Breath, Way to Mindfulness, In Memory of the Most Venerable Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh

Breath, Way to Mindfulness

In Memory of the Most Venerable Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hanh
 

By Thich Nguyen Tang

Translated into English: Hoa Chi

At noon on Sunday 30/1/2022, we, ordinated and lay practitioners from Quang Duc Monastery in Melbourne, Australia, solemnly held the Anniversary in the memory of The Elder Master from Plum Village Thich Nhat Hanh, in order to party repay the merits of His Holiness’s training to our Quang Duc Monastery.

The Founder of Quang Duc Monastery, Thich Tam Phuong managed to accompany the Master to speculate the Buddhist holy sites in India in 1988, and on this very occasion, He was assigned by The Elder Master to cut the hair for Chan Khong Nun on Linh Thuu Mountain after the ordination ceremony. Many years after that, He had been lucky to have been taught the Dharma by The Elder Master in the Plum Villages in France and Thailand. Especially, He could come to Tu Hieu Temple to attend the Elder Master’s funeral and followed His Holiness’ Coffin to the Burning site..

I myself have not been lucky to meet The Elder Master but have got your blessings and learned a lot from your books. During the Google Meet Online Class for Overseas Vietnamese Buddhist Family Level 1 on Sunday 13/12/2020, I mentioned one thing which everyone agreed with, that is all Vietnamese monks/nuns and lay practitioners from the 50s have directly or indirectly received the training of The Elder Master of the Plum Village.

“Teacher’s nurture has the seed of wisdom grown, His merits enlighten the noble way”.

Obviously it was The Elder Master who set the foundation for Buddhist training in Vietnam by teaching at Van Hanh University, working as the Chief Editor for Vietnamese Buddhism Monthly Magazine, Hai Trieu Am Weekly Magazine, setting up La Boi Printing House, establishing School of Youth for Social Service, founding the Order of Interbeing and Engaged Buddhism.  The Elder Master was a cultural activist, a writer, a poet, a scholar, a historian, a peace activist and most importantly, a prominent Buddhist scholar, with 120 valuable works and thousands of speeches and recitals, poems for daily recitations have been widely embraced by all types of Vietnamese monks/nuns and followers.

Following are my favorite books: To understand Buddhism, Lotus in the Sea of Fires, Modernized Buddhism, Thoughts and Their Way back, Vietnamese Buddhist History, Old Path White Clouds, The Heart and the Sun, Magic of Mindfulness, Poems for Mindfulness Practice, Rituals for Daily Recitations for Temples in 2000, especially Sutra on Full Awareness of Breath (“Anapanasati Sutra”) translated from Pali Treasure and Himalaya by His Holiness.

The Elder Master declared this as “a finding of treasure for enlightenment’ after His Holiness had finished its translation, comprising 16 methods to reflect on the breath taught by the Buddha at Jetavana offered by Cap Co Doc. This Sutra is part (Majjhima Nikaya No. 118 and Skt. Samyukta-āgama No. 815, 803 and 810, and 99 Great Collection of Sutras).

Majjhima Nikaya, according to The Elder Master, can be used as a string that connects the body to the mind. Breaths are a magic tool that helps practitioners to establish mindfulness and dwelling their minds and bodies in the present moments, to be in touch with the wonderful life in and around us. Mindfulness enables us to be aware of what is happening inside and outside of our bodies.

Therefore, Majjhima Nikaya can make it possible for the practitioners to nurture, treat, transfer and even enlighten us in this very life.

From The Buddha’s core teachings in the Sutra:

"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns that he is breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns that he is breathing out long.

[2] Or breathing in short, he discerns that he is breathing in short; or breathing out short, he discerns that he is breathing out short.

[3] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the entire body, and to breathe out sensitive to the entire body.

[4] He trains himself to breathe in calming the bodily processes, and to breathe out calming the bodily processes.

"[5] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to rapture, and to breathe out sensitive to rapture.

[6] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to pleasure, and to breathe out sensitive to pleasure.

[7] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to mental processes, and to breathe out sensitive to mental processes.

[8] He trains himself to breathe in calming mental processes, and to breathe out calming mental processes.

"[9] He trains himself to breathe in sensitive to the mind, and to breathe out sensitive to the mind.

