This is a true story written by one of the members of our life coaching group “Another Way of Living”, Mr Phill Joes accompanied with his interpretation of the book ‘Present Moment, Wonderful Moment – Mindfulness Verses For Daily Living’ by Thich Nhat Hanh, published by Parallax Press, Berkeley, California, 2006.
“I am now retired after a wonderful career as a teacher, a job I loved, and have a joy of living that comes from deep within ( I gave up the artificial “happiness” that alcoholic spirits promise and found my own true spontaneous spirit). I still have problems today, but a much better class of problems!! And I am now able to face up and deal with problems in a (mostly!) calm and capable manner. My life has become manageable and full of meaning, largely as a result of my time in AA, but especially from my Buddhist beliefs and practice.
A brief outline of My Understanding of Buddhism: To achieve pure, stable, reliable happiness, we need to face, understand and accept the REALITIES of life, and make the most / best of these real, imperfect circumstances:
Buddhist View of Three fundamental facts/truths of life:
1. Suffering / Dukkha: (disappointment at not getting what we want Eg. crying babies, fear of losing what we already have, sickness, aging, death), dukkha includes a range from even the smallest dissatisfaction (eg. a poorly made coffee, missing your train or a broken shoelace!)
2. Impermanence: NOTHING in life is permanent, everything is constantly changing, including us, our physical bodies, our thoughts, emotions, feelings and even our “self”, which is merely a concept.
3. No Self: This is the idea most people have difficulty with; of course we are real, a solid physical body and a mind, however, the concept of a fixed, permanent “self” is just that, merely a thought/concept (Lesson: one invaluable result of understanding this is that we can change, as long as we want to, and are prepared to make the effort to change. In fact, we are changing constantly. A useful thought to help cope with regrets of our previous actions can be “Who I am today, is not who I was yesterday, let alone weeks, months or years ago; further, who I am today is not who I will be tomorrow.”
The Four Noble Truths: This is a core teaching of Buddhism
1.“You should know the truth of suffering” (ie. accept this reality).
2.“You should know the truth of the cause of suffering” (craving – our propensity to grasp for what we want and have aversion – dislike, anger (ranging from subtle irritation through to full-on rage) about what we don’t like or want)
3.“You should know that there can be an end to suffering” (by learning to overcome / master/control our craving and resistance – )
4.“You should know the path that leads to the end of suffering” (the noble Eightfold path)
A vital / MY understanding of the FNT’s is that they are NOT suggesting that we can eliminate all suffering (such as aging, sickness and death), but that we can overcome the major, significant component of suffering that is caused by our mind’s objection/resistance to suffering and attempts to deny, avoid and run away from and escape the reality of our suffering
The centrality of MEDITATION in Buddhist practice.
The Buddhist goal of “enlightenment” or awakening in Buddhist practice requires three components:
1. Sila (moral behaviour)
2. Concentration (focus, effort)
3. Wisdom
Central to achieving awakening is understanding and learning to manage the MIND, from which our whole experience of life is directed. In Buddhist thinking, the only way to achieve this is through the ongoing practice of MEDITATION. Just having knowledge of Buddhist teachings and philosophy is not enough; the Buddhist path requires putting these into practice.
Meditation is NOT stopping all thought, which is not possible,
but rather involves focusing the mind on a single object (a mantra, a sound, a single word or a physical process such as the breath, walking, yoga or tai chi). When this is done successfully, one is able to still the mind and let go of the endless churning stream of thinking that we are normally engaged with.
Apart from bringing the meditator to a restful, peaceful state of mind, meditation provides practitioners with insight into their mind and the choice to disengage from our usual endless rumination. Over time, meditation helps us to understand ourselves, the way our minds work and the true nature of reality. Understanding ourselves brings compassion, forgiveness, love and wisdom. A modern, commonly used term for this is “processing” our experiences. The practise of meditation allows us to discover the truth of Buddhist teachings directly for ourselves. This process is referred to as “awakening” or “enlightenment” and is an ongoing process. I think of meditation as a journey of self-discovery, and an examination of the reality of life.
Although meditation sounds simple, it is not easy. Many people quickly give up on practising meditation, saying that “I can’t meditate because I can’t stop my mind thinking all over the place”. But this is normal and is what happens to most people; in fact, the meditation is simply letting us see just how busy our minds actually are, how not truly present in our bodies, here and now, we are, but going back over the past, worrying about the future, flitting around between all sorts of thoughts and fixating on inappropriate thoughts, such as “I have to eat some junk food” or “That person was rude to me, they are therefore a really awful person, and I hate them”. etc. But with practice, patience, appropriate effort (ie. not trying too hard – meditation should be relaxing and enjoyable, but it may take time to achieve this) and persistence we can develop control over our minds and enjoy deep peace and contentment.
The main method of meditation I use is Anapanasati, where the object of meditation is the breath, together with some basic Gathas (phrases), developed and taught by Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh. One example of a Gatha used is:
(The following to be done as a brief exercise by the group)
Breathing in, I know fully that I am breathing in (eventually abbreviated to just “In”)
Breathing out, I know fully that I am breathing out (eventually abbreviated to just “Out”)
Breathing in, I am home (with myself)
Breathing out, I am free (from my usual endless rumination thinking)
Breathing in, I am in the here and now
Breathing out, I am enjoying this precious moment.”