Thich Nhat Hanh Healing in Vietnam The Wonderful World of Gathas

dharma TALK“I am taking each step in freedom for you, Father.”“I am breathing gently, peacefully for you, Mother.”While we’re sitting still, sitting peacefully, there are three elementsthat we need to harmonize. The first is the body, the second is themind, the third is the breath — mind, body, and breath.Sometimes our body’s there but the mind has run off somewhereelse. It runs off to the future, to the past. It is caught in worries,sadness, anger, jealousy, fear. There is no peace, no stillness. Ifwe want to sit still we have to bring the mind back to the body.How can we bring the mind back to the body? The Buddhataught in the Sutra on Mindfulness of Breathing that we need toknow how to use the breath. When we breathe in, we bring themind back to the breath. I am breathing in, and I am aware that Iam breathing in. Instead of paying attention to things that happenedin the past, things that might happen in the future, we bring themind back so that it can pay attention to the breath.This sutra has been available in Vietnam since the third century.Zen master Tang Hoi was the forefather of Vietnamese Zenand this is one of the most basic sutras in meditation practice.Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in. Breathing out, I ambreathing out. This is the first exercise of the sixteen exercises inthe Sutra on Mindfulness of Breathing, which I have translatedfrom Pali to Vietnamese and from Chinese to Vietnamese; it hasbeen published in many languages.The day I discovered the Sutra on Mindfulness of Breathing Iwas so happy! It is a wonderful sutra for our practice of meditation.If we practice wholeheartedly, in a few weeks we can bring peaceand happiness back to our bodies and to our minds.Here is the first Dharma talk that Thich Nhat Hanh gave on his recent tourof Vietnam, at Phap Van Temple in Ho Chi Minh City on February 22, 2007.This excerpt presents the last part of the talk, including questions from theaudience and Thay’s answers. Later in this issue we offer a story of thatday along with photos from the journey. To hear this talk in full, go to www.dpcast.org and look for “Mindfulness and Healing in Vietnam.”The Practices of the BuddhaIn Plum Village we have a gatha, a short poem that we memorize.It has only a few words.In, out.Deep, slow.Calm, ease.Smile, release.Present moment, wonderful moment!The first one, “in, out,” means breathing in, I know that I’mbreathing in. Breathing out, I know that I’m breathing out.The second one is “deep, slow.” Breathing in, I see that my inbreathhas become deeper. Breathing out, I see that my out-breathhas become slower. In the beginning our breath is very short, butif we continue to follow our breathing for a while, naturally ourin-breath becomes slower, deeper, and our out-breath also becomesslower, more relaxed.This is our practice. Just as when we want to play the guitar,we have to practice every day, or if we want to learn to play tennis,we have to practice to be a good tennis player, we also haveto practice our breathing. After one hour of practice we alreadyfeel better. Then slowly we’ll be able to sit still like the Buddha,and be worthy to be his disciples.Perhaps for a long time we have been going to the templeonly to do offerings. But that’s not enough. We have to learn theteachings of the Buddha, the practices that the Buddha wanted totransmit to us.the Mindfulness Bell 5