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Four Aspects of Practice
Every time we hear the bell—temple bell, church bell, or clock bell—we stop thinking, stop talking, listen deeply, and breathe in and out peacefully three times. This basic Plum Village practice generates a powerful collective energy of peace that nourishes body and mind. “To make peace, you have to be peace,” beginning with going home to yourself: stop thinking, stop talking, and breathe mindfully to calm your body.
From conception you were a “tiny seed” in your mother’s womb—loved, nourished, and carried with care. That original love is the foundation of life, and when it’s covered by suffering it can be restored through the Buddha’s teaching. Today’s ceremony of gratitude to father and mother invites each of us to say: “I’m very glad that you are alive with us. Thank you for being there.”
Right Diligence, one element of the Noble Eightfold Path, works with the two layers of mind consciousness and store consciousness, where bīja (seeds) of anger, love, peace, and hate reside. Fifty-one categories of seeds give birth to fifty-one mental formations. To cultivate the wholesome and tame the unwholesome, practice diligence in four aspects:
- Learn the art of not watering unwholesome seeds (jealousy, anger) in yourself or your partner by making a mutual commitment and reminding each other.
- When a negative seed has manifested, help it go home by embracing it mindfully and inviting a wholesome seed—mindfulness, understanding—to replace it.
- Give wholesome seeds a chance to manifest through “Flower Watering,” selectively recognizing and praising each other’s positive values so they can bloom immediately.
- Once a wholesome mental formation arises, keep it present as long as possible so it can grow at the base of consciousness, fortifying peace, joy, and compassion.
