Mindfulness Gathas: Present Moment, Wonderful Moment – Thich Nhat Hanh

I am currently reading a book by Thich Nhat Hanh. Mindfulness Gathas: Present Moment, Wonderful Moment. Here is a review from Amazon I found aptly says about the book.


Thich Nhat Hanh is simply one of the easiest, most gentle authors on the practical application of eastern thought available today. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment is a delight to read. It is a collection of useful verses to keep us mindful throughout the day, recognizing how easy it is to lose sight of the present moment when the crash of life clamors about us constantly. 


Thich Nhat Hanh uses the technique of memorizing "gathas" for the purpose of focusing the mind on the thing you are doing now rather than on whatever other chatter is going on in the mind. Further, with each verse there is anywhere from a paragraph to a few pages of commentary that give the reader not only insight into the application of the verse, but also insight into the mind and soul of Thich Nhat Hanh. The result is inspirational, soothing, and useful. Of particular importance is the fact that the author, while a monk, is not in the least unaware of the realities of modern life, and included in his verses are ones for talking on the phone, turning on the television, and turning on an electric light. 


Those not familiar with mindfulness practice might wonder at the insignificance of those daily, mundane experiences, but Thich Nhat Hanh helps us to recognize that there is life "spent" in each of those (and countless other) little activities, and without recognizing that life mindfully, it is life wasted. This man has a simple message...live life fully, abundantly, happily and peacefully, with full awareness of that life as you experience it in the moment. This is a book you will refer to often as you practice mindfulness.

Quotes and Proverbs

Emptiness is infact form when we forget the self. There's nothing in the universe *other* than ourself. Nothing to compare, name, or identify. When it's the only thing there is, how can we talk about it??- Taizan Maezumi

If you put your conditioned intellect to rest for a long time, suddenly it will be like the bottom fallin out of a bucket -- then you will naturally be happy and at peace.

- Yaunwu

This sounds an extraordinary statement to make, but in fact all truth is very ordinary. It is peoples' fantasies of what is true that is so extraordinary. That that we were born and that we face eternal extinction after death is an extraordinary fantasy.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
- Helen Keller
- Osho
- Dogen Zenji

If you are in the future, then ego seems to be very substantial. If you are in the present the ego is a mirage, it starts disappearing.

Not to study the Buddha way is to fall into the realm of shameless and erroneous ways. All preceding and succeeding Buddhas always practice the Buddha way.

know Benefits and History of Tai Chi – An ancient Chinese Martial and Meditation Art.

300 years back in china, Tai chi took place birth in the village Chenjiagou located on the Yellow River in the peaceful countryside of Northern China.

300 years back in china, Tai chi took place birth in the village Chenjiagou located on the Yellow River in the peaceful countryside of Northern China.

One claims it was first developed by a solitary person, Chang San-Feng, who lived 600 years ago on the Wu-Tang Mountain in China.

The other maintained that Chen Wang-Ting was the founder and creator of the Chen Tai Chi Family.

Chen Wangting (1600-1680), a ninth-generation descendant of the Chen family, put together his vast knowledge of martial arts, traditional Chinese medical theory and classical Tao Te Ching philosophy to create T'ai Chi.

Wudang Mountain is where Chang San Feng lived in the 13th century, a mystical mountain recently made famous by the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In his time Chang San Feng was mostly famous as a spiritual sage

The Emperor of China sent 30,000 men to build a temple on Wudang Mountain, just to curry favor with him. Refusing to appear at the Imperial court, Chang San Feng instead disappeared at age 95 into the wild Wudang Mountains.

He then, according to written records, re-appeared regularly for hundreds of years afterward to teach people the secrets of the Tao.

This reappearing act is how he got a reputation for being a "Tao immortal". Chen style T'ai Chi is the original T'ai Chi from which all the other T'ai Chi styles were developed (Yang, Wu, Sun, etc).

Tai Chi also has, particularly amongst eastern practitioners, a long connection with the I Ching a Chinese system of divination.

There are associations between the 8 basic I Ching trigrams plus the five elements of Chinese alchemy (metal, wood, fire, water and earth) with the thirteen basic postures of Tai Chi created by Chang San-feng.

