Rebuilding Our Health

Thich Nhat Hanh — Winter Retreat 2013–2014 Stillwater Meditation Hall, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village · 17 November 2013 · talk 1 of 24

Illuminates: the 51 mental formations (the five universals & five particulars) · seeds and store consciousness · hell and paradise within (Verse 9) · restlessness (#40) ↔ ease (#18) · mindfulness as healing.

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[Opening chant / invocation.] Good morning, dear Sangha.

Today is November 17th, 2013. We are in the Stillwater Meditation Hall of the Upper Hamlet, and this is the first dharma talk of the Winter Retreat 2013–2014.

Many of us want to rebuild our health — mental health and physical health. Our society seems not to be very healthy. Children get sick too; they suffer quite a lot because their parents suffer also. The health retreats organized in Plum Village these last three or four years have been attended by so many people, and most come looking for a way of healing. Several of us have come to this winter retreat hoping to heal ourselves.

We know that the practice of mindfulness can help us heal. But mindfulness is not a means by which healing comes — mindfulness is the healing itself. That is why, when we practice mindfulness, we should practice in such a way that every practice is the healing itself.

Suppose you are practicing mindful breathing and you think that breathing will bring healing. You have to breathe in such a way that every breath is healing — it is not a means, it is an end. If during your in-breath you feel calm, you feel pleasant, then the healing is already there during the time you breathe in. But if you suffer, if you have to make a lot of effort breathing in, that is not healing. An in-breath can be healing or not — it depends on our way of breathing.

We have a tendency to run. We have a habit of running, and this habit may have been transmitted to us by our parents and ancestors. We run because we are not comfortable in the here and the now. We run looking for something to make us happier, and behind that running is a belief that happiness is not possible here and now — so we run into the future looking for more conditions of happiness. We run without knowing we are running, because running has become a habit energy pushing us. When you breathe in mindfully, if you cannot stop the running, your in-breath has no power to heal. Your in-breath has to be able to stop the running. You breathe in such a way that the in-breath becomes pleasant, that you can rest in it, that you find peace and joy in it — and then you can stop. But if you breathe with the desire to get something out of your in-breath, like health, you are still running.

So breathing is an art. You breathe in such a way that your in-breath brings peace, happiness, joy, contentment — and that is the only way to breathe so that you can heal. When you walk, you do the same. Mindful walking is to help you stop running. If you walk with the purpose of achieving something, you are still running. But if you make a step and are entirely satisfied with that step — if you find in it joy, peace, happiness — it nourishes you, and that is healing, because you have stopped the running while you walk.

Stopping the running is very important. But the willingness to stop is not yet stopping. You need some insight in order to really stop. It is like relaxation. Everyone knows relaxation is good. There is tension in our body, accumulated for a long time, and you want to release it — but the willingness to relax is not relaxation. You need some insight in order to release the tension. That is why mindfulness has to go with insight.

Mindfulness is the energy that helps you know what is going on. What is going on in your body? If there is tension, you know there is tension. If there is pain, you know there is pain. Mindfulness helps you see more deeply: that you have a body, and that this body is a continuation of the body of your father, your mother, your ancestors. If you keep your mindfulness alive, you become more and more concentrated, and if you are really concentrated you begin to see things — you begin to have insight. That insight can help you get out of your suffering, out of your illusion, and really stop. Mindfulness is connected with concentration and insight; if you practice mindfulness well, you get concentration and insight at the same time.

The 51 mental formations

Everyone will receive a sheet of paper with the names of the 51 mental formations, and we will use it throughout the retreat. The first five I call the five universals: they begin with contact, followed by attention, then feeling, perception, and volition. After the five universals come the five particulars, which begin with intention, then determination, mindfulness, concentration, and insight. We are speaking of mindfulness, which is one of the five particulars.

When we speak of mind, we speak of something big, like a river — the river of the mind. But a river is always made of drops of water, and these drops represent mental formations. Our consciousness has at least two parts. The lower part is called store consciousness. It preserves many kinds of seeds, like soil preserving seeds; and every time a seed is touched and watered, it manifests in the upper level of consciousness and becomes a mental formation. Below, it is called a seed (bīja); when it manifests, it is called a mental formation (saṃskāra). So mind is made of mental formations.

