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Basic Buddhist Teachings 11 - Right Mindfulness (Part 2)
Mindfulness is the energy of recognizing “body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind” without judging or condemning; anger is looked at like “a fresh flower” or “a wilted flower,” simply smiling at it, “like a mother lovingly embracing her child.” Breathing in, we know our body is standing here; breathing out, we know our body is still here: coming home by “sweeping the body” from the silver hair down to the heart, the lungs, “smiling to what is present,” making “peace with our body.”
- body
- feelings
- mind
- objects of mind
In every action—“walking, standing, lying down, sitting”—ask yourself: “What am I doing right now?… Why am I doing this?” Washing the dishes in mindfulness becomes “bathing a newborn Buddha.” The three key sutras are called “treasures, the three legs of the tripod”: the Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta), the Discourse on Mindful Breathing (Ānāpāna), the Discourse on Knowing How to Live Alone (Bhaddekaratta Sutta). “Dwelling happily in the present moment — Ditthadhamma Sukha Vihari” teaches us to find peace right now, not to sacrifice the present for the future.
The mantra for practice: “I have arrived, I am home, in the here and in the now”; with each step, breathing in “I have arrived,” breathing out “I am home,” “solid as a mountain, free as a white cloud.” Solidity and freedom are the two characteristics of nirvana, “healing all suffering,” bringing us to “dwell in mindfulness, in full presence.”
Basic Buddhist Teachings 12 - Mindfulness and the Five Precepts