The Joy of Zen (II)

In PURE LAND, you can have a rest in the joy of Buddhist landscapes.

(Continued)

You can enjoy the Buddhism music while reading the article- Click here.

The temple has been rebuilt for several times in the past 1800 years. But the ancient architecture style has been preserved.

The Gate Open to the World

The seven-day practice of Zen is available to the public yearly, which attracts lots of believers to stay and practice Zen in the temple. Unlike other temples, Bolin Temple has never charged for tickets since it reopened in 1988. Whether you are a monk or a householder (householder here refers to the Buddhist who does not become a monk in a temple, but keep practicing Buddhism at home), you can register for a temporary living arrangement in the guestrooms.

According to Mater Mingyi, merely the reception can attract more than 10,000 persons yearly. Most of them are householders. The Bolin Temple welcomes those who are interested in Buddhism, offering a harbor from secular life.

The temple is a tourist attraction, so it opens to the public for two hours at noon in the winter for free. Tourists can visit and take pictures in this period. Most of them wander around the pagoda. Some of them would imitate the master’s behavior to rotate reverently around the pagoda, muttering their own wishes or Buddha’s name. In a normal temple, there would be lots of facilitation for prayer and burning the joss sticks. However, as there are no real facilities for this kind of ceremony, the normal smoky atmosphere of a temple is not seen here. As Monk Zhaozhou said long ago, “Less is better than more.” It could be interpreted that hosting a complicated ceremony in honor of Buddha is a good thing, but people should not be obsessively held to that, because maintaining simplicity is the most important thing.

Teachings from the Master

In the evening, the television camera crew is allowed to enter the meditation room, the Wumen Guan, to take a lesson taught by Monk Minghai, the abbot of the temple. Actually, temple is more like a school where students and teachers can hold discussions and motivate each other for a higher status of life. The abbot (here it refers to the master who is in charge of the whole temple) is the headmaster of the school, as well as the most respectful person here. In today’s class, Monk Minghai is going to answer ‘students’’ questions about Buddhism. In a method of casual chatting, he illuminates the easy truth of daily life through the examples of social issues, which is more accessible for the public. His teaching is not to force you to conform to any Buddhist rules, but to merely show you the simple essence of things. He is trying to awaken and save our awareness of the inner truth from the blindness of our minds, reminding us the nature of life: that a particular cause will lead to a particular result, and then it is left to you to solve the problem.

Actually, more and more people turn to masters when dealing with the confusions and stressful moments of daily life, such as graduation, break-ups, or depression; even people who have the intention to commit suicide come to ask for comfort and guidance from a master. The tensions and conflicts of society are gathered and reflected here. The master is not like a psychologist in the western world, telling you an exact medicine to take to cure an illness. Instead, he will tell you to be easy and pleasant in life. The first thing to do is to change your attitudes to reflect on yourself for the internal reason, rather than rationalizing your problems through external causes.

Since it is a lesson open to the public, the master also responds to very practical questions besides just discussing overarching Buddhist truth. For example, a young female householder once asked about her friend who divorced her ex-husband and married another, only to find out that all men are the same. Is that true?

The master replied: “We tend to choose casually, leading to change quickly. It is easy to change the decision but hard to change ourselves. If we are still the same person we were, we will always meet the same person we disliked. Without devotion to internal enhancement but complaining about the external environment, one would end up with the repeated life of the same mistakes in misery endlessly.”

Walking and Drinking

Based on the tradition of Zen, there are certain ceremonies and rules for the seven-day practice. Theoretically, the participants need to live in the temple all together in this period. The day we are shooting for the program happens to be exactly the time when they take on this practice.

The winter practice begins at January 1^st and lasts until February. 8^th this year. Five weeks in a row, from four o’clock in the morning to half past nine in the evening, people practice Zen nine times a week, fifty minutes each time.

Each practice includes walking and drinking tea. Resident monks and householders are separated in different rooms. It seems to us that the monks are the “professional team” while the householders are the “amateur team,” which could be concluded through the observation of their dress and behaviors.

During the winter seven-day practice in Wenshu Cabinet, householders walk with burning joss sticks in hand.

