STEP BY STEP PRANAYAMA TECHNIQUES

NADI SHOODHANA PRANAYAMA

Hand Position: Nasagra Mudra (nose tip position)

Hold the fingers of the right hand in front of the face.

Rest the index and middle fingers gently on the eyebrow center. Both fingers should be relaxed.

The thumb is above the right nostril and the ring finger above the left. These two digits control the flow of breath in the nostrils by alternately pressing on one nostril, blocking the flow of breath, and then the other.

The little finger is comfortably folded. When practicing for longer periods, the elbow may be supported by the left hand although care is needed to prevent chest restriction.

Nadi Shodhana Pranayama (psyhic network purification)

Technique-1: Preparatory Practice

Sit in any comfortable meditation posture, preferably siddha / siddha yoni asana or padmasana. (Those who cannot sit in a meditation posture may sit against a wall with the legs outstretched or in a chair which has a straight back).

Keep the head and spine upright.

Relax the whole body and close the eyes.

Practise yogic breathing for some time.

Adopt nasagra mudra with the right hand and place the left hand on the knee in chin or jnana mudra*.

Close the right nostril with the thumb.

Inhale and exhale through the left nostril 5 times.

The rate of inhalation/exhalation should be normal.

Be aware of each breath.

After 5 breaths release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and press the left nostril with the ring finger, blocking the flow of air.

Inhale and exhale through the right nostril 5 times, keeping the respiration rate normal.

Lower the hand and breathe 5 times through both nostrils together.

This is one round.

Practice 5 rounds or for 3 to 5 minutes, making sure that there is no sound as the air passes through the nostril.

After practicing for 15 days go on to technique 2.

Technique 2: Alternative nostril breathing

In this technique the duration of inhalation/exhalation is controlled.

Close the right nostril with the thumb and breathe in through the left nostril.

At the same time count mentally, “1. Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”, until the inhalation ends comfortably. This is the basic count.

Breathe deeply with yogic breathing. Do not strain.

Close the left nostril with the ring finger, release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and while breathing out through he right nostril, simultaneously count, “1.Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”. The time for inhalation and exhalation should be equal.

Next, inhale through the right nostril, keeping the same count in the same manner.

At the end of inhalation close the right nostril, open the left nostril and exhale through the nostril, coming as before.

This is one round.

Practice 10 rounds.

   

Ratio and Timing:

After a few days, if there is no difficulty, increase the length of inhalation / exhalation by one count. Continue in this way, increasing the inahaltion / exhalation by one count as sit becomes easy, until the count of 12:12 is reached.

Do not force the breath in any way and be careful not to speed up the counting during the exhalation to compensate for shortage of breath. At the slightest sign of discomfort reduce the count.

After perfecting the above ratio, it may be changed to 1:2. For example, breathe in for a count of 5 and breathe out for a count of 10. Continue extending the breath by adding one count to the inhalation and two to the exhalation, up to the count of 12:24. This ratio establishes a calming rhythm for the brain and heart, assisting the treatment of cardiovascular and nervous system disorders specifically, and stress related conditions generally.

     When this technique can be performed with complete ease move on to technique. 3

Technique 3: with Antar Kumbhaka (inner retention)

       In this technique antar kumbhaka or internal breath retention is introduced.

       Inhale through the left nostril for a count of 5, close both nostrils and retain the air in the lungs for a count of 5.

       The glottis may be slightly contracted to hold the air in the lungs.

       Open the right nostril, inhale slightly and then exhale for a count of 5.

       Inhale through the right nostril for a count of 5 and retain the breath for a count of 5 with both nostrils closed.

       Open the left nostril, inhale slightly and then exhale for a count of 5.

       This is one round.

       Practise 10 rounds.

Ratio and Timing:

       The maintenance of a strict ratio during inhalation, kumbhaka and exhalation is of the utmost importance.  The ratio will change as the ability to hold the breath for longer periods of time develops.  After mastering the ratio of 1:1:1, increase the ratio to 1:1:2.

         For example, inhale for a count of 5, perform internal kumbhaka for a count of 5 and exhale for a count of 10.  After some weeks of practice, when this ratio has been mastered, increase the ratio to 1:2:2.  Inhale for a count of 5, do internal kumbhaka for a count of 10 and exhale for a count of 10.

