The Wisdom Of Equality

"The Wisdom of Equality comes from the seventh consciousness, manas. Manas is the number one discriminator. It says, "This is me. This is mine. This is not mine." That is manas's speciality. We have to keep this consciousness, so that it can become the Wisdom of Equality...

Wonderful Observation Wisdom transforms manas into the Wisdom of Equality. We are one. We are equal."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

Just 100 people in India own about 10% of India's national wealth. Think about it. That's a lot of money in the hands of very few people. Flipkart paid its Chief People Officer, Mekin Maheshwari, Rs.187 million in the year 2014-15. That's about 100 times the salary of India's Prime Minister and 1000 times the salary of a delivery agent.

Just how much money is enough? I don't think many people think about it. They only compare. Seeking career growth and financial rewards has become a deep rooted habit.

Let us consider the example of a department in a fictitious company, Look Good Corporation. This department answers customer queries received via email. They spend 50% of their wage budget on the people who actually respond to those emails and 50% on supervisory staff like Quality Analysts, Knowledge Management Analysts, Trainers, Team Leads and Managers. It may be possible to write 35 emails in a day but to make financial sense they would need to write 70. The additional 35 to pay the wages of the supervisory staff. Naturally, this leads to unhappy employees as well as customers (as the quality of responses are of poor standard).

If they decided to eliminate hierarchy and implement pay equity, they could double their staff strength and each one would only need to write 35 emails in a day.

The hierarchical system is a manifestation of manas's habit of discriminating. Since we discriminate, one can be superior to others and earn more than others. To earn more money and for recognition and power, we are willing to push others into a life of economic difficulties and make them participants in unethical workplace practices.

If we let go of our desire for such kind of growth, we can transform our workplace into a monastery.

Monks don't possess personal wealth. They all have similar rooms. The teacher is also a monk and does not earn more money than other monks. They wake up at the same time, eat at the same time, study together and meditate without fail. They are disciplined and well organised. Decisions are made collectively. The attrition rate is lower than that at corporations like Flipkart.

We can only continue doing something for a long time if we are happy doing it. Unfortunately, in a hierarchy, the system can be rigged, causing dissatisfaction. Incompetence is rewarded more often.

At Look Good Corporation, they announce opportunities through Internal Job Postings. People apply for these if they want to be promoted. People who apply for the IJPs are looking for more money and better career opportunities for themselves. How can such selfish people make good leaders?

Almost everyone at Look Good Corporation applies for IJPs. If all of them can work by themselves, supervisory roles should have become redundant. If they can't work without supervisors themselves, what makes them think they can supervise others?

Supervisory staff rig the system to prove that they are still needed. If supervisors could really make staff better, staff would work without supervision and supervisors would not be needed. In fact, they do just the opposite. By breaking down a process into parts, constituting separate teams and introducing access restrictions, they hide information from others to create an appearance of possessing more knowledge. They require staff to seek approvals from them. They use their ability to distribute and evaluate work to hide reality and present a completely different picture. Ah! The machinations of manas.

Naturally, in such an environment, no one can be happy. If you make others unhappy, they won't just sit back and watch. There's stress and moral corruption. Politics and disruptions.

If we let go our desire for this kind of growth, it is possible to be happy. We don't need to become the CEO of Look Good Corporation. The 100 richest Indians should not be our role models. We should look up to the Bodhisattvas and follow their footsteps.

Each one of us has come into contact with Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas are beings who selflessly help others. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, teachers etc. have frequently manifested Bodhisattva qualities, loving us without seeking money, worldly goods, recognition, incentives or designations in return. We must stop seeking material pleasures. They become necessities, then they enslave us. Then we lose our ability to stand up for what is right.

We must look deeply to see how discrimination manifests suffering and allow the Wisdom Of Equality to arise. Shantideva wrote this verse to strengthen his and our commitment to the Bodhisattva path:

"May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road,
And for those who wish to cross over to the other shore,
May I be the boat, the raft, the bridge."

(The author, Saurabh Singh, is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

A Song For Thich Nhat Hanh (from The Huffington Post)

FOR MY beloved teacher, Thích Nhất Hạnh, who is battling from a massive brain hemorrhage, I bow deeply in gratitude and profound love. Please recover and lead us again to the heart of compassion and light.

Thay was the first few spiritual teacher who came to us after 9/11 during our time of great despair and sorrow and he told me that like two palms of a single person, one should not strike the other hand out of anger even as that hand had hurt us. And then he lead us in a meditation of songs, breathing in and breathing out... Now, my beloved teacher, it is our term to come to you in your time of danger, fighting for your life. Please breathe and let the light of love enter your heart, your brain and dispelling all shadows from your body. You who has carried so much sadness and burden of humanity's atrocity, please take care yourself and come back. We still sorely need you. And I know what you would have done, using even this to teach us about non-attachment. But even the Buddha's half-brother, Ananda had beseech the Buddha to stay in the earth for a few more years. So, I apologize for my un-enlighten clingingness, for unlike you, my teacher, I am a mere mortal, a turtle in the mud.

Breathe
For my beloved teacher, Thay,

In an old bamboo grotto, I come upon an old friend standing still
and I pose him a question
and he whispers
Wait
Fish are sleeping in the dark spring
so I waited

it is a question about the moon
about my breath
my mouth my heart
my love the earth with its four seasons
my feet where I stand and the soft moss beneath
where my life will flow
It drains through my fingers
as though it were amber honey
into the stream
it runs under the trees
it surges against coral reefs far away
and is gone without me
then where I stand night falls
in the heaven a splash of brazen stars appears
I've forgotten what were the questions
then as he turns toward me
His eyes luminous reflecting the moon and he smiles
And whispers breathe
I understand that I am to stay and have a cup of tea

-- by Sat Hon

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sat-hon/a-song-and-prayer-for-my-_b_6154380.html

Sitting In The Autumn Breeze (2007)

Dear friends,

The Buddha taught: “Dear friends, we have to practice eating in such a way that we can retain compassion in our hearts. We have to eat in mindfulness. If not, we may be eating the flesh of our own children.”

UNESCO reported that each day about 40,000 children die because of hunger or lack of nutrition. Meanwhile, corn and wheat are largely grown to feed livestock (cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) or to produce alcohol. Over 80 percent of corn and over 95 percent of oats produced in the United States are for feeding livestock. The world’s cattle alone consume a quantity of food equivalent to the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the entire human population on earth.

Eating meat and drinking alcohol with mindfulness, we will realize that we are eating the flesh of our own children.

In 2005, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) began an in-depth assessment of the various significant impacts of the world’s livestock sector on the environment. Its report, titled Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options, was released on November 29th 2006. Henning Steinfeld, chief of FAO’s Livestock Information and Policy Branch and senior of the report, in the executive summary, asserts that:

“The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. The findings of this report suggest that it should be a major policy when dealing with problems of land degradation, climate change, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its potential contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency” (page XX).

Land degradation:
Presently, livestock production accounts for 70 percent of all agriculture land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. Forests are cleared to create new pastures, and it is a major driver of deforestation. For example, in Latin America some 70 percent of former forests in the

Amazon have been turned over to grazing (page XXI). From these figures, we can see that the livestock business has destroyed hundreds of millions acres of forest all over the world to grow crops and to create pastureland for farm animals. Moreover, when the forests are destroyed, enormous amounts of carbon dioxide stored in trees are released into the atmosphere.

Climate change:
The livestock sector has major impacts on the atmosphere and climate. It is responsible for “18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, which is a higher share than transport.” This means that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined. The livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. It also emits 37 percent of anthropogenic methane, most of that from enteric fermentation by ruminants. This is an enormous amount, because every pound of methane is twenty three times as effective as carbon dioxide is at trapping heat in our atmosphere (23 times the global warming potential [GWP] of carbon dioxide). The meat, egg, and dairy industries are also responsible for the emission of 65 percent of anthropogenic nitrous oxide, most of that from manure. Nitrous oxide is about 300 times more potent as a global warming gas than carbon dioxide (296 times the GWP of carbon dioxide). It is also responsible for about two-third (64 percent) of anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute largely to acid rain and accidification of ecosystem (page XXI).

