of interbeing is unsurpassed.
Life is always changing. Each thing relies on every other
thing for its very existence. If our mind is calm and clear,
using the toilet can be as sacred as lighting incense. To
accept life is to accept both birth and death, gain and loss,
joy and sorrow, defilement and purity. The Heart Sutra
teaches us that when we see things as they are, we do not
discriminate between seeming opposites such as these.
Everything “inter-is.” Understanding the truth of
nonduality allows us to overcome all pain. Reciting this
gatha can help us apply the teachings of the Heart Sutra,
even during what is usually regarded as a mundane act.
*
*
For more on the Heart Sutra, see Thich Nhat Hanh,
The Other Shore
(Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2017).
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13
Washing Our Hands
Water flows over these hands.
May I use them skillfully
to preserve our precious planet.
Our beautiful Earth is endangered. We are exhausting her
resources and polluting her rivers, lakes, and oceans,
destroying the habitats of many species, including our own.
We are destroying the forests, the soil, the ozone layer, and
the air. Because of our ignorance and fears, our planet may
be destroyed as an environment that is hospitable to human
life.
The earth stores water, and water gives life. Observe
your hands as the water runs over them. Do you have
enough clear insight to preserve and protect this beautiful
planet, our Mother Earth?
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14
Bathing
Unborn and indestructible,
beyond time and space—
Both transmission and inheritance
lie in the wonderful nature of the Dharmadhatu.
Whenever we take a bath or a shower, we can look at our
body and see that it is a gift from our parents and their
parents. Many of us in the West do not want to have much
to do with our parents. They may have hurt us so much. But
when we look deeply, we discover that it is impossible to
drop all identity with them. As we wash each part of our
body, we can meditate on the nature of the body and the
nature of consciousness, asking ourselves, “To whom does
this body belong? Who has transmitted this body to me?
What has been transmitted?”
If we meditate in this way, we will discover that there are
three components: the transmitter, that which is
transmitted, and the one who receives the transmission.
The transmitter is our parents. We are the continuation of
our parents and their ancestors. The object of transmission
is our body itself, and we are the one who receives the
transmission. As we continue to meditate on this, we see
clearly that the transmitter, the object transmitted, and the
receiver are one. All three are present in our body. When
we are deeply in touch with the present moment, we can
see that all our ancestors and all future generations are
present in us. Seeing this, we will know what to do and
what not to do—for ourselves, our ancestors, our children,
and their children.
The Dharmadhatu is all that is manifested from the
Dharmakaya, having Dharmakaya as its essence, just as all
waves are manifestations of water. The Dharmadhatu is
neither born nor destroyed. It has no previous existence
and no future existence. Its existence is beyond time and
space. When we understand this truth of existence with our
whole being, we will begin to transcend the fear of death,
and we will not be disturbed by unnecessary
discriminations.
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15
Getting Dressed
Putting on these clothes,
I am grateful to those who made them
and to the materials from which they were made.
I wish everyone could have enough to wear.
This gatha is an adaptation of a Vietnamese folk song: “My
father works the land for the rice we eat. My mother sews
the clothes I wear at every season.” Today, not many of our
fathers work the land; we buy our food in a store. Nor do
many of our mothers sew our clothes; we buy
manufactured clothes. By introducing the word “grateful,”
which is not in the folk song, the meaning becomes wider.
In Zen monasteries, before eating, the monks reflect on the
sources of their food. As we get dressed in the morning, we
can contemplate the sources of our clothing and the fact
that not everyone has enough to wear.
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16
Greeting Someone
A lotus for you,
a Buddha to be.
The tradition of joining our palms together and bowing
when we meet someone is very beautiful. Millions of people
in Asia and around the world greet each other this way
every day. Forming a lotus bud with your hands is very
pleasant. I hope you will try it from time to time. If a tulip
blossom is more familiar for you to envision, you may want
to say “A tulip for you, a Buddha to be.” A tulip possesses
the Buddha nature just like a lotus.
When someone offers me a cup of tea, I always bow
respectfully. As I join my palms, I breathe in and say “A
lotus for you.” As I bow, I breathe out and say “A Buddha to
be.” To join our palms in a lotus bud is to offer the person
standing before us a fresh flower. But we have to remember
not to join our palms mechanically. We must be aware of
the person we are greeting. When our respect is sincere,
we remember that they have the nature of a Buddha, the
nature of awakening.
If we look, we can see the Buddha in the person before
us. When we practice this way regularly, we will see a
change in ourselves. We will develop humility, and we will
also realize that our abilities are boundless. When we know
how to respect others, we also know how to respect
ourselves.
As I bow, mindfulness becomes real in me. Seeing my
deep reverence, the person to whom I bow also becomes
awake, and he may like to form a lotus and bow to me,
breathing in and out. With one greeting, mindfulness
becomes present in both of us as we touch the Buddha with
our hearts, not just with our hands. Suddenly, the Buddha
in each of us begins to shine, and we are in touch with the
present moment.
Sometimes we think that we are superior to others—
perhaps more educated or intelligent. Seeing an
uneducated person, a feeling of disdain may arise, but this
attitude does not help anyone. Our knowledge is relative
and limited. An orchid, for example, knows how to produce
noble, symmetrical flowers, and a snail knows how to make
a beautiful, well-proportioned shell. Compared with this
kind of knowledge, our knowledge is not worth boasting
about, no matter how much formal education we have. We
should bow deeply before the orchid and the snail and join
our palms reverently before the monarch butterfly and the
magnolia tree. Feeling respect for all species of living
beings and inanimate objects will help us recognize a part
of the Buddha nature in ourselves.
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Following the Breath
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment.
In our very busy society, it is a great fortune to be able to
breathe consciously from time to time. Our body and mind
become calm and concentrated, bringing us joy, peace, and
ease. We can breathe consciously while sitting in
meditation or at any time throughout the day. Any time we
are aware of our breathing, we can recite this gatha.
“Breathing in, I calm my body.” This line is like drinking a
glass of cold water. You feel the cool freshness permeating
your body. When I breathe in and recite this line, I actually
feel the breathing calming my body and mind. “Breathing
out, I smile.” A smile can relax hundreds of muscles in your
face and make you master of yourself. That is why the
Buddhas and bodhisattvas are always smiling.
“Dwelling in the present moment.” While I sit here, I
don’t think of anything else. I sit here, and I know where I
am. “I know this is a wonderful moment.” It is a joy to sit,
stable and at ease, and return to ourselves—our breathing,
our half smile, our true nature. We can appreciate these
moments. We can ask ourselves, “If I do not have peace and
joy right now, when will I have peace and joy—tomorrow or
after tomorrow? What is preventing me from being happy
right now?” When we follow our breathing, we can say,
“Calming, smiling, present moment, wonderful moment.”
This exercise is for both beginners and experienced
practitioners. Many of us who have practiced for forty or
fifty years continue to practice in the same way, because it
is so vital. In the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing,
the Buddha proposed sixteen exercises to help us breathe
consciously.
*
This gatha is a condensation of many of these
exercises. Another condensation is this verse:
*
For the complete sutra and commentary, see Thich Nhat Hanh,
Breathe! You
Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing
(Berkeley, CA: Parallax
Press, 1996, 2008).
Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in.
Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.
As the in-breath grows deep, the out-breath grows slow.
Breathing in makes me calm. Breathing out brings me
ease.
With the in-breath, I smile. With the out-breath, I release.
Breathing in, there is only the present moment.
Breathing out, it is a wonderful moment.
The verse can be summarized in these eight words and
two phrases:
In, Out.
Deep, Slow.
Calm, Ease.
Smile, Release.
Present moment, Wonderful moment.
This is very easy to practice—while sitting, walking,
standing, or doing any activity.
First, we practice “In, Out.” Breathing in, we say “In”
silently, to nourish the awareness that we are breathing in.
When we breathe out, we say “Out,” aware that we are
breathing out. Each word is a guide to help us return to our
breathing in the present moment. We can repeat “In, Out”
until we find that our concentration is peaceful and solid.
Most important is that we enjoy doing it.
Then we say “Deep” with the next inhalation, and “Slow”
with our exhalation. When we breathe consciously, our
breathing becomes deeper and slower. We do not have to
make a special effort but only notice that it is deeper and
slower, more peaceful and pleasant. We can continue to
breathe with the phrase “Deep, Slow, Deep, Slow” until we
want to move to the next phrase, which is “Calm, Ease.”
