The Practice of Prayer byThich Nhat Hanh - The Mindfulness Bell

A Prayer of Mercy
by Jim Forest
In 1967 and 1968,1 was often Thich Nhat Hanh's traveling
companion. In the 1970s I lived with him for a timein
France, so I carry from those years not only memories of
what he said but what it was like living with him.
To this day, when I climb upflights of stairs, Thay is
present because he taught me how to breathe while climbing
the five flights that stood between the street and my apartment.
To breathe and walk in a mindful way means not
being breathless but feeling refreshed at the end of the
ascent. He is often with me when Ifeel anger, for hehad
good advice about how to breathe in such times: inhaling
and exhaling slowly and deeply, aware of each breath,an
action that can convert rage to compassion.
What Thay teaches, I have come to appreciate, is away
of prayer that reaches even the areas of deepest bitterness
and hopelessness. Thanks to him, I have found it easier to
practice one of the harder disciplines Jesus imposes on his
followers: prayer for enemies. In The Miracle of Mindfulness,
Thay asks us to contemplate the features of a person
we hate, and to examine what makes this person happy and
what causes them suffering. This should be continued until
we feel compassion rising in our heart. Perhaps the hardest
part of such a simple exercise is making the first step—
wanting to want good rather than bad for a person whose
name or image makes your blood boil and steam come out
of your ears. The truth is you don't yet want good things to
happen to this person, but you are trying to want it. This is
hard work. But Ican vouch for the wisdom and effectiveness
of this advice. Just to contemplate a hated person's face
is more than a beginning.
In my practice as a Christian of the Russian Orthodox
tradition, I have learned to connect this both tomy breathing
and the Jesus Prayer (sometimes called the Prayer of the
Heart). In its simplest, shortest form, the prayer is, "Jesus,
mercy." In its longer, probably most widely used form, it is,
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a
sinner," but for some of us, that text might well ring the
wrong bells and require a long explanation. The main thing
is simply to say that Thay's exercise can be linked with a
simple prayer for mercy and that can be connected with
breathing.
Jim Forest is the author of several books, including Living
with Wisdom, a biography of Thomas Merton, Religion in
the New Russia, and Love is the Measure, a biography of
Dorothy Day. He lives in Holland where he is secretary of
the Orthodox Peace Fellowship and editor of its journal, In
Communion.
Holy Week
by Joan Monastero
Each year, I spend Holy Week at the Nevada Test Site.
The groups I have come to cherish there are Nevada
Desert Experience, The Catholic Worker, and Pace e
Bene—all part of the movement to stop underground
nuclear testing at the site. These groups provide a faithbased
witness of peace and nonviolence amidst a very
destructive situation.
This year, I was invited to help prepare the liturgy for
Good Friday at the Nevada Test Site. We created fourteen
Stations of the Cross for the occasion, using enlarged photos
of contemporary situations of suffering such as war,
poverty, homelessness, and the death penalty. During this
procession of about 50 people, I offered the bell of mindfulness.
At each station, the bell was invited at the beginning
and end of the reflection. When we reached the entrance of
the test site at the end of the walk, we formed a circle and
read the Fourteen Precepts of the Order of Interbeing.
The Fourteen Stations of the Cross and the Fourteen
Precepts had a unique collaboration on that most solemn of
days in the Christian tradition. The Stations of the Cross are
reflections on the suffering of Christ and the suffering in our
world. The precepts offer us balance—a way to address
suffering. Like a prayer, the precepts bring hope, much like
the promise of spring and Easter resurrection, elevating and
renewing our lives.
Joan Monastero, Complete Cultivation of the Heart, lives in
Saugerties, New York, and practices with the Budding
Flower Sangha.
A Deep, Clear Pool
Moss green, cool water,
unruffled pond
stop the endless tapes
in my head
and dip into
the cool, clear silence within.
Distant voices, heard, but not heard—
underground source,
limitless, wordless
peace.
Chris Opie
Foster City, California
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