Water scarcity and water pollution:
More than half of all the water consumed in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat. Meanwhile, it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of grain. Livestock in the United States produce an enormous amount of animal excrement, 130 times more than human excrement; each second the animals release 97,000 pounds of feces. “Most of the water used for livestock drinking and servicing returns to the environment in the form of manure and wastewater. Livestock excreta contain a considerable amount of nutrients [nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium], drug residues, heavy metals and pathogens” (page 136). These waste products enter streams and rivers, polluting water sources and causing disease outbreaks that affect all species.

Just as the Buddha cautioned us, we are eating the flesh of our children and grandchildren. We are eating the flesh of our mothers and our fathers. We are eating our own planet earth. The Son’s Flesh Sutra needs to be available for the whole human race to learn and practice.

The U.N.’s recommendation is clear: “The environment impact per unit of livestock production must be cut by half, just to avoid increasing the level of damage beyond its present level,” (page XX). We need to reduce at least 50 percent of the meat industry products, and that means we must consume 50 percent less meat. The U.N. also reports that even if cattle-rearing is reduced by 50 percent, we still need to use new technology to help the rest of cattle-rearing create less pollution, such as choosing animal diets that can reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions, etc.

Urgent action must be taken at the individual and collective levels. As a spiritual family and a human family, we can all help avert global warming with the practice of mindful eating. Going vegetarian may be the most effective way to fight global warming.

Buddhist practitioners have practiced vegetarianism over the last 2000 years. We are vegetarian with the intention to nourish our compassion towards the animals. Now we also know that we eat vegetarian in order to protect the earth, preventing global warming [climate change] from causing her serious and irreversible damage. In the near future, as global warming [climate change] increases, all species will suffer. Millions of people will die, and sea levels will rise and flood cities and land. Many life-threatening diseases will result, and all species will suffer the consequences.

Both monastic practitioners and lay people practice vegetarianism. Even though the number of lay practitioners who are 100 percent vegetarian is not as many as monastic practitioners, but they practice eating vegetarian meals either for 4 days or 10 days each month.

Thầy believes that it is not so difficult to stop eating meat, when we know that we are saving the planet by doing so.

Lay communities should be courageous and give rise to the commitment to be vegetarian, at least 15 days each month. If we can do that, we will feel a sense of well-being. We will have peace, joy, and happiness right from the moment we make this vow and commitment. During the retreats organized in the United States this year, many American Buddhist practitioners have made the commitment to stop eating meat or to eat 50 percent less meat. This is a result of their awakening, after they have listened to the Dharma talks on the greenhouse effect. Let us take care of our Mother Earth. Let us take care of all species, including our children and grandchildren.

We only need to be vegetarian, and we can already save the earth. Being vegetarian here also means that we do not consume dairy and egg products, because they are products of the meat industry. If we stop consuming, they will stop producing. Only collective awakening can create enough determination for action.

This December 2007, Deer Park will have 100 percent electrical power generated from solar energy for the monastery use. All of our monasteries, in the Plum Village tradition in Europe and North America, have also been practicing no car day once a week, and thousands of our friends are also practicing with us. We have begun to use less cars and to use electric cars and vege-cars (run on vegetable oil). These cars can help reduce 50 percent the amount of carbon dioxide released. Buying a Prius Toyota, which uses half gas and half electricity, we can prevent about 1 ton of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year.

However, according to the University of Chicago, “being a vegan is more effective in the fight against global warming; a vegan causes approximately 1.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year than a meat-eater does….You could spend more than $20,000 on a Prius and still emit 50 percent more carbon dioxide than you would if you just gave up eating meat and other animal products” (Fight Global Warming by Going Vegetarian). Do you see that, my dear spiritual family? Being vegetarian is already enough to save the world. Who amongst us has not experienced the delicious taste of vegetarian foods? Only when we are too used to eating meat we cannot see this truth.

This evening when we begin the retreat, everyone will be informed that we will not use dairy and egg products during the whole retreat. From now on, all of our retreats and, of course, all of our practice centers in Asia, Europe, and North America will be conducted like that. Thầy trusts that lay practitioners will understand and support wholeheartedly. Our present practice is to help everyone become aware of the danger of global warming, in order to help save Mother Earth and all species. We know that if there is no collective awakening, then the earth and all species will not have a chance to be saved. Our daily life has to show that we are awake.

On October 2nd 2007, at the University of San Diego, Thầy talked about the worry, fear, and despair in relationship to the danger of global warming. The number of people becoming ill due to worry, fear, and despair is increasing each day. They realize that if humans continue to live in ambition, hatred, and ignorance, then the earth and all species will not have an opportunity to escape from this danger. This realization and fear may overwhelm and paralyze many people, and there will be those of us who die from mental illness, before the danger of global warming take place fully. In the Dharma talk, Thầy offered the practice taught by the Buddha: to acknowledge and accept the truth and not run away from it.

The Buddha has taught us to practice looking directly into the seeds of fear in us, instead of trying to cover them up or running away from them. This is the practice of the five remembrances.

1) I will have to grow old.
2) I will have to get sick.
3) I will have to die.
4) One day I will have to lose the things I cherish today, and the people I love today.
5) When my body disintegrates, I cannot bring anything with me except my actions of body, speech and mind – they are the only inheritance that I can bring with me.

When we can practice accepting these truths in this way, we will have peace, and we will have the capacity to live healthy and compassionately – no longer causing suffering to ourselves and to others. When people with cancer or AIDS are first diagnosed and told that they only have 3 months or half a year to live, they often react with anger, denial, and despair in the beginning. They cannot accept it. However, once they can accept the truth, they begin to have peace. When they have peace, they will have the opportunity to practice living “deeply” every moment of their daily lives. As a result, they have the chance to live longer, even 15 years more.

We have the example of sister Dam Nguyen from Hanoi. She came to Plum Village one year with the intention to live with Thầy and the Sangha for a few months, then she would return to Hanoi to die. The doctor told her that she could only live 3-4 more months. When she arrived at Plum Village, sisters suggested that she went to see a doctor, but she refused to. She did not feel the need to see a doctor. She accepted her death, and she lived wholeheartedly every moment she had with the Sangha during those three months. When her visa was about to expire, she bade farewell to the Sangha. An older sister suggested she see a doctor “just to see” what had happened to her cancer. Sister Dam Nguyen agreed, in order to please that sister. The doctor informed her that all the metastatic sites in her body had receded to one place, and that she was doing very well. Our sister went back to Hanoi with great joy. It has been 14 years since she left Plum Village for Hanoi, and she continues to live.

The Buddha taught that all phenomena are impermanent; there is birth, then there is death. Our civilization is also like that. In the history of the earth, many civilizations have ended. If our modern civilization is destroyed, it also follows the law of impermanence. If our human race continues to live in ignorance and in the bottomless pit of greed as at present, then the destruction of this civilization is not very far away. We have to accept this truth, just like we accept our own death. Once we can accept it, we will not react with anger, denial, and despair anymore. We will have peace. Once we have peace, we will know how to live so that the earth has a future; so that we can come together in the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood and apply the modern technology available to us, in order to save our beloved green planet. If not, we will die from mental anguish, before our civilization actually terminates.

Our mother, The Earth, the green planet has suffered from her children’s violent and ignorant ways of consuming. We have destroyed our Mother Earth like a type of bacterium or virus destroying the human body, because Mother Earth is also a body. Of course, there are bacteria that are beneficial to the human body. Trillions of these bacteria are present in us, especially in our digestive systems (known as intestinal normal flora). They protect the body and help generate enzymes necessary to us. Similarly, the human species can also be a living organism that has the capacity to protect the body of Mother Earth, if the human species wakes up and knows to live with responsibility, compassion and loving kindness. Buddhism came to life, so that we learn to live with responsibility and compassion and loving kindness. We have to see that we inter-are with our Mother Earth, that we live with her and die with her.

Mother Earth has gone through re-birth many times. After the great flood caused by global warming takes place, perhaps only a very small portion of the human race will survive. The earth will need over a million years to recuperate and put on a new whole, beautiful green coat, and another human civilization will begin. That civilization will be the continuation of our civilization. To the human species, one million years is a very long time, but to the earth and in geological time, one million years is nothing at all; it is only a short period of time. Ultimately, all birth and death are only superficial phenomena. No-birth and no-death are the true nature of all things.

With love and trust,
Thich Nhat Hanh (Thầy)

Eating Mindfully To Heal Our Planet

Looking deeply at the way we eat from a global perspective, we can see that meat production is a huge drain on the planet. The United Nations' report Livestock’s Long Shadow, an in-depth assessment of the damaging impact of livestock on our environment, concluded that livestock’s negative effect on our environment is massive and that we need to address it with urgency. The report estimates that raising livestock uses 8 percent of our planet’s water and contributes strongly to water depletion and pollution. Some scientists have estimated that it takes one hundred times as much water to produce a kilogram of beef as it does to produce a kilogram of protein from grain. Part of the reason that so much water is needed to produce livestock is that cattle are fattened on vast amounts of grain, which requires water to grow. In the United States, cattle consume seven times as much grain as the U.S. population as a whole. An Environmental Protection Agency report on U.S. agricultural crop production in 2000 states that, according to the National Corn Growers Association, about 80 percent of all corn grown in the United States is consumed by domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and fish production. Yet, ironically, more than nine thousand children die each day from causes related to hunger and undernutrition. It is a painful realization that the grain and resources we use to raise livestock could be used more directly instead to feed the starving and malnourished children in the world.

Furthermore, a 2008 report by the Pew Charitable Trust and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that factory farming in the United States is taking a heavy toll on human health and the health of the environment—and that keeping livestock in these “concentrated animal feeding operations” constitutes inhumane treatment. Animal waste pollutes the water and air around the farms, causing illness among farmworkers and farm neighbors, as well as land degradation. Heavy use of antibiotics in factory farming leads to new strains of viruses and bacteria resistant to antibiotics, creating “superbugs” that may pose a public health threat to us all. In the report, the experts recommended phasing out and banning the use of antibiotics in farm animals except for the treatment of disease, instituting tighter regulation of factory farm waste, and phasing out intensive confinement systems.

The devastating environmental and societal impact of raising livestock goes beyond the use of water and land to grow food. Our society’s hunger for meat contributes mightily to the production of climate-changing greenhouse gases. The livestock industry is responsible for 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, a higher share than the entire transportation sector. Seventy percent of forests in the Amazon have been cut to provide grazing land for cattle, and when such forests are destroyed, enormous amounts of carbon dioxide stored in trees are released into the atmosphere. The meat, dairy, and egg industries are also responsible for two-thirds of human-induced emissions of ammonia, which in turn plays a role in acid rain and the acidification of our ecosystem.

The data suggest that one of the best ways to alleviate the stress on our environment is to consume less meat and eat more plant based food, which results in reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We do not need cattle to process the food for us. It is much better and more efficient for us to eat more plant-based food and process it ourselves. It may seem like a huge change for many people, but reducing the amount of meat and dairy in your diet is a great way to keep your weight in check, improve your overall health, and take steps toward improving the health of our planet. When we learn to eat more vegetables, grains, and beans mindfully, we will enjoy their taste, and we can be happy knowing that we are supporting a new kind of society in which there is enough food for everyone and no one will have to suffer from hunger.

We must take urgent action at the individual and collective levels. For individuals, going towards vegetarianism can have great weight and health benefits. Vegans and vegetarians tend to weigh less than people who consume animal products; they also tend to have lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

Although this practice is primarily based on the wish to nourish compassion toward animals, it also offers many health benefits. Now we also know that when we eat vegetarian, we protect the earth and help reduce the greenhouse effect that is causing her serious and irreversible damage. Even if you cannot be 100 percent vegetarian, being a part-time vegetarian and consuming a more plant-based diet is already better for your own health as well as the health of our shared planet. You may want to start by eating vegetarian for a few days a month, or you can eat vegetarian only for breakfast and lunch every day. This way, you are already more than half vegetarian. If you feel that you cannot eliminate animal products from your diet for even one meal, simply reducing the portion of meat and eliminating processed meats like bacon, sausages, and ham can lower your risk of colon cancer and your risk of dying an early death from heart disease, cancer, or other causes. This is a good first step to adopting a more plant-based, healthful, environmentally friendly diet.

Using mindfulness to look deeply at what you eat can make it much easier to make such changes, because you realize the benefits they can bring to the planet and yourself—lower weight, lower risk of colon cancer and heart disease, and more energy for doing the things you enjoy. We are “interbeings”: we and our environment are interdependent. And even small changes on our part can have a large impact when combined with others. Our market economy is driven primarily by consumer demand. As a population, if a large number of people make even small moves to eat less meat and more plant-based foods, the livestock industry will shrink. Over time, farmers will find other crops to support their livelihoods. Through such collective awakening we can make a difference in our world.

- Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Lilian Cheung (from the book "Savor - Mindful Eating, Mindful Life").

#ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #विज्ञप्तिमात्र #HowToEat #Veganism #Vijñaptimātra #TrueLove #MindfulConsumption #Reverence4Life #LilianCheung #VeganAngels

Celebrating Continuation Day - October 11

We are in each other. You are in me and I am in you. It has always been like this. There never was a beginning, and never will there be an end. This is something that will not change. Together, we will ride the tides of birth and death joyfully, knowing that we can never part. On the 11th day of October we complete one more year of continued existence.

What is Continuation Day?
-----------------------------

Nothing is born and nothing dies. We only continue to exist. You may find a date of birth on your birth certificate but you existed on the previous day as well and the day before. You were in your mother's womb. In fact, there never was a time when you did not exist, and there never will be a time when you will not exist. Since we are never born, there is a continuity with no beginning and no end. Each day we continue to exist. Each day is a continuation day. Since, Thich Nhat Hanh observed this and shared his observation with us, we call his 'birthday', October 11, 'Continuation Day'.

A Cloud Never Dies
----------------------

A cloud is never born and it never dies. It is never created and it cannot be annihilated. A cloud transforms into water, ice and steam and back. It never becomes nothing. Ask a cloud when is its birthday and it will tell you that it was never born. And, it will never die. It is the same for everything.

Vijñaptimātra
-----------------

Vijñaptimātra (pronounced Vig-yup-ti-maatr) is a Sanskrit word which has two meanings - 'Manifestation Only' and 'Perception Only'. We always manifest in some or other form. When conditions are right, we can perceive each other. As humans we have cultivated the habit of perceiving through our five senses. So we think something exists when we can see, hear, smell, touch or taste an object. All our experiences are vijñaptimātra (perception-only). All existence is vijñaptimātra (manifestation-only).

Who is Thich Nhat Hanh?
----------------------------

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Buddha. A Buddha is one who is aware of what is happening around him. He has awakened to reality and knows that all conditions for happiness are present, always.

When do we suffer?
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We suffer when we are separated from our loved ones or from conditions that can make us happy. If we want something and we don't have it, we suffer.

Why do we suffer?
--------------------

As humans and animals we suffer due to ignorance. All of existence is vijñaptimātra (manifestation-only) and all our experiences are vijñaptimātra (perception-only). Our idea of reality is like a magician's illusion created by our mind with inputs from the five senses. We are caught in concepts like birth and death, coming and going, after and before, same and different etc. All these concepts arise due to the way our mind interprets the inputs received from the five senses. Unfortunately we are never satisfied. Marrying a 3D projection is not the same as marrying a real person. A 3D projection stops manifesting when the projector is switched off or when we take off our glasses. It is a conditioned manifestation. Unmindful of the unconditioned nature of reality we are caught in a conditioned existence.