       After mastering this ratio, gradually increase the count by adding one unit to the inhalation, 2 units to the retention and 2 units to the exhalation.  The count of one round will be 6:12:12.  When this has been perfected and there is no discomfort, increase the count to 7:14:14.  Gradually increase the count over a period of one or two years to 24:48:48.  Therefore, gradually increase the ratio to 1:3:2, and then 1:4:2.

*Explanatory Notes on
Jnana Mudra (psychic gesture of knowledge)

Assume a comfortable meditation posture.
Fold the index fingers so that they touch the inside root of the thumbs. Straighten the other three fingers of each hand so that they are relaxed and slightly apart. Place the hands on the knees with the palms facing down.
Relax the hands and arms.

Chin Mudra (Psyhic gesture of consciousness)

Chin mudra is performed in the same way as jnana mudra except that the palms of both hands face upwards, with the backs of the hands resting on the knees. Relax, the hands and arms.

Sequence: 

One of these two mudras should be adopted whenever practicing meditation / pranayama techniques.

Benefits: 

Janana mudra and chin mudra are simple but important psycho-neural finger locks which make meditation asanas more powerful. The palms and fingers of the hands have any nerve root endings which constantly emit energy. When the finger touches the thumb, a circuit is produced which allows the energy that would normally dissipate into the environment to travel back into the body and up to the brain.

When the fingers and hands are placed on the knees, the knees are sensitized, creating another pranic circuit that maintains and redirects prana within the body. In addition, placing the hands on the knees stimulates a nadi which runs from the knees, up the inside of the thighs and into the perineum. This nadi is known as gupta or the hidden nadi. Sensitising this channel helps stimulate the energies at mooladhara chakra.

When the palms face upward in chin mudra, the chest area is opened up. The practitioner may experience this as a sense of lightness and receptivity which is absent in the practice of jana mudra.

Variation: 

Jana and Chin mudras are often performed with the tip of the thumb and index fingers touching and forming a circle. Beginners may find this variation less secure for prolonged periods of meditation as the thumb and index finger tend to separate more easily when body awareness is lost. Otherwise, this variation is as effective as the basic position.

Practice note: 

The effect of chin or jana mudra is very subtle and it requires sensitivity on the part of the practitioner to perceive the change in consciousness established. With practice, however, the mind becomes conditioned to the mudra and when it is adopted the signal to enter a meditative state is transmitted.

Note:

The word jana means “wisdom” or “knowledge”, thus jana mudra is the gesture of intuitive knowledge. Chin on the other hand, is derived from the word chit or chitta which means “consciousness”. Chin mudra, therefore, is the psychic gesture of consciousness.

Symbolically, the small, ring and middle fingers represents the three gunas or qualities of nature; tamas - inertia; rajas – activity and creativity and sattwa , luminosity. In order for consciousness to pass from ignorance to knowledge these three states must be transcended. The index finger represents individual consciousness, the jivatma, while the thumb symbolizes supreme consciousness. In jana and chin mudras the individual (index finger) is bowing down to the supreme consciousness (the thumb), acknowledging its unsurpassed power. The index finger, however, is touching the thumb, symbolizing the ultimate unity of the two experiences and the culmination of yoga.
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Source: Asana Panayama Mudra Bandha
By Swami Satyananda Saraswati of Bihar School of Yoga.
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THE TURKEY AND THE ANT

John GAY 1685 - 1732

A Turkey, tired of common food,

Forsook the barn, and sought the wood,

Behind her ran an infant train

Collecting here and there a grain.

'Draw near, my birds', the mother cries,

'This hill delicious fare supplies.

Behold the busy negro race--

See. millions blacken all the place!

Fear not; like me with freedom eat;

An eat is most delightful meat,

How blest, how envied, were our life

Could we but 'scape the poulter's knife!

But man, cursed man, on turkey preys

And Christmas shortens all our days.

Sometimes with oysters we combine,

Sometimes assist the savoury chine,

From the low peasant to the Lord,

The turkey smokes on every board.

Some men for gluttony are curst,

Of the seven deadly sins the worst.

