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Public Talk
Each of us harbors three aspirations in our search for happiness: health (both physical and mental), success (in our career), and human relationships (communication – understanding – mutual acceptance). To maintain health, the Buddha taught the 16 mindful breathing exercises in the Anapanasati Sutra, of which the first four practices help:
- Following the in-breath and out-breath, with only one object, to prevent stress and depression.
- Being aware of the length of the breath, whether long or short, staying with the breath, increasing mindfulness and concentration.
- Recognizing the whole body as you breathe in, smiling to the body as you breathe out, learning how to “embrace” and take care of the body as a friend.
- Completely relaxing the muscles, allowing the body to heal and restore itself.
In the second part, regarding success, money, fame, power, or sensual pleasure are not necessarily true happiness and can easily turn us into “victims of success.” Only the practice of meditation to transform suffering can ensure that success does not give rise to suffering. In the third part, concerning human relationships, the practice of Loving Speech and Deep Listening with mindfulness helps to melt the ice of brokenness in families, between spouses, and between parents and children. Finally, to make life more meaningful, we need to find our own “identity”—reading the novel Kinfolk by Pearl Buck as a mirror to see who we are and which path we are walking.