In the whole practice, the most impressive part is walking with joss sticks held in your hands. After sitting silently at first, people line up to walk around the mediation room relaxingly in circles, fast or slowly. The only sound is their footsteps, and its friction. The young monks in gray clothing, however, walk around the room absorbedly in silence. Their footsteps are light and ethereal with their whole attention focused, which seems almost like a performance art. I ask Master Mingying whether they are trained to walk in this way.

He says: “Of course. It is a significant part of practices, walking without any thoughts. Through this walking can we remove the dust, impurity and distraction away to gain a full energy with a focusing mind. All walking, sitting and lying down are integrated into practice of Zen.”

After walking for a while, suddenly the clappers make a big noise of “PA”, and everyone stands still in their position. The Karmadana yells , “Sit on your leg alongside!” and everyone sits down, putting their hands on each side of themselves kneeling, looking straight ahead in front of them. Then comes to the next stage: drinking tea together. At this moment, a group of people offering tea comes in. The procedure of this ceremony is quite simple but done with worship. The measure of drinking tea can be divided into making tea, distributing cups and pouring tea. These procedures are carried out by a group of professionals. The professionals stand before every person with their heel touching the arch of another foot, pouring the tea from the spout into cup gently and slowly. The receiver uses the cup to get hold of the pouring water. Each step takes place in silence.

Zen and tea can be traced back to the same origin. There is also the saying that Zen can be tasted in tea, while tea can be tasted in Zen. The eastern tea ceremony was born from the Chinese Zen culture.

During the seven-day practice, however, in spite of the very different occupations and social statuses, the participants all have the same pursuits of comforting their blundering minds through the practice of Zen and receiving the tranquility from the enlightenment of Zen.

According to our observation and experience of  life inside the Bolin Temple, the purpose Zen is to keep a simple and clear mind.

Master Jinghui said: “Zen is moderation.”

We have experienced this moderation in the temple. No excessive noise, no unnecessary ceremony, no outspoken expression, and no exaggerating salutes.

People buying and bargaining in the market fair just outside the temple.

At the end of the seven-day practice, our filming for the TV show is also finished. The day when we leave the Bolin Temple happens to be the market fair for Zhao County, which is held before the temple. Since the Chinese New Year is around the corner, people are busy with buying food and goods for their family reunions. The busy and exhilarating scene outside the temple wall and the tranquil, easy life inside are in a special harmony. For over a thousand years, Bolin Temple has played the role of inheriting and spreading the spirit and practice of Monk Zhaozhou, comforting the hearts and souls of the people in this hectic society.

Related articles

• “Practice Walking Meditation” (http://taoism.about.com/od/meditation/ht/walking.htm)
• “Visit to Bailin Monastery in Hebei“ (http://paramita.typepad.com/dharma_forest/2009/12/visit-to-bailin-monastery-in-hebei.html)

The Joy of Zen (I)

In PURE LAND, you can have a rest in the joy of Buddhist landscapes. 

FOREWORD BY TRANSLATOR

          This article is interpreted and adapted from an essay written by a member of the TV program team of Phoenix TV, Hong Kong, according to their filming experience in Bolin Temple in Hebei Province, China. It has been made into a documentary TV show called Open the Buddhist Gate, played on Eyeshot of Phoenix in Chinese. The original Chinese article can be found on the website: Guidance to Buddhism.

          Nowadays, many temples in China host a variety of Buddhist events, including summer and winter camps open to the public, dedicated to the experience of learning Buddhism. To better cater to the needs of public and society, these events mainly focus on education and the importance of human kindness from a Buddhist tradition, rather than theoretical Buddhist knowledge. They are also broken into different types of activities for all ages, such as events for college students, young people, and so on. The translator participated in one of the events designed especially for college students for seven days. It is a joyful and mindful experience within deep enlightenment. What the Bolin Temple demonstrates here is one of the typical experiences one might have in the temple.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On an afternoon in the twelfth lunar month, our TV program team departs from Beijing to Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. With genuine respect and a bit of curiosity, we drive the car into the old town of Zhao County, which sits about four hours’ drive from the city center. Just as we were looking for the temple gate, someone in the car shouts with excitement, “Pagoda!”

Though simple and unadorned, the top of the pagoda stands out distinctly against the various buildings. Even before seeing the temple, it is the pagoda that welcomes us.

