Showing posts with label Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Show all posts
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness / Satipaṭṭhāna

 

    Yin Ling

    Ytestehgardmaym7 altup 8:on2i9a Aoe0M 
    When I first start to learn meditation, with the goal of awakening, my teacher gave me only 2 books to read
    1) satipathanna by bikkhu analayo
    2) seeing that frees by Rob Burbea.
    .
    I re look at satipathanna Sutta again today.
    the Buddha says.
    “In this way he remains focused internally on the body in and of itself . . . This is how a monk remains focused on the body in and of itself.”
    “ In and of itself. “
    Wow. The secret is already there in the sutta. Some translations are not that clear..
    .
    The Buddha meant -
    One should practise knowing the body from the perspective of “the body knowing the body”,
    Not from “you” knowing the body.
    And the whole sutta is worded like that.
    In short——- > The body knows
    The sound knows
    The sight sees
    The touch knows
    This is made clear in master thich nhat hant translation and commentary , others not so much, they overlook this part a lot.
    Everyone serious about awakening should take a look at thich nhat hant’s commentary.
    .
    .
    .
    The satipathanna sutta is pretty much the enlightened state of the Buddha.
    There is no mention of a self.
    It is irrelevant.
    Just these aggregates knowing itself in itself by itself.
    Freely.
    .
    .
    .
    And at the end of the sutta
    A bold promise is made-
    With this practise one could get enlightenment as fast as 7 days.
    Just like the bold statement Mahasi Sayadaw made in his treatise.
    Don’t read all the 1000 plus sutra.
    Read and fully practise this one and you will have the realisation of the Buddha.
    If you need one whole life to actualise this sutta, do it. Don’t divert . It is enlightenment.
    Actualise it.
    Buddha didn’t teach anything for you to memorise and debate.
    He wanted to wake you up.
    It was a manual and instruction.
    Homage to the Blessed one.
    Who taught so clearly and so directly.
    Homage to master Thich nhat hant,
    Who fully present to us the Buddha’s intent
    ❤️

    9 Comments


    Jachym Jerie
    Are you recommending the Analayo version or the one by tnh? If the latter what's the title?


    Yin Ling
    Jachym Jerie analayo one is very dry, it’s a scholars perspective, less experential, it was tough reading.
    Thich nhat hant one is the best , he always teaches experentially, even though he is such an eminent scholar , he is also a great practitioner.
    If you are a practitioner you would want to read thict NH
    I have thich nhat hant awakening of the heart which he comments on a few landmark sutra and satipatthana is one of them,
    Not sure if he has a specific one for this sutta.
    I am so grateful for master thich nhat hant 🙂


    • Lee Shi Han
    Can you awaken without reading anything?


    Yin Ling
    Good Q hahah. Depends also on level of awakening.
    There are cases of ppl like eckhart tolle and Byron Katie who seems to wake up suddenly due to intense depression
    But their accoutn of awakening is not the enlightenment taught by the Buddha. It is midway perhaps
    For me imo it is v hard. I haven’t hear of anyone who come to the truth without gruelling work bec the truth is too radical and the conditioning too deep.
    Then again i also cannot say a blanket impossible it is just super rare


    • Sam Roff
    Have you read Joseph Goldstein's 'Mindfulness: a practical guide to Awakening' Yin? I believe A recommends it. Found it to be a wonderful commentary on the Sattipathanna. Although I might revisit it because I read it in a phase of very much intellectualising. Or Thich Nhat Hahns book.
    Is this the one you're talking about btw? https://www.amazon.com/Transformation.../dp/1888375620
    Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness
    AMAZON.COM
    Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness
    Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness


    Yin Ling
    I had the “awakening of the heart”, this looks good as well will download . All TNH BOOKS are good hehe.
    Yup A made me study Joseph Goldstein book mainly the awakening factors part, I forgot about satipathanna inside haha I will revise thanks for that reminder 🙂 🙂


    • Sam Roff
    You're very welcome!


    • Ng Xin Zhao
    Read this last year. Now it made sense and gels with what you kept on saying, don't have subject and object.
    SUTTACENTRAL.NET
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    Yin Ling
    Ng Xin Zhao yeah I think the Buddha is talking about the split of subject object here.
    There’s no split just dependent arising. Each sensation just dependently arise from many conditions being eye consciousness, eye, object, light, sun, karma etc etc
    The 12 ayatanas and 18 dhatus teaching talked about this - many conditions brought to arising of one “thing/ sensation” and hence becusse it dependent arise like that the “thing” does not even exist out there.
    Super radical once understsnd 😂
    It is a shocking teaching from the Buddha and I’m not sure if ppl gets what he is getting at.

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A story about Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and Anatta
When I was at the I AM phase (between February 2010 and August 2010) prior to nondual (August~beginning October) and anatta (mid October 2010) where was a period I started experiencing more the impersonality and non-doership aspects of no-self, although Awareness was still experienced as if like an unchanging backdrop to everything or an infinite formless container for everything to happen in. But John Tan told me that is not at all what he meant by anatta realization, and also told me to look into Thich Nhat Hanh's writings about that and this set me in the correct direction. It is easy to get glimpses of different faces or aspects of no-self but not come to the definitive anatta realization, which Thich Nhat Hanh has been clear in elucidating (also the aspect of Maha total exertion is emphasized very much in his teachings, along with the non-dual luminosity through mindfulness practice), much more clearly than many other teachers.

Here is John Tan's post to me back then:

“Not to talk too much about me, just focus on your experience. Also what you said about the no observer can be quite misleading. It does not mean there is 'no one doing anything' and 'everything is arising spontaneously'. You should understand anatta from below quotations taken from 'The Sun My Heart' by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh:

"When we say I know the wind is blowing, we don't think that there is something blowing something else. "Wind' goes with 'blowing'. If there is no blowing, there is no wind. It is the same with knowing. Mind is the knower; the knower is mind. We are talking about knowing in relation to the wind. 'To know' is to know something. Knowing is inseparable from the wind. Wind and knowing are one. We can say, 'Wind,' and that is enough. The presence of wind indicates the presence of knowing, and the presence of the action of blowing'." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

"..The most universal verb is the verb 'to be'': I am, you are, the mountain is, a river is. The verb 'to be' does not express the dynamic living state of the universe. To express that we must say 'become.' These two verbs can also be used as nouns: 'being", "becoming". But being what? Becoming what? 'Becoming' means 'evolving ceaselessly', and is as universal as the verb "to be." It is not possible to express the "being" of a phenomenon and its "becoming" as if the two were independent. In the case of wind, blowing is the being and the becoming...." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

"In any phenomena, whether psychological, physiological, or physical, there is dynamic movement, life. We can say that this movement, this life, is the universal manifestation, the most commonly recognized action of knowing. We must not regard 'knowing' as something from the outside which comes to breathe life into the universe. It is the life of the universe itself. The dance and the dancer are one." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, The Sun My Heart

Comments by John Tan in 2009 on these paragraphs from “The Sun My Heart” (see excerpts in Sun of Awareness and River of Perceptions http://www.awakeningtoreality.com/.../sun-of-awareness... ),
"...as a verb, as action, there can be no concept, only experience. Non-dual anatta (no-self) is the experience of subject/Object as verb, as action. There is no mind, only mental activities... ...Source as the passing phenomena... and how non-dual appearance is understood from Dependent Origination perspective."

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh:

"When we say it's raining, we mean that raining is taking place. You don't need someone up above to perform the raining. It's not that there is the rain, and there is the one who causes the rain to fall. In fact, when you say the rain is falling, it's very funny, because if it weren't falling, it wouldn't be rain. In our way of speaking, we're used to having a subject and a verb. That's why we need the word "it" when we say, "it rains." "It" is the subject, the one who makes the rain possible. But, looking deeply, we don't need a "rainer," we just need the rain. Raining and the rain are the same. The formations of birds and the birds are the same -- there's no "self," no boss involved.

There's a mental formation called vitarka, "initial thought." When we use the verb "to think" in English, we need a subject of the verb: I think, you think, he thinks. But, really, you don't need a subject for a thought to be produced. Thinking without a thinker -- it's absolutely possible. To think is to think about something. To perceive is to perceive something. The perceiver and the perceived object that is perceived are one.

When Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am," his point was that if I think, there must be an "I" for thinking to be possible. When he made the declaration "I think," he believed that he could demonstrate that the "I" exists. We have the strong habit or believing in a self. But, observing very deeply, we can see that a thought does not need a thinker to be possible. There is no thinker behind the thinking -- there is just the thinking; that's enough.

Now, if Mr. Descartes were here, we might ask him, "Monsieur Descartes, you say, 'You think, therefore you are.' But what are you? You are your thinking. Thinking -- that's enough. Thinking manifests without the need of a self behind it."

Thinking without a thinker. Feeling without a feeler. What is our anger without our 'self'? This is the object of our meditation. All the fifty-one mental formations take place and manifest without a self behind them arranging for this to appear, and then for that to appear. Our mind consciousness is in the habit of basing itself on the idea of self, on manas. But we can meditate to be more aware of our store consciousness, where we keep the seeds of all those mental formations that are not currently manifesting in our mind.

When we meditate, we practice looking deeply in order to bring light and clarity into our way of seeing things. When the vision of no-self is obtained, our delusion is removed. This is what we call transformation. In the Buddhist tradition, transformation is possible with deep understanding. The moment the vision of no-self is there, manas, the elusive notion of 'I am,' disintegrates, and we find ourselves enjoying, in this very moment, freedom and happiness."


    Soh Wei Yu
    Also another important aspect of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is not just an initial breakthrough in realization, but simply his depth of actualization. It is simply inspiring just to see him walk. Just the way he walks demonstrates his depth of understanding and actualization. So his whole life is a demonstration of his actualization.

    Yesterday I was thinking what would Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh say to me if I met him today, in fact tried to intuitively sense his presence and see if I could receive some 'message' from/about him (I am not some psychic channeller though, don't get me wrong), and I intuited it must be about this point. The path of actualization has endless depths.

    Reminded me of what John Tan (I know he doesn't like me to quote him nowadays) told me years ago but it is very apt:

    ""People that have gone into the nihilistic understanding of 'non-doing' ended up in a mess. You see those having right understanding of 'non-doing' are free, yet you see discipline, focus and peace in them.
    Like just sitting and walking... ...in whatever they endeavor. Fully anatta."

    ....

    In my opinion many of our great aspirations and high views turn empty talks easily. After the direct insight of anatta, it opens the gate that allows one to experience effortlessly all sensations that arise without duality, without fear, without doership and without ownership. Many are unable to see the "Whys" and "Hows" of "directness" so don't waste your insights that have given the opportunity in this life. Train yourself to do that with sincerity and dedication first. Then you will be fully in touch with your original purity; you will be genuinely in touch with peace and openness.

    …

    "If we want to experience fully and have genuine peace, be very sincere in sensing all your sensations for pretense, blames, rejections and contractions... ...don't rush... slow down your thoughts and scan all your sensations for these... see all these traces... see all these come from the "I"s and "mine"s... develop a strong willingness to let go with your insights of anatta. If you can for a brief moment be free from the conceit of I, the craving of mine and the background of I AM, that moment you are respectable even to the gods.
    I do not want you to get into too high views and lose touch with genuine and simple practice."
    ....
    We need to have time to practice and be focused otherwise very soon we will realize we have wasted this life."
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      • Sim Pern Chong
      Yesterday, i was talking to my younger brother about Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh's passing away. My Bro had an experience with him when he was in SG. As a energy sensitive person (qigong practitioner), he actually sensed Zen Master's peace inducing field before actually seeing him. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh presence is perceptible.
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Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh has Passed Away at 95 Years Old

 

Friends
Lost a great master. I recommend everyone to read his book “Peace is Every Step” and “The Sun My Heart”
 
 
Friends

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle
which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves,
the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes.
All is a miracle.
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
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Tangerine

 


Friends

“Each time you look at a tangerine, you can see deeply into it. You can see everything in the universe in one tangerine. When you peel it and smell it, it’s wonderful. You can take your time eating a tangerine and be very happy.”

― Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life

"To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour”

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