4 pebbles
P1: Every one of us has our “flower-ness” that makes us beautiful, that makes us fresh, that makes us pleasant, that makes us lovable. And we have a lot to offer to other people. If you have freshness, beauty, you can offer your freshness and beauty to the world like a flower.
Many of adults have lost their flowerness, their freshness. They have cried too much.They have suffered so much. That is why they should do something in order to restore their flowerness.
“Breathing in, I see myself as a flower.”
“Breathing out, I feel fresh.”
P2: When you love someone, you would like to offer him or her your solidity. But if you don’t have enough solidity, how can you offer it? Therefore we should cultivate more solidity in ourselves.
There is a mountain in me.
I can stay myself even with provocations, with threats. That is very crucial for my happiness.
When I have solidity, I can offer that to you. And you can rely on me. You can count on me because I have solidity.
“Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain.”
“Breathing out, I feel solid.”
P3: When you are calm, when you are still, you see things as they are. You don’t distort things. You can see things as they truly are. You are not a victim of wrong perceptions. Wrong perceptions bring about fear, anger, despair. Wrong perception is there because you are not calm. If you are calm, your perception would be correct.
Therefore I want to cultivate stillness, calm. Because I know stillness and calm is the foundation of my true happiness too.
“Breathing in, I see myself as still water.”
“Breathing out, I reflect things as they are.”
P4: When you arrange flowers, the art of ikebana, you know that each flower needs space around her to radiate her beauty. A human being is like that, also. She needs some space inside to be truly happy and some space around her. And that is why if you love her, you should know how to offer her enough space, inside and around.
If you don’t have enough space for yourself, how can you offer space to the person you love? Therefore it’s very crucial that we know how to cultivate more space for us, because space is one of the basic conditions for happiness.
“Breathing in, I see myself as space.”
“Breathing out, I feel free.”
To have freedom and to offer freedom, you are a true lover. You don’t imprison yourself, you don’t imprison the person you love in your ideas, in your ways. You allow freedom in your heart, and you allow freedom in his/her heart.
oplettend
Alles oplettend doen is mediteren, daar oplettendheid altijd concentratie en begrip voedt.
het mooiste geschenk
Perhaps the greatest gift we can offer anyone is the gift of our full attention.
de bel uitnodigen te klinken
body, speech and mind in perfect oneness
I send my heart along with the sound of the bell,
may the hearers awaken from forgetfulness
and transcend all anxiety and sorrow.
inviting and listening to the bell
May the sound of this bell penetrate deeply into the cosmos
In even the darkest places, may living beings hear it clearly
So that understanding comes to their heart, and without hardship
They transcend the cycle of birth and death
Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve
My mind becomes calm, my body relaxed, and a smile is born on my lips
Following the sound of the bell, my breath guides me back to the safe island of mindfulness
In the garden of my heart the flower of peace blooms beautifully.
juist spreken
Roshi Joan Halifax over juist spreken, ze begint met onderstaand gedicht van Mary Oliver en haalt adviezen van Thich Nhat Hanh aan.
Toad
I was walking by. He was sitting there.
It was full morning, so the heat was heavy on his sand-colored
head and his webbed feet. I squatted beside him, at the edge
of the path. He didn’t move.
wat moet je doen als je bang bent?
“Als we bang zijn proberen we meestal weg te rennen van hetgeen ons bang maakt. Als ik bang ben, adem ik diep in en kalmeer mezelf. Ik probeer mijn denken te stoppen en slechts adem te halen. Dit helpt me altijd.
Iedere keer dat ik buikpijn heb vul ik een kruik en leg die op mijn buik. Na vijf minuten voel ik me al veel beter. Mijn aandachtig (mindful) ademhalen is als een warme kruik voor mijn geest. Het lucht iedere keer op om aandachtig adem te halen naar mijn angst.”
Is nothing something?
In Is Nothing Something? Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh answers heartfelt, difficult, and funny questions from children of all ages. The book will help adults plant the seeds of mindfulness in the young children in their lives. Beginning with the most basic questions, “What is important in life?” and “Why is my brother mean to me?” and progressing through issues that we all wrestle with, such as “How do I know if I really love somebody?”, “How long am I going to live?”, and “What does God look like?”, each page presents a question with a short answer from Thich Nhat Hanh. The back of the book has the first complete children’s biography of Thich Nhat Hanh, along with basic, kid-friendly instructions for mindful breathing and mindful walking. – Parallax Press
to offer others solidity and freedom
…
You are the source of well-being flowing through numberless troubled lives,
the water from your spiritual stream always pure, as it was in the beginning.
You are the source of peace,
solidity, and inner freedom.
You are the Buddha, the Tathagata.
With my one-pointed mind
I vow to nourish your solidity and freedom in myself
so I can offer solidity and freedom to countless others,
now and forever.
Thich Nhat Hanh