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Basic Dharma 04 - Five Fears, Four Modes of Practice, Touching and Healing
The student needs to place trust that the teacher not only knows the theory but has also practiced mindfulness, and at the same time, the teacher also trusts in the mind and will of the student to bring the Dharma into daily life instead of merely accumulating knowledge. That trust is not blind but is always verified by mindfulness and experience with the breath, gestures, and actions.
Practicing anāpānasati—mindful breathing—is the means to bring body and mind together as one (body and mind in oneness). Observing the five aggregates (skandhas: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, consciousness) shows that each aggregate needs both to be nourished and to be healed by the four kinds of nutriments (catvāri āhārāḥ):
- edible food (food taken through the mouth)
- sense impression (contact through the six sense organs)
- volition (will, aspiration)
-
consciousness (store consciousness, ālaya-vijñāna)
By practicing methods such as sitting meditation, walking meditation, lying-down meditation, or stopping (shamatha), knowing how to stop our projects, we nourish and heal the wounds in body and mind, bringing stability and happiness right in the present moment.