Page 11 - EH75

TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 9

“Because there are lots of pain and sorrow and fear compassion, loving kindness, diligence, lightness, joy)
and anger in us, and when they manifest we should be and negative mental formations (like anger, despair,
able to recognise them, to embrace them, to take care hate, jealousy). By breathing mindfully, we mustn’t
of them. If we don’t practice being happy and joyful, struggle to eliminate the negative formations; we must
then we are too weak to do the work of handling the ‘dance’ with them, embrace them, turning them into
suffering in us.” positive mental formations.

We don’t need to sit down for meditation to be mindful; I imagine a dialogue where we explain to our negative
it can be continuous and thus integrated into the most mental formations that they’ll have a chance to express
banal of daily activities. From brushing our teeth to themselves, but at this moment, “let’s listen to some
putting on our shoes, washing the dishes, or taking a music.” And the music we play is the music of mindful
shower (“value each drop of water like a pearl, like a breathing: breathing in, breathing out.
jewel”) – every action and inaction can be a moment of
peace or meditation on the miracles taken for granted. In other words, we cannot run away from suffering,
It’s the collection of such moments of mindful existence but we can learn to transform it and not become
which leads to happiness. It really is an inside job. overwhelmed by it:

“In the morning, when you brush your teeth, brush “There is a river of feelings flowing day and night in
them in such a way that happiness is possible during the us, and every feeling is a drop of water. […] We should
whole time of brushing – which may last only one or two go home to ourselves and recognise the feelings in us,
minutes. That is something I do every morning and after whether they are pleasant or unpleasant or neutral, and
each meal: I brush my teeth in such a way that happiness to take care of them.”
is real during the time of brushing. I don’t say ‘let us
brush it quickly in order to do this and that’. Brushing 4. Perceive our mind as a garden
your teeth is a practice and you can be in the Pure Land Like a garden, all our mental formations are organic.
during a time of tooth brushing. […] Do everything in And like the gardener, we must be aware of the
your daily life in that kind of spirit and the Kingdom of importance of compost (organic waste) to healthy crops
God becomes available to you right away. […] – by turning negative formations into ‘compost’ can
nurture positive ones. In other words: no mud, no lotus.
“If we are able to touch the Kingdom of God […] then “If you have a beautiful garden and if you are the
we will no longer run after fame, wealth, power, and gardener you know that in your garden there are
sex, because we already have happiness; we no longer flowers, of course, but there is [also] garbage – and
want to run into that direction. Many of us have been so […] if there are flowers there must be garbage too.
running after these five kinds of craving and […] have Flowers are to become garbage, but you don’t mind
suffered so much.” because you know that rubbish can be transformed
back into flowers. Without garbage there is no flower.
3. Look at the practice of mindfulness as music Without suffering there can be no happiness.
“Mindful breathing is like when you play violin. The “If you don’t know how to take care of a flower it
music can be very soft, very soothing. Everyone will becomes a piece of rubbish very soon, and if you know
be happy.” how to handle the piece of garbage sometime later it
becomes a lotus.”
This is a beautiful analogy for the practice of mindfulness
and the multitude of mental formations trying to take 5. Keep a list of your moments of mindfulness
control of our mind. This Dharma talk took place during a retreat where the
participants were given a practice sheet every day for a
We have positive mental formations (like confidence, week, on which they could keep track of their mindful