The seed is a kind of potential. Everyone has a seed of anger. But even with the most sophisticated techniques, scientists cannot photograph the seed of anger in you. They cannot locate it in your consciousness or your brain; no means of imaging can point to it — and yet you know it is there. When the seed of anger sleeps calmly, you can laugh, you can have a good time — but that does not mean the seed is not in you. It has not manifested; it needs conditions to manifest. So the seed is the non-local potential of a mental formation — you cannot point to where it is, and yet it is there.

We have 51 categories of seeds. Some are wholesome — they help you be happy, generous, compassionate, joyful. Others are unwholesome — anger, distress, fear, and so on. This means that in store consciousness you have hell and you have paradise. Hell and paradise are not elsewhere in space and time; they are inside you. Sometimes paradise manifests and you are happy; sometimes hell manifests and you suffer. It is like a television set with 51 channels, and it is up to you to choose the channel. You can choose paradise or hell. You can choose to be a Buddha, or you can choose to be an animal or a hungry ghost. It is up to you.

That is store consciousness — the foundation of everything. You have a seed of mindfulness down there; everyone has one. In a Buddha that seed is very robust, very strong, so that when needed there is a great deal of mindfulness to heal themselves and help heal others. We are told that Jesus had the power to heal — in that case he must have had a great deal of mindfulness in himself.

Mindfulness, concentration, insight

Mindfulness is, first of all, the energy that helps you know what is going on — in your body, in your feelings, in your perceptions, and in the world around you. When you practice mindful breathing, you recognize the closest thing going on: your in-breath. “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.” Many of us breathe in but do not know we are breathing in — that is not mindful breathing. When you are aware of your in-breath, your mind is only on your in-breath, nothing else: you have a one-pointed mind, with only one object. So mindfulness already carries within itself the energy of concentration. Mindfulness and concentration go together.

If you maintain your mindfulness longer, concentration grows; and when mindfulness and concentration are powerful enough, you get insight. Insight can come very quickly — you don’t need hours or months. Breathing in, so concentrated on your in-breath, you know: “Ah, I am breathing in” — and that is already enlightenment. Those who have died do not breathe in anymore; since I am breathing in, I am alive. “I am still alive” is an insight. To be alive is a wonder, a miracle. Your in-breath tells you that you are alive. Many people are there but do not remember they are alive; they are wasting their life, not living it. Mindfulness tells you that you are alive and that you should enjoy being alive — and that brings joy in just a few seconds. That insight has the power to liberate you from forgetfulness, which is the opposite of mindfulness.

Mindfulness is written in Chinese with two parts: above means the present moment, below means your mind — your mind returned home to the present moment. When you breathe in mindfully, you bring your mind home to your body and establish yourself in the present moment; and established there, you know what is going on — that you are breathing in, that you have a body, that you are alive. So mindfulness, concentration, and insight can come in three, four, five seconds.

Another example: you want to release the tension in your body, but you do not know how, and so you feel under pressure all the time because of the habit of running. Breathing in, you recognize the habit energy of running; you can feel it pushing you into the future. Looking deeply, you see that people run after wealth, fame, power, and sensual pleasure because they think these things will bring happiness — an idea you may have absorbed from those around you, that without these things you cannot be happy. But you also see that many who run after these objects of craving harm their body and mind, growing sick physically and mentally; and even those who have obtained plenty of them are not happy — there are wealthy, powerful, famous people who nonetheless commit suicide. That insight helps you stop running — not because you want to stop, but because you see that the running leads nowhere and only makes you suffer. Only that kind of insight lets you really stop. And then you can release the tension in your body easily, and enjoy doing it. Then your in-breath and out-breath are the healing itself. Every breath is healing.