An ant, who climbed beyond her reach,

Thus answer'd from a neighbouring beech;

'Ere you remark another's sin,

Bid they own conscience look within;

Control thy more voracious bill,

Nor, for a breakfast nations kill.'

-- John Gay

COMMENTS:

In a simple poem, Gay has well brought out the difficulty of analysing oneself. In his poem there was a turkey living in a barn. The turkey was tired of eating grains. One day is left the barn in search of different food. The young ones followed the mother bird. Soon they reached a hill. the hill was full of black ants. The turkey started devouring them. It persuaded its little ones to eat freely. For a breakfast they consumed millions of ants. The turkey was quite unaware of it. But at the same time, it criticised the gluttony of men. It cursed man for consuming turkey for christmas. Herein lies the paradox. The turkey accused man for destroying a bird once a year, whereas it was killing a nation of ants for a breakfast. The turkey was committing the same fault, a million times graver, yet was ignorant of it. The poet tries to drive home this problem of recognising one's own iniquity.

Here is a practical suggestion. The moment you find a defect in another remember to look within yourself. Understand, behind every flaw that you recognise in another you have the same perhaps far more pronounced in your own personality. Do not consume all your life merely criticising the flaws and failings of others.

"Judge not others" cautioned Christ. The energy you waste in judging others is just what you need to make you live up to your own ideals. Observing a small blemish in a person what a strong tendency people have to overlook all his good traits! In the present society each member concentrates his attention on the faults of another. What defiles a person is not what goes into him but what comes out of him.

****

EVEN THIS SHALL PASS AWAY

Once in Persia reigned a king,
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance
Fit for every change and chance.
Solemn words, and these are they;
“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these;
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the mine or main;
“What is wealth?” the king would say;
“Even this shall pass away.”

‘Mid the revels of his court,
At the zenith of his sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests,
He, amid his figs and wine,
Cried, “O loving friends of mine;
Pleasures come, but not to stay;‘Even this shall pass away.’”

Lady, fairest ever seen,
Was the bride he crowned his queen.
Pillowed on his marriage bed,
Softly to his soul he said:
“Though no bridegroom ever pressed
Fairer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay –
Even this shall pass away.”

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield;
Soldiers, with a loud lament,
Bore him bleeding to his tent.
Groaning from his tortured side,
“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried;
“But with patience, day by day,Even this shall pass away.”

Towering in the public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue, carved in stone.
Then the king, disguised, unknown,
Stood before his sculptured name,
Musing meekly: “What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay;Even this shall pass away.”

Struck with palsy, sore and old,
Waiting at the Gates of Gold,
Said he with his dying breath,
“Life is done, but what is Death?”
Then, in answer to the king,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
“Even this shall pass away.”

By Theodore Tilton

Commentary by Swami A Parthasarathy

Theodore Tilton presents the king of Persia as a picture of detachment.  The king carved a great maxim on his ring:  EVEN THIS SHALL PASS AWAY.  Rooted in the highest values of life, he lived a life of true renunciation.  He would not identify with the best or the worst of things that this world offered him.  The king was bountifully blessed with wealth and woman, name and fame.  He faced also the pangs of disease, decay and approaching death.  But all along he maintained his serenity and objectivity in life.

       The world is an admixture of fortune and misfortune, pleasure and pain, virtue and vice.  The inevitable pairs of opposites in life are inexhaustible.  Your mental equilibrium and intellectual equipoise should remain unaffected by these fluctuations.  You become established in that state by your attunement to higher values.

       The great king of Persia achieved that exalted state.

       Lessons we learn from this poem:

1]  Experience every aspects of your life fully.

2]  When you go on experiencing your life fully, thee is no lingering of past experiences.  This is called as sanyas or true meaning of detachment and this is ephemeral and goes away.  .

THE PANDIT WHO COULD NOT SWIM - Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

Once several men were crossing the Ganges in a boat. One of them, a pandit, was making a great display of his erudition, saying that he had studied various books-the Vedas, the Vedanta, and the six systems of philosophy. He asked fellow passenger, "Do you know the Vedanta?" "No, revered sir." "The Samkhya and the Patanjala?" "No, revered sir." "Have you read no philosophy whatsoever?" "No, revered sir." The pandit was talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in silence when a great storm arose and the boat was about to sink. The passenger said to the Pandit, "Sir, can you swim?" "No", replied the pandit. The passenger said, "I don't know Samkhya or the Patanjala, but I can swim."

