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How will we go forward from here?

Once the Buddha said, “Here's the best way to find peace and an end of all suffering and anguish.” What is this best way? It's the way of mindfulness. Just by walking the path of awareness there can be real peace in the heart. This seems impossible to us. It seems like somehow we have to do something, not just be aware. How could awareness by itself bring us peace? Nevertheless the Buddha said that awareness itself is the best way for peace and the ending of all anguish and suffering. How do we practice awareness then? The Buddha said we have to start by practicing awareness of the body. How do we practice awareness of the body? He said we have to start by being aware of the breath. When you breathe in, know that you're breathing in. And when you breathe out know that you're breathing out. When the breath is short, know that it's short, and when the breath is long and deep, know that it's long and deep. Let the breath calm the whole body.

Then be aware of the body sitting. And be aware of the body walking or lying down, or standing. When walking forward or backward, know that you're walking forward or backward. When picking something up or putting it down, know what you are doing. Be aware of picking up and putting down. When you eat, be aware of the eating. When you go to the toilet, be aware of going to the toilet. In this way, beginning with the breath, be aware of the body all the time. Develop the craft of being aware of the body. The Buddha said that this kind of awareness, awareness of the body beginning with the breath, is the strongest foundation for all of our awareness practices.

Second, the Buddha said “Be aware of your feelings.” When you have a feeling that's unpleasant, know that. When you have a feeling that's pleasant, know that. And when you have a feeling thats neutral or mixed up between the two, know that. Notice all the feelings, how they change: pleasant, unpleasant, pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, pleasant, neutral and so on. Don't complain about the feelings, or try to run away from them. Just, with great closeness and intimacy, know the feelings as they are.

Next the Buddha said, “Know the condition of your mind.” If you have an angry mind know that it's an angry mind. And if you have a fearful mind know that it's a fearful mind. If you have a jealous or greedy mind know that it's a jealous or a greedy mind. And if your mind is happy or contented just know that it's happy or contented. Don't complain about your state of mind or try to run away from it. Or if you have a good state of mind, don't grab hold of it really tightly and try to make it stay forever. Just be aware of the state of mind that's there.

So the Buddha taught all this. And I think we should take notice of it. So we should know when we stand that we're standing, and we should know when we turn around that we're turning around. When we see or hear, we should know the seeing or the hearing, and not complain or try to hold on too tightly. We ought to ask ourselves “What are we feeling now? What's the condition of our mind?” And if we practice this way I think our lives will change quite a bit. I think if we practice awareness beginning with the breath and the body, our mind will become more calm. When the mind becomes more calm I think we''ll see a bigger picture of our life. I don't think we'll see ourselves any more as a good or a bad person in a world with other good or bad persons. I think we'll see how big our mind is, and how much there is coming and going in our mind all the time. We'll see how conditions of mind arise. We'll see how the angry mind comes to be. We'll see how the fearful mind comes to be and how the happy mind comes to be. Then very naturally we will choose conduct and thinking that will bring a happier mind, because we'll realize that it's not the things that happen to us on the outside that cause our minds to be a certain way. It's the way we react to those things. Nobody can possibly make us angry. It's our own mind that makes us angry, or happy. So this way calmness increases and ease of living increases and it begins to become more possible to actually see the other people around us. Instead of just seeing the other people around us as little machines that either hurt our feelings or give us good feelings, we begin to realize they're actually people and that their minds and hearts are exactly like ours. And so we'll have a lot of sympathy for them. And this will reduce fighting which will bring us more calm and more happiness, and then finally we'll be able to really understand the true shape of our own heart. We'll be able to see that our heart is pure just like the Buddha's heart. We'll be able to see that our heart has been this way from the beginning but it was covered over with so much confusion. And when we see our real nature, we'll have some deep and lasting peace. Of course life always has troubles and tragedies, and we'll have tears sometimes, but never again the kind of anguish that we had before, the kind of frustration and confusion. Our heart will be at rest. This is what the Buddha taught about the path of awareness. He said that if we really practice awareness this would unfold.

So we've had a beautiful retreat. We're almost at the end, so how will we go forward from here? Well I hope we all feel inspired to continue our meditation practice. Seeing that being aware of the breath and of the body is the foundation of awareness which is the path to happiness, I hope we will all feel motivated to continue our meditation. Any time during the day we can stop what we're doing just for a moment and take a breath, or maybe two breaths, and just return to ourself. We can stop once in a while to ask ourselves, “How am I feeling? What's the condition of my mind?” Maybe we can use the time whenever we're walking to practice awareness of walking. If we're driving in a car instead of looking for the nearest, closest parking spot, we can park anywhere and see the time of walking from the car to the place we're going as a time of walking meditation. And maybe in our house we can make a small altar with a candle on it and a flower, and maybe some picture or a statue that inspires us and symbolizes for us some kind of peace and spiritual sanity. Then maybe when we meditate we can light the candle, and every time we go by that altar we can think of our practice. It would be good if we all had a friend that we could talk to about how we're doing, and ask the friend “How are you doing?” and encourage each other in that way.

Maybe we could all, after the retreat is over, sometime tomorrow when we're quiet, we can all write down, “Here is the most important feeling or thought or understanding that I found in this retreat, and here is my promise to myself, how I will practice from now on.” It would be nice to do that and put that little piece of paper with those words on it on your altar, and every now and then maybe read what it says and don't forget.

© 2004, Zoketsu Norman Fischer
Mar de Jade, Chacala, Nayarit, Mexico