Walking meditation is the same. When you make a step, you know you are not looking for something in the future, not willing to arrive anywhere; you just want to make a step and touch the wonders of life available here and now. Making a step, you stop the running and get in touch with Mother Earth, Father Sun, and the oneness of life. Nature has the power to heal and to nourish. If you are not healed, it is because you have not allowed nature to heal you — you have been running, not letting your body and mind be embraced by Mother Earth. When you make a step and surrender to Mother Earth, you stop running, you allow her to embrace you, and you receive the healing in that step. The earth is not just the environment; the earth is ourselves, the earth is inside us, and we are the earth — and Mother Earth has the power to heal and nourish. Mindful breathing and mindful walking are ways of going back to yourself, back to Mother Earth, to get the healing you need. Your body and mind both have the power to heal themselves, but you do not allow them to, because you keep them under pressure. Society is organized to put a great deal of pressure on you, and you follow that path; you do not know how to resist, and so you are pulled away from yourself.

Ease and restlessness

Remember: every breath is healing, every step is healing.

There is a good mental formation whose name is ease — peace, tranquility (praśrabdhi); there are many ways to translate it. You have this capacity to be peaceful, at ease, calm, but it may not be strong in you because you have not been cultivating it. Happiness cannot be without this mental formation. And among the seven factors of awakening (bodhyaṅga), ease is one. If you want awakening, you should cultivate ease and peace; without that mental formation, healing does not take place easily. Mindful breathing and mindful walking help you cultivate more peace.

There is another mental formation, of the opposite nature, that you have to deal with: restlessness. There is a definition of it in the Atthasālinī [by Buddhaghosa]: it has mental excitement as its characteristic, like a flag waving in the wind; its function is wavering; and its manifestation is like scattered ashes struck by a stone, whirling. Restlessness prevents the mind from applying itself to the good mental formations. When we are restless, there is no chance for the good things to happen to us.

There are moments when we feel empty inside and do not know how to handle the vacuum, the loneliness, the despair. We look for something to cover it up — we check email, pick up a newspaper, listen to the news — looking for something in order to forget the loneliness and suffering inside. Our body is restless; our mind is restless. We sit, but it is as if there were burning charcoal beneath us; we walk, but it is as if we step on fire. No position of the body, no object of mind can help us be peaceful. That is restlessness — a mental formation that prevents the good things from happening.

There are ways we try to calm it. We take refuge in work and become workaholics — not because we love the work or want money, but because working calms us down a little. We go to music, to television, to a newspaper, even when nothing in it is interesting; we do these things to cover up, to take refuge so as not to feel the lack of peace. We may take refuge even in study, in learning English or French or Buddhism — “study is not something bad” — and feel a little better while busy. Even in the monastic community there are a few like this, believing we serve the Sangha by working very hard, when it is only a refuge from the restlessness in us. We should not work in that spirit, because afterward the restlessness comes back the same.

Many people are addicted to work this way. Many children and adults get stuck in electronic games, which serve as a refuge to forget loneliness and restlessness for a while — and become addicted. Addiction to the internet has become a disease of our time. We go to the internet to take refuge, to forget for some time the loneliness in us. To survive, you have to look deeply and see your real situation, the real roots of your ill-being.

A rabbit goes into a hole to be protected, but it cannot stay there forever; it has to come out and look for food. Even in our sitting meditation we can behave like rabbits, using meditation as a refuge so as not to suffer too much from restlessness — but after sitting we go out and suffer again. That is why practicing breathing and sitting is not, by itself, the answer. You have to breathe, walk, and sit in such a way that you get insight. Without insight you cannot heal. There are those who can enter dhyāna and stay for several days — but they only take refuge in the fourth dhyāna or the fourth formless absorption (ārūpya), and that is not the solution either, because when they come out they suffer again. That is why we practice vipaśyanā and not only śamatha — vipaśyanā means looking deeply in order to get insight, and only insight can liberate you from afflictions like restlessness. Meditation should not be a temporary refuge that stops suffering for a while; it should have the power to transform the suffering in you — and for that, mindfulness has to lead to concentration and insight.

So when we talk about mindfulness “to reduce stress,” we have to be careful. Mindfulness cannot reduce stress if it does not provide insight — because the intention to release tension is not enough; we need insight in order to release, we need to stop running in order to truly release.

Work and life

Our society is caught in the conflict between work and life. We are so busy, we work so much, that we don’t have time to live. Many ask how to balance work and life, because work can take up your whole life and you can become addicted to it — not just for the money, but because you don’t know how to handle the suffering and loneliness in you, and so you take the work as a refuge.

