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Talk to Antioch University Students on Preactice of Peace at Vietnamese Temple, Bodhgaya
The practice of peace begins with the practitioner, dissolving the distinction between inside and outside. Meditation is the practice of mindfulness, living with awareness to unite body and mind. The Sutra on the Awareness of Breathing offers sixteen ways of breathing to realize peace. Conscious breathing recuperates the person, bringing body and mind into perfect oneness. When the bell sounds, it is an invitation to stop thinking and return to the true self, listening to the sound as the voice of the Buddha. Thinking can be an obstacle to encountering reality; true encounter requires stopping the thinking to see the marvelous reality of the present.
Five specific breathing exercises are detailed to cultivate this awareness:
- In, Out: Recognizing the in-breath as in-breath and out-breath as out-breath to stop thinking and enter direct contact with life.
- Deep, Slow: Breathing deeply to nourish every cell and slowing down to enjoy the breath, creating harmony in body and mind.
- Calm, Ease: Calming the functions of the body and feeling light and at ease.
- Smile, Release: Smiling to release tension in the facial muscles and letting go of pain and discomfort.
- Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Used during walking meditation to establish oneself in the here and now, the only moment where life and enlightenment are found.
Mindfulness extends to daily activities like eating, where one sees the sunshine, clouds, and soil within a piece of bread. Addressing the suffering of begging children requires transforming personal pain into intelligent compassion, rather than simply giving money which may perpetuate a cycle of begging. Peace involves harmony and non-duality; good and evil are of the same reality. Just as a flower is made of non-flower elements like garbage, enlightenment is made of non-enlightenment elements. Anger should not be rejected or vented through pillow pounding, but embraced with mindfulness, allowing understanding to penetrate its roots like sunshine opening a lotus. Finally, Telephone Meditation utilizes the telephone ring as a bell of mindfulness to breathe and smile before answering, ensuring words are as beautiful as gems.