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Teacher and Sister's Image of Sister Chan Duc
In 1946, during the French war, a young, pale French soldier demanded rice from the temple. Looking deeply reveals that this soldier, like the novices killed, was a victim of war. There is no hatred, only the possibility of reconciliation. War is destructive, and looking deeply offers better ways to solve conflicts than violence. Each cell of the body contains the totality of the body and all ancestors, a truth reflected in the technique of cloning where the one contains the all. When breathing or walking mindfully, all ancestors breathe and walk at the same time. The physical body is impermanent, but the Dharma body remains.
Mindfulness helps to touch the beauty within and around, making the practitioner more beautiful. When sitting or walking in beauty, loneliness vanishes and the environment becomes a Sangha. A story is shared of a woman plagued by fear and insomnia who found safety through the image of a child, Bao Tich, practicing belly breathing with support. The practice of touching joy is crucial; without joy, gratitude and concentration are impossible. Children can be helped to touch the wonders of the present moment, such as the birds, the moon, and the sky, and simple acts like answering the telephone can become bells of mindfulness.
The five-year-old child is still alive within, holding vulnerability and fragility. Life is like a diagram of Yin and Yang; in the side of happiness, there is a seed of suffering, and in suffering, a seed of happiness. Mindfulness, concentration, and insight allow for the purification of the past by seeing these seeds. The practice involves breathing in and smiling with compassion to the five-year-old child within. This extends to seeing one’s father and mother as five-year-old children, acknowledging their fragility and suffering. Liberating oneself involves liberating parents simultaneously, as the practitioner is their continuation.