First, we have to be mindful when restlessness manifests. When there is no peace, say hello to it: “Hello, my restlessness. I know you are there. I will take good care of you.” Then, practicing mindful breathing, you bring your mind home to your body; mind and body together, you establish the here and the now and get in touch with life and all its wonders. And you see that investing all your time in work will not let you live, will not let you touch the wonders of life for your healing — that is your insight. Only with that insight can you stop taking work as a refuge.

When I was ordained as a novice monk, my teacher gave me a book of verses to learn by heart and practice mindfulness. The first verse is: Waking up this morning, I smile. I know I have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. I vow to live them deeply, and to look at all beings with the eyes of compassion. You breathe in with the first line, out with the second. As a novice you have to carry water, chop wood, cook breakfast for the community — but you do these things in such a way that you enjoy every moment, because in the Zen tradition, chopping wood and carrying water is the practice. There is no longer a distinction between working and living.

So when you drive to your workplace, drive in such a way that life is possible during the driving. After you park, walk into your office in such a way that every step has life. When you receive a guest, let the encounter be such that life is possible — human relationship, compassion is possible even while you talk business. Don’t say, “I have to finish the work in order to begin to live.” Walking from the parking lot to your workplace, walk so that every step is healing, every step is life. That is the secret: no more distinction between working and living. We have to organize our life like that, and help our society reorganize — otherwise we lose our life.

Every morning, nature brings you a great gift: twenty-four brand-new hours. Live them so you do not waste them. Brush your teeth in such a way that joy, peace, and life are possible — it may take two or three minutes, and that time is also life. Even going to the toilet, urinating or defecating, make these moments pleasant; take time to enjoy them, because they are the practice of the dharma. As novices we had to learn to do that — there is a verse for putting on your robe, too, to breathe in and out so that you are aware of what you are doing and can do it with joy. People will say, “You do it so slowly — time is money.” But time is not only money; time is life. Money is nothing compared to life.

You can live more simply and more deeply and happily. In Plum Village none of us has a private house, a private car, or a salary, and yet happiness is possible — brotherhood, sisterhood, good communication, joy are all possible. Every day we have time to sit together, walk together, eat together, and share together, and we don’t need a lot of money to do so. We have to reorganize our life and our society; we have to remove that pressure society puts on us. We have to resist. Your way of walking from the parking lot to your office is itself a way of resisting: “I don’t accept; I do it my way.” Peace is every step; joy is every step. And if many of us live like that, society will change.

So a step taken in mindfulness, concentration, and insight brings joy and happiness, and is an effective measure against the energy of restlessness — the energy that pushes us to look for something to cover up our suffering, our loneliness, our lack of peace. We have to observe and recognize our habit energy. When we see a newspaper, our tendency is to pick it up and read — but do we need to? Some of us watch the news every day; some check email several times a day; some cannot stand to do nothing, cannot afford to be still. That is the symptom of restlessness: we want something to cover up our lack of peace. Meanwhile, nature is there, life is there with all its wonders, and we do not have the power to go home to the here and now to receive the nourishment and healing we need.

There is a country where you can get healing more easily, and that is the country of the present moment. You need a passport to enter it, and that passport is the practice of mindful breathing and mindful walking. Every breath and every step brings you home to the here and the now, and you find yourself in the country of the present moment. If you know how to live each moment deeply, you get the healing every moment, every minute, every second.

On the teaching ahead

In this winter retreat we will study the teaching of Manifestation-Only. There is a school of Buddhism by that name. There is no creation — there is only manifestation. Creation means that from nothing there is something; manifestation means only manifestation — no birth, no death, no beginning, no end. We will look at the teaching with critical eyes and try to apply it in our daily life. The mental formations we have spoken of this morning belong to this teaching. You are not a creation; you are a wonderful manifestation. And if you end one manifestation, you begin another, and every manifestation is a wonder — if you are not a flower then you are a bird, if not a bird then a cloud. Every manifestation is a wonder; don’t worry.

So at the beginning we need the Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Sanskrit; then the list of the 51 mental formations; other materials will come later.

Welcome to the winter retreat. Enjoy the Sangha, and get the healing in every moment of your daily life. There is nothing to do now, nowhere to go. We are very lucky.