In this first dharma talk of winter retreat, Thay shared with us about how to organise our life and get healed in our daily life.
The way the society is organised today is such that we live with a lot of pressure. We are pushed by the habit energy of running, and always looking for something to make us happy. Thay taught us how mindful breathing and mindful walking can help us stop running. If we breathe and walk mindfully in such a way that we find peace and happiness, we are nourished and we can be healed. If we walk with an idea to achieve something, we are still running.
But just the willingness to stop cannot help us to stop. Thay stressed the importance of insight. We need insight to be able to really stop. Thay also shared about the 5 universals and 5 particulars, in which mindfulness, is one of the particulars. Our mind is like a river. There are 51 wholesome and unwholesome seeds in our store consciousness. When seeds are touched they become mental formations. We all have the seed of mindfulness. When practised deeply, with mindfulness comes concentration. They grow together. If both of them are powerful enough, we will get insight. We will have insight that running cannot get us anywhere, it is not bringing happiness, even if we have a lot of possessions. Insight can help us to get out of our suffering and illusion, and help us to really stop. Then we can be in touch with the wonders of life again, and enjoy life more easily.
Thay also shared about one mental formation called ease, or peace, one of 7 factors of enlightenment. It is important to cultivate ease to be healed. Mindful breathing and walking help to cultivate ease. Another mental formation of the opposite nature is restlessness. Thay shared the symptoms of restlessness, with which we keep doing things to cover up our loneliness and suffering, and do not know how to deal with it. Mindfulness without insight cannot heal us, our suffering will come back. We need Vipassana not just Samantha, to look deeply in order to get insight, to liberate us from restlessness. Meditation is not a temporary refuge and it should have the power to transform. WIth Vipassana, we have the power to transform. We can organise our life, live simply and deeply and we can have all the nourishments and healing we need.
These are the teachings of School of Manifestation Only. There is no creation, only manifestation. And every manifestation is a wonder.