The word “Calm” comes from the exercise in the sutra: “I
am breathing in and making the activities of my whole body
calm and at peace. I am breathing out and making the
activities of my whole body calm and at peace.” The word
“body” here also means “mind” because during the practice
body and mind become one.
When we breathe out, we say, “Ease.” Ease means a
feeling of not being pressured, feeling free. Our time is only
for breathing and enjoying breathing. We feel light and
free, at ease. We know that breathing is the most important
thing at this moment, so we just enjoy the practice of
breathing. The feeling of ease is one of the seven factors of
enlightenment in Buddhism.
When we have mastered “Calm, Ease,” we move to
“Smile, Release.” When we breathe in, even if we do not
feel great joy at that moment, we can still smile. But in fact,
it is unlikely because after practicing breathing in this way,
we already have joy and peace. When we smile, our joy and
peace become even more settled, and tension vanishes. It’s
a kind of “mouth yoga.” We smile for everyone.
When we breathe out, we say “Release.”
18
Morning Meditation
The Dharmakaya is bringing morning light.
Sitting still, my heart is at peace.
I smile.
This is a new day.
I vow to go through it in awareness.
The sun of wisdom will shine everywhere.
If we have mindfulness and concentration, everything we
see and hear in our daily life becomes a Dharma talk—a
falling leaf, a flower as it opens, a bird flying by, the sound
of a bird calling. We say that it is the Dharmakaya, the
Dharma body of the Buddha, which is always revealing the
teaching of the Dharma.
When we are refreshed and attentive, we can be in touch
with the Dharma body and hear the Dharma being taught
from moment to moment. We shall see that it’s not
necessary to play a CD or go online in order to hear the
Dharma. We can hear the Dharma at any moment.
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Placing Your Shoes
Placing my shoes neatly,
may everyone’s steps
always be mindful,
coming in and going out in freedom.
“Coming in and going out in freedom” can refer to our
everyday movements going in and out of a building or a
room. It can also refer to our birth and death. Birth and
death are seen as doors through which we go in and out.
We aspire that we ourselves and others be free of the bonds
of birth and death so we can die in freedom and transition
in freedom to our next manifestation.
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Entering the Meditation Room
Entering the meditation room,
I see my true self.
As I sit down,
I vow to cut off all disturbances.
I think it would be a good idea if each household had a
“breathing room.” We have so many rooms—for sleeping,
eating, and so forth. Why not a room for breathing? Each
time we need to return to ourselves, we can go into this
simple room and sit quietly, following our breathing.
Conscious breathing is very important. Even if you don’t
have room for a whole separate space, wherever you find a
quiet place to breathe and meditate for a few moments,
that is your meditation room.
In the Vietnamese version of this gatha, the word for
“disturbances” is
tram luan.
It means “sinking into and
rolling in the ocean of forgetfulness, worries, and
afflictions.” Stepping into the meditation room, we can
remember our desire for complete liberation. By dwelling
in the present moment, our steps can establish total
freedom so that peace and equanimity are available at
once.
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Lighting a Candle
Lighting this candle,
offering the light to countless Buddhas,
the peace and joy I feel
brighten the face of the earth.
In many Asian countries, people make offerings to the
figures on the altar or shrine. We usually have a candle,
some flowers, a bowl of fruit, and a stick of incense. As we
light the candle mindfully, the veils of ignorance and
forgetfulness naturally dissolve, and the earth herself
becomes filled with light.
There is a story in the life of the Buddha that describes
how profound an offering of light can be. One day, the
people of the city of Shravasti honored the Buddha by
lighting thousands of lamps around the Jetavana monastery.
An old mendicant woman wanted to make an offering, but
after a whole day of begging, she only had one cent. So she
bought some oil with that penny and poured it into one of
the lamps.
The next morning, the Venerable Mahamaudgalyayana
went outside to blow out the lamps. All the lamps went out
except the one with the oil poured by the beggar woman.
The harder he tried to blow out that light, the brighter it
grew. A candle offered in mindfulness is like the light the
old beggar woman offered to the Buddha many years ago.
Although this gatha was composed for lighting a candle
in a meditation hall, it can be used when we light candles
anywhere, such as during a vigil for human rights or during
a storm. It can even be used for turning on an electric light.
22
Offering Incense
In gratitude, we offer this incense
to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas
throughout space and time.
May it be fragrant as Earth herself,
reflecting our careful efforts,
our wholehearted awareness,
and the fruit of understanding, slowly ripening.
May we and all beings be companions
of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
May we awaken from forgetfulness
and realize our true home.
In Vietnamese Zen temples, we say this gatha silently as we
offer incense alone, or aloud when we conduct ceremonies
with others. As we say it, we imagine fragrant smoke rising
in the air, becoming a cloud of five colors. This represents
the offering to all Buddhas throughout space and time, of
the fivefold fragrance: precepts, concentration,
understanding, liberation, and insight. We call it the
“fragrance of the heart,” a delight that is available to us
every day, although not for sale in stores. When we offer
incense, we vow with all beings to leave the world of
forgetfulness and return to the world of awakening.
Forgetfulness is the lack of mindfulness. Awakening is true
freedom.
23
Praising the Buddha
As refreshing as a lotus flower,
as bright as the North Star,
to the Buddha
I go for refuge.
In Zen Buddhism, we join our palms together before the
image of the Buddha, our teacher, and praise his beauty,
which is the fruit of love and understanding. Lotus flowers
are fresh and pure, and they can be compared with love.
The North Star helps travelers find their direction, so it
symbolizes understanding. To take refuge in the Buddha is
to seek protection in understanding, loving kindness, and
compassion.
In Buddhism, there are three places where a person can
go for protection and shelter: the Buddha, the Dharma (the
teachings of the Buddha), and the Sangha (our friends who
guide us and support us in our spiritual journey). Buddhism
calls these three refuges the Three Jewels because they are
our spiritual wealth, our inheritance; we always have these
three places of support and protection.
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Sitting Down
Sitting here is like sitting under
the Bodhi tree.
My body is mindfulness itself,
calm and at ease,
free from all distraction.
The Buddha realized complete awakening after sitting at
the foot of a
ficus religiosa,
now called a bodhi tree.
“Bodhi” means to be awake or liberated. The word for
liberation in Sanskrit is
vimukti.
Today, the place where
Buddha realized awakening is called Bodh Gaya, and a
large temple has been built there to commemorate his
awakening. The bodhi tree stands, beautiful with its
luxuriant growth—a grandchild of the tree which stood
there in the Buddha’s time.
When we arrive at our meditation cushion or chair, we
can join our palms, make a small bow from the waist, and
recite this verse. Then we sit down slowly and carefully.
When we sit on our cushion with the intention of realizing
full awareness of the present moment, our sitting is the
continuation of the Buddha’s awakened mind. Meditation is
not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free
from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that
arises from concentration.
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Inviting the Bell
Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness—
I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.
May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness
and transcend all anxiety and sorrow.
In Buddhist meditation centers, we often use bowl-shaped
bells to punctuate the day, calling the community to
mindfulness. Standing or sitting in front of the bell, we join
our palms, breathe three times, and recite this verse. We
hold the bell “inviter” (a wooden stick) in one hand, and the
bell, if it is small enough, in the palm of the other,
concentrating on the position of our hand and the stick.
First, we “wake up the bell” by touching its rim lightly with
the inviter. This brief sound tells everyone that a full sound
of the bell will come in a moment.
During retreats, the sound of the bell reminds us to
return to our breathing in the present moment. When we
hear it, we stop talking and thinking and breathe
consciously three times. It is important that the person who
invites the bell to sound quiets their own being first. If their
body, speech, and mind are quiet and in harmony when
they invite the bell, the sound will be solid, beautiful, and
joyful, and this will help the hearers wake up to the present
moment and overcome all anxiety and sorrow.
26
Listening to the Bell
May the sound of this bell
penetrate deeply into the cosmos.
In even the darkest places,
may living beings hear it clearly
so that understanding may light up their hearts
and, without hardship, they may transcend
the realms of birth and death.
The work of meditation is to awaken us to birth and death;
then birth and death can never touch us. In the historical
dimension we have birth certificates and death certificates;
this is the world of waves. A wave has its beginning and
end, but we cannot ascribe these characteristics to water.