This pagoda enjoys a great reputation in Buddhist history; it locates in the Bolin Temple. According to historical records, the pagoda is the symbol of Monk Zhaozhou, who established the discipline of Zhaozhou Zen. He stayed in the temple for forty years to teach and spread Buddhism, which had a deep influence on the local people. After 120 years, Monk Zhaozhou received the respectful nirvana. This pagoda contains his bones and clothing in honor of him.

For six hundred years, the pagoda outlasted the other structures in the temple compound as they crumbled to ash.

The Rhythm of the Bell and Drum

It is a symbol of monastic life to ring a bell at sunrise and beat a drum at sunset. At the Zhaozhou temple, the tolling of the bell has been known by the nation since ancient times.

It is the night of the sixteenth day of the last lunar month. The bright moon casts a light upon us. At ten o’clock in the evening, we wait outside the Bell and Drum Tower. This rebuilt tower is about 55 feet in height and has a bell on the second floor and a drum on the third. From the top you can have a bird’s eye view of the whole temple at night, as well as the lights of the county outside the wall.

At that precise moment of ten o’clock, a young monk strides towards the tower to open the door. We keep pace with him up to the third floor. We watch as he puts on white gloves and calmly lights candles before the statue of Buddha. The rhythm of the drum then bursts out in strikes. Different from normal, hard strikes, the monk knocks heavily with his right hand while holding down the other stick, sliding fluently in various directions, which creates a dynamic vibration and rhythm.

Every night, the monk strikes the drum at the Bell and Drum Tower absorbedly.

The rise and fall of rhythm create the illusion of a couple of drums being struck together, like thunder in a heavy storm. Actually, the name of this sound is exactly called “thunder and lightning,” to show people’s awe as well as its closeness to the nature. We silently open the wooden windows to spread the liberal chime further.

The beating of the drum lasts for ten minutes, until the bell begins to ring. We go downstairs immediately to see an elder monk in a gray costume tolling the huge bell. Half closing his eyes to immerse himself in the singing of a Buddhist song, he rings the bell with an inner strength of peace. The outside world is disregarded here; the tolling is perpetual.

Hearing the “DANG DANG” reverberating among the cypresses and groves in the tranquil moonlight, we amble down the wooden corridor around the yard. The practice of monastic life ends in the tolling. The light in the guestrooms and monks’ dormitories disappear one after another, making the quiet temple even more tranquil.

The pause between each tolling becomes longer and longer, just like someone walking further and further into the distance. Nobody realizes when it stops.

Later, covered in thick and warm quilts, we sleep deeply.

The Dining Hall of Five Contemplation

The next day is the Beginning of Spring, the first solar term in the Chinese calendar. We have breakfast at six o’clock in the morning at the dining hall which is called Xiangzhi Hall. Rows of long tables and benches lie in order. Each seat has a pair of bowls. People walk into the dining hall in a uniform line and sit down before their seat. After a grateful singing prayer for the food and Buddha, volunteers begin to hand out food for everyone. One bowl is for porridge, the other is for dishes. I take some congee with millet, peanuts, Chinese dates and so on, and some dishes like broccolis, mushrooms, soybeans, carrots and fungi.

There is an important etiquette for the meal: keep silent. Some specific postures have been designed for simple communication. A group of volunteers carrying different dishes will come by, one by one, to give out food. If you need the dish which is carried by a volunteer, you can push your bowl forward to ask for the food. If not, just take back your bowl. If you want a large serving of a particular dish, you can simply give a thumbs-up. So even though the hall holds almost four hundred people having meals together, little noise is made, except for the sound of chopsticks touching the bowl. Actually, the habit of keeping silent is not merely applied to mealtime etiquette but everywhere in the temple. A board on which is written “wordless” can be seen in many places, which goes along with the whole practice of Zen.

Another norm in the dining hall is to waste no food. Before the meal, we are informed to order only as much as you can eat, which is an unspoken principle in temple. Even the very tiny rice and oil left in the bowl after a meal should be drank with hot water. The reason for this rule is quite simple: Since all the food here is donated by the public, it would be a great shame if you wasted any amount of food given to you by the kind people.

To learn more about the dining hall, we are allowed to enter the kitchen. In the food preparation room, ten or more women are busy with chopping vegetables. According to Ming Qing Shi, the monk who is responsible for the dining hall, they are all volunteers from around the country who have come to help with the big events at the temple.