Is it possible to end all sufferings?
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It is possible to touch reality even through our five senses. For example, the five senses can perceive the cloud and can see and feel that there is no birth and death but the mind has got into a habit of interpreting things in a different manner so we think that there is birth and death and do not recognize the rain as a continuation of the cloud. It is possible that by cultivating mindfulness we can transform these deep rooted habits and end all our sufferings.

How do we end all sufferings?
---------------------------------

First two steps that make transformation easy are openness and letting go. Openness to let unconditioned reality manifest and letting go is to let go of concepts that we have acquired like birth and death, coming and going, after and before, same and different etc. Concepts like these arise due to the mind misinterpreting the feed from the five senses. It is based on discrimination and causes suffering. Through mindfulness we can transform the mind's habits and eliminate all sufferings.

I am in you, you are in me
----------------------------

We perceive that a cloud, the sun, the soil, a mango tree are separate from each other and we act accordingly. However, that is not really the case. The mango seed transforms into a mango tree when rain, sunlight, suitable soil are present. The mango tree is a continuation of the sun, cloud, the soil and the mango seed. The sun, the soil, the cloud, the mango seed are in the mango tree. In the same manner, everything is in everything else. The universe is as much in an atom as an atom is in their universe. And just like that, I am in you and you are in me. We don't perceive this because we subscribe to a concept of what is you and what is me.

What are mindfulness trainings?
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Mindfulness trainings are designed to help develop concentration which leads to the development of insight which liberates. The #5Mindfulness and #14Mindfulness trainings help transform habits that strengthen wrong perceptions and cause suffering.

How do we progress on the path?
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The #5Mindfulness trainings and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh help us progress on the path. If we don't practice the #5Mindfulness trainings we can easily be mislead. The Five Mindfulness trainings protect us. Let me give you some examples. If someone tells you that you can obtain great powers by sacrificing an animal to a certain God, you may end up doing so unless you have understood and are practicing the Five Mindfulness trainings which includes veganism. Some may say you can be happy by consuming alcohol and you may end up becoming an alcoholic. Someone may say money can buy happiness and you may be tempted to exploit others. You may say things that cause your loved ones to be sad and they may distance themselves from you. Not understanding how commitment nourishes love, you may lose the person you love. However, when we practice the Five Mindfulness trainings, they protect us from such threats that are caused by greed, anger, jealousy, insecurity etc. Never let go of the five mindfulness trainings until you are enlightened.

Today is a great day to begin
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Why not practice the Five Mindfulness trainings for one day, today, to begin with?

The first mindfulness training is reverence for life. You can practice this very easily. Just don't engage in or promote violence and do not consume meat. Protect life. Be mindful in your actions so you can help prevent starvation and deaths from unnatural causes.

The second mindfulness training is to practice true happiness. You can do this by not exploiting humans, animals and natural resources. Don't cheat or steal or evade taxes, don't consume or promote what comes from animals (like milk, leather, fur, wool etc.). Do not look to profit from others' miseries. Share what you have with others. This mindfulness training battles greed and strengthens generosity and compassion.

The third mindfulness training is to practice true love. True love is based on commitment and understanding. Understanding that we are in each other, we can truly love each other. This understanding strengthens the love in us. We are able to love all humans, animals and nature. Then we stop hurting others. We no longer give in to malicious intent. We do not abandon our loved ones, humans, animals etc. for the sake of power or wealth.

The fourth mindfulness training is to practice mindful communication. Mindful communication brings hope to others and ourselves. We must communicate in a manner that does not cause separation or strengthen wrong concepts like birth and death, coming and going, after and before, same and different etc. This training helps us remove hurt and discrimination.

The fifth mindfulness training is mindful consumption. We must not consume what is harmful to our mind, body, other living beings and nature. This includes food, drinks, communication, data etc. Don't smoke or consume alcohol or material that is not in accordance with the five mindfulness trainings. For example, do not follow texts or teachings that suggest men are superior to women, that some country is superior to another country, that humans are superior to animals, that one religion is superior to another etc. Such data strengthens discriminatory forces and habits that go along with those forces.

We must keep in mind that the decisions we make are largely due to circumstances. A baby has little choice as to what food is forced into her mouth. A child has little choice as to what language he will learn or which school he will study in.

What motivates someone to practice mindfulness?
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When we have truly loved, we are no longer willing to surrender to the forces of conditioned existence. People can become monks and practice mindfulness as a part of their monastic curriculum. People may practice veganism thinking it is a higher moral ground or something that will make them appear compassionate. People may practice mindfulness for a better health or success at work. There may be many reasons that may motivate one to practice the five mindfulness trainings but none are stronger and more unwavering than love. All the other motivations will fall prey to obstacles that arise on the path sooner or later, only those driven by love will find their way to liberation. So bring to mind the people you love and strengthen the resolve to never part with them. That in turn strengthens the resolve to practice the mindfulness trainings and helps us progress on the path.

Begin today! Happy Continuation Day!

(The author, Saurabh Singh, is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

#ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #विज्ञप्तिमात्र #HowToEat #Veganism #Vijñaptimātra #TrueLove #MindfulConsumption #Reverence4Life #TrueHappiness #MindfulCommunication #HappyContinuation

Choosing What To Eat

Our way of eating and producing food can be very violent, to other species, to our own bodies, and to the Earth. Or our way of growing, distributing, and eating food can be part of creating a larger healing. We get to choose. The planet suffers deeply because of the way many of us eat now. Forests are razed to grow grain to feed livestock, and the way the animals are raised pollutes our water and air. A lot of grain and water is also used to make alcohol. Tens of thousands of children die of starvation and malnutrition every day, even though our Earth has the ability to feed us all.

With each meal, we make choices that help or harm the planet. “What shall I eat today?” is a very deep question. You might want to ask yourself that question every morning. You may find that as you practice mindful eating and begin to look deeply at what you eat and drink, your desire for certain foods may change. Your happiness and that of the Earth are intertwined.

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations proposed that the meat industry be reduced by at least 50 percent in order to save our planet. The simple act of becoming vegetarian can make a difference in the health of our planet. If you’re not able to entirely stop eating meat, you can still decide to make an effort to cut back. By cutting meat out of your diet even five or ten days a month, you’re already helping. Try to reduce your consumption by at least 50 percent. This begins to nourish your compassion. If you know that you’re living in a way that makes a future possible for your planet, you’ll have joy.

Our food comes from this beautiful planet. The Earth is inside of us, in each morsel of food, in the air we breathe, in the water that we drink and that flows through us. Enjoy being part of the Earth and eat in such a way that allows you to be aware that each bite is deepening your connection to the planet.

May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, from the book "How To Eat".

#ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #विज्ञप्तिमात्र #HowToEat #Veganism #Vijñaptimātra #TrueLove #MindfulConsumption #Reverence4Life

The Three Stages Of Love

What would you say to a person who is in love with someone because that someone is very pretty or very rich? No doubt you think that is not true love. The desire for someone because she is pretty is a sensual desire and the desire for someone because he is rich is a material desire. True love is not a sensual or material desire. What is love and what has this got to do with veganism, you, me, a monk who lives in France and a cloud? I will tell you, but you must be open minded. If you have a concept of love in your mind then you cannot experience true love.

Bring to your mind the day you fell in love. The day your loved one manifested in your life, like sunshine, making your world bright. It was a nice feeling isn't it? That's the first stage of love - coming together (contact). Contact is possible because we have form (body) and consciousness (five senses, mind, manas and store consciousnesses). Contact does not mean beginning. There is no beginning. Your loved one existed even before you met that person. You existed as well and so did love. Contact is coming together. Contact develops into feelings, feelings into mental formations and mental formations into volitions. Depending on the type of contact feelings arise, depending on the type of feelings mental formations arise and depending on the type of mental formation that has arisen we make a decision (volition is the process of making a decision). Our volitions determine the future of our love.