There are also other associations with the full 64 trigrams of the I Ching and other movements in the Tai Chi form.

When someone learns this art for the health and healing it is called as T'ai Chi;
And when someone learns this art for self defense T’ai Chi becomes T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
What does Tai Chi Chuan mean?

The words can be translated as Tai - supreme, Chi - ultimate, Chuan - boxing.
Tai chi can be practiced by anyone regardless of age or gender.

What does Tai Chi symbol represent?
The Tai Chi symbol consists of two fishes, one white and one black, which are called 'Yin Yang fishes' in Tai Chi.

The white represents Yang and the black represents Yin, in which one fish's head links to the tail of another, and both fishes try to overtake each other, which forms a lively picture.
The Yin Yang Unity: the symbol is a circular unified body, in which both fishes are mutually dependent. One will not exist without another.

The tai chi symbol represents the interaction of Yin and Yang. The Chinese character for Yin is the dark side of the hill and for Yang the sunny side of the hill.

The Tai Chi symbol shows each of them with a seed of the other within it, to illustrate how, for example, day turns into night and night turns into day.

Regular practice of Tai chi increases the energy levels of person as well as helps to stay strong and healthy.

To do tai chi, you perform a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner. Each posture flows into the next without pause, ensuring that your body is in constant motion.
Currently there are five main recognized styles of Tai Chi in China:
Chen, Yang, Sun, Li, and Wu.

Chen is the original from which developed the Yang style and from that Wu. Further derivations from these styles are the Hao and Zhaobao etc.

A tiny force can move mountains: T'ai Chi is based on that principle

Tai Chi can be done anywhere and everywhere:

* Before, after work, at lunchtime at work or at home

* Can be done in confine areas

* Suitable for anyone at all ages

* Do regularly to maximize benefits

Principles of Tai chi
1. Take it easy – one should not force, forcing is opposite to Tai chi principles
2. Tai chi is spiritual teaching
3. Tai chi is form of meditation
4. Tai chi is system of healing naturally
5. Tai chi is system of self defence
6. Be Simple – Be natural, Relax (loosen) the waist. - Changes in full and empty all come from the waist
7. Balance movements – Tai chi is about balancing moves
8. Move the all body – Tai chi is like dance, every movement involves whole body, when one part moves each part moves , when still every body part is still
9. Be focused Be rooted – Always feel that firmly planted in the ground
10. Slowing down – To get all the benefits of Tai chi one has to slow down ,the ultimate principle of Tai chi
11. Think in curves – All movement in Tai chi are curved and circular
12. Sink Lower - Energy should flow from earth into body, helps to get below the opponents energy centre
13. Stay Balanced – Good balance physical as well as mental is essential in Tai chi also
14. Go with the flow – the movements should be always slow and soft like one is on wheels
15. The aim of Tai-Chi as a martial art is to stop violence

Following are the 22 Benefits of Tai chi practice –1. Strengthens the immune system
2. Stabilizes blood pressure
3. help to digest food
4. Increases stamina
5. makes the person strong in mind as well as body
6. increases sexual endurance
7. improves blood circulation
8. Relieves stress
9. Delays aging
10. increased bone density
11. increased strength and range of motion of joints
12. greater leg strength
13. Reducing falls in older adults
14. Improving cardiovascular fitness in older adult
15. Tai Chi relieves pain and disability among people with arthritis
16. reduces coronary heart disease
17. Enhanced sleep
18. Greater awareness, calmness, and overall sense of well being
19. Diabetes
20. Parkinson’s disease
21. Asthma
22. Post Traumatic Stress

Hsin Hsin Ming: the Book of Nothing

Hsin Hsin Ming - verses on the faith mind of Sengstan (Sosan) 3rd Zen Patriarch, translated from the original Chinese by Richard B. Clarke, Zen teacher at the Living Dharma Centers, Amherst, Massachussets and Coventry, Connecticut.

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. When love and hate are both absent everything becomes clear and undisguised. Make the smallest distinction, however, and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart. If you wish to see the truth then hold no opinion for or against. The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes is the disease of the mind.

* * * * * * *

When the deep meaning of things is not understood the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail. The way is perfect like vast space where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that we do not see the true nature of things. Live neither in the entanglements of outer things, nor in inner feelings of emptiness. Be serene without striving activity in the oneness of things and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves. When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity your very effort fills you with activity. As long as you remain in one extreme or the other you will never know Oneness. Those who do not live in the single Way fail in both activity and passivity, assertion and denial.

* * * * * * *

To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality; to assert the emptiness of things is to miss their reality. The more you talk and think about it, the further astray you wander from the truth. Stop talking and thinking and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

* * * * * * *

To return to the root is to find the meaning, but to pursue appearances is to miss the source. At the moment of inner enlightenment there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness. The changes that appear to occur in the empty world we call real only because of our ignorance. Do not search for the truth; only cease to hold opinions. Do not remain in the dualistic state; avoid such pursuits carefully. If there is a trace of this and that, the right and wrong, the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion. Although all dualities come from the One, do not be attached even to this One. When mind exists undisturbed in the Way, nothing in the world can offend, and when a thing can no longer offend it ceases to exist in the old way. When no discriminating thoughts arise, the old mind ceases to exist.

* * * * * * *

When thought objects vanish, the thinking-subject vanishes, as when the mind vanishes, objects vanish. Things are objects because of the subject; the mind is such because of things. Understand the relativity of these two and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness. In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable and each contains in itself the whole world. If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine you will no be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

* * * * * * *

To live in the Great Way is neither easy nor difficult, but those with limited views are fearful and irresolute: the faster they hurry, the slower they go, and clinging cannot be limited: even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray. Just let things be in their own way and there will be neither coming nor going. Obey the nature of things (your own nature), and you will walk freely and undisturbed. When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden, for everything is murky and unclear, and the burdensome practice of judging brings annoyance and weariness. What benefit can be derived from distinctions and separations? If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true Enlightenment. The wise man strives for no goals but the foolish man fetters himself. There is one Dharma, truth, law, not many; distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant. To seek Mind with the discriminating mind is the greatest of all mistakes.

* * * * * * *

Rest and unrest derive from illusion; with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking. All dualities come from ignorant inference. They are like dreams or flowers in the air; foolish try to grasp them. Gain and loss, right and wrong: such thoughts must finally be abolished at once. If the eye never sleeps, all dreams will naturally cease. If the mind makes no discriminations, the ten thousand things are as they are, of single essence. To understand the mystery of this One-essence is to be released from all entanglements. When all things are seen equally the timeless Self-essence is reached. No comparisons or analogies are possible in this causeless, relationless state.

* * * * * * *

Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, and both the state of movement and the state of rest disappear. When such dualities cease to exist Oneness itself cannot exist. To this ultimate finality no law or description applies. For the unified mind in accord with the Way all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind's power. Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value.

* * * * * * *

In this world of Suchness there is neither self nor other-than-self. To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubts arise, "Not two." In this "not two" nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth. And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is then thousand years.

* * * * * * *

Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before our eyes. Infinitely large and infinitely small; no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen. So too with Being and non-Being. Don't waste time in doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this. One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

Words!

The Way is beyond language, for in it there is 

no yesterday

no tomorrow

no today.

The Story of the Ten Zen Bulls

Taken from the book: Zen Flesh, Zen bones 

---

Here no bull can hide! What artist can draw that massive head, those majestic horns?
I direct the endless rhythm. Whoever hears this melody will join me.
Within my thatched dwelling I have abandoned the whip and rope.
Here are the footprints of the patriarchs.

Neither do I remain where no enlightenment exists. Since I linger in neither condition, eyes cannot see me. If hundreds of birds strew my path with flowers, such praise would be meaningless.

The bull is the eternal principle of life, truth in action. The ten bulls represent sequent steps in the realization of one's true nature. This sequence is as potent today as it was when Kakuan (1100-1200) developed it from earlier works and made his paintings of the bull.

1. The Search for the Bull

In the pasture of this world, I endlessly push aside the tall grasses in search of the bull. Following unnamed rivers, lost upon the interpenetrating paths of distant mountains, My strength failing and my vitality exhausted, I cannot find the bull. I only hear the locusts chirring through the forest at night

Comment: The bull never has been lost. What need is there to search? Only because of separation from my true nature, I fail to find him. In the confusion of the senses I lose even his tracks. Far from home, I see many cross-roads, but which way is the right one I know not. Greed and fear, good and bad, entangle me.

2. Discovering the Footprints

Along the riverbank under the trees, I discover footprints! Even under the fragrant grass I see his prints. Deep in remote mountains they are found. These traces no more can be hidden than one's nose, looking heavenward.

Comment: Understanding the teaching, I see the footprints of the bull. Then I learn that, just as many utensils are made from one metal, so too are myriad entities made of the fabric of self. Unless I discriminate, how will I perceive the true from the untrue? Not yet having entered the gate, nevertheless I have discerned the path.

3. Perceiving the Bull

I hear the song of the nightingale. The sun is warm, the wind is mild, willows are green along the shore,

Comment: When one hears the voice, one can sense its source. As soon as the six senses merge, the gate is entered. Wherever one enters one sees the head of the bull! This unity is like salt in water, like colour in dyestuff. The slightest thing is not apart from self.

4. Catching the Bull

I seize him with a terrific struggle. His great will and power are inexhaustible. He charges to the high plateau far above the cloud-mists, Or in an impenetrable ravine he stands.

Comment: He dwelt in the forest a long time, but I caught him today! Infatuation for scenery interferes with his direction. Longing for sweeter grass, he wanders away. His mind still is stubborn and unbridled. If I wish him to submit, I must raise my whip.

5. Taming the Bull

The whip and rope are necessary, Else he might stray off down some dusty road. Being well trained, he becomes naturally gentle. Then, unfettered, he obeys his master.

Comment: When one thought arises, another thought follows. When the first thought springs from enlightenment, all subsequent thoughts are true. Through delusion, one makes everything untrue. Delusion is not caused by objectivity; it is the result of subjectivity. Hold the nose-ring tight and do not allow even a doubt.

6. Riding the Bull Home

Mounting the bull, slowly I return homeward. The voice of my flute intones through the evening. Measuring with hand-beats the pulsating harmony,

Comment: This struggle is over; gain and loss are assimilated. I sing the song of the village woodsman, and play the tunes of the children. Astride the bull, I observe the clouds above. Onward I go, no matter who may wish to call me back.

7. The Bull Transcended

Astride the bull, I reach home. I am serene. The bull too can rest. The dawn has come. In blissful repose,

Comment: All is one law, not two. We only make the bull a temporary subject. It is as the relation of rabbit and trap, of fish and net. It is as gold and dross, or the moon emerging from a cloud. One path of clear light travels on throughout endless time.

8. Both Bull and Self Transcended

Whip, rope, person, and bull -- all merge in No-Thing. This heaven is so vast no message can stain it. How may a snowflake exist in a raging fire?

Comment: Mediocrity is gone. Mind is clear of limitation. I seek no state of enlightenment.

9. Reaching the Source

Too many steps have been taken returning to the root and the source. Better to have been blind and deaf from the beginning! Dwelling in one's true abode, unconcerned with that without -- The river flows tranquilly on and the flowers are red.

Comment: From the beginning, truth is clear. Poised in silence, I observe the forms of integration and disintegration. One who is not attached to "form" need not be "reformed." The water is emerald, the mountain is indigo, and I see that which is creating and that which is destroying.

10. In the World

Barefooted and naked of breast, I mingle with the people of the world. My clothes are ragged and dust-laden, and I am ever blissful. I use no magic to extend my life; Now, before me, the dead trees become alive.

Comment: Inside my gate, a thousand sages do not know me. The beauty of my garden is invisible. Why should one search for the footprints of the patriarchs? I go to the market place with my wine bottle and return home with my staff. I visit the wineshop and the market, and everyone I look upon becomes enlightened.