[10] He trains himself to breathe in satisfying the mind, and to breathe out satisfying the mind.

[11] He trains himself to breathe in steadying the mind, and to breathe out steadying the mind.

[12] He trains himself to breathe in releasing the mind, and to breathe out releasing the mind.

"[13] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on inconstancy, and to breathe out focusing on inconstancy.

[14] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading], and to breathe out focusing on dispassion.

 [15] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on cessation, and to breathe out focusing on cessation.

[16] He trains himself to breathe in focusing on relinquishment, and to breathe out focusing on relinquishment.

This is the teaching for daily practice of breath focusing meditation. The methods, as instructed above, if continuously practiced will lead to great benefits and achievements”.

Furthermore, The Elder Master has composed 16 poems for real life practice of breath focusing meditation (Four frames of Reference: Body, Mental Processes, Mind, Dharma), in a modern language to make it easy for practitioners to understand and practice:

First on body, there are 4:

One: Be mindful of his breathing in/out
Two: Discern that he is breathing out long/short
Three: Be sensitive to the entire body
Four: Calm the bodily processes.

Second on mental processes, there are 4:

One: Be sensitive to rapture
Two: Be sensitive to pleasure
Three: Be sensitive to mental processes
Four: Calm mental processes

Third on mind, there are 4:

One: Be sensitive to the mind
Two: Satisfy the mind
Three: Steady the mind
Four: Release the mind

Fourth on Dharma (object of our awareness, perception)

One: Focus on inconstancy
Two: Focus on dispassion
Three: Focus on Nirvana
Four: Focus on relinquishment.

Then The Elder Master wrote more poems as further expansions on the core values of the Sutra to make it easy for us to remember and apply:

“Breathing in, I calm my body
Breathing out, I smile
Dwelling in the present moment
I know this is a wonderful moment”.

For walking meditation, we can practice with the following poem:

“I am home
I have arrived
Now
Hear
Well-dwelt
Carefree
Returned
Refuge taken
Now I am home

Now I have arrived
Well-dwelt now
Well-dwelt here
Well-dwelt like green mountain
Carefree like white clouds
Gate to no-rebirth opened
At ease and still”

At noon on 22/1/2022, many famous Western newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times (USA), The Guardian (Britain), Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) proclaimed “Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, father of Mindfulness had peacefully passed away at the Listening House at Tu Hieu Tempe, Ancient Hue, Vietnam at the age of 96.”

The reason why the Elder Master was honored as “Father of Mindfulness”, is that only within 40 years of living farther away from his motherland, His Holiness had brought mindfulness to teach it to Western societies. He was considered by the international press as the second most famous Buddhist Monk after Daila Latma, and as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People in the world (According to Watkins Review, No. 26, from London, Britain dated 1/3/2011); simply because His Holiness had been training more than 1,000 monks/nuns and millions of laymen and hundreds of millions of readers all over the world. It is true to say that we Buddhist followers in modern times have been lucky to have obtained His Holiness’ teachings, practiced and gained good results, especially from the Breath Mindfulness School.

Same as with The Buddha’s teachings, obtained His Holiness’ words are for understanding and practice, not for just belief. The Elder Master said:“Each breath, each step of us can be filled with peace, happiness, and ease.” His Holiness emphasized that breaths are our most important and loyal friend so we should appreciate and enhance it by being mindful of them in each moment of life. His Holiness made it clearer as follows:

“Each minute is like a pear
Contained in it the sky with clouds and the Earth
Only with a soft breath
Here come some magic”.

There was an occasion when The Elder Master’s teachings about the breaths were very much appreciated. A rare accident happed to around 12 boys (aged 11 to 16) and their 25-year-old coach nearly died in a cave in Thailand due to a flood, causing the shortage to oxygen. The whole nation were praying and had to beat time to save them.

On June 23^rd, 2018, a group of 12 young players of football, together with their coach went for an excursion in the cave and got trapped in Tham Luang Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai Province in Thailand. Heavy rainfall partially flooded the cave system, blocking their way out. They were reported missing a few hours later and the searching activities were started immediately. Although their stuff was located, it was impossible to locate their positions as the water level was too high to get into the cave. They were out of contact for one week. The search operations became a huge job for the Thai Government due to the highly frequent broadcast of information and the massive attention of the Thai people. After advancing through the narrow passages full of mug, divers found them all alive on an elevated rock 4km from the cave mouth on July 2^nd, 9 days after their missing. In order to leave the cave, they were supposed to learn how to dive or wait a few months for the floodwaters to subside. More than 1,800 people joined the search, including SEAL of Thai Nany and some volunteer teams from the UK, China, Myanmar, Lao, Australia, the USA, Japan, Russia, Finland Lan, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Israel, India, Sec, Canada, Philippines. a 38-year-old former navy soldier passed away at 1 am on July 6^th, 2018 because he ran out of air.
Official rescue operations were started on July 8^th, 2018 and last 3 consecutive days in 3 stages. Each stage involved more than 100 Thai and international rescuers including 18 or 19 divers (mainly international ones) working really hard for the rescue. On July 10^th, 2018, 13 members had been successfully rescued. (According to Bangkok Post in 2018).

I recall one of your talks on how to return to the breath to overcome life’s storms. When the storms come, focus on the trunk and roots, not the top and the branches. This will make you feel safer. As the tree stay strong thanks to its trunk and roots deeply tied to the Earth, focus on these will help you stay calm, focus on the top and branches will cause worries and fear so you can be easily knocked down. As human beings we can be attacked and destroyed by emotions. In term of body, the root is at the Dan Dien acupuncture point that is 3cm below the belly button as “a field for treatment” because it is said to be where all the core flows go through and serve as the source of energy for the human body. Breath can bring people back from the death and live as long as he wants. The Elder Masters said that every time the storms of emotions (greed, anger, ignorance) arouse, do not focus on the brain and the heart but the said acupuncture point  Try to maintain mindfulness, sit up in the Lotus position, breathe in deeply through the nose to make the abdomen rise and breathe out through the mouth to make the abdomen fall, and make sure your mind is with your breaths. Stick to the principle “Deep, long, steady and softly”, breathe for 15-20 minutes then the emotional storms will pass, just as nothing has happened. In term of mind, focus on the underlying awareness when the psychological come, do not follow the superficial awareness and rapture, grasp the breath and dwell onto the Tree Jewels’ shelter with the following mantra:

“Take the refuge to
Your own shelter
Mindfulness is the Buddha
Illuminating here and there
Breaths are Dharma”
Guarding your mind and body
Five aggregates are Sangha
Diligently working together
Breathing in and out
As fresh flowers
As firm mountains
As deep and still water
Vast space”.

Conclusions:

The Elder Master’s verses which I like the most and of which I usually remind practitioners at our Quang Duc Monastery during the past with with Covid 19 are:

“Lack of mindfulness is the dark
Mindfulness is the light
Bringing back our awareness
To shine over this worldly place”.

We have always lived in the darkness of deluded mind, so we should get out to enter into the light of sati. To have sati, we need to develop mindfulness and to have mindfulness, returning to the breath is the way. Finally, breath is the golden key for practitioners to open the door of ignorance in which we have been trapped. More simply, when you dwell into the breaths, keep your minds on them, in control of them, you are living the magic present moments. That is when our mind is completely empty, without thoughts, undisturbed, not deluded; then no bad karma is being created, there will be no rebirth as a result. No-rebirth means Nirvana or liberation. This is the destiny of any practitioner in this life. This is the point that The Elder Master had always tried to make to us: smile and breathe:

“Get up, breathe and smile
Every second breathe and smile
Every minute breathe and smile
I have a happy smile.

In the morning, breathe and smile
At noon, breathe and smile
At night breathe and smile
I have a happy day”.

Everyone should breathe and smile as it is the way to mindfulness, a foundation of enlightenment and liberation.

We would like to kowtow in gratefulness to His Holiness who had appeared and taught us in Vietnam and in the world in the past 100 years. We pray for His Holiness’ spirit to reach the Buddha’s and soon His Holiness will return to this world to promote Buddhism for the benefit of all beings.

Homage to Great Teacher Great Bodhisattva Bhikshu Thich Nhat Hanh.

Quang Duc Monatery January 30^th, 2022

Bhikkhu Thich Nguyen Tang
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Vietnamese version