The second stage of love is separation. If our coming together is based on the body or perceptions then we must part. Imagine a person in love with a man who is very rich. She wants material comforts. One day the rich man loses all his money. Then her desires remain unfulfilled. She will be angry, they will fight and will part. If you love someone because she is a girl or a boy, then one day that person will die and you will experience separation. Everyone who has ever loved a conceptual "person" has lost that person. If you love a body or a perception, it will end in suffering. When someone dies we miss them. When we die our children suffer, we are not there to help them when they need our help.

The third stage of love is liberation. How to be free from the suffering of separation? I will tell you, a little bit, today. I know a monk who lives in Plum Village, France. He is my teacher. He is very mindful. One day observing a cloud he realized that a cloud never dies! It transforms into rain, ice, steam but never dies. He then realized that nothing dies. We only fail to recognize the manifestations. We are unable to recognize the cloud when it transforms into rain and miss the cloud. But the cloud has now become water and is closer to us! If nothing dies how can a person die? When we think a person has died, it is because we consider her to be her body. This is so because of our habit of recognizing and discriminating on the basis of the five sense perceptions - body, voice, touch, taste and smell. To be liberated is to be free from the suffering of separation. There are two hurdles that must be crossed - knowledge and perceptions. A cloud can help you with knowledge. A bird can help with knowledge. A teacher can help you with knowledge. But to overcome the hurdle of perceptions you will have to transform your habits. One who practices the Five Mindfulness Trainings is doing just that! True love is the third mindfulness training.

Since separation is because of our habit of recognizing and discriminating on the basis of the five sense perceptions - body, voice, touch, taste and smell, we must first learn to stop making our love contingent upon sensual perceptions. We must stop discriminating on the basis of physical features, manners, their views etc. We cannot treat one race or one sex or one specie with love and another with hatred. Why? If you smoke cigarettes everyday, then it becomes a habit. Then you become a slave to the cigarette. Then you get a lifestyle and ailments that come with smoking.

Once we are ready to look beyond body, we realize that love is not sexual desire. Love is liberating in nature. It makes us happy. Let a bird, a chicken, a cow come to you expecting love. When we practice loving animals, we are transforming our habits. We are practicing love that is not contingent upon how the other person looks. In fact, true love is true love because it is not contingent upon any conditions. Something is true when it does not change. Because of our habits we stop loving people when they change or they say something we don't like etc. We become angry or sad. Such love is like that of a selfish person who says, "I love myself, now you also love me", selfish and subject to change. True love is not contingent upon religion, political views, specie, gender, color etc.

What do you do when you love someone? The selfish lover wants his own happiness. He doesn't care for the loved one's happiness. The true lover wants his loved one to be happy. Will you kill and eat a woman because you love women? Then why do you kill and eat a chicken if you love chicken? We must learn to love all beings without discrimination. We don't hurt someone we truly love. We don't kill them. We don't eat them.

When we begin to practice true love, we are transforming our habits. It is very difficult. It may not happen overnight, not even in weeks but we have to try and make it happen because then all sufferings will end. There is only one vehicle that can free us from suffering in one lifetime and that is not any religion or doctrine or a pill or a person or an imaginary concept. It is true love.

The one who loves us is our true home. We can go home and be happy. The home does not follow us when we go to office. All sentient beings are waiting to love you. It is time you came home!

(The author, Saurabh Singh, is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

#विज्ञप्तिमात्र #Vijñaptimātra #ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #Enlightenment #Veganism

Dealing with adversities

The woman in the picture is vegan activist Benazir Suraiya who was carrying a sign that read "Make Eid Happy For All - Try Vegan" to promote veganism in her Islamic community yesterday (Monday). In a matter of minutes a mob attacked her and threw footwear and stones at her. It was her date with adversity. What do you do when faced with adversity?

Before someone is enlightened (free from sufferings) she has to battle negative forces. Negative forces are difficult situations, negative emotions and mental formations like fear, anger, insecurity, anxiety, sadness, greed, jealousy, contempt, sensual desires, hunger, distraction etc. Buddha had to face all of these difficulties. He was criticized by his friends from the Sānkhya school. He almost died of starvation. He was attacked by the most lethal of Mara's weapons - distraction every time he would try to focus on his breath.

We all have to conquer adversities if we wish to be free from sufferings. It is very difficult because most of us are completely driven by emotions and circumstances. How to break this cycle of slavery? How to battle fear? There are some things we need to understand thoroughly to generate the faith that we need to progress.

The first is the understanding of interdependent co-arising. This is because that is. Everything exists because everything else exists. That is why we wish to bring about a positive transformation in our community. When we understand this very well, we begin to practice the Five Mindfulness trainings (#5Mindfulness) which includes veganism.

The next important concept that we need to understand is that the effect is present in the cause in an un-manifested form and manifests when conditions are right. This is why a little girl can grow into a pretty young woman, a mango seed can turn into a huge mango tree. The pretty young woman comes from the little girl and mango tree comes from the mango tree. If we consider the Earth as the seed then we all emerge from that seed and the Earth is in us as much as we are in the Earth. At no point is there a distance between the Earth and us. Nothing is separate. An atom is in the universe and the universe is in an atom. Separateness is an illusion.

The third understanding is that transformation is illusory like an illusionist's trick. Why is this so? Because if transformation was real something would transform into something else altogether which means something would be created and something annihilated but we know that cannot be. A cloud transforms into water and water can transform into ice and vice versa and evaporate to become a cloud again. At no point is the water annihilated or created.

These three understandings are called - interdependent co-arising, non-self and impermanence. This leads to the understanding the 'you are in me and I am in you'. This is called shunyata (emptiness) or interbeing.  We think that something exists separately because we thing it has a separate self, that there is a distance between the object and the subject and that transformation (like from life to death) is real. Once we have seen through these three illusory aspects and understood interbeing (emptiness) we have the first of the five powers in action - faith. We still have to develop a stronger grip on interbeing and unlock the doors of signlessness and aimlessness. Signlessness is to recognize manifestations. Aimlessness is practicing to recognize that all conditions for manifestation of happiness are present in the here and now. All the three doors are in each other.

The next step is to practice the second power - diligence. We must diligently practice the Five Mindfulness trainings - reverence for life (non violence), true happiness (exploitation free living), true love ( commitment and understanding), mindful speech and mindful consumption. By practicing and promoting veganism we are already doing all of these to an extent but we need to do more. The more we do this, the faster the obstacles of knowledge and perceptions disappear.

In order to do that and to overcome adversities like temptations or frustrations, we have to bring the third power - mindfulness into action. Be mindful that adversity is just another phenomenon. All phenomena perceived by the five senses are like an illusionist's trick - impermanent and have no existence of their own. So keep this in mind and don't be upset or led astray by fear, insecurities etc.

We practice to be enlightened. Just like sports persons who train hard before games, we need the fourth power - concentration to improve our practice. Concentration leads to the fifth power - insight. When insight is fully developed we are past the three doors and there is no more separation from anyone or any condition of joy. Everyone is present, all conditions for happiness are present. No more craving, no more unfulfilled desires.

We must thank adversities because they strengthen our practice. Yesterday, Benazir may have shed tears but they have become a cloud now and one of these days they will transform into raindrops and kiss her cheek and she can dance in the rain!

(The author is a student of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

#विज्ञप्तिमात्र #Vijñaptimātra #ThichNhatHanh #5Mindfulness #Enlightenment #Veganism

Women in Buddhism

One day Sister Chan Khong asked Thay, "Thay, why do women have to take 348 precepts instead of 248 precepts like men. Is there discrimination in Buddhism?". Thich Nhat Hanh explained to her that most of the additional precepts arose due to the prevalent circumstances. For example, a nun was assaulted when she was traveling by herself so a precept was created that nuns would not travel alone.

Precepts are mindfulness trainings that help an individual be free from certain samsaric bonds, negative actions, emotional knots and material dependencies. All monks and nuns are expected to practice the fourteen precepts also known as the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings (#14Mindfulness). The other precepts are not obligatory. Many precepts like 'unless a monk is ill he should only travel on foot' are not followed by most monks and nuns. It would be very difficult for Thich Nhat Hanh to come to India if he were to follow that precept!

