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Noble Silence, Sitting Still

Thich Nhat Hanh · January 19, 1997 · Plum Village, France
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Four conditions for mindfulness to arise and be nourished

  1. seed condition (nhân duyên): the potential, the habit energy of mindfulness is already present in us but has not manifested until it meets the right conditions;
  2. object condition (sở duyên): the object of mindfulness, for example, anger, love, the breath;
  3. supportive condition (tăng thượng duyên): favorable or unfavorable conditions that help mindfulness to develop (rain and sunshine for the rice seed; health or sickness for the practitioner);
  4. non-discontinuation condition (thứ đệ duyên): maintaining the continuous stream of mindfulness, without interruption, so that mindfulness of breathing becomes an unbroken stream of mindfulness.

The method of bare recognition in the Anapanasati Sutra

  • breathing in, I know I am breathing in – breathing out, I know I am breathing out
  • wait for a few breaths so that the breath naturally becomes deeper, slower
  • when the breath has quality, use the energy of mindfulness to calm the body formation (embracing the shoulders, eyes, facial muscles…) and calm the mental formation (embracing anger, worry, sadness) with an attitude of neither suppression nor chasing away

Practicing noble silence to transform the habit energies of outbursts

  • during a predetermined period, do not speak, but write down the sentences you wish to say, with the date and time clearly
  • afterwards, read them again and contemplate to see the harm of hasty words
  • two sentences are allowed to be spoken during three months:
    • Sister, is there anything you can do to help me?
    • Sister, when you do that, do you think it is alright for me?
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Previous Talk January 16, 1997
1h 58m

Mindful Breathing

Next Talk January 22, 1997
2h 1m

The Tathagata is Coming