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To Be a Flower
Offering guidance on three fundamental practices—breathing, walking, and eating—as a refuge and doorway to the present moment.
Through mindful breathing—śamatha (calming, stopping) and vipaśyanā (insight, looking deeply)—we return to the safest, most awake state of being and “meet the Buddha within.” Four image-based breathing exercises cultivate this refuge:
- 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 see myself as still water. Breathing out, I reflect things as they are.”
- Space Free: “Breathing in, I see myself as space. Breathing out, I feel free.”
Walking meditation teaches that “to walk is to arrive.” With each in-breath we make a step; with each out-breath we make the next, touching the earth like kissing the floor and dwelling fully in the here and now. When practiced together in the Sangha, each mindful walker becomes a bell calling everyone back to peace.
Eating becomes a practice of touching sky and earth through the Five Contemplations read before each meal:
- This food is the gift of the whole universe: earth, sky, and much hard work.
- May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it.
- May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially our greed.
- May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness.
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We accept this food to realize our path of practice, understanding, love, and protection of all life.
Then, taking a single piece—like a string bean—we hold it in the hand, recognize it fully, and chew it at least fifty times, touching its sunshine, rain, mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds in every bite.