Volunteers working in the kitchen to prepare vegetarian meals for Buddhists.

Ming Qing Shi leads us to the stove and says, “This is the Arhat Dish,” pointing at a big steel pot. “We cook various vegetables together.” I ask: “How does it feel to eat the same dishes every day?” He replies: “It is a very usual one, so there is no preference in the dish. It is important for monks to reduce the sense of differentiation in everything, including foods.” Referring to Buddhism, eating should be moderate, never getting too full, because too much food would hinder one from mediation and the modulation of breath. So another rule, for the monks, is not to eat after noon. However, the householders can make their own choice. As a result, dinner is called “remedies” in Buddhism. It is taken as an additional replenishing of food.

In spite of the simple and limited food, the monks in temple are all in good condition and flourishing energies. I wonder whether it is the vegetables that do this. Ming Qing Shi agrees firmly. He says: “We only eat the simplest natural food without too much flavor. So vegetables like green onions, gingers and garlics with strong smell are not on our recipe. The stimulation of our sensation of taste and smell is detrimental to the practice of Zen, which might disturb the peace of mind.”

(to be continued…)

Karma, Suffering and Ego: Some Opinions from Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers

From “In the PRESENCE of MASTERS: WISDOM FROM 30 CONTEMPORARY TIBETAN BUDDHIST TEACHERS” by Reginald A. Ray

KARMA—Karma is “deed” or “action,” and the accumulated results of action…. Naturally these actions include those taken in previous lives.

—ENCYCLOPEDIA OF Buddhism by Edward A. Irons

HOW THE PROCESS OF KARMA WORKS

 

The volume contains instructions, originally given orally to Western students, on mediation and the spiritual life by contemporary Tibetan lamas.

[Our] fundamental consciousness can be compared to a ground that receives imprints and seeds left by our actions. Once planted, these seeds remain in the ground of fundamental consciousness until the conditions for their germination and ripening have come together. In this way, they actualize their potential by producing the plants and fruits that are the various experiences of samsara. The traces that actions leave in the fundamental consciousness are causes that, when favorable conditions present themselves, then result in a particular state of individual consciousness accompanied by its own specific experiences. In general, the collection of imprints left in this fundamental awareness by past actions serves to condition all states and experiences of individual consciousness, that is what we are and everything we experience. The linking of the different steps of this process, from the causes, the initial acts, up to their consequences, present and future experiences, is called karma, or causation of actions.

Kalu Rinpoche

KARMA DOES NOT IMPLY FATALISM

Within the concept of karma, there is no notion of destiny or fatalism; we only reap what we sow. We experience the results of our own actions.

Kalu Rinpoche

THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING IS OUR WAY OF PERCEIVING AND REACTING

If we can somehow change our way of being, our way of perceiving, if we can work on out habitual tendencies of being and perceiving an go beyond that to see exactly the way things are, and then work on that basis, maybe we can overcome the causes of our suffering….

Whether I am happy or unhappy, whether I am in a joyful state or in a suffering state, that is my own experience. What is happening when I have an unpleasant experience? I am perceiving the experience as something bad; I don’t like it; I have aversion to it. Any experience that I don’t like becomes suffering; any experience that I fear becomes suffering. Therefore the root of all suffering is aversion and fear. And because of aversion and fear, there is no wanting….

All our suffering and pain… [are] based on our not seeing clearly the actual way things are and who or what we are. From the Buddhist point of view, that’s the cause of suffering: it lies in our way of perception and our way of reaction.

So if—and this is the crucial understanding—if we can somehow change our way of seeing and of reacting so that we don’t have to keep running after or running away from things, if we can be without the fear and the aversion, then we will find peace.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

DESIRE ITSELF IS NOT THE PROBLEM

We do not really understand what desire means. In the West, desire seems to refer to sense gratification. However, in the Buddhist view, desire is not a craving of the sense, but the mental concepts and projections that we build up on an object, thereby bringing us problems. Desire misinterpret and distorts the object; we then hallucinate and drive ourselves crazy.

