Do you know if you are going through a depression? Do you experience feelings of blankness or a vacuum inside, or feel a lack of meaning in your life? Are you not able to enjoy the simple things that you used to enjoy? Do you practice meditation to deal with your sorrow and blockages but it still doesn’t work? In this talk Sr Thuần Khánh shared about how she practised to overcome difficulties associated with depression in her life. In particular she talked about the Three qualities of Plum Village practice that one can apply in daily life, and which can help to progress our practice quickly. (27:00)
1. Uninterrupted, continuous, steady practice. You can choose a simple practice to focus on. This will help to create interest and joy in our daily life.
2. Present moment. By being aware of the suffering in the past we can get in touch with the joy of the present moment where this suffering no longer is.
3. Dwelling happily is to recognize the conditions of happiness in our daily life. We can get in touch with nature to nourish our joy and happiness. Joy in our practice is very important as it helps to keep our aspiration alive, and makes our life in family and in community easier.
Sr Thuần Khánh also used the analogy of a tree to talk about communication. When we have good communication with ourselves then our communication with others will be much easier. (56:00) The practice of stopping to reconnect with our body and breath, to be fully in the present is like the root of the tree that can facilitate communication with our family and community. When we can practice within a community the collective energy of the sangha can gradually help to transform our difficulty as like when the branches and leaves nourish the tree.
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