In the world of water, there is no birth or death, no being or
nonbeing, no beginning or end. When we touch the water,
we touch reality in its ultimate dimension and are liberated
from all of those concepts.
A flower contains the whole of the cosmos. It is born from
soil, minerals, seeds, sunshine, rain, and many other things.
Meditation reveals to us the interbeing, no-birth no-death
nature of all things. Life is a continuation. The dry leaf falls
to earth and becomes part of the moist soil, preparing to
appear on the tree the following spring in another form.
Everything is pretending to be born and pretending to die.
The day of our so-called death is a day of our continuation
in many other forms. If you know how to touch your loved
ones in the ultimate dimension, they will always be with
27
Letting Go
Hearing the bell,
I am able to let go of all afflictions.
My heart is calm,
my sorrows ended.
I am no longer bound to anything.
I learn to listen to my suffering
and the suffering of the other person.
When understanding is born in me,
compassion is also born.
Every day there are ways in which we get caught in
attachments, and so we continue to suffer. If only we could
learn the art of releasing, happiness would come right
away. Our worries and concerns prevent us from getting in
touch with the wonders of life. We have all had the
experience of being reminded of what is most important to
us. Sometimes we are reminded by a friend or a teacher.
Sometimes it may be the sound of the bell, bringing us back
to ourselves in the present moment, enabling us to see the
situation more clearly. Then we can let go of our worry,
craving, or concern, so we can be free to encounter the
wonders of life that are always there in the here and the
now.
We are also free to be able to see the suffering in another
person. If we follow our breathing and observe someone
mindfully, we can be in contact with their suffering, and the
energy of compassion arises in us. As their physical and
psychological suffering becomes clear, the mind of
compassion arises based on our understanding.
Compassion and understanding give rise to each other and
depend on each other.
Our thoughts and actions should express our mind of
compassion, even when the other person says and does
things that are not easy to accept. We practice like this
until we see clearly that our love does not depend on the
other person apologizing or being lovable. Then we can
know that our mind of compassion is firm and authentic.
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Adjusting Your Posture
Feelings come and go
like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing
is my anchor.
If your legs or feet fall asleep or begin to hurt during sitting
meditation so that your concentration becomes disturbed,
feel free to adjust your position. If the pain is severe, stand
up, walk slowly and mindfully, and then when you are
ready, sit down again.
According to the Abhidharma texts of Buddhist
psychology, there are three kinds of feelings—pleasant,
unpleasant, and neutral. This way of dividing feelings
doesn’t seem accurate, because when there is full
awareness, neutral feelings can become pleasant feelings
which are more sound and longer lasting than other kinds
of pleasant feelings.
To eat good food or hear words of praise usually gives
rise to a pleasant feeling. Flying into a rage or having a
toothache is an unpleasant feeling. These feelings usually
push us around, and we become like clouds blown in the
wind. Our feelings of peace and joy will be more stable and
lasting if we know the source of our so-called neutral
feelings. The essence of happiness is a body that is not in
pain and a heart and mind that are not oppressed by
anxiety, fear, or hatred. Sitting in meditation, we can arrive
at a stable feeling of joy, realizing the stillness of body and
the clarity of mind. We are no longer pushed around by
these “roots of affliction,” and we experience a feeling of
well-being.
Sitting meditation is to establish stillness, peace, and joy.
Just as an anchor holds a boat so that it does not drift away,
conscious breathing sustains our awareness of the present
moment and keeps us in touch with our true selves. The
necessary condition for the existence of peace and joy is
the awareness that peace and joy are available.
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Cleaning the Meditation Room
As I clean
this fresh, calm room,
boundless joy
and energy arise!
It is a joy to tidy the meditation room. In its fresh, calm
atmosphere, everything reminds us to come back to the
present moment. Every sweep of the broom is light, and
every step we take is filled with awareness. As we arrange
the cushions, our mind is still. Working in a relaxed way,
with a feeling of peace and joy, we become energized.
Everything we do can be filled with this peace and joy.
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Walking Meditation
The mind can go in a thousand directions,
but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.
With each step, a gentle wind blows.
With each step, a flower blooms.
The purpose of walking meditation is really to enjoy the
walking—walking not in order to arrive, but in order to
walk. The purpose is to be in the present moment and enjoy
each step you make. Therefore, you have to shake off all
worries and anxieties, not thinking of the future, not
thinking of the past, just enjoying the present moment. You
can take the hand of a child as you walk, as if you are the
happiest person on Earth. We walk all the time, but usually
it is more like running. Our hurried steps print anxiety and
sorrow on the earth. If we can take one step in peace, we
can take two, three, four, and then five steps for the peace
and happiness of humankind.
Our mind darts from one thing to another, like a monkey
swinging from branch to branch without stopping to rest.
Thoughts have millions of pathways, and we are forever
pulled along by them into the world of forgetfulness. If we
can transform our walking path into a field for meditation,
our feet will take every step in full awareness. Our
breathing will be in harmony with our steps, and our mind
will naturally be at ease. Every step we take will reinforce
our peace and joy and cause a stream of calm energy to
flow through us. Then we can say, “With each step, a gentle
wind blows.”
The Buddha is often represented by artists as seated
upon a lotus flower to suggest the peace and happiness he
enjoys. Artists also depict lotus flowers blooming under the
footsteps of the newly born Buddha. If we take steps
without anxiety, in peace and joy, then we too will cause a
flower to bloom on the earth with every step.
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Washing Vegetables
In these fresh vegetables
I see a green sun.
All dharmas join together
to make life possible.
The first two lines are taken from my poem “Armfuls of
Poetry and Bushels of Sunshine.”
*
*
See Thich Nhat Hanh,
Call Me By My True Names
(Berkeley, CA: Parallax
Press, 1999).
In fact, it is the sun that is green and not just the
vegetables, because the green color of the leaves would not
be possible without the presence of the sun. Without the
sun, no species of living being could survive. Leaves absorb
sunlight as it is reflected on their surfaces, and they retain
the energy of the sun, extracting the carbon in the
atmosphere that manufactures the nutritive matter
necessary for the plant.
Therefore, when we see fresh vegetables, we can see the
sun in them—a sun green in color—and not just the sun,
but thousands of other phenomena as well. For example, if
there were no clouds there would be no rainwater. Without
water, air, and soil, there would be no vegetables. The
vegetables are the coming together of many conditions far
and near.
In the gatha, the word “dharmas” means phenomena. In
everyday life, whenever you are in contact with any
phenomenon whatsoever, you can always engage in the
practice of meditation on interdependent origination, not
just when you are washing vegetables. The Sanskrit word
pratitya-samutpada,
usually translated as “codependent
origination,” means that phenomena exist in relationship to
all other things. All dharmas join together, making life
possible.
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Looking at Your Empty Bowl
My bowl, empty now,
will soon be filled with precious food.
Beings all over the earth are struggling to live.
How fortunate we are to have enough to eat.
When many people on this earth look at an empty bowl,
they know their bowl will continue to be empty for a long
time. So the empty bowl is as important to honor as the full
bowl. We are grateful to have food to eat, and with this
gatha, we can vow to find ways to help those who are
hungry.
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Serving Food
In this food
I see clearly
the presence of the entire universe
supporting my existence.
This verse helps us see the principle of dependent co-
arising, as we see that our life and the lives of all species
are interrelated. Eating is a very deep practice. As you wait
to serve yourself or be served, look at the food and smile to
it. Each morsel of food is an ambassador from the cosmos.
It contains sunshine, clouds, the sky, the earth, the farmer,
everything. Each morsel of food is a piece of bread offered
to you by the Buddha.
Look into the bread, the carrot, and touch it deeply. When
you are eating your meal, pick up one piece of carrot, and
don’t put it into your mouth right away. Look at it and smile
to it, and if you are mindful, you will see deeply into the
piece of carrot; sunshine is inside, a cloud is inside, the
great earth is inside, a lot of love and a lot of hard work is
inside. When you have seen clearly the real piece of carrot,
put it into your mouth and chew it in mindfulness. Please
be sure to chew only carrots, and not your projects or your
worries. Enjoy chewing your carrot. The piece of carrot is a
miracle. You, also, are a miracle. So spend time with your
food; every minute of your meal should be happy. Not many
people have the time and the opportunity to sit down and
enjoy a meal like that. We are very fortunate.
34
Looking at Your Plate
This plate of food,
so fragrant and appetizing,
also contains much suffering.
This gatha has its roots in a Vietnamese folksong. When we
look at our plate, filled with fragrant and appetizing food,
we should be aware of the bitter pain of people who suffer
from hunger. Every day, thousands of children die from
hunger and malnutrition. Looking at our plate, we can see
Mother Earth, the farmworkers, and the tragedy of the
unequal distribution of food.
We who live in North America and Europe are
accustomed to eating foods imported from other countries,
whether it is coffee from Colombia, chocolate from Ghana,
or fragrant rice from Thailand. Many children in these
countries, except those from rich families, never see the
fine products that are put aside for export in order to bring
in money. Some parents are so poor and starving, they have
to sell their children as servants to families who have
enough to eat.
Before a meal, we can join our palms in mindfulness and
think about those who do not have enough to eat. Slowly
and mindfully, we breathe three times and recite this gatha.
Doing so will help us maintain mindfulness. May we find
ways to live more simply in order to have more time and
energy to change the system of injustice that exists in the
world.
35
The Five Contemplations
This food is the gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living
beings, and much hard and loving work.
May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be
worthy to receive this food.
May we recognize and transform unwholesome mental
formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with
moderation.
May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a
way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops
contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves
our precious planet.
We accept this food so that we may nourish our
brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and
realize our ideal of serving all living beings.
The first contemplation is being aware that our food comes
directly from the earth and sky. It is a gift of the earth and
sky, and also of the people who prepared it.
The second contemplation is about being worthy of the
food we eat. The way to be worthy of our food is to eat
mindfully—to be aware of its presence and thankful for
having it. We cannot allow ourselves to get lost in our
worries, fears, or anger over the past or the future. We are
there for the food because the food is there for us; it is only
fair. Eat in mindfulness and you will be worthy of the earth
and the sky.
The third contemplation is about becoming aware of our
negative tendencies and not allowing them to carry us
away. We need to learn how to eat in moderation, to eat the
right amount of food. The bowl that is used by a monk or a
nun is referred to as an “instrument of appropriate
measure.” It is very important not to overeat. If you eat
slowly and chew very carefully, you will get plenty of
nutrition. The right amount of food is the amount that helps
us stay healthy.
The fourth contemplation is about our way of eating and
producing food, which can be very violent to other species,
to our own bodies, and to the earth. Our way of growing,
distributing, and eating food can be part of creating a
larger healing. With each meal, we get to choose.
The fifth contemplation is being aware that we receive
food in order to realize something. Our lives should have
meaning and that meaning is to help people suffer less, to
help them to touch the joys of life. When we have
compassion in our hearts and when we know that we are
able to help a person suffer less, life begins to have more
meaning. This is very important food for us and can bring
us a lot of joy. A single person is capable of helping many
living beings. And it is something we can do anywhere.
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Beginning to Eat
With the first mouthful, I practice the love that brings joy.
With the second mouthful, I practice the love that
relieves suffering.
With the third mouthful, I practice the joy of being alive.
With the fourth mouthful, I practice equal love for all
beings.
This verse refers to Buddhism’s Four Immeasurable Minds
(
brahmavihara
in Sanskrit)—loving kindness, compassion,
joy, and inclusiveness. These are said to be the four homes
of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. During the time we eat
the first mouthful, we may like to express our gratitude by
promising to bring joy to at least one person. With the
second mouthful, we can promise to help relieve the pain of
at least one person. With the third mouthful, we are in
touch with the wonders of life. With the fourth mouthful,
we practice inclusiveness and the love that is characterized
by nondiscrimination. After this, we get in touch with the
food and its deep nature.
Eating can be very joyful. When I pick up my food, I take
time to look at it for a moment before I put it in my mouth.
If I am really present, I will recognize the food right away,
whether it is a carrot, a string bean, or a piece of bread. I
smile to it, put it in my mouth, and chew with complete
awareness of what I am eating—mindfulness is always
mindfulness
of
something—and I chew my food in such a
way that life, joy, solidity, and non-fear become possible.
After twenty minutes of eating, I feel nourished, not only
37
Finishing Your Meal
My bowl is empty.
My hunger is satisfied.
I vow to live
for the benefit of all beings.
After we have eaten, we don’t need to rush on to the next
thing. Instead, we can spend a moment being grateful for
the food we have just eaten and all that was necessary to
create this moment. This verse reminds us of the Four
Gratitudes: to our parents who give us life, our teachers
who show us the way, our friends who support us on the
path and help us in difficult moments, and all organic and
inorganic species—plants, animals, and minerals—that
nourish and enrich our lives.
Sometimes we show our gratitude before we eat and then
move on. But we are as grateful for fullness as we are for
the moment before we eat. Living peacefully and happily is
the best way to show our gratitude and is our greatest gift
for the world and the next generation. How we eat can
model so much to those around us. Our children need our
happiness, not our money. If we know how to live happily
with each other, the children will learn it from us. That is
the greatest inheritance we can hand down to our children.
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Washing the Dishes
Washing the dishes
is like bathing a baby Buddha.
The profane is the sacred.
Everyday mind is Buddha mind.
The idea that doing dishes is unpleasant can occur to us
only when we are not doing them. Once we are standing in
front of the sink with our sleeves rolled up and our hands in
warm water, it is really not bad at all. I enjoy taking my
time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the
water, and each movement of my hands. I know that if I
hurry in order to go and have dessert, the time will be
unpleasant. That would be a pity, for the dishes themselves
and the fact that I am here washing them are both
miracles!
Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness
becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between
the sacred and the profane. It may take a bit longer to do
the dishes, but we can live fully, happily, in every moment.
Washing the dishes is at the same time a means and an end
—that is, not only do we do the dishes in order to have
clean dishes, we also do the dishes just to do the dishes and
live fully each moment while washing them.
If I am incapable of washing dishes joyfully, if I want to
finish them quickly so I can go and have dessert and a cup
of tea, I will be equally incapable of doing these other
things joyfully. With the cup in my hands, I will be thinking
about what to do next, and the fragrance and flavor of the
39
Drinking Tea
This cup of tea in my two hands,
mindfulness held perfectly.
My mind and body dwell
in the very here and now.
Wherever you are drinking your tea, whether at work or in
a café or at home, it is wonderful to allow enough time to
appreciate it. You can hold a cup of tea in your two hands,
breathe consciously, and say the above gatha either out
loud or to yourself. If the weather is cold, you can feel the
warmth of the cup in your hands. Breathe in and recite the
first line, breathe out and recite the second. The next
inhalation is for the third line, and the next exhalation is for
the fourth. Breathing mindfully in this way, we recuperate
ourselves, and the cup of tea reclaims its highest place. If
we are not mindful, it is not tea that we are drinking but
our own illusions and afflictions.
When our mind and body have become one and we are
awake, we are ourselves and we can encounter the tea. If
the tea becomes real, we become real. When we are able to
truly meet the tea, at that very moment, we are alive. As we
drink the tea, we are well aware that we are drinking the
tea. Drinking tea becomes the most important thing in life
at that moment. This is the practice of mindfulness.
Notes on Eating Mindfully
A few years ago, I asked some children, “What is the
purpose of eating breakfast?” One boy replied, “To get
energy for the day.” Another said, “The purpose of eating
breakfast is to eat breakfast.” I think the second child is
more correct. The purpose of eating is to eat.
Eating a meal in mindfulness is an important practice. We
turn off the TV, put down our newspaper, and work together
for five or ten minutes, setting the table and finishing
whatever needs to be done. During these few minutes, we
can be very happy. When the food is on the table and
everyone is seated (remember the gatha for sitting down),
we practice breathing: “Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I smile,” three times. We can recover
ourselves completely after three breaths like this. Then, we
look at each person as we breathe in and out in order to be
in touch with ourselves and everyone at the table. We don’t
need two hours in order to see another person. If we are
really settled within ourselves, we only need to look for one
or two seconds, and that is enough to see our friend. I think
that if a family has five members, only about five or ten
seconds is needed to practice this “looking and seeing.”
After breathing, we smile. Sitting at the table with other
people, we have a chance to offer an authentic smile of
friendship and understanding. It is very easy, but not many
people do it. To me, this is the most important practice. We
look at each person and smile to them. Breathing and
smiling together are very important practices. If the people
in a family cannot smile to each other, the situation is a
very dangerous one.
