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The Journey of Self-Understanding and Self-Compassion Through Practice
In 1995, the Plum Village delegation traveled to Asia to offer the Dharma in Taiwan, where there are many young children ordained as baby monks and baby nuns. The number of nuns was two to three times greater than the number of monks, because when they reached the age of military service, many young monks left the monastery to seek freedom, but after fulfilling their duty, some left the temple while others returned to monastic life according to their conditions. This experience reminds us of the relationship between discipline and freedom: in daily life, it is easy to fall into suffering, but contemplating the discipline of the monastery is a path of peace.
The story “La Chèvre de Monsieur Seguin” by Alphonse Daudet is a metaphor for the aspiration for freedom and the consequences of forgetting to cherish the present moment:
- Six grown goats left the farm for the mountain and were all eaten by the wolf.
- Blanquette, the little goat carefully raised by Monsieur Seguin, also dreamed of going to the mountain and fought the wolf until she calmly accepted her fate.
- The lesson is that the seed of freedom in us yearns to live authentically, but if there are no precepts and mindfulness trainings as a foundation, we are easily “eaten by life.”
Precepts and mindfulness trainings are not chains, but means to protect body and mind; gentle discipline helps monks and nuns to recognize themselves and to dwell in peace. The first three years of monastic life are very important; if there is happiness during this period, the whole monastic life will be filled with peace. Furthermore, understanding and loving oneself is the foundation for understanding and loving others, practiced through Dharma sharing, shining light, and sitting meditation – the journey of returning to “home, sweet home” of the five skandhas, body and mind.
