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Watering Seeds of Joy, Love and Understanding
In life, each person has their own Giang Kieu; it could be a spouse, a son, a daughter, a father, or a mother. Because we do not have the capacity to listen to their suffering and blockages, always blaming, harshly criticizing, and not knowing how to use loving speech, we make our Giang Kieu suffer and make ourselves suffer. The practice is to restore communication, opening the spring of love and understanding by sitting down to look deeply into the first two truths of the Four Noble Truths:
- The Truth of Suffering
- The Truth of the Origin of Suffering
According to Buddhist psychology, consciousness has two parts:
- Store consciousness
- Mind consciousness
In consciousness, there are both positive and negative seeds (seeds); when they manifest in mind consciousness, they are called mental formations or manifestations. To transform difficulties and restore communication, the World Honored One offered methods of practice, among which are two methods:
- Watering Seeds of Joy (selective watering): Practicing right speech (right speech), speaking words that have the effect of Watering Seeds of Joy in ourselves and others, while simultaneously applying the Fourth and Fifth Mindfulness Trainings.
- Listening with a compassionate heart (deep listening or compassionate listening, compassionate listening): Using the eyes of compassion to listen in order to help the other person release their pain and suffering, then step by step using loving speech to help correct wrong perceptions (delusions) and restore happiness.