After breathing and smiling, we look down at the food in
a way that allows the food to become real. This food reveals
our connection with the earth. Each bite contains the life of
the sun and the earth. The extent to which our food reveals
itself depends on us. We can see and taste the whole
universe in a piece of bread! Contemplating our food for a
few seconds before eating, and eating in mindfulness, can
bring us much happiness.
Having the opportunity to sit with our family and friends
and enjoy wonderful food is something precious, something
not everyone has. Many people in the world are hungry.
When I hold a bowl of rice or a piece of bread, I know that I
am fortunate, and I feel compassion for all those who have
no food to eat and are without friends or family. This is a
very deep practice. We do not need to go to a temple or a
church to practice this. We can practice it right at our
dinner table. Mindful eating can cultivate seeds of
compassion and understanding that will strengthen us to
do something to help hungry and lonely people be
nourished.
In order to aid mindfulness during meals, you may like to
eat silently from time to time. Your first silent meal may
cause you to feel a little uncomfortable, but once you
become used to it, you will realize that meals in silence
bring much peace and happiness. It is like turning off the
TV before eating. We “turn off” the talking to enjoy the food
and the presence of one another.
I do not recommend silent meals every day. I think
talking to each other is a wonderful way to be in touch. But
we have to distinguish among different kinds of talk. Some
subjects can separate us, for instance if we talk about other
people’s shortcomings. The food that has been prepared
carefully will have no value if we let this kind of talk
dominate our meal. When instead we speak about things
that nourish our awareness of the food and our being
together, we cultivate the kind of happiness that is
necessary for us to grow. If we compare this experience
with the experience of talking about other people’s
shortcomings, I think awareness of a piece of bread in your
mouth is a much more nourishing experience. It brings life
in and makes life real.
I propose that during eating, you refrain from discussing
subjects that can destroy the awareness of the family and
the food. But you should feel free to say things that can
nourish awareness and happiness. For instance, if there is a
dish that you like very much, you can see if other people
are also enjoying it, and if one of them is not, you can help
them appreciate the wonderful dish prepared with loving
care. If someone is thinking about something other than
the good food on the table, such as their difficulties in the
office or with friends, it means they are losing the present
moment and the food. You can say, “This dish is wonderful,
don’t you agree?” When you say something like this, you
will draw them out of their thinking and worries and bring
them back to the here and now, enjoying you, enjoying the
wonderful dish. You become a bodhisattva, helping a living
being become enlightened. I know that children, in
particular, are very capable of practicing mindfulness and
reminding others to do the same.
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Touching the Earth
Earth brings us to life
and nourishes us.
Earth takes us back again.
We are born and we die with every breath.
The earth is our mother. All life arises from her and is
nourished by her. Each of us is a child of the earth and, at
some time, the earth will take us back to her again. In fact,
we are continuously coming to life and returning to the
bosom of the earth. We who practice meditation should be
able to see birth and death in every breath.
Touching the earth, letting your fingers feel the soil, and
gardening are wonderful restorative activities. If you live in
a city, you may not have many opportunities to hoe the
earth, plant vegetables, or take care of flowers. But you can
still find and appreciate a small patch of grass or earth and
care for it. Being in touch with Mother Earth is a wonderful
way to preserve your mental health.
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Looking at Your Hand
Whose hand is this
that has never died?
Who is it who was born in the past?
Who is it who will die in the future?
If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see
your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of
them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your
body. You are the continuation of each of these people.
To be born means that something that did not exist comes
into existence. But the day we are “born” is not our
beginning. It is a day of continuation. But that should not
make us less happy when we celebrate our “Happy
Continuation Day.”
Since we are never born, how can we cease to be? This is
what the Heart Sutra reveals to us. When we have a
tangible experience of no birth and no death, we know
ourselves beyond duality. The meditation on “no separate
self” is one way to pass through the gate of birth and
death.
Your hand proves that you have never been born and you
will never die. The thread of life has never been interrupted
from time without beginning until now.
Previous generations, all the way back to single-celled
beings, are present in your hand at this moment. You can
observe and experience this. Your hand is always available
as a subject for meditation.
42
Going Up and Down Stairs
Going up or down the stairs,
I keep my steps light.
If I hear my shoes click-clack,
I know my mind’s not at peace.
We can make the staircase a place of special practice for
mindful walking. If we notice that we are walking up or
down unmindfully, we go back down or up again (mindfully)
and start all over again. This may seem a little tedious, but
it is a good way of training ourselves to walk mindfully.
Once we can walk mindfully up and down stairs, we shall
be able to do the same everywhere. The noise that our
footsteps make serves as a bell of mindfulness telling us
about our state of mind.
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Hearing the Bell
Listen, listen,
this wonderful sound
brings me back
to my true self.
Listening to the bell, our mind becomes one with the sound
as it vibrates along, settles down, and fades away. With the
help of a bell, our mind is collected and brought back to the
present moment. The bell of mindfulness is the voice of the
Buddha calling us back to ourselves. We have to respect
each sound, stop our thinking and talking, and get in touch
with ourselves, breathing and smiling. This is not a Buddha
from the outside. It is our own Buddha calling us home.
If we cannot hear the sound of the bell, then we cannot
hear other sounds that also come from the Buddha—the
whistling of the wind, the songs of the birds, the cries of a
baby, or even the motors of cars passing by. We can also
hear the music of the bell in the ring of the doorbell or the
telephone. These are all calls from the Buddha, reminding
us to return to our “true selves.”
What is a “true self?” A true self is a self that is made of
nonself elements. If we are able to look in this way, the
word “self” will no longer be a source of confusion.
Practicing with a bell helps us practice conscious breathing
and realize the interdependent nature of all existence.
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Using the Telephone
Words can travel thousands of miles.
May my words create mutual understanding and love.
May they be as beautiful as gems,
as lovely as flowers.
The telephone is a very convenient means of
communication. It can save us travel time and expense. But
the telephone can also tyrannize us. If it is always ringing,
we are disturbed and cannot accomplish much. If we talk
on the phone without awareness, we waste precious time
and money. Often we say things that are not important.
How many times have we received our telephone bill and
winced at the amount that is due!
When the telephone rings, the bell creates in us a kind of
vibration, maybe some anxiety: “Who is calling? Is it good
news or bad news?” There is a force that pulls us to the
phone. We cannot resist. We are victims of our own
telephone.
The next time you hear the phone ring, I recommend you
stay exactly where you are, and become aware of your
breathing: “Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I
smile.” When the phone rings the second time, you can
breathe again. I am sure that this time your smile will be
more solid than before. When it rings the third time, you
can continue practicing breathing, while moving slowly to
the phone. Remember, you are your own master, walking
like a Buddha to the phone, dwelling in mindfulness. When
you pick up the phone, you know that you are smiling, not
only for your own sake but also for the sake of the other
person. If you are irritated or angry, the other person will
receive your negativity. But since you are smiling, how
fortunate for them!
Before you make a phone call, I suggest you breathe in
and out twice, and recite the four lines of this verse. Then
pick up the phone and dial. When the bell rings, you know
that your friend is breathing and smiling and will not pick
up the phone until the third ring. So you continue to
practice: “Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I
smile.” Both of you are close to your phones, breathing and
smiling. This is very beautiful! You don’t have to go into a
meditation hall to do this wonderful practice. It is available
in your house or office. Practicing telephone meditation can
counteract stress and depression and bring the Buddha
into your daily life.
We should not underestimate the effect our words have
when we use right speech. The words we speak can build
up understanding and love. They can be as beautiful as
gems, as lovely as flowers, and they can make many people
happy. The telephone gatha can help us practice right
speech, and it can also help us keep our phone bills down.
45
Turning on the Television
The mind is a television
with thousands of channels.
I choose a world that is tranquil and calm
so that my joy will always be fresh.
Our mind is like a television set with thousands of
channels, and the channel we switch on is the channel we
are
at that moment. When we turn on anger, we are anger.
When we turn on peace and joy, we are peace and joy. We
have the ability to select the channel. We are what we
choose to be. We can select any channel of the mind.
Buddha is a channel, Mara is a channel, remembering is a
channel, forgetting is a channel, calm is a channel,
agitation is a channel. Changing from one state of being to
another is as simple as the change from a channel showing
a film to a channel playing music.
There are people who cannot tolerate peace and quiet,
who are afraid of facing themselves, so they turn on the
television in order to be preoccupied with it for a whole
evening. But meditating can be just as entertaining, and
you may find a whole evening has passed!