We must understand that being enlightened, being a promising scholar, being a monastic and being a Buddhist are not the same. Enlightenment or the knowledge of the dharma is not restricted to the monastic community. Many monks themselves have lived the life of a hermit away from their monastery after seeking ordination. Some of them have even married while continuing to practice the dharma with the same or even greater proficiency. Anyone can be enlightened or acquire exceptional knowledge of the dharma. So a woman has as good a chance of being enlightened as a man.

A monastic community is like any other community. Not all monks and nuns are at the same level. However, by becoming a monk out of free will they have expressed their commitment to practicing the path. The members of a monastic community are provided with access to proficient teachers and dharma resources. The status of a woman in a monastic community depends on the culture and mindset of people who make up that community. You may want to take a closer look at the order before becoming a monk or a nun if you do not have a teacher already.

A Buddhist in the dharmic sense is one who practices the five mindfulness trainings or Panchasila at the very least. Many sects accept one as a Buddhist if one takes refuge in the triple gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha). This is the same for both men and women.

The right way to go about if you really wish to dedicate your life to learning and practicing the path is to first find the right teacher or the right environment. The next step is to practice under the guidance of the teacher or by yourself. One who is pessimistic is unlikely to promote optimism. Similarly, one who is unhappy cannot truly show others the way to happiness. The measure of progress is not just the understanding of texts but also how happy you are on the path. We can begin to experience happiness when we begin to develop an understanding of interbeing and interpenetration, impermanence and practice the Five Mindfulness trainings (#5Mindfulness). We can then help others do the same and help them water the seeds of mindfulness. Mindfulness leads to concentration which leads to insight. You can see that this is gender independent.

Here is how Sister Chan Khong found her teacher (as recorded by Andrea Miller):

"“You have a good heart,” Chan Khong’s first Buddhist teacher told her. “With all the generous work that you do, you will be reborn into a wealthy family. Perhaps you will be a princess.” But Chan Khong wasn’t concerned about her next life, much less the possibility of a royal pedigree. Her focus was the present moment: the hungry need food, the sick need medicine, and they need it right now.

“You need to study scriptures more and work to become enlightened,” continued her teacher. “After you are enlightened, you will be able to save countless beings.” The idea was that if she practiced Buddhism diligently, she would be reborn as a man in her next life; then she might become a bodhisattva, and later still a Buddha with miraculous powers. But again Chan Khong felt alienated by these goals. She didn’t want miraculous powers or to be a man, and to her this enlightenment smacked of both sexism and irrelevance.

In the autumn of 1959, Chan Khong had a conversation with a prominent Buddhist monk during which she asked many questions about the dharma. But he didn’t answer any of them. Instead, for each question he took out a book by Thich Nhat Hanh—a monk who Chan Khong had never heard of—and said, “The answer to your question is in here.” Chan Khong would have preferred talking to the monk in front of her, but she agreed to read the material when she had time. Then a month later, Chan Khong attended a course Nhat Hanh was teaching in Saigon. Impressed from the first lecture, she felt she’d never before heard anyone speak so beautifully and profoundly.

The following year, Chan Khong began corresponding with Nhat Hanh. In his first note, he wrote in his impeccable script about the mountain monastery where he lived—the wet wood he cooked with and the cold, singing wind outside. In later notes he addressed Chan Khong’s concern that most Buddhists didn’t seem to care about the poor and that they viewed social work as mere merit work.

According to Nhat Hanh, it was possible to find enlightenment helping those in need—or doing any other activity—as long as it was done mindfully. He believed that Buddhism had a great deal to contribute to society, and he promised to support Chan Khong in her efforts. He planned to bring together people with the same vision and to establish villages to serve as models for development, as well as founding training centers for workers in education, agriculture, and health care.

Thich Nhat Hanh was the teacher she had been looking for."

#Vijñaptimātra #ThichNhatHanh #SisterChanKhong #Pratimoksha #Women #Buddhism

I am Half Agony, Half Hope

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in
F. W.
"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never." - Jane Austen (Persuasion).

The agony is that of separation. All sufferings arise due to separation. To be separated from our loved ones is suffering. To be separated from conditions that make us happy is suffering. The nature of our existence is such that if we meet, we must part. If we don't, death will do us part. Separation manifests in two dimensions, time and space (distance). The time dimension manifests as impermanence and the space dimension manifests as discrimination between self and others.

The hope is that separateness is an illusion. That one day we will wake up to realize that we never part. That all the conditions for happiness are right here. Love must find a way. We are half agony, half hope.

What gives me the confidence that separateness is an illusion? Separateness is built on the conditions - time and space. Let's look at time. There was a time when a cloud was floating in the sky. Then it transformed into rain and became a river. Then the river with the help of the sun became water vapor and transformed into a cloud again. The other clouds think that the first cloud died. They think that a new cloud is now born. But transformation is continuity. The separation from the dimension of time is illusory. Death and birth, coming and going are illusory. The cloud manifests as a cloud when certain conditions are present, manifests as rain when a different set of conditions are present. If we truly love each other we will learn to recognize each other's manifestations. Then we will meet again, when you are a cloud, I will recognize you and smile at you and you can smile back.

Let's look at the dimension of space. Is it possible for a cloud to be separate from water? Cloud is water. Cloud and water are never separate from each other. We can see the water in the cloud and the cloud in the water. Everything is in everything else. The sunshine, rain, wind, earth are in the tree which bears the fruit that we eat. The sunshine, rain, wind, earth, the tree and fruit are in us. The transformation is illusory. The transformation is based on signs like touch, sound, image, taste and smell. If we cannot see, hear or feel someone we think they are not there but this cannot be true because nothing is ever destroyed. The cloud becomes rain, the water in your tea, the tear in your eye and then a cloud again and then rains again. You can listen to the sound of rain and smile. A cloud is never destroyed. A cloud never dies.

The transformation too is not real because all the while it has been only H2O - two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. We must learn to recognize transformation, to see through transformation.

"You are in me and I am in you. I am the hope in the agony and the agony in the hope. I have loved none but you." - F.W.

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Meditating On The Five Mindfulness Trainings

Jane Austen wrote in her book, Sense and Sensibility, "I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way."

When I was a child, I used to live with my grandparents. When I was with them, I was very happy. I was safe, comfortable, free from inhibitions. All conditions for happiness were present. My grandmother used to say that I was to my grandfather like a stepney to a scooter. Like a stepney follows a scooter wherever it goes, I would follow my grandfather wherever he went. Now if you told me there is a heaven or nirvana where one can have everything they want, what do you think I'd want? I'd want my grandparents. Perhaps you want to be with your children or parents or friends or someone you are attracted to or a million beautiful women or God or just by yourself.

This aspect too is what we call a self. We are the five aggregates - form (body), feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. The first four are manifestations of the fifth (consciousness). Consciousness is existence. If we are conscious, we can be happy or sad. We obviously want to be happy. It is for this very reason that we need to learn, practice, experience the Five Mindfulness trainings.

Just like how a dress or a shoe is no good until it fits us, so are the paths to freedom, peace and joy. A shoe that does not fit me is a shoe but not my size. It is not something I'll buy. Similarly the understanding and experience of the Five Mindfulness trainings must be a personal one to really create an impact, to really become a habit.

It must be your own way. So it is necessary then to see how the Five Mindfulness trainings are your own way.

Perhaps, you believe in God. Perhaps, you believe that God created this world, you and me. So did God create this world, you and me with a substance other than God or is God everything and we are a manifestation of God?

Let's say you think that God created us using some substance other than God. In this case, you'd have to admit that God is conscious. Without consciousness it would not have been possible for him to create and we can only connect with God through the bridge of consciousness because you say we are of different substance. Only consciousness is common. It is the bridge.