Lama Thubten Yeshe Rinpoche

THE ORIGIN OF EGO FROM CLEAR SPACE

From beginningless time there are no habits in unconditioned, natural mind. Still we create habit by dividing phenomena from clear space. Inherently a mirror does not have any dust. Still it attracts and gathers dust, which obscures its natural clarity. In the same way, our pure Wisdom Mind becomes obscured by ego when we become attached to its pure phenomena’s unobstructed display. If we can recognize our natural stainless mind, we will not become obscured through attachment, but if we do not recognize our pure natural mind, then our subtle elements’ phenomena gather like dust on our clear mirror mind.

Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

THE ABSOLUTE NATURE AND THE ARISING OF PHENOMENA

We looking at the light rays to create the notion of an object out there and a subject within.

Beings have forgotten the absolute, their own true nature. The absolute nature is like the sun, and phenomena are like the rays of light that emanate from it. To recognize that all these rays of light, phenomena, come from the sun, the absolute nature itself, is to be totally enlightened at that very moment.

       But unenlightened beings, not recognizing where the rays are coming from, turn their backs to the sun, and instead of looking at the light rays’ source they look at where they fall. They start to create the notion of an object out there and a subject within. Then, when the five senses connect the “object” to the “subject,” craving and aversion arise; the seeds of samsara have been sown, and from them grow the three realms of existence. But at no point have the phenomena of delusion been separated from the nature of Buddhahood, which always pervades each and every being, and all phenomena.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

 

Related articles

• 7 Essential & Enlightening Classic Buddhist Books. (elephantjournal.com)
• Karma Isn’t a Bank Account (engageddharma.com)

How Fart Can Make You Grow Spiritually? – The Story of Su Dongpo and Fo Yin

When Su Dongpo took the boat across the river, he has already lost the inner peace of mind.

Su Dongpo was an avid student of Buddhist teachings. He was quick-witted and humorous; as a Zen Buddhism follower he was very serious and self-disciplined. He often discussed Buddhism with his good friend, Zen Master Fo Yin. The two lived across the river from one another.

Following is an interesting and famous story about him and Zen Master Foyin.

One day, Su Dongpo felt inspired and wrote the following poem:

稽首天中天，

毫光照大千；

八风吹不动，

端坐紫金莲。

I bow my head to the heaven within heaven,
Hairline bright rays illuminating the universe,
The eight winds cannot move me,
Sitting still upon the purple golden lotus.
The “eight winds” in the poem referred to praise, ridicule, honor, disgrace, gain, loss, pleasure and misery – interpersonal forces of the material world that drive and influence the hearts of men. Su Dongpo was saying that he has attained a higher level of spirituality, where these forces no longer affect him.

Impressed by himself, Su Dongpo sent a servant to hand-carry this poem to Fo Yin. He was sure that his friend would be equally impressed. When Fo Yin read the poem, he immediately saw that it was both a tribute to the Buddha and a declaration of spiritual refinement. Smiling, the Zen Master wrote “fart” on the manuscript and had it returned to Su Dongpo.

Su Dongpo was expecting compliments and a seal of approval. When he saw “fart” written on the manuscript, he was shocked . He burst into anger: “How dare he insult me like this? Why that lousy old monk! He’s got a lot of explaining to do!”

Full of indignation, he rushed out of his house and ordered a boat to ferry him to the other shore as quickly as possible. He wanted to find Fo Yin and demand an apology. However, Fo Yin’s door closed. On the door was a piece of paper, for Su Dongpo. The paper had following two lines:

八风吹不动，

一屁过江来。
The eight winds cannot move you,
One fart blows you across the river.

This stopped Su Dongpo cold. Fo Yin had anticipated this hot-headed visit. Su Dongpo’s anger suddenly drained away as he understood his friend’s meaning. If he really was a man of spiritual refinement,
completely unaffected by the eight winds, then how could he be so easily provoked?

With a few strokes of the pen and minimal effort, Fo Yin showed that Su Dongpo was in fact not as spiritually advanced as he claimed to be. Ashamed but wiser, Su Dongpo departed quietly.

This event proved to be a turning point in Su Dongpo’s spiritual development. From that point on, he became a man of humility, and not merely someone who boasted of possessing the virtue.