***

What will a man gain by knowing many scriptures?
The one thing needful is to know how to cross the river the of the world.
God alone is real, and all else is illusory.

***

SOURCE:

TALES AND PARABLES OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

THE WAY FOR FULFILLMENT OF YOUR DESIRE by Swamy Rama Tirtha

       The very moment that you rise above the desire, the object of desire seeks you; and the very moment that you assume the craving, seeking, asking, begging attitude, you will not have, you cannot have the object of desire. Rise above the thing, stand above it and it will seek you. That is the Law.

       It has been said, "Seek and it shall be given you, knock and it shall be opened unto you." That is misunderstood. Seek and you will never find, knock and it shall never be opened upto you.

      "First seek the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be added upto you!" 
That is the Law.

Law of Karma

       The Law of Karma says that man is the master of his own destiny. We make our own environments and circumstances. Every child is the father of his father; every daughter is the mother of her mother. These statements seem to be paradoxical; they appear to be preposterous; oh, but they are the whole Truth and nothing but Truth.

       According to the Law of Karma, when you desire things, so long as you go on craving and yearning for them, they are denied upto you. But after a period of craving and yearning, after a period of desiring, willing and wishing, there comes a time when you become tired of that willing, wishing and desiring, when you turn back to it, and become disgusted and hopeless, then it is brought to you. That is the Law of Karma.

       You know that in order that a man make progress, he will have to raise one step and bring the other down, lift one foot and drop the other. Similarly in order that the Law of Karma may reign, in order that your desires may be fulfilled and realized, there must come period when you rise above the desire, when you give up the desire; and thus it is by keeping off the wish and giving up the wish that the wish is satisfied. Usually the writers on the Law of Karma lay all the stress upon the positive side and ignore the negative side of the question. Rama tells you that all your wishes must be fulfilled; all your desires must be fructified. Everything that you long for must be brought before you, but there is one condition. Before it is realized, there must come upon a state where you give up the desire, and when you give up the desire, then will the desire be satisfied.

Swamy Rama Tirtha

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Source: Excerpts from the book on "In Woods of God-Realization Vol.II"
by Swamy Rama Tirtha.
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SRI AUROBINDO's TEACHING AND METHOD OF SADHANA

       The teaching of Sri Aurobindo starts from that of the ancient sages of India that behind the appearances of the universe there is the Reality of a Being and Consciousness, a Self of all things, one and eternal. All beings are united in that One Self and Spirit but divided by a certain separative of consciousness, an ignorance of their true Self and Reality in the mind, life and body. It is possible by a certain psychological discipline to remove this veil of separative consciousness and become aware of the true Self, the divinity within us and all.

       Sri Aurobindo's Teaching states that this One Being and Consciousness is involved here in Matter. Evolution is the method by which it liberates itself; consciousness appears in what seems to be inconscient, and once having appeared is self-impelled to grow higher and higher and at the same time to enlarge and develop towards a greater and greater perfection.

       Life is the first step of this release of consciousness; mind is the second; but the evolution does not finish with mind, it awaits a release into something greater, a consciousness which is spiritual and supramental. The next step of the evolution must be towards the development of Supermind and Spirit as the dominant power in the conscious being. For only then will the involved Divinity in things release itself entirely and it become possible for life to manifest perfection.

       But while the former steps in evolution were taken by Nature without a conscious will in the plant and animal life, in man Nature becomes able to evolve by a conscious will in the instrument. It is not, however, by the mental will in man that this can be wholly done, for the mind goes only to a certain point and after that can only move in a circle. A conversion has to be made, a turning of the consciousness by which mind has to change into the higher principle. This method is to be found through the ancient psychological discipline and practice of Yoga. In the past, it has been attempted by a drawing away from the world and a disappearance into the height of the Self or Spirit.

