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Loving Discipline and Mindful Breathing
Discipline is necessary everywhere: at home with children, in the street for drivers, at school, within the police and the army. For it to bring peace and not violence, parents (or police officers, soldiers, teachers, politicians) must cultivate inner peace before seeking to establish it outside. Spanking may, from time to time, help a child accept training in discipline, provided that it:
- Is given in calmness, clarity, with love and compassion, never in anger.
- Results from negotiation: the child and the parents sign a “contract” specifying rules and consequences.
- Is preceded or followed by loving words, attention, and recognition when the child obeys, for the true presence of parents is the most beautiful gift to prevent alienation and suffering.
To transform anger and anxiety into peace, the Buddha offers the practice of mindful breathing, the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path:
- Recognize each in-breath as an in-breath and each out-breath as an out-breath.
- Continue this mindfulness throughout the entire duration of the in-breath and the out-breath.
- Rely on the breath to return to the body: “Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body; breathing out, I smile to my body.”
- Calm and relax the body with each in-breath and smile to its relaxation with each out-breath.
By practicing mindful walking and breathing in this way, we free ourselves from regrets about the past and fears of the future, we generate joy and healing, we become “peace” before we can “make peace”—in the family, between peoples, or within institutions.
