In this first dharma talk of the winter retreat, Thay shared with us about how to organize our life and get healed in our daily life. The way society is organized today is such that we live with a lot of pressure. We are pushed by the habit energy of running, always looking for something to make us happy. Thay taught us how mindful breathing and mindful walking can help us stop running. If we breathe and walk mindfully in such a way that we find peace and happiness, we are nourished and we can be healed. If we walk with an idea to achieve something, we are still running.

But just the willingness to stop cannot help us to stop. Thay stressed the importance of insight. We need insight to be able to really stop. Thay also shared about the 5 universals and 5 particulars, in which mindfulness is one of the particulars. Our mind is like a river. There are 51 wholesome and unwholesome seeds in our store consciousness. When seeds are touched they become mental formations. We all have the seed of mindfulness. When practiced deeply, with mindfulness comes concentration. They grow together. If both of them are powerful enough, we will get insight. We will have insight that running cannot get us anywhere, it is not bringing happiness, even if we have a lot of possessions. Insight can help us to get out of our suffering and illusion, and help us to really stop. Then we can be in touch with the wonders of life again and enjoy life more easily.

Thay also shared about one mental formation called ease, or peace, one of 7 factors of enlightenment. It is important to cultivate ease to be healed. Mindful breathing and walking help to cultivate ease. Another mental formation of the opposite nature is restlessness. Thay shared the symptoms of restlessness, with which we keep doing things to cover up our loneliness and suffering, and do not know how to deal with it. Mindfulness without insight cannot heal us, our suffering will come back. We need Vipassana not just Samantha, to look deeply in order to get insight, to liberate us from restlessness. Meditation is not a temporary refuge and it should have the power to transform. With Vipassana, we have the power to transform. We can organize our life, live simply and deeply and we can have all the nourishments and healing we need.

Rebuilding our health - mental and physical. Our society seems to be not very healthy. Some come to our retreat to heal and mindfulness can help you heal. If we are mindful, we may see that we are running. Running into the future. We have a habit of running. So our mindful breathing can help us to stop the running. Breathing is an art.

Mindfulness has to go with insight. Insight can get you out of your suffering. This winter we will look at the 51-mental formations. The first five are called universal:

• Contact
• Attention
• Feeling
• Perception
• Volition

Then we have five particulars:

• Intention
• Determination
• Mindfulness
• Concentration
• Insight

Right now we are talking about mindfulness. Our consciousness has two parts - store and mind. Our mental formations can move from one part to the other. Each formation is known as a seed in the store consciousness. There are conditions that cause a seed to manifest in your mind. Mindfulness is the capacity to see what is going on in your feelings, your perceptions, and around you. We can also use the mindful walking to heal and stop the running. We can allow nature to heal us.

The earth is not just the environment, the earth is ourselves. A good mental formation is ease. We need to practice to cultivate this kind of energy. This is one of the seven factors of enlightenment. An opposite mental formation is called restlessness. Mental excitement. This prevents our mind from applying itself to good mental formations. Our society suffers from restlessness and that is why we run after the consumption, the internet, work, etc.

Mindfulness to release stress is good, but it is not enough. We need the insight in order to be able to truly release. Without the insight we will not stop running. Time is more than money, time is life. In this winter retreat, we will look with a critical eye at the manifestation-only.

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