       Sri Aurobindo teaches that a descent of the higher principle is possible which will not merely release the spiritual Self out of the world, but release it in the world, replace the mind's ignorance or its very limited knowledge by a supramental Truth-Consciousness which will be a sufficient instrument of the inner Self and make it possible for the human being to find himself dynamically as well as inwardly and grow out of his still animal humanity into a diviner race. The psychological discipline of Yoga can be used to that end by opening all the parts of the being to a conversion or transformation through the descent and working of the higher still concealed supramental principle.

       This, however, cannot be done at once in a short time or by any rapid or miraculous transformation. Many steps have to be taken by the seeker before the supramental descent is possible. Man lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake - for it is only a very restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. 

       The first process of Yoga is therefore to open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing his outward life by an inner light and force. In doing so he discovers in himself his true soul which is not this outer mixture of mental, vital and physical elements but something of the Reality behind them, a spark from the one Divine Fire.

       He has to learn to live in his soul and purify and orientate by its drive towards the Truth the rest of the nature. There can follow afterwards an opening upward and descent of a higher principle of the Being. But even then it is not at once the full supramental Light and Force. For there are several ranges of consciousness between the ordinary human mind and the supramental Truth-Consciousness.

       These intervening ranges have to be opened up and their power brought down into the mind, life and body. Only afterwards can the full power of the Truth-Consciousness work in the nature. The process of this self-discipline or Sadhana is therefore long and difficult, but even a little of it is so much gained because it makes the ultimate release and perfection more possible.

       There are many things belonging to older systems that are necessary on the way - an opening of the mind to a greater wideness and to the sense of the Self and the Infinite, an emergence into what has been called the cosmic consciousness, mastery over the desires and passions; an outward asceticism is not essential, but the conquest of desire and attachment and a control over the body and its needs, greeds and instincts are indispensable.

       There is combination of the principles of the old systems, the way of knowledge through the mind's discernment between Reality and the appearance, the heart's way of devotion, love and surrender and the way of works turning the will away from motives of self-interest to the Truth and the service of a greater Reality than the ego. For the whole being has to be trained so that it can respond and be transformed when it is possible for the greater Light and Force to work in the nature...

       This is Sri Aurobindo's teaching and method of practice. It is not his object to develop any one religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any new religion - for any of these things would lead away from his central purpose.

       The one aim of his Yoga is an inner self-development by which each one who follows it can in time discover the One Self in all and evolve a higher consciousness than the mental, - a spiritual and supramental consciousness which will transform and divine human nature.

Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and a new world; the Supramental.- Comments by THE MOTHER.

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Source: Excerpts from All India Magazine Aug.2007 A monthly magazine of 

Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry.

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PRANAYAMA

(Swamy Rama Tirtha 1873-1906)

Pranayama literally means "control of breath". The Hindu books on yoga gives eight principal methods of controlling the breath. But Rama will lay before you only one method known as Pranayama, a very important method of controlling the breath. This is a kind of physical exercise. Those who think that this Pranayama has got something mystical, some divine meaning in it, are mistaken. Those who think that the highest Realization culminates in it and that there is nothing higher than it, are mistaken. Pranayama or this control of breath has nothing supernatural in it. It is an ordinary exercise. Just as you go out and take physical exercise, so is this, a kind of exercise of the lungs. There is no real significance in it, nothing mystic about it.

BENEFITS OF PRANAYAMA

It will cure you of many physical diseases. Most of your diseases leave you; consumption, diseases of the stomach, blood diseases, and almost every diseases will leave you if you practise that. We will now see what is that.

METHODS OF PRACTICE

In order to practise Pranayama you must sit in a most comfortable, easy position to sit cross-legged is the most comfortable posture, but this posture will kill you, a West Indian. You may sit in an easy chair. Keep your body straight, back-bone stiff, head-up, chest out, eyes front. Place the right hand thumb on the right nostril, and inhale the breath slowly through the left nostril. Go on inhaling slowly, until you feel at ease, go on inhaling as long as you conveniently can. While inhaling, let not the mind be vacant. While you are inhaling, let the mind be concentrated on the thought that all omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent divinity is being inhaled, that you are drinking divinity, the Godhead, the whole world, the whole universe. Well, when you think you have filled in the air to your best, then close the left nostril, through which you were inhaling, by finger; thus when you stop both strips, let not the breath escape through the mouth; keep the inhaled breath within you in the lungs, in the stomach; in the abdomen; all the activities being filled with air, the air which you have inhaled, and when the breathed air is in you, let not the mind be vacant, let the mind be centered in the idea, in the truth that you are divinity, the Almighty god that fills, permeates and pervades everything, every atom and molecule in the universe

PRECAUTION

Be natural in every part of this breathing process. Make efforts, do your best to lengthen every process, but do not fatigue yourself. Do not work much yourself. If after performing only the firs two processes, say, the inhalation and keeping the breath in your lungs, you feel tired, stop. Stop, you are under no obligation. The next day be more considerate, and while performing the first processes or the second process, try to keep your energies reserved, so that you may be able to continue the remaining processes; be judicious.

***

Source: In Woods of God-Realization Vol-II by Swamy Rama Tirtha (1873-1906)

***

UNDERSTANDIDNG BRINGS COMPASSION

June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.


While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle.

Before the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Due burned himself alive in 1963, he meditated for several weeks and then wrote very loving letters to his government, his church, and his fellow monks and turns explaining why he had reached the decision. When you are motivated by love and the willingness to help others attain understanding, even self-immolation can be a compassionate act. When Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified, He was acting in the same way, motivated by the desire to wake people up, to restore understanding the compassion, and to save people. When you are motivated by anger or discrimination, even if you act in exactly the same way, you are doing the opposite.

When you read Thich Quang Duc's letters, you know very clearly that he was not motivated by the wish to oppose or destroy but by the desire to communicate. When you are caught in a war in which the great powers have huge weapons and complete control of the mass media, you have to do something extraordinary to make yourself heard. Without access to radio, television, or the press, you have to create new ways to help the world understand the situation you are in Self-immolation can be such a means. If you do it out of love, you act very much as Jesus did on the cross and as Gandhi did in India. Gandhi fasted, not with anger, but with compassion, not only towards his countrymen but also toward the British. These great men all knew that it is the truth that sets us free, and they did everything they could to make the truth known.

Budhist and Christian practice is the same--to make the truth available--the truth about ourselves, the truth about our brothers and sisters, the truth about our situation. This is the work of writers, preachers, the media, and also practitioners. Each day, we practice looking deeply into ourselves and into the situation of our brothers and sisters. It is the most serious work we can do.

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Source: LIVING BUDHA, LIVING CHRIST by THICH NHAT HANH
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LOOKING INTO OUR FOOD

Mindful eating is an important practice. It nourshes awareness in us. children are very capable of practicing with us. In Budhist monasteries, we eat our meals in silence to make it easier to give our full attention to the food and to the other members of the community who are present. And we chew each morsel of food thoroughly, atleast thirty times, to help us to be truly in touch with it. Eating this way is very good for digestion.

Before every meal, a monk or a nun recitesthe Five Contemplations: "This food is the gift of the whole universe--the earth the sky, and much hard work. May we live in a way that is worthy of the food. May we transform our unskillful states of mind, especially that of greed. May we eat only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. May we accept this food for the realization of the way of understanding and love."

Then we can look at the food deeply, in a way that allows it to become real. Contemplating our food before eating in mindfulness can be a real source of happiness. Every time I hold a bowl of rice, I know how fortunate I am, I know that forty thousand children die every day because of the lack of food and that many people are lonely, without friends or family. I visualize them and feel deep compassion. You do'nt need to be in a monastery to practise this. You can practise at home atg your dinner table. Eat mindfully is a wonderful way to nourish compassion, and it encourages us to do something to help those who are hungry and lonely. We needn't be afraid of eating without having the T.V. radio, newspaper or a complicated conversation to distract us. In fact, it is wonderful and joyful to be completely present with our food.

***

Source: LIVING BUDHA, LIVING CHRIST by THICH NHAT HANH

Neither defiled nor immaculate

Defiled or immaculate.

Dirty or pure. These are concepts we form in our mind.

In the City of Mani there are many young prostitutes, some of them only fourteen or fifteen years old. They are very unhappy young ladies. They did not want to be prostitutes. Their families are poor and these young girls went to the city to look for some kind of jobs like street vendor, to make money to send back to their families. Of course this is not true not only in Manila, but in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, in New York City, and in Paris also. It is true that in the city you can make money more easily than in the countryside, so we can imagine how a young girl may have been tempted to go there to help here family. But after only a few weeks there, she was persuaded by a cleverer person to work for her and to earn perhaps one hundred times more money. Because she was so young and did not know much about life, she accepted and became a prostitute. Since that time, she has carried the feeling of being impure, defiled, and this causes her great suffering. When she looks at other young girls, dressed beautifully, belonging to good families, a wretched feeling wells up to her, and this feeling of defilement has become her hell.

But, if she had an opportunity to meet with Avalokita, he would tell her to look deeply at herself and at the whole situation, and see that she is like this because other people are like that. "This is like this, because that is like that." So how can a so called good girl, belonging to a good family be proud? Because their way of life is like this. the other girl has to be like that. No one among us has clean hands. No one of us can claim it is not our responsibility. The girl in Manila is that way because of the way we are. Looking into the life of that young prostitute, we see the non-prostitute people. And looking at the non-prostitute people and at the way we live our lives, we see the prostitute. This helps to create that, and that helps to create this.

Source: The Heart of Understanding

by THICH NHAT HANH:

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BREEZE IN SUMI PAINTING

In Japan there is an art form called Sumi Painting. Sumi painting uses just black ink and a brush. Black ink is black ink, but black ink is not black as a single colour. If you paint a pine tree with black ink, that one color creates many colors. Perhaps you have seen a sumi paintings; tiny boat, fisherman in the boat, ocean. And in the corner, just one tree; that's all. Can you imagine this? Just one tiny boat, and just one little tree, and no colours, just white. White in one color, but from white, space is created, and many colors. From this you can see the huge scale of the world; sunny days, cloudy days, oceans -- all this expressed in different ways. From sumi painting you can feel this, that is why in sumi painting black is not just black.

Another characteristic of sumi painting is that with sumi painting you have to listen to the rhythm of the universe, the rhythm of the world--the tree, the boat, the ocean. The ocean is white, but you have to have eyes to see, ears to listen to the rhythm of the ocean, the rhythm of the boat, the rhythm of the tree. This is very important. For instance, there is interesting poem composed by Ikkyu Zenji, a famous Zen master. It says:

And what is it, the heart?

It is the sound of pine breeze

There in the sumi painting.

According to Buddhism, mind is just like the sound of the pine breeze in the sumi painting. There, on the paper, is the pine tree, and the ocean, and the boat. And you can feel the breeze, and the sound of the breeze, from the painting.

In another poem a Zen master says:

The breeze in the sumi painting---

How cool it is!

Even oneness disappears

When culminating in not-two.

Two means the dualistic world. For instance, when you want to swim, there is the ocean and there is you. It is dualistic. "Culiminating in not two" means jump into the ocean. Ocean and you become one. That is the ultimate state of becoming one. In other words, oneness is not an idea of oneness. The oneness of the ocean and you is something active, something that leaves no trace of form. Activity is constantly moving from movement to movement. We do not realize it, but mind it always picking up activity right at the moment of activity. When you pick up activity, immediately immediately it is form or experience. But right in the midst of activity there is no form. All you have to do is just be there. This is oness.

Oneness is the rhythm of the sameness of ocean and you. And that time it is called "to swim." To swim is constantly to swim. If something is wrongly with the power of your body, you cannot swim. So your whole body and mind must be operating smoothly; that is "to swim." It is leaving no trace of my any form. That is why the Zen master says, "Even oneness disappears when culminating in not-two." That is the breezer in the sumi painting. It is not something dead. It is not something dead. It is something you have to realize. It is cool. "How cool it is" means you cannot explain, but you can feel how cool it is. that is most important. If you leave no trace of any form, experience becomes just like a breeze in the sumi painting.

In sumi painting, there is something painted by a brush, but even though you paint the pine tree on paper, that pine tree is not something painted. It must be something alive, something that is exactly the same as the pinetree living in nature. At that time, people are moved by the painting. When you really understand the pine tree, the pine tree becomes alive on the paper. You can feel the breeze moving in the pine tree. You can feel the sound of the breeze and how cool it is. You cannot explain it, but it is beautiful.

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Source: RETURNING TO SILENCE: Zen Practice in Daily Life by Dainin Katagiri
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