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Yunmen Retreat Dharma Talk for Monks
When afflictions such as anger, fear, or despair arise, they should not be suppressed or avoided, but accepted, cared for, and looked into deeply. This is the practice of the seventh exercise of breathing, where the energy of mindfulness and concentration embraces suffering tenderly, like a mother holding a crying baby. To be liberated from suffering, its source of nutrition must be identified and cut off. This is the practice of the eleventh exercise, concentrating on suffering to find its source of nutriment, and the twelfth exercise, the emancipation of the mental formation by cutting off that source. This practice represents the third and fourth noble truths: the cessation of suffering and the path leading to it.
Nothing can survive without food, including afflictions. Three of the four kinds of nutriment are detailed:
- Edible food, which is consumed through the mouth. Eating unmindfully, destroying the body, or consuming meat and alcohol is compared to eating the flesh of one’s own children or parents, and contributes to global suffering, resource depletion, and environmental destruction.
- Senses impression, which is consumed through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Consuming toxic media, conversations, or thoughts waters negative seeds of violence and anger, while mindful consumption protects the six sense organs, preventing us from becoming like a cow without skin attacked by insects.
- Volition, which is the deepest desire within ourselves. A healthy desire, or bodhicitta, is the mind of deep love and highest understanding that motivates spiritual practice and brings happiness. Unhealthy desires for wealth, power, fame, and sex act like strong men dragging us into a pit of burning charcoal.
Cultivating bodhicitta in daily life requires offering compassion and understanding to ourselves and others through sitting meditation, which helps us understand our own body, feelings, and perceptions. A daily practice is to vow to make one person happy in the morning and help one person suffer less in the afternoon. When confronting global violence and terrorism, the response must not be retaliation, but listening deeply to understand the suffering, misunderstanding, and hatred behind the acts, and responding with compassion and forgiveness.