Can you separate consciousness from the object of consciousness? If you experience, you experience something. Even if it is only a dream or a thought or an imaginary object. Since consciousness cannot be separated from objects, God is connected to all objects of existence. When you kill, humans or animals or contribute to the depletion of natural resources you are actually bringing about a negative transformation of consciousness. This is so because to the consciousness an experience of being killed or being depleted is not a pleasant one. So do you think God will reward you? Do you think God will say, 'Now come, my love, here are a few angels for you to kill in heaven. You have done a wonderful job of destroying life on Earth, now come and destroy life in heaven.' Certainly not. If you want to go to heaven, it is  necessary for you to not hurt objects of consciousness. The Five Mindfulness trainings are designed with the objective of preventing us from hurting others.

If on the other hand you say that everything is a manifestation of God, its as good as saying everything is a manifestation of consciousness. So God and consciousness ultimately are same. So it would be fair to say that any change we experience is a transformation of consciousness/God. Is the transformation, then, real or illusory? If it is real, then God has become something else, is no longer God and you are now one who thinks God and his creation are of separate substances which we have already discussed. If you say the transformation is illusory, then how is this illusion of change manifesting? Change is impermanence. Time is a necessary condition for impermanence to manifest. There have to be at least two moments for change to manifest. Two means separateness. So you would have to agree that impermanence cannot manifest without time and separateness. But you say that everything is a manifestation of God, so separateness must be an illusion.

According to Buddhist teachings, such an existence where causes and conditions are required for manifestation of phenomena is a conditioned existence and such phenomena are conditioned phenomena. God/Nirvana are unconditioned phenomena.

To wake up from this illusion of separateness we will have to practice seeing everything in everything else. To wake up from the illusion of the separateness is also to realize that our loved ones are here, my grandparents, God, a million beautiful women and me are all here. All conditions for happiness are present right here, right now. We will have to be mindful to recognize the conditions of happiness that are present. The Five Mindfulness trainings are our guide to practicing mindfulness.

The Five Mindfulness trainings are - reverence for life, true happiness, true love, mindful communication and mindful consumption.

To practice reverence for life is to practice nonviolence, to avoid aggressive behavior, to refrain from depleting natural resources, to not contribute to anything that can become a threat to conditions that are conducive for life. It is also to practice veganism. To practice the first mindfulness training is also to revere the Five Mindfulness trainings.

To practice true happiness is to not exploit others, including animals and natural resources. It is also to practice veganism. It is also to share what we have.  To practice the second mindfulness training is also to share the Five Mindfulness trainings.

To practice true love is to not take advantage of others, it is a display of commitment, it is an act of transmitting happiness. We can make someone very happy by dedicating ourselves to the cause of making her happy. We cannot do this if our motivation is only to solicit sexual favors. When two people love each other, there is perfect understanding. To practice the third mindfulness training is also to perfect the understanding of the Five Mindfulness trainings.

To practice mindful communication is to not hurt others through speech and other form of expression. To not engage in slanderous or hate speech. We are an expression of existence. To practice the fourth mindfulness training is also to become an embodiment of the Five Mindfulness trainings.

To practice mindful consumption is to only consume what is good for the mind and body. To avoid alcohol, illicit drugs, cigarettes, etc. What we consume transforms us. The fifth mindfulness training is also to consume the Five Mindfulness trainings.

To revere life is also to revere God because God is inseparable from the living. To practice true happiness is also a practice of generosity which brings us closer to God. By practicing true love we connect with God. We truly praise God when through mindful communication we bring joy to others. Mindful consumption leads to mindful transformation that helps us to wake up from illusions and touch God.

If you are a Mahayanist, to practice the Five Mindfulness trainings is also the practice of sila pāramitā. In each of the six pāramitās are the other five pāramitās. So practicing the Five Mindfulness trainings is also practicing the six pāramitās.

If you are a Theravadin, to practice the Five Mindfulness trainings is also the practice of Right Mindfulness. In each fold of the Noble Eightfold Path are the other seven folds. So when we practice the Five Mindfulness trainings we are also practicing the Noble Eightfold Path.

Thus, the Five Mindfulness trainings are the one size that fits all. They are like water, you cannot dislike water. They are the theory of everything. They are not of a religious or sectarian nature and yet they are your personal spiritual experience and practice. They do not teach us to discriminate. They are your own as they are Thich Nhat Hanh's. They are not created, they are universal truths. If we practice the Five Mindfulness trainings, all our wishes are fulfilled. God embraces us, we are enlightened, we cross over to the other shore - Nirvana.

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Why do we practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings?

The Five Mindfulness trainings are our understanding of the Panchashila (Panchsheel) - the five precepts or the five pillars of a happy community. The Panchashila and Five Mindfulness trainings are universal truths and guidelines to manifest a happy community with happy individuals. These trainings are not created by Thich Nhat Hanh or Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. Instructions like do not kill, do not steal etc. have been there long before Gautama Buddha was born. In fact there were laws to prevent these from happening.

Unfortunately reading the Panchasila does not mean we have understood it and are keeping the precepts. For example, Buddha says do not steal. A child's understanding of this would not be the same as that of a taxman or a vegan activist. What is stealing? Is stealing from animals not breaking this precept? Is encouraging theft not breaking this precept?

Buddha taught - do not kill. Is it ok for Buddhist monks to order non-vegetarian food? Is it possible on the other hand for us to not inhale tiny microorganisms?

Buddha taught - do not consume alcohol. Does that mean we can't consume medicines that contain alcohol? Should we not use alcohol based fragrances? Since Buddha only said 'do not consume alcohol', is it ok to smoke?

Our practice of the five precepts largely depends on our understanding of phenomena. The Five Mindfulness trainings are more detailed descriptions, making it easier for us to understand and practice the precepts. If we carefully read and meditate on the Mindfulness trainings we get the answer to all these questions and any other that may arise in our minds.

We must approach these teachings keeping this in mind. Today, it is possible to practice veganism. Today we have alternatives to leather so it is not necessary to wear leather shoes. We have cashew and almond milk to replace cow milk. Vegetarian food is easily available. So to not kill is also to protect animals. It is to respect all forms of life. Respect is not to bow. We do not bow to ourselves but we respect ourselves. To respect is to not hurt others. You would not slap a Buddha, then why slap your wife? Is it possible for a monk to incite violence in Burma or Sri Lanka if he understands 'do not kill' as 'respect life'? We see things like monks and lay practitioners engaging in violence, politics, non-vegetarianism etc. because of their shallow understanding of the Panchashila and Pratimoksha.

It is not very important to study the scriptures if we have a Buddha teaching us. We learn from life more than we learn from scriptures. We have done enough if we can just practice the Five Mindfulness trainings. It is not necessary to become a monk or to chant mantras or to meditate for hours or to even be a Buddhist. A Muslim practicing the Five Mindfulness trainings is dearer to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas than one who has memorized all the sutras.

These precepts are based on our understanding that we cannot be happy if others are unhappy. By practicing these mindfulness trainings we are helping each other. We are promoting happiness. One who practices these mindfulness trainings does not hurt animals, does not exploit labor, does not exploit resources, does not evade taxes, does not hurt women, does not practice racism, does not cheat her/his partner, does not consume drugs or toxic substances, does not engage in lose talk or slanderous speech etc. It is wonderful to live with someone like this. You can rely on such a person. You know her love is true. You know her actions are not manipulative. You know that she is kind. We would like a bit of love and kindness. We want more people like this. Such a person is to be treasured. We want to be like this. So we practice the Five Mindfulness trainings.

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Friends Plant Seeds Of Love

Good friends plant seeds of love. We must water these seeds so one day they can manifest an enlightened community - Maitreya, the next Buddha, the Buddha of love. Maitreya comes from 'maitri'. The next Buddha is not a person but a community - all of us. A community that understands 'I am in you and you are in me'.

The Path Of Practice - Verse Fifty

When we realize that afflictions are no other than enlightenment,
we can ride the waves of birth and death in peace,
traveling in the boat of compassion on the ocean of delusion,
smiling the smile of non-fear.

