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Practice Has Its Fruit
About two years ago, a gift package containing tea and candles sent from the Village showed the strong absorbent power of tea: the fragrance from the candles had deeply permeated, causing the tea to completely lose its original flavor. This is a vivid example of conditioning (Sanskrit: vasana), which means “to be imbued with”: just a few weeks together, and the tea had “become” candles. Similarly, being close to good friends is like walking in the mist: even if your clothes do not seem wet, they are gently moistened; our living environment determines our happiness and virtue, helping people naturally become good without effort. This is illustrated by the Vietnamese proverb, “In a round gourd, one becomes round; in a long tube, one becomes long,” and the story of the poor mother who moved Mencius from a rough neighborhood to one with a school and polite children—after just a few months, the child became clean and well-behaved.
Within each of us are two kinds of seeds: seeds of happiness, wisdom, love, and calm, and seeds of restlessness, greed, and impulsiveness; our environment is where these seeds are watered. To nourish the wholesome seeds, the Sangha—the community of practice—is the “forest and mountain” we cannot leave behind. Practicing Hugging Meditation with four breaths helps us deeply touch the present moment and the nature of impermanence:
- First breath: breathing in, aware that your loved one is alive in your arms; breathing out, feeling happiness.
- Second breath: breathing in, imagining your loved one has died; breathing out, realizing you are still alive.
- Third breath: breathing in, seeing your loved one alive but yourself already dead; breathing out, feeling you are a corpse being embraced.
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Fourth breath: like the first, but more deeply; breathing in, knowing your loved one is alive; breathing out, cherishing the present moment.
Hugging Meditation dissolves anger and resentment, reconnects the bridge of love, and is the path of returning to mindfulness and love in every moment.