 

Daily Tea: The spiritually advanced development of mind sometimes cannot be declared by oneself, but only be perceived by others. Once you get the thought of success and being advanced than others, you have already been arrogant and lost the pure wisdom. Being humble and cautious all the time can remain you at a perpetual spiritual status without the danger of falling into the blindness and stupidity.

 

Behavior Mirrors the Mind – the Story of Su Dongpo and Fo Yin

Su Shi, also known as Dong Po (1037 – 1101) was a Chinese writer, poet, painter, calligrapher, and a follower of Buddhism in the Song Dynasty (960–1279).

Su Dongpo, the famous scholar, one day joined Fo Yin, a Buddhist monk, in sitting meditation.

They meditated for some time before Su Dongpo opened his eyes and asked Fo Yin, “What did you see in me when I was meditating?”

Fo Yin looked at him and nodded in approval, “You looked like a stately Buddha.”

Su Dongpo was very pleased.

After a while, Fo Yin asked Su the same question. Su wanted to make a joke with him, so he said, “You look to me like bullshit.”

Fo Yin smiled, and did not retort. Su Dongpo felt he had taken advantage of Fo Yin, so he went back home in a good mood, and told his sister, Su Xiaomei about it.

To his surprise, his sister laughed at him for his stupidity.

Su Dongpo did not understand why. Su Xiaomei then explained, “Monk Fo Yin cherishes Buddha in his heart, so in his eyes you looked like Buddha. You said he looked like bullshit. That means your heart is full of bullshit.”

Daily Tea: Your behavior mirrors your mind. What you see is usually what you are. When we confront life optimistically and hopefully, even the setback could be a gift from destiny. When you murmur at life for its unfairness, even the good luck could be hidden from our eyes. Please be grateful and encouraging to the people around you, then the whole world will reveal its extreme beauty to you.

Related articles

• Chinese Idiom: The Appearance Stems from the Mind（相由心生） (theepochtimes.com)

I Left Her at the River

The real burden of life is in your mind. Let them go with the water. (Photo by Wang Zhang)

Mindfulness: Be Simple and Easy, Just Rest in Awareness (II) – A lesson from Munindra, a Bengali Buddhist master and scholar

The Practice Is to Be Simple

Mediation can help us to gain the simplicity of life. (Photos by Wang Zhang)

Munindra highlighted simplicity and ease. Joseph Goldstein says he must have repeated thousands of times, “Be simple and easy. Take things as they come.”  Still, that is a challenge for many.

Sometimes students misunderstood Munindra’s  use of “simple.” When they saw him bargaining intensely, even for a bag of peanuts, they questioned his action and reminded him, “You said to be simple and easy. What are you doing?” He would pause, then respond, “I said to be simple, not a simpleton.” As Roy Bonney understands this, “Essentially, what I took form it is that it’s really important to have a practice and recognize the truth of world, but don’t be a fool in the world.”

Munindra taught that true meditation can have a refreshing or relaxing effect:

When mind comes to a silent state, then we recoup our energy again. Meditation is not forcing, not straining oneself. It is harmonious wok with the whole being, not fighting. If we understand the process of meditation, it is so simple. As long as we do not understand, it is an extraordinarily difficult task because our mind is not trained not to cling, not to condemn, not to judge, just to be with what is at the moment. But once you understand the Law [Dharma], then it is the most simple thing—it is a way of life. As one develops mindfulness, after some time it takes care of itself; it becomes effortless, automatic.

Appreciating Munindra’s free-form approach, Sharon Salzberg says, “His view of meditation was very big—live mindfully—it’s OK if you go to the bazaar for a cup of chia [tea]… He left me with a very big sense of , as he put it, ‘living the life,’ of not being so prescribed and formalistic or stylized about practice, but really understanding its roots in transforming one’s mind.”

Jack cornfield puts it succinctly: “He didn’t divide life from meditation,” and that is why he was such a vital model for people East and West.

The Benefits of Seeing the Truth of Each Moment

Mindfulness is an opportunity to experience everything anew. Munindra said,

People can do things better when they are mindful. It is not only beneficial on a spiritual level, it is also beneficial on a physical level. It is a process of purification too. When mind is purified, many psychophysical diseases are cured automatically. People understand their own anger, hatred, jealousy—all these unwholesome factors which arise in the mind and which we do not understand generally. So many psychophysical diseases, which we accumulate unconsciously or by reflex action emotionally, [can] come under restraint, but not by suppressing. By coming close to and seeing them, people become free from many physical ailments, many mental ailments. They become more sweet, more loving.

Sati always provides the brilliance of a lamp in shadowy places, a way out of the stress and darkness in life, wholesomely and clearly. He described how:

All the  dirt accumulated in our unconscious, subconscious, we are just following life after life. So when you observe silence, all kinds of thoughts come up on the surface. It is not somebody sending it to us; it is part of our life. You get caught up with the thought because, say, somebody scolded you in the past but you suppressed it. But when the mind is silent, not talking, not busy, anything can come up. At that time, you see things because of awareness. You are asked to develop mindfulness because sati illuminates [the] whole mental field.

Resting in the awareness of each fresh moment is not asking someone to live nothing but meditation. As Munindra put it, it is a way of life, “a beautiful way to live and die”. Says Sharon Salzberg.

This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and grief, for the attainment of the true way, for the realization of nibbana—namely, the foundations of mindfulness.

–THE BUDDHA, MN 10.2

Related articles

• Book review of “Living this life fully: stories and teachings of Munindra” (existentialbuddhist.com)
• Mindfulness Meditation (sexymoxiemama.wordpress.com)
• Meditation Is Rest: Rest Makes Your Mind Efficient (wakingtimes.com)
• What Mindfulness Is Not! (dranilj1.wordpress.com)

Mindfulness: Be Simple and Easy, Just Rest in Awareness (I) – A lesson from Munindra, a Bengali Buddhist master and scholar

MINDFULNESS (SATI): Awareness. An alert state of mind that should be cultivated constantly as the foundation for understanding and insight.

—A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press

This article is edited from the book, “Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra”(Shambhala Publications, 2010) by Mirka Knaster.

For many students, Munindra’s best  teachings took place outside the meditation hall in a very ordinary and detailed way.  According to his students, “he was the epitome of mindfulness all the time.”

“We’d be walking along, and my mind would be running.” Says one of the master’s students, Akasa. “He would say, ‘Oh, look! See the little flower!’ he would bend to look at it and say, ‘See, it grows like this.’ He would lightly touch it, taking me out of my head and back to the earth, back to what was right there. You could say he distracted me back to the present moment. He was very good and very soft with that. Munindra would say, ‘Pay attention. Be mindful of all the details.’ He would stick the word mindfully into just about every other sentence he uttered.”

Michael Liebenson Grady, who was Munindra’s attendant at Insight Meditation Society (IMS) for a time, adds, “ Munindra had the ability to see the Dharma everywhere, in everything, including all the ordinary experiences of daily life. This attitude is helpful to lay practitioners.”

Mind and Mindfulness

Anagarika Munindra i Bodh Gaya 1968

“Mind and mindfulness are two different things,” Munindra used to explain.

Mind by nature has no color. When it is colored with greed, we call it “greedy mind.” When anger arises, at that moment, it is called “angry man” or “angry mind.” If there is no mindfulness, mind is influenced by this anger. Anger has the nature to pollute the mind; it created poison. But mind is not anger; anger is not mind. Mind is not greed; greed is not mind. Please remember this. Mind has no nature of liking or disliking. “Mind” means “knowing faculty”, “cognizing faculty.”

Mindfulness is a different thing: alertness, awareness, remembering, heedfulness. It means not to forget, just to be aware. To be mindful of what is going on. When you are asked to walk on a [narrow] one-bamboo bridge over the river, you have to be so careful on every step. Once you forget, there is every possibility of falling down. If you lose your mindfulness, you will hurt yourself or kill yourself. So, in reality, mindfulness means not to forget what is going on at a present moment—in thought, in word, in deed.

Munidra noted that though the mind is “always there, always working,” we are not always mindful. He said, “many times you will see that mind is not with you, you are not with the mind. Mind is somewhere else, thinking something else, while [the] eating process is going on mechanically, unmindfully.” According to Munindra, there is only one way to conduct all activities—with moment-to-moment awareness.

Related articles

• Mindfulness #7 Listening (walkswithyogi.com)
• Bodhi: the ever-presence (lindenthorp.wordpress.com)
• Taking the 5 Mindfulness Trainings (namasteconsultinginc.com)