Afflictions are the causes of suffering. Discrimination, inequalities, scarcity, death, poor health, unfulfilled desires are some of the reasons we suffer. We may say that wrong views cause suffering because it is due to wrong views that discrimination, inequalities, wars, ideological differences etc. arise. We may say that separation causes suffering because death separates us from our loved ones and we miss them. To be separated from conditions that make us happy is suffering. Wrong views arise due to the belief in an existence separate from others. A wrong view is one that can cause harm to others or ourselves. Discriminating on the basis of race or gender or nationality or religion are a result of people perceiving each other as separate from themselves. So all sufferings are a result of separation. They arise due to the view of a self  that is separate from others or due to being separated from our loved ones or simply because we are separate from conditions that make us happy.

This perception of separateness is an illusory perception. To not realize this is ignorance. That is why we say that ignorance causes suffering. The opposite of ignorance is enlightenment. One who is enlightened is one who has awakened from the illusion of separateness. She is awake so she is aware of what is really happening around her. Since she is no longer bound by the illusion of separateness, the distinctions between afflictions and enlightenment disappear.

According to those who have awakened to reality, all conditions of happiness are always present with us. So they can dwell happily in the present moment. We can practice this too by practicing the samadhi of aimlessness. If we have everything, then there is nothing more to run after.

However, we are not happy in the present moment because we perceive that we are separate from conditions that are needed to be happy. Conditions that make us happy are the presence of what we want and absence of what we don't want.

There are two dimensions in which we view separateness - one is time and the other space. In the dimension of time we view everything as impermanent. We see birth and death, integration and disintegration, coming and going, after and before etc. In the dimension of space we see ourselves as separate from others.

Reality in the dimension of time is that there is no birth and no death. We perceive manifestations when conditions are present. The radio signals are everywhere but we can listen to the radio channels only when we have a radio. A radio can recognize and interpret radio signals. Similarly we perceive manifestations through signs like their name, body, voice etc. To not be able to perceive someone in other words is our inability to recognize them because we are looking for them in a world of signs. A blind person cannot see me but that does not mean I do not exist. He just has to find another way of recognizing me. To practice recognition without signs is the samadhi of signlessness.

Reality in the dimension of space is that we inter-are. We are like waves on water, never separate from water. There is no inside or outside. You are in me and I am in you. To realize this is the samadhi of emptiness.

These three samadhis are the three doors to liberation. One who is liberated can help others. Whenever we use the word compassion from the perspective of Indian philosophy we are translating the word karuna. Karuna is the ability to transform suffering into peace and joy. So these beings who have awakened possess compassion. Since they have realized the three samadhis they know that there is nothing to lose. They are not afraid anymore. They help others overcome delusions.

Compassion is needed for us to progress on this path. Since we are not already Buddhas, our compassion (ability to transform suffering into peace and joy) is not the same as theirs. How can we practice compassion? We can practice compassion by practicing the five mindfulness trainings.

Buddhas know that everything is in everything else. We can understand this as well if we observe carefully. If we harm others, we will only hurt ourselves. We will create obstacles in our path. If we practice the five mindfulness trainings we will remove obstacles from our path. It will be easier for us to practice.

These are the fifty verses of Vasubandhu which he wrote as Trimshika and Vimshatika. Thanks to the great compassion of Thich Nhat Hanh we are able to receive these teachings that have led countless beings to enlightenment. May he remain with us until we are enlightened!

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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The Path Of Practice - Verse Forty Nine

Nothing is born, nothing dies.
Nothing to hold on to, nothing to release.
Samsara is nirvana.
There is nothing to attain.

Nothing is created or destroyed. Phenomena do not arise from nothing or disappear into nothing. They manifest when conditions are right. When conditions are not right they wait for the right conditions to manifest.

They do not have an existence separate from other phenomena. There is no external object to grasp. The universe is in us and we are in everything. Hence, there are no external objects that we can hold on to or that we need to let go off. So we can relax and live this moment.

We learned in the previous verses that the flower is in the compost and the compost is in the flower. Similarly nirvana is right here in samsara. Everything is in everything else.

An attainment is an acquirement, achievement or procurement, but since we have already determined that the effect is present in the cause in an unmanifested form, we are never attaining anything. If we have a mango tree, then we must have sown a mango seed.

Can we measure the distance between us and our thoughts or our dreams? No, because they do not have an independent existence. They are not separate from us. Similarly, no phenomena is separate from us. Not even nirvana.

If this was not the case, if the effect was not already in the cause in an unmanifested state we would not say that all beings have the bodhichitta in them. The cause and the effect are in each other. The transformation of the cause into effect is an illusory perception. In each mango tree there are infinite mango seeds and in each mango seed there are infinite mango trees. All the mango trees that have ever manifested and will ever manifest have always been there and will always be there.

If you look through the eyes of samsara, a cloud dies. If you look through the eyes of dependent origination you see cloud transform into rain, rain into ice or water vapor and water vapor into cloud. In nirvana, you see H2O. Two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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The Path Of Practice - Verse Forty Eight

Transformation takes place
in our daily life.
To make the work of transformation easy,
practice with a Sangha.

Transformation at the base occurs when we transform our habits. Most of our habits are a result of the environment around us and the company we keep. So it is easier to transform habits if the environment and people around us have already transformed those habits or are in the process of doing so.

Dharma is not Buddhism. Dharma means 'phenomena' and also 'the study of phenomena'. Those who practice the dharma are looking to gain an understanding of the true nature of phenomena so they can be free from suffering. The Buddhadharma is the Buddhist method of studying phenomena. The Sangha are those who practice or are an embodiment of the dharma but not necessarily labelled as 'Buddhism'. Sangha extends beyond people. It also includes animals, trees, clouds, the sun, the moon, the mountains etc.

A cloud can be a Sangha-member. It is an embodiment of the Vijñaptimātra teachings. So are trees and flowers and mountains. To find a Sangha conducive for your practice don't rush to the nearest Dharma center.

Our first aim should be to understand and practice the five mindfulness trainings. We can do it by ourselves in our normal surroundings which is more difficult or we can go to Plum Village or Deer Park Monastery which may be expensive and difficult if your are not located in France or United States. The third way of doing it is to join Sangha members cloud, mountain, rivers, trees, flowers, sun, moon etc. and practice with them.

In the past, when Indians wanted to study phenomena they would head for the mountains. The Himalayas are beautiful and even if we only spend a day in the mountains we feel fresh and healthy and the mind is clearer. There are many places where we can practice in peace. In India, you can visit the Spiti Valley (http://www.incrediblespiti.com/home.html) or Rishikesh (http://goindia.about.com/od/spiritualplaces/p/rishikesh.htm) in the North. In the East there are many beautiful places like Darjeeling and its surrounding areas (Chota Mangwa, Bada Mangwa, Lepchajagat, Lamahatta etc.), the state of Sikkim (there are only about 200 monasteries in Sikkim), Cherrapunji (if you like rain, it rains almost everyday in Cherrapunji). In the West you have Igatpuri (famous for Vipassana meditation courses). In the South you can stay at the Open Island Camp at the Ecodaya Island Sanctuary, Hampi (http://www.ecodaya.net/wp/?page_id=30). There are places where you can meet nature in every country. Find locations near you where you can be one with nature. Please go with only a few belongings.

The important aspect of practicing with a Sangha is to speed up our progress. When we are in touch with nature we experience transformation directly. We can see the cloud transform into rain and we can see how rain helps transform seeds into plants. We can see directly how food is a gift of nature and experience the effect the beautiful surroundings have on us. Meditation becomes easier. We can practice mindful consumption. Without television and electronic gadgets we can spend our time to contemplate on the five mindfulness trainings. If we give time to ourselves, we can transform. We have studied the five mindfulness trainings but we must meditate upon them, we must be one with them, they must become our nature. Nature can help us because nature is the embodiment of all dharmas.

Sangha is also compared to a home. With the Sangha we feel at home. We feel safe. In the lap of nature we can relax, feel at home, refreshed, rejuvenated and we turn our minds towards the study of phenomena beginning with the five mindfulness trainings. When we have understood the five mindfulness trainings we can go back to our normal surroundings and see our family and friends as our Sangha.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

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