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Fasting for Freedom: Embodying the Three Dharma Seals in Daily Life
Many of us fast to cleanse body and mind, but fasting without guidance can be harmful. Under medical supervision (especially if you’re weak), ten- to fourteen-day water fasts—with at least three liters of warm water or various herbal teas daily—combined with gentle exercise, massage, showers and deep breathing help dissolve and eliminate toxins via kidneys, lungs, skin and intestines. Before you begin, test kidney function, learn total relaxation, and consult experienced fasters; after two or three weeks you emerge renewed, not from lack of food but from the release of toxins into the bloodstream.
True practice is not theory but living the teachings:
- In love—ask “Darling, do I understand you enough?”—and speak to your beloved with deep listening and compassionate inquiry.
- As students and teachers—heal yourself first so you can authentically help others; a good teacher awakens the inner teacher in you, leading to freedom and respect rather than attachment.
- In retreat—our “fieldwork” is here: each mindful step or caring smile relieves fellow practitioners’ suffering, creating collective healing.
The Buddha’s teaching has three seals—impermanence, non-self (interbeing) and nirvana—that transform suffering into wisdom when they become living insights. Impermanence is not mere fact but a key to deep concentration: in each in-breath/out-breath we touch the ceaseless flow of birth and death. Non-self (emptiness) reveals that nothing exists alone—“this is because that is”—and hugging meditation (three mindful breaths, bow-hug-bow) anchors us in the precious present. Touching impermanence deeply, we touch interbeing; touching interbeing, we touch nirvana—freedom beyond birth, death, and all dualities.