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Turning on the Computer
Turning on the computer,
my mind gets in touch with the store.
I vow to transform habit energies
to help love and understanding grow.
Sometimes, when we are on the computer, it is as if we
have turned off our mind and are absorbed into the
computer for hours. Mind is consciousness. The two
aspects of consciousness, subject and object, depend on
each other to exist. When our mind is conscious of
something, we
are
that thing. When we contemplate a
snow-covered mountain, we are that mountain. When we
watch a noisy film, we are that noisy film. And when we
turn on the blue light of the computer, we become that
computer.
The “store” in this verse refers to
alayavijñana,
the
consciousness where all our seed-potentials are stored. We
receive seeds from our ancestors, friends, and society; and
they are held in our consciousness, just as the earth holds
the seeds that fall upon it. Like the seeds in the earth, the
seeds in our store consciousness are hidden from us; we
are seldom in contact with them. Our store consciousness
has a strong capacity to receive and absorb impressions,
and this affects our patterns of seeing, feeling, and
behaving. We interpret everything we see or hear in terms
of our habit energy. If you crumple a sheet of paper, it is
difficult to make it lie flat again. It has the habit energy of
being crumpled. We are the same. The good news is that
we can change our habit energies.
When using the computer, we practice mindfulness.
Before turning the computer on, recite the gatha. It’s
possible to program your computer to make the sound of
the bell every fifteen minutes so you can stop, breathe,
smile, bring body and mind together, and release any
tension in your shoulders or hands. If you are working for a
longer period, you may want to get up occasionally and
take some steps around the room to refresh yourself and
help your circulation. Always type and read in a relaxed
way, taking breaks to look out the window to rest your eyes.
The Buddha said that the eyes are a deep ocean with
hidden waves and sea monsters beneath. If you are not
mindful and do not know how to protect and guard the
doors of your senses, you will be drowned in the ocean of
forms, sometimes several times a day. With the boat of
mindfulness, we sail across the ocean of forms, sounds, and
other sense objects; and we hold on tight. Our boat does
not sink, and we do not drown in the ocean of the senses.
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Cleaning the Bathroom
How wonderful it is
to scrub and clean.
Day by day,
the heart and mind grow clearer.
Most of us do not like cleaning the bathroom. But when we
work in full awareness of the present moment, we can find
purity in each act. To purify means to become clear and
calm. Cleaning the bathroom, we clear and purify our
environment and ourselves.
In centers for meditation practice, often there is a vase of
flowers in every bathroom. The bathroom is as important a
place as the meditation hall for practicing mindfulness. In
fact, the bathroom is another meditation hall, and so we
offer a vase of flowers there. Flowers arranged with skill
and care remind us that we can live in such a way that we
clarify and calm our hearts and minds. I hope you will put a
vase of flowers in your bathroom at home.
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Sweeping
As I carefully sweep
the ground of enlightenment,
a tree of understanding
springs up from the earth.
This gatha is based on two lines of Chinese poetry:
“Sweeping the floor of the monastery, the benefits of
understanding are realized.” The whole earth is the land of
the Buddha. The path around our home is also the ground
of awakening. It is said that Mara, a spirit who represents
delusion, offered the Buddha a parcel of land as large as
the Buddha’s robe could cover. But when the Buddha’s robe
flew up to the sky, it covered the entire earth with its
shadow. So we say that the earth on which we stand, the
earth in front of our house, and the earth that we cultivate,
all belong to the Buddha. In Vietnam, at the New Year, we
put a pole topped by the Buddhist flag in front of our house
to remind Mara how far Buddha’s land extends—and to
keep Mara out!
Any ground we sweep in full awareness is the ground of
enlightenment. True mindfulness always gives rise to
awakened understanding.
49
Watering the Garden
Sunshine and water
make plants fresh and green.
When the rain of compassion falls,
even the desert becomes a vast fertile plain.
Water is the balm of compassion. It has the capacity to
restore us to life. The Bodhisattva of Compassion is often
depicted holding a vase of water in her left hand and a
willow branch in her right. She sprinkles down compassion,
like drops of nurturing water, to revitalize tired hearts and
minds weak from suffering. Rain enlivens crops and
protects people from hunger. Watering the garden, the
compassionate rain falls on the plants. Our respect and
gratitude for this gift of water helps us heal ourselves and
transform even a desert into a vast fertile plain.
When we offer water to plants, we offer it to the whole
earth. When watering plants, if we speak to them, we are
also speaking to ourselves. We exist in relationship to all
other phenomena. As we water plants, we can speak to
them:
Dear plant, you are not alone.
This stream of water comes from earth and sky.
We are together for innumerable lifetimes.
The feeling of alienation among so many people today has
come about because they lack awareness of the
interconnectedness of all things. We cannot separate
50
Plantings
I entrust myself to Earth;
Earth entrusts herself to me.
I entrust myself to Buddha;
Buddha entrusts herself to me.
To plant a seed or a seedling is to entrust it to the earth.
The plant takes refuge in the earth. Whether the plant
grows well or not depends on the earth. Many generations
of vegetation have grown bright and beautiful under the
light of the sun to create fertile topsoil. This topsoil will
continue to nourish generations of vegetation to come.
Whether the earth is beautiful, fresh, and green, or
withered and dry depends on the plants entrusted to the
earth. The plants and the earth rely on each other for life.
When we entrust ourselves to the Buddha, we take refuge
in the essence of nourishment, the soil of enlightened
understanding, love, and compassion. And the Buddha also
entrusts herself to us, because awakened understanding,
love, and compassion need each of us in order to germinate
and flourish. How can these attributes continue to flower in
the world if we do not realize them within ourselves? “I
entrust myself to the Buddha” is what we usually think, but
let us also notice that Buddha is entrusting herself to
become real within us, just as the earth and the green
plants entrust themselves to one another.
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Picking a Flower
May I pick you, little flower,
gift of earth and sky?
Thank you, dear bodhisattva,
for making life beautiful.
Whenever we pick a flower, we can ask permission, not only
of the plant, but of the earth and sky as well. The whole
earth and sky joined to create this flower. Our gratitude to
them must be sincere. A flower is a bodhisattva that makes
life fresher and more beautiful. We, too, can offer others a
gift by being refreshing, compassionate, and happy.
There is a well-known story in Zen circles about a flower.
One day the Buddha was holding up a flower in front of an
audience of 1,250 monks and nuns. He did not say anything
for a long time. A man in the audience, named
Mahakashyapa, smiled at him and at the flower. The
Buddha smiled back and said, “I have a treasure of insight,
and I have transmitted it to Mahakashyapa.” To me the
meaning is quite simple: be in touch with life in the present
moment and look deeply into things that happen in the
present moment. The person who was not thinking, who
was just himself, encountered the flower in depth and
smiled.
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Arranging Flowers
Arranging this flower
in the saha world,
the ground of my mind
is pure and calm.
The saha world, according to Buddhist mythology, is the
planet Earth, the “ground” for enduring hardships,
sickness, hatred, ignorance, and war. Saha means “moving”
and “enduring.” When we practice the teachings of the
Buddha, we transform ourselves and set up a beautiful pure
land, full of miraculous wonders, here on Earth.
Arranging flowers is something we can do to help make
life more beautiful. When we are mindful while arranging
flowers, not only the flowers become beautiful, but we
become beautiful as well. When our heart’s garden is calm
and radiant, and the flowers of our heart light the way,
people around us will recognize the beauty of life and
realize how precious it is to be alive.
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Smiling to Your Anger
Breathing in, I feel my anger.
Breathing out, I smile.
I stay with my breathing
so I won’t lose myself.
When we feel angry, we should go back to our conscious
breathing and refrain from looking and listening to the
person we think to be the source of our unhappiness. We do
not need to do or say anything. As we go back to our
breathing and breathe according to the gatha, we should
be aware that it’s our anger that is making us suffer, not
the other person.
Taking the first breath and reciting the first line of the
gatha is like looking at ourselves in a mirror. As we see
ourselves clearly, we know what to do and what not to do.
The exhalation that follows will have the same effect. In
anger, we tend to think of the other person as the source of
our suffering. We see evil in them. “They are cruel.” “They
oppress me.” “They want to destroy me!” In fact, it is our
anger that destroys us.
So we must take good care of our anger. When a house is
burning, we must first go into the house and try to put out
the fire. It is too soon to go searching for the person who
may have started the fire. That is what we see in the
inhalation that goes with the third line of the gatha. When
we exhale, we recite the last line. Only loving kindness can
take care of our anger, and only loving kindness can take
care of the other person.
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Washing Feet
The peace and joy
of one toe
is peace and joy
for my whole body.
We take our toes for granted. We worry about so many
things, but we seldom think about our toes. If one small toe
steps on a thorn, however, our whole body will feel the
pain. Holding one toe in our hand, we can feel its peace
and joy. It has been a good friend. It is not broken. It does
not have cancer. We can thank our toe for its health and
well-being.
Our toe and each cell of our body exist interdependently,
not separately. If our body becomes ill or injured, the cause
may be external, such as bacteria from contaminated food,
alcohol in another driver’s bloodstream, or a bomb dropped
from a plane. If the sun were to stop shining, life on Earth
would cease. We must understand that our body also
includes all of these things. The sun is our heart outside of
our body. Our life and the life of all existence are one
continuous life. The peace and joy of our small toe are the
peace and joy of our whole body and mind, and the peace
and joy of the entire universe. Once we identify with our
toe, we can proceed further to identify ourselves with all
life. Life comes from the whole universe. When we identify
with the life of all that exists, we realize that birth and
death are minor fluctuations in an ever-changing cosmos.
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Driving the Car
Before starting the car,
I know where I am going.
The car and I are one.
If the car goes fast, I go fast.
If we are mindful when we start our car, we will know how
to use it properly. When we are driving, we tend to think of
arriving, and we sacrifice the journey for the sake of the
arrival. But life is to be found in the present moment, not in
the future. In fact, we may suffer more after we arrive at
our destination. If we have to talk of a destination, what
about our final destination, the graveyard? We don’t want
to go in the direction of death; we want to go to in the
direction of life. Life can be found only in the present
moment. Therefore, each mile we drive, each step we take,
has to bring us into the present moment.
When we see a red light or a stop sign, we can smile at it
and thank it, because it is a bodhisattva helping us return
to the present moment. The red light is a bell of
mindfulness. We may have thought of it as an enemy,
preventing us from achieving our goal. But now we know
the red light is our friend, helping us resist rushing and
calling us to return to the present moment where we can
meet with life, joy, and peace.
The next time you are caught in traffic, don’t fight. It is
useless to fight. If you sit back and smile to yourself, you
will enjoy the present moment and make everyone in the
car happy. The Buddha is there because the Buddha can
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Recycling
In the garbage, I see a rose.
In the rose, I see the garbage.
Everything is in transformation.
Even permanence is impermanent.
Whenever we throw something away, whether in the
garbage can, the compost, or the recycling, it can smell
terrible. Rotting organic matter smells especially terrible.
But it can also become rich compost for fertilizing the
garden. The fragrant rose and the stinking garbage are two
sides of the same existence. Without one, the other cannot
be. Everything is in transformation. The rose that wilts
after six days will become a part of the garbage. After six
months the garbage is transformed into a rose. When we
speak of impermanence, we understand that everything is
in transformation. This becomes that, and that becomes
this.
Looking deeply, we can contemplate one thing and see
everything else in it. We are not disturbed by change when
we see the interconnectedness and continuity of all things.
It is not that the life of any individual is permanent but that
life itself continues. When we identify ourselves with life
and go beyond the boundaries of a separate identity, we
shall be able to see permanence in the impermanent, or the
rose in the garbage.
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Hugging Meditation
Breathing in,
I am so happy to hug my beloved.
Breathing out,
I know they are real and alive in my arms.
Suppose a lovely child comes and presents themself to us.
If we are not really there—if we are thinking of the past,
worrying about the future, or possessed by anger or fear—
the child, although present, will not exist for us. They are
like a ghost, and we are like a ghost also. If we want to
meet the child, we have to go back to the present moment
in order to meet them. If we want to hug them, it is only in
the present moment that we can hug them.
So we breathe consciously, uniting body and mind,
making ourselves into a real person again. When we
become a real person, the child becomes real also. They are
a wondrous presence. If we hold them in our arms and
continue to breathe, we will feel truly alive. This gatha can
help us remember the preciousness of our loved one as we
hold them in our arms.
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Ending the Day
The day is ending,
our life is one day shorter.
Let us look carefully
at what we have done.
Let us practice diligently,
putting our whole heart into the path of meditation.
Let us live deeply each moment in freedom,
so time does not slip away meaninglessly.
We can practice beginning anew at any moment of our life.
To be born is to begin anew. When you are three years old,
you can begin anew; when you are sixty years old, you can
begin anew; and when you are about to die, that is still a
time to begin anew. When we look deeply, we see that
beginning anew is possible at any time of our daily life, at
any age.
As humans, we make mistakes. Without these mistakes,
there would be no way to learn to be more accepting and
compassionate. We should not get caught in the prison of
guilt. If we can learn from our mistakes, then we have
already begun transforming garbage into flowers. It is
always possible for us to begin anew so that our life is filled
with meaning. When your life is meaningful, happiness
becomes a reality, and you become a bodhisattva right here
and now. A bodhisattva is someone who has compassion
within themselves and who is able to make another person
smile or help someone suffer less. Every one of us is
capable of this.
VERSES FOR ENTERING THE
ULTIMATE DIMENSION
Poetry comes from deep levels of consciousness in the poet.
We call that consciousness “store” because it contains the
seeds of all that is possible. The seeds of enlightenment
and liberation are all available in store. Store is individual
but it is also collective. These verses on the ultimate and
historical dimensions are to help us be in touch with the
depths of love and understanding in our own
consciousness. If the verse has the words “in the ultimate
dimension” in the first line, it is an invitation to step into
that dimension straightaway; that is the realm of no birth
and no death, no being and no nonbeing. If the verse has
the words “the historical dimension” in the first line, it is an
invitation to go deeply into the historical to touch the
ultimate.
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Urinating
Urinating in the ultimate dimension,
a wonderful exchange happens.
I and you are not two.
No loss and no gain.
This verse helps us to look at the water cycle in nature.
Water has come into our body and flows throughout our
body and then leaves in the form of urine, perspiration,
tears, etc. You see that in this exchange water inside your
body and water outside are just one water cycling in
nature. This will help you to realize the meaning of “I and
you are not two”; water inside we call I, and water outside
we call you, but really they are not two.
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Putting on Clothes
Putting on clothes in the historical dimension,
I adorn myself and the world.
The pure land is in the palm of my hand,
created by mountains and rivers together.
In the Buddhist teachings there are two kinds of retribution
or fruits of action. The first is our body and mind; the
second is our environment. When we put on our clothes, we
contemplate that we are making our person beautiful and
making our environment beautiful. We adorn ourselves with
the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings—the
Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic—and at
the same time we adorn our environment with
understanding and love. The pure land is not something we
realize when we die. It is available here and now in the
beauties of nature, the mountains and rivers.
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Walking with Your Feet
In the ultimate dimension,
I walk with my feet and not with my head.
When I walk with my head,
I lose my way.
If we are thinking about the past or the future as we walk,
we miss out on the wonders of life in the present moment.
In order to touch the ultimate dimension, we need to be
very alive in the here and the now. Each step helps us
transcend our usual ideas of what is and what is not.
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Walking and Touching Eternity
Taking a stroll in the ultimate dimension,
your hand in my hand,
thousands of years before
and thousands of years after,
we return together to the path.
In the ultimate dimension you can hold the hand of
someone who is no longer there historically. It could be the
hand of Shakyamuni Buddha, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther
King, or any great being or friend you choose to walk with.
When we walk in the ultimate dimension, we are not caught
in ideas of past and future.
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Sitting in the Historical
Dimension
Sitting at leisure in the historical dimension,
I lean against a boulder.
That butterfly is still there.
This rose is no stranger.
Sitting in nature at the seaside or on a bank of grass in the
mountains, you can be in touch deeply with the historical
dimension. You look at the butterfly and recognize that it is
a wonderful manifestation. A butterfly does not live long,
but it seems to enjoy every moment of its short life, going
from flower to flower. The rose is a friend with whom you
have been intimately connected for a very long time.
We human beings need to learn again how to sit at
leisure. Do not just do things! Please just sit there!
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Sitting with Anxiety
Sitting at leisure in the historical dimension,
if I hear my anxiety bubbling,
I look at the ultimate and smile.
The three times interpenetrate freely.
When we sit at leisure, anxiety might suddenly come up in
us. Usually when these unpleasant feelings manifest, we
will do something to try and cover them up. We could go to
the refrigerator to find something to eat, turn on the
television, pick up the telephone or a magazine or book.
This verse reminds us to do differently: we remain seated
to listen to our self deeply. We can recognize how past,
present, and future inter-are, and the most important thing
is how we are in the present. That determines how the
future will be. So we have nothing more to be anxious
about. The smile is important. It sends a message of hope
to our brain.
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Weeding
Weeding in the ultimate dimension,
I remember when I was a child.
May all children
be safe and free from fear.
Weeding is something that all gardeners have to do from
time to time. At first, we may feel that it is a little bit
destructive. Still, we can do it with a heart of love and
compassion. When you were a child, you were fresh,
innocent, and shy. That child weeding the garden is still
there in the ultimate dimension. You feel love for the child
that was yourself, and at the same time you feel love for all
children.
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Raking Leaves
Raking leaves in the ultimate dimension,
each leaf is a wonderful manifestation.
In the game of hide-and-seek,
there is no coming and no going.
In the autumn millions of leaves find their way gracefully
back to the earth. They are playing a game of hide-and-
seek. In the spring, they manifested as a young bud; in the
summer, as a bright green leaf nourishing the tree with
sunshine and air; in the autumn, as a yellow or red leaf
lying on the earth, in the winter, decomposing to become
one with the earth to nourish the tree again. All these
manifestations show how the leaf is never born and never
dies.
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Washing Dishes
Washing dishes in the historical dimension,
I smile to myself.
What am I doing?
Over there a fresh rosebud opens.
Because I am in the historical dimension, I may not be very
mindful. Then I recognize this, and I stop and ask myself
what I am doing. I tell myself: “I am washing the dishes.”
Then I ask another question: “Why am I doing it?” The
answer is not “In order to have clean dishes,” because
dishes will never remain clean. The answer will be “I am
washing dishes to touch peace and joy in the present
moment,” or “I am washing dishes to express my love for
my family or community.” This brings me back to the
present moment, and in my heart there is a fresh rosebud.
Sometimes a Zen master comes into the kitchen and asks
you what you are doing. If, while washing the dishes, you
answer the master: “I am washing dishes,” they will be very
disappointed. They can see perfectly well that you are
washing dishes. They need you to tell them about your
state of mind. If it is as fresh as a rosebud, they will be
happy for you.
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Washing Dishes in Freedom
Washing dishes in the historical dimension,
I see them piled high.
Looking from the ultimate dimension,
I am happy washing dishes forever.
When you see a huge pile of dishes, you may feel a little
daunted. If you know how to wash dishes in mindfulness,
*
each dish becomes a precious occasion for enlightenment.
Normally we want to finish washing the dishes so we can
go on to what we consider a more worthwhile activity. In
the ultimate dimension no activity is more worthwhile than
what we are doing in the present moment.
*
For more on basic mindfulness practice, see Thich Nhat Hanh,
The Miracle of
Mindfulness
(Boston MA: Beacon Press, 1999).
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Sharing the Dharma
Sharing the Dharma in the ultimate dimension,
I look at you and smile.
Yes, you are me.
The listener and the speaker are one and the same.
We gather in groups from time to time to share our
experience of our spiritual practice. The fact that we can
share depends on the fact that there is someone who
listens. If there were no one there to listen, how could we
share? With that in mind, you will speak in a way that is
beneficial for the hearer. You will look at the listener and
feel the effect your words are having.
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Eating with Ancestors and
Descendants
Eating in the historical dimension,
I nourish all my ancestors.
I open a way for my descendants,
and together we can find a beautiful path forward.
When we see that we and our ancestors and descendants
are one, we begin to go into the ultimate dimension. We are
part of a stream of life with all of them. Our father, mother,
and grandparents all live on in us, and whenever we eat,
they eat with us. This kind of awareness means that we are
mindful of what we eat. We realize that this body is not just
ours to do what we like with. We have received a precious
inheritance, and we want to take care of it for the future
generations. Our descendants are our future, and whatever
we do in our daily life can nourish them or harm them.
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Eating with Compassion
Eating in the historical dimension,
my chewing is as rhythmic as my breathing.
How miraculously we nourish each other.
May I maintain compassion alive
and help all beings to the other shore.
It is wonderful that we nourish each other, but it can also
be dreadful. The lion has to eat the deer, the bird the
insect, the snake the frog. As human beings, we do not
have to eat other animals; we can follow a vegan diet. If we
look deeply into our vegan diet, we shall see that other
living beings have lost their lives because of the cultivation
of our vegetables and grains. Seeing this we are
determined to eat in such a way that keeps our compassion
alive. We nourish our compassion by eating in a way that
causes as little suffering as possible, although we know
that by eating, we will cause some beings to suffer.
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Being Angry
Angry with someone in the historical dimension,
I breathe.
I look at the ultimate and smile.
Love and hatred take turns in the game
like the rising and falling of river waters.
Love and hatred are organic. We can quickly become angry
with the one we love, and we can also come to love
someone we hated formerly. When we are angry, we can
give ourselves a little space by taking some deep breaths.
This will prevent us from saying or doing something that
we may regret later. We recognize that this feeling of anger
is a momentary reaction. If we do not feed it with the way
we perceive, it will cease.
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The Impermanence of Anger
Feeling angry in the historical dimension,
I close my eyes and look into the future.
Three hundred years from now
where you will be and where shall I be?
This verse helps you have enough presence of mind to close
your eyes and not look at the person who is making you
angry. Breathing mindfully with your eyes closed, you bring
your mind to the distant future. Your body and the body of
the person with whom you are angry will have dissolved
into dust. When we see our life is so ephemeral, we do not
want to waste our time being angry with each other.
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Resting
Resting in the ultimate dimension,
the snow-capped mountains are my pillow.
With arms embracing the pink clouds,
I become the never-ending mountains and rolling hills.
There may be moments during the day when you lie down
to take a short rest. If you touch the ultimate dimension,
you will see that you are not limited by your body and the
mat on which you are lying. Your mind becomes very
spacious, embracing earth and sky.
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Taking Out the Compost
Taking out the compost in the ultimate dimension,
I look with nondualistic eyes.
Entrusting the compost to the future,
flowers blossom in the next century.
We have the tendency to discriminate between clean and
unclean. We see the flower as clean and the compost as
unclean. In the ultimate dimension there is no
discrimination between pure and impure. We can already
see the flower that is waiting to be born from the compost.
This verse also reminds us to be aware of the rubbish that
we produce. If we continue to fill our earth and oceans with
plastic, flowers will not be able to grow on this planet. We
want to consume mindfully and not produce the kind of
rubbish that cannot be recycled by nature.
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Lonely
Feeling lonely in the historical dimension,
I embrace my pain
with a gentle lullaby,
like falling snowflakes covering the whole mountain.
We all feel lonely from time to time. We should not try to
cover up our loneliness. Rather we recognize it and gently
take care of it as a mother or father takes care of a crying
baby. We continue to take care in this way until we feel the
loneliness begin to transform.
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Sitting Meditation
Sitting in the historical dimension
anywhere can be a place of enlightenment.
Through countless rounds of birth and death,
this moment is unique.
Anywhere we sit in mindfulness can be a place where we
can realize a small enlightenment and liberate ourselves
from some form of bondage. Enlightenment does not have
to be a major enlightenment; it can come in stages as more
and more small enlightenments accumulate. We have been
through countless rounds of birth and death, but each
moment is unique and deserves our full attention.
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Watering the Garden
As I water the garden in the ultimate dimension,
I am part of life.
Clouds and snow are in this stream of water
as they go from high mountains to the wide ocean.
Watering the garden is a chance for us to see that we can
make a wholesome contribution to life. We can give a
helping hand to the trees, flowers, shrubs, and vegetation
that are essential for human beings. We stand in awe
before the water cycle.
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Mending My Clothes
Mending clothes in the historical dimension,
I am making my life whole again.
With needle and thread,
I realize fruits of the practice.
There is a story of a practitioner who realized the fruit of
awakening while making six stitches as he mended his
robe. As we sit peacefully and mend our clothes, we can
see in our hands our ancestors who sat peacefully in the
evening mending clothes. To be able to sit peacefully,
wholly concentrated on the sewing, and to have the insight
that these hands are the hands of my ancestors, are fruits
of the practice.
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