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Chewing Bread, Breathing Freedom: Five Gathas to Transform the Five Aggregates
Chew each bite of bread mindfully—fifty, seventy, even ninety times—tasting only the bread, not your worries or anger. Eating slowly in silence brings you in touch with sky and earth, and with the Sangha. Breathing is our basic refuge: by returning to “breathing in, breathing out” you come home to the Buddha within. Our person is made of five elements, each like a flowing river:
- form
- feelings (three kinds: pleasant, unpleasant, neutral)
- perceptions (from six sense-doors: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, consciousness)
- mental formations (fifty-one states of mind)
-
consciousness (the storehouse of seeds—anger, joy, fear, mindfulness…).
When seeds of suffering are watered, we suffer; mindfulness (chánh niệm) is the protective seed we must plant and nurture.
Thay offers five elementary gathas to cultivate mindfulness of breathing and transform our suffering into peace, joy and freedom:
-
Mindfulness of Breathing
• “Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.” -
Flower-Fresh
• “Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh.” -
Mountain-Solid
• “Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain. Breathing out, I feel solid.” -
Water-Reflecting
• “Breathing in, I calm the activities of my mind. Breathing out, I reflect things as they are.” -
Space-Free
• “Breathing in, I see myself as space. Breathing out, I feel free.”
Each exercise can be done sitting or walking—one breath, one step (or three)—or woven into daily life to calm anger, strengthen stability, restore freshness, reflect reality and open spacious freedom.
Part of the following collection
Cultivating the Energy of Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight