This is a clip from The Zen Mind documentary, filmed in Japan. It serves as a nice overview of zen – a topic very few people can fully understand. EmptyMind Films. http://emptymindfilms.com
Category: Mindfulness
Ilie Ciora
lie Cioara was an enlightened mystic who did not belong to any lineage. He is unique in a way, in the sense that he lived in almost complete isolation, in Eastern Europe in a communist country, completely oblivious of nonduality, zen etc. Originally a Christian mystic, he practiced a mantra for over 20 years.
One day, he felt an intuitive impulse to drop the mantra, and just practice the silence of the mind, by listening to the noises on the street, in the now. After following this practice for a few years, one morning, as he was waking up from his sleep, he suddenly experienced Enlightenment. His description of meditation is fresh and devoid of any tradition and jargon.
His writings in 16 books describe the experience of meditation and enlightenment, as well as the practice of “Self-knowing” using all-encompassing Attention. Like Ramana Maharshi, Krishnamurti, Ekhart Tolle, his is a simple message of discovering our inner divine nature through the silence of the mind.
The Silence of the Mind is the first in a tetralogy by Ilie Cioara to be published by Obooks. Soon to follow: The Wondrous Journey into the Depth of Our Being, Life is Eternal Newness and I Am Boundlessness
Petrica Verdes (Deva Daan) A translator and a seeker of truth, he has been practicing meditation and living in various meditation communes in Italy, Germany and the UK. Translating Iie Cioara’s work has been a labour of love and a process of spiritual growth.
NDM: Can you please tell me about how you met Ilie Cioara?
Petrica Verdes: In 2002, I came across one of Ilie Cioara’s books in a bookshop, and I wrote the publisher straight away, asking if they could pass me the address of the author. The book just mesmerized me, I felt an energy around the text and I used to meditate with it and carry it with me. To my surprise, after a month, I received a reply from the editor, with the author’s address and telephone number. I called him the same day and arranged a meeting with him the next morning. Ilie Cioara’s door was always open to whoever was interested in the truth. He did not ask any questions: you were the one who asked the questions, if you needed to.
After a 10 hour train journey, I knocked on his door. The door opened and I was welcomed by the most amazing eyes. I had seen these eyes before, in photos of Ramana Maharshi, Osho, Papaji, Yogananda – yet it was the first time I saw them in real life. In front of me stood a very vital and alive old man, who I thought was around 60 years old. Little did I know at the time that he was 86.
The room was full of an energy which made my mind become silent. He asked me if I had any questions to ask him, but I couldn’t think of anything, my mind was just blank. I just wanted to sit and meditate in his presence, and look into those eyes. He said to me that this had happened to other people as well, and that, if necessary, I needed to write my questions at home, and bring them with me the next time.
There was a strong meditative energy in the room. I just wanted to relax into that energy.
I remember two anecdotes from this encounter. At one point, he told me a woman had come to him, and she had the gift of reading other people’s thoughts. She came to him for recognition, yet his reply was simple: “Aren’t your thoughts enough, now you want to have other people’s thoughts?”
Another thing he told me during our meeting – the famous saying by Descartes; I think, therefore, I am. Ilie Cioara commented this was one of the stupidest things he had ever heard, because, only when I do not think, I truly Am. This was an deeply untrue statement. A correct statement would be “I think, therefore, I am not”
NDM: So did you meet up with him again?
Petrica Verdes: I only met him once while he was in the body. After a few months I left the country to Italy, to live in a meditation commune there, I had other dreams and ideals. By the time I got round to seeing him again, in 2004, he had passed away.
NDM: Can you please tell me how this man and his book impacted you?
Petrica Verdes: I’ve been reading and re-reading this book for many years. Each reading adds a deeper level of understanding.
This is not a book about meditation, or describing meditation. The book is a meditation in itself. Words are used as a device to transport the reader in a state of meditation.
Ilie Cioara – The Silence of the Mind
To give you a firsthand example, the poem The Power of Emptiness:
The mind is completely silent, we are attentive – a clear consciousness, / All meanings, boundaries disappear – us and the Infinite are “One”; / Practically we have a new mind, always fresh. / Being in the pause, I become infinite! / It separates two worlds. I leave the limited world / And enter Boundlessness, through total melting; / The whole being is calm – a constant sparkle. / There is no time, no space – just everlasting Eternity; I move in direct contact with life, in a permanent present.
The book is a journey of self-discovery for the reader. Through these mirror-poems, he is able to see the reality of his being as if in a mirror. The approach of the book is very intuitive and practical, rather than descriptive. He does not explain – he gives the reader an experience, using words. All the verses are followed by explanations in prose.
The book is not necessarily meant to be read from beginning to end. One can carry it in his pocket, open it randomly and read a passage: it will help reconnect with the reality of being. Like looking into a mirror, we are reminded of the original face we had before we were born and after we die.
I had been carrying this book in my pocket for a long time. The particular thing about this book is – usually, enlightened people do not write books – they speak to disciples, and the discourses are written. One feels like one is eavesdropping – the master is speaking to the disciple, and we are listening to this as spectators. Some of it may regard us as well, some of it is specifically directed at that disciple.
Because Ilie Cioara was almost alone, during the communist years, he had to communicate this experience in writing. He is using words directly, as a device for awakening. He is addressing the reader directly, but he is not there to provide information, he is there to awaken.
In a way, this setback has created a unique book. It is not a discourse – the reader can use the book as a device to awaken. And Ilie Cioara is the first to remind the reader:”You don’t need anything outside yourself. Forget the author completely and just stay with the experience of being in the moment. Read the words and transcend them.”
NDM: So as a result of reading this book, did you experience some kind of an awakening your self? If so can you please tell me what this is?
Petrica Verdes: One can read a book, close it and forget about it. Or re-read it again and think: this is a wonderful book, and close it again and forget about it.
Rather than merely reading the book, it is the daily practice of what is described in the book, that simple attention to the present moment that changed my life. It is a daily practice, wherever I am, in whatever circumstances, from early morning until late in the night, to just watch the mind and do not buy into its games and most of all, do not give it any energy. Mind exists because we give it energy, because we believe in it. If we disidentify with it, if we detach from it – its energy supply is cut off. It cannot exist without us. And the reverse is also the case – we cannot exist without the mind. When the mind is not – we stop existing as an “ego” entity.
This is why it is in our best interest to keep the mind going. This is how we can also continue to exist, with our dreams, ideals, aspirations – all these are fuel to our “ego” identity.
So the ego pretends – I want to be rid of the mind – but in fact, “ego” and mind are in a deep partnership. You watch the mind, but you don’t want to disappear as an entity. You want the mind to disappear, without realizing that – with the disappearance of the mind, you will also disappear.
So we give the mind energy, because the mind allows us to exist as an individuality. We pretend we meditate, this is a game that every meditator plays with himself. We don’t want to disappear. There is still something unaccomplished, something we long for, something we need to achieve, we have not let go and just be in the present moment.
Ilie Cioara – Creation is Eternal Freshness
So this is one thing to be remembered, by not giving energy to the mind, you also cut off the energy invested in the “ego” identity. Accept death as an “ego” because sooner or later this is the end result of meditation. This is what I learned by practicing Ilie Cioara’s teachings.
It’s years of observation of one’s thoughts that finally bring an awakening, without needing to do something in particular, just a simple observation. It is not cheap. The mind is lives upon lives of living in ignorance, a huge deposit of unconscious mechanical impulses which does not go away so easily.
Whenever I read the book, I find a deeper dimension of myself. It’s one of those books that can be re-read, time and again, because it is mystical. It does not give you knowledge, it gives you an experience, using poetry. But the practice is not confined to the book, the book is just an indicator sign.
As translator, reading or translating the book is like a satsang with Ilie Cioara, it is a process of growth, being in the energy of an enlightened being. Each enlightened being that lived on this earth is alive in the infinite dimension, and one can come into contact with that infinite energy. Buddha is present in the Buddha statue. Jesus is present in the communion. Other enlightened masters are present in a photo. So from this point of view, the fact of translating, reading, re-reading the book, day after day, has been an individual process of growth and deepening of meditation that goes beyond knowledge. Reading and re-reading, one goes beyond words. But that has been my individual journey, each person has his own journey, his own enlightened masters that light one’s path.
NDM: Ok, your description daily practice sounds like Buddhist vipassana. Buddha first developed this method 2,500 years ago. Is his method any different from vipassana is what I’m asking?
Petrica Verdes: No, it is not vipassana. Vipassana is still a technique – you follow the breath going in, going out, going in, going out. It is a method.
Ilie Cioara’s practice (and he describes it better in his own words, but I will try sum it up) is not about watching a particular thing. You watch whatever is going on inside of you, thoughts, emotions, sensations, and you also watch what is going on outside of you, whatever “is” in the present. He calls it an “all-encompassing Attention”.
In the end inner-outer become one movement. There is no more inner and outer. It is difficult to describe, it is an experience. In the end the meditator transcends into the infinite dimension, when the “ego” is no more – you become infinite, beyond body, beyond mind, beyond emotions.
Of course it is difficult in the beginning; one starts with watching the mind, or the breath, but as watching deepens, as you go deeper in watching, this watching becomes all-encompassing, spontaneously, no need to force it. Start with watching and this watching will slowly expand. Do not get fixated on an object, such as the breath.
In one sense, vipassana has something in common with it – the act of watching. Watching the breath in this case. But as the experience deepens, watching becomes without object and effortless – you just watch whatever is, in the present, inside and outside. In the end watching dissolves into itself, and with the phenomenon of enlightenment – you disappear as “ego” and you are a pure silent effortless consciousness – who can still use the mind, who can still inhabit a body – but you are infinite, limitless, in the infinite dimension. The barrier or the illusion of the ego has disappeared.
When the body dies, you say good bye to your dwelling, but you continue to exist, nevertheless, nothing is taken away.
However, Ilie Cioara’s practice is not new. It is an old practice, expressed in a new form.
NDM: When you say “When the mind is not – we stop existing as an “ego” entity. “
Ilie Cioara – The Power of Emptiness
Petrica Verdes: Yes. but that happens every night in deep sleep, but let me ask you his question, why is it that when we wake up from deep sleep we are still sleep, sleepwalking during the day and do not know what we are?
NDM: Also how do we wake up exactly? Can you please tell me the process of how this works?
Petrica Verdes: Deep sleep is deep unconsciousness. During deep sleep, we completely lose consciousness of who we are – it is very different from the state of transcending the “ego” entity.
It would be a different matter if we were conscious during deep sleep. The body is asleep, yet you are conscious of it, and awake. This is the experience of turyia, the fourth state of consciousness.
I remember a story about Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. He used to encourage his students to catch him unaware, whatever time, day or night, and to try to hit him with a staff. No one succeeded.
One of his students recalls waking up in the middle of the night, getting his staff and going to Ueshiba’s room, where he was sleeping. As he was about to hit him, Ueshiba’s eyes opened and he said “You aren’t going to hit your master, are you?”
Morihei Ueshiba was enlightened, and he had the experience of being aware, awake 24 hours a day, even during deep sleep. No one could catch him unaware.
So during the day we are in a state of unconsciousness, and during deep sleep we fall into an even deeper state of unconsciousness.
The experience of ceasing to exist as an ego entity is an oceanic experience. You become the ocean of consciousness, even if you keep living in a body, this is just a temporary abode for you.
Many masters have described the experience of awakening, enlightenment. In fact, descriptions do not help. It is an experience that needs to be experienced. You need to go through it.
In order to learn what love is, you need to go through the experience. No descriptions of love can help. Only after you fall in love with a woman or a man, then you will know what love is.
It is the same with awakening. You put all your energy into awakening. You will discover what it is when you experience it. There is no way to learn it from descriptions.
Transcending the “ego” is a mystery which needs to be experienced. There are many masters who have offered many descriptions of it. Descriptions are a hindrance because you already create an idea about it, so that prior idea becomes an obstacle.
In the Zen tradition nothing is said about enlightenment. People do zazen, and when someone gets it, he packs his meditation mat and goes away to teach. Or maybe he receives a slap from the master, as recognition. They laugh together, because he has got it. Someone else has not got it yet, but it is just a matter of time. He will only find it by himself, through experience.
NDM:Also when you say” We pretend we meditate, this is a game that every meditator plays with himself. We don’t want to disappear.’ Do you feel that traditional meditation doesn’t work? That it’s just a game of sorts?
Petrica Verdes: What I meant is we simply need to be aware of this game. Any meditation works if the person is sincere.
It is natural. In the beginning stages, the ego has a lot of energy, so it is the “ego” who wants to become enlightened, the “ego” meditates, the “ego” wants to be liberated. But it is just a natural stage. Everyone goes through this.
IlieCioara-PerfectlyConscious’
As the ego starts to weaken, as its energies weaken, we become more silent; quiet naturally, a new dimension opens. We realize the “ego” is the very problem, the very obstacle separating us from the ocean of existence. And this separation is just imaginary. We are never really separate. The fish is always in the ocean.
So meditation touches a new dimension – the ego starts to dissolve, there are short moments of union with the whole.
But these are just natural stages in meditation, what I meant is we need to simply become aware of this game, stop chasing one’s tail – and a new dimension opens.
Also when you say “Each enlightened being that lived on this earth is alive in the infinite dimension, and one can come into contact with that infinite energy. Buddha is present in the Buddha statue. Jesus is present in the communion. Other enlightened masters are present in a photo.”
NDM: What do your mean by this exactly? How is Jesus present in communion for example. How can a person who was executed two thousand years ago be in a piece of wafer bread today? Do you mean in an imaginary way of some kind, as a belief? The same applies to Buddha. How is Siddhārtha Gautama who was cremated and turned into ash or someone else like this who was buried and consumed by maggots be in a statue which is made out of stone?
Petrica Verdes: Buddha’s body was cremated, but Buddha was not the body. An enlightened person lives in a dimension beyond time and space. He is the ocean of consciousness, and the ocean itself is timeless and spaceless, it is beyond form.
Yet the enlightened person is very much alive, even after the death of the body, nothing changes. He belongs to the infinite, timeless dimension. Words are too poor to describe this.
Nevertheless, one can feel this. If someone is a devotee, or aware enough, you can feel Osho’s energy in a photo.
Meera, an Indian mystic woman, lived 4.500 years after Krishna’s death, yet she was a devotee of Krishna. She saw him, she danced with him, she felt his energy. Time and space are irrelevant.
An enlightened being lives in the infinite dimension – he is one with the infinity of the cosmos. He is beyond form. Yet, one can feel this person as energy.
Ilie Cioara – Listening and Watching
With modern mystics, if someone focuses on a picture of Ramana Maharshi, or Anandamayi, or Ramakrishna, one can feel an energy enveloping us, as if in an embrace. This has been experienced by many people. The enlightened person who is not in the body is not limited by time and space. It is a satsang.
In the past, when there were no photos, enlightened masters left their disciples certain symbols and rituals by which they could be contacted.
Jesus says – if three gather in my name, I will also be here.
Now this can be interpreted mystically. The three are the body, mind and spirit. When the three are one, I will also be here.
Baptism is one of such rituals. Communion is another. In the last supper, when he gives them the bread and the wine, and says “Eat this bread, this is my body. Drink this wine, this is my blood.” He leaves them a symbol, a means to connect with them when he is no longer in the body, yet he is still present in the infinite dimension.
Each enlightened person of antiquity left a key, a means to contact him. Nowadays, if there is a photo, there is no need for such key.
The same with the Buddha statues. Genuine Buddha statues were created by people who were in a state of meditation – and the statue has a quality of meditation. No one knows what Gautam Buddha looked like, and no one cares. It’s only appearance, form.
When a sculptor, in a deep state of meditation, creates a statue of Buddha, if someone meditates in front of that statue, he will come into contact with Buddha. This does not happen with all Buddha statues, unless they are created from a state of meditation.
Buddha is not in a statue, it does not matter what the statue is made of. Buddha is energy, and the statue is just a trigger, like a telephone, by which you contact the boundless, infinite, ocean of consciousness that is Buddha.
If someone from the middle ages came and saw people speaking on the phone, he would think they are mad. Why are they speaking to this small box? What is the point? This small box made of wires and copper and buttons!? Yet the person is not speaking to the phone, he is speaking to a real person, who is at the other end of the phone.
Similarly, if a person meditates with a Buddha statue, people think he is mad. How is Buddha in a statue made of stone? He is not in the statue – the statue is just a trigger.
Stone is a very primitive material. Nowadays there are photos. The photo is like a cellphone for contacting enlightened beings. Gurdjieff, Ramana Maharshi, Osho, Lahiri Mahasaya, Ramakrishna, Ma Anandamayi. Just sit in meditation, in full awareness, and look at the photo. Ramakrishna will be here, Osho will be here. Not Ramakrishna’s body, which was eaten by maggots. He was never the body. The body was just form, a temporary abode for the universal boundless spirit.
NDM: When you say a photo is for contacting enlightened beings. What do you contact exactly? Do you mean like their spirit, soul or their ghost of some sort?
For example can you contact Buddha’s spirit or his soul? Also what about looking into their eyes. For example if I were to stare at Ramana’s or Papaji or Gangaji or Moojis eyes, could I get direct transmission from them? Is this an esoteric eye method of some kind?
Petrica Verdes: There is nothing esoteric about it. Enlightened people are always available, Krishna is always available, Jesus is always available, Osho is always available.
We are just not aware enough to feel this. The more we grow in awareness, when we wake up, we simply see, that from the picture, an energy envelops us.
They are always available, only we are not available to them. We are in the mind. We live and dream in the mind.
When we get out of the mind, we see that they were always there. In a photo, looking into someone’s eyes.
The key is awareness… the more we are aware, the more we tune into their level of consciousness. The world is full of masters, but everyone has his eyes closed.
They have transcended the ego, they have entered into the infinite, timeless dimension. They exist as infinite energy, boundless, without form. In a dimension beyond space and time. In the eternal now.
There is no technique involved. The more we live in the now, in the same dimension they live in, the more aware we are to their presence.
Time does not make any difference in this dimension. Thousands of years have passed, Krishna is still alive as boundless energy in the timeless dimension.
A thing to be remembered is that we are also the same boundless energy. Only we have identified with a body, with a mind, we have created our own limits, in the form of the “ego” shell. But essentially, we are also boundless energy.
So when our boundless energy meets an enlightened person’s boundless energy, it helps the “ego” to dissolve. You surrender to this boundless energy and you have the courage to let go of limitations, allow this boundless energy to envelop you into boundlessness, like when the ocean flows into a dam and tears it down. This dam is the “ego”.
NDM: When you say” Many masters have described the experience of awakening, enlightenment. In fact, descriptions do not help. It is an experience that needs to be experienced. You need to go through it. ” How can I experience this? Is this something you can give me or transmit to me?
Petrica Verdes: There are many methods and techniques of meditation. The essential ingredient is the sincerity of the person, and the thirst for truth, otherwise one plays with meditation, postponing endlessly: Sometime, in another life, it will happen to me. I am just a poor mortal, not like the great enlightened beings that lived on this planet.
In fact, there is no difference between you and Osho, Krishnamurti, Ramana Maharshi. You have the same potential – only you are under the domination of the mind. The mind creates dreams, and you are daydreaming continuously. Everything they have, you also have. In fact, you are already in It. Only you are daydreaming, you live in a dream. To put it more clearly: you live in the mind. All thoughts are dreams.
So the mind is the only problem that needs to be addressed. When the mind is no more, or better, when the mind is completely silent, and it only comes into action when you want it to come into action – in that moment you see reality as it is and you realize you are already in It.
The only problem are the dreams of the mind. Papaji, the enlightened being who originated the neo-nonduality trend, had only one teaching. Be silent. Let the mind be silent. This is it. Many Papaji disciples forget this. How many non-duality teachers have a truly silent mind?
When the mind is silent all is revealed. Truth is simple intellectually; it is immensely difficult in practice.
Witnessing is the key. Witnessing, watching, you detach from the mind, you give it less and less energy. You are the mind. The mind is an extension of you.
The mind exists because you have so much energy invested in it. Stop investing energy in it and it will wither away. Just watch, constant watchfulness.
There are many teachers who describe witnessing, watchfulness. Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now is a good example. Osho has many books on it. Ilie Cioara describes the same. It’s the same thing, explained from every angle.
The important thing is to practice it, to explore it within us. To start with a practice and explore our inner being. It is a space where only we can enter.
Truth is simple, very simple. Most mystics were not intellectuals; they were simple people who walked the path. Practice is all. It is an inner exploration and there are no maps, because all is One, how can you map the One ocean of consciousness?
NDM: Also what do you mean by experience of turiya , the fourth state of consciousness. How can I “experience” this as you say?
Petrica Verdes: Turiya is the end of meditation. When the shell of the ego is broken and you become the infinite ocean of consciousness, beyond time and space, that is turiya.
It is practically the state of enlightenment, liberation etc. A state of permanent awakening, beyond time and space. It is a mysterious state, impossible to describe. It is impossible to understand with the mind because it is a state beyond mind.
It is the end of the road. The beginning of the road is witnessing, watchfulness. When the witness dissolves into itself, and you become limitless, spontaneously, effortlessly conscious, this is turiya. But turyia just happens, it cannot be achieved or attained. If you simply prepare the ground, by giving less and less energy to the mind, witnessing the mind – one day, the mind is so silent that boom, something happens, the witness dissolves into the limitless.
NDM: How would someone know if they were enlightened or not? Is there a test someone would take?
Petrica Verdes: I would say a good test is: when you go to sleep, if you lose consciousness during deep sleep, then you are not enlightened yet.
Who we really are is eternally awake and conscious. If you go to sleep, and the body falls asleep, but there is something in you that continues to be awake and aware of your surroundings, even during deep sleep, 24 hours a day, you are It.
NDM: When you speak about meditation, what kind of meditation are you speaking of?
Petrica Verdes: There are many techniques of meditation. The state of meditation is one.
There are many types of meditation because there are many divisions of the mind. But meditation is beyond mind – so it is beyond types. It just is.
The funny thing is, there are therapists who invent new meditations, CD guided meditations, trademarked meditations, only adding a new division and increasing the confusion.
Meditation is beyond techniques, labels, types, divisions, tradition. It is being one with the ocean of alive consciousness. We begin by having short glimpses of oneness.
Any technique is ultimately a burden, because it belongs to the mind. But some people need techniques. Even when practicing a technique, the important thing to remember is that meditation is beyond techniques and that sooner or later, the technique will need to be dropped.
Ultimately, even witnessing is a technique which will ultimately be dropped.
Revelatory answers in the search for meaning can seem to be the privilege of only the most evolved, brilliant, or blessed beings. But motivational counselor and teacher Jonathan Parker puts those answers within grasp. His step-by-step soul-solution process addresses that most profound of human quests with techniques that prompt transformational shifts.
Refined over Parker’s decades of counseling experience, these meditations and self-guided practices explore fear, meaning, ego, love, abundance, and healing in ways that will connect you to your core — the soul, beyond body and mind, from which real understanding and lasting fulfillment flow. By merging with this source, you will discover the love and peace that already exist inside you, allowing negative thoughts, painful memories, and limiting patterns to dissolve easily. By doing so, you will begin to experience the soul’s limitless gifts and replace endless searching with joyful, enlightened, and empowered being.
8-minute interview with Jill Bennet. Jill asks Jonathan the following questions:
1. Aren’t all meditations supposed to be enlightening?
2. What does the book [The Soul Solution] focus on?
3. Do we have only a percentage connection with our soul or are we disconnected?
4. How do we stay connected with our soul when our lives are so busy?
5. Does connecting with the soul ever get easier and become second nature?
6. Is it possible to go through the day with no mood swings or ever have a bad day?
7. What if a person is skeptical about the soul?
8. Where would a person begin to change their life around?
9. What should be a person’s experience with meditation?
10-minute%20Interview%20with%20Jill%20Bennett_mp3.mp3
Jonathan Parker
For over thirty years, Jonathan Parker has been a counselor, author, and creator of one of the largest libraries of audio recordings for personal enrichment and self-directed growth in the world. His unique, spiritually based methods go far beyond traditional motivational and self-help techniques, empowering others to rise to an enlightened life and develop their innate potential.
His wide spectrum of programs tap the deepest reservoir of human capabilities and inspire success in achieving the highest of human potentials. His programs have touched the lives of many thousands, lifting them to achieve personal excellence and financial success, vibrant health, winning performances, and the heights of the human spirit.
His recordings, workshops, and retreats offer inspiring and life-changing experiences. Jonathan lives with his wife, Jackie, in Ojai, California.
We all aspire to live fully and freely in the moment.
In Living Fully, Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche reveals timeless wisdom that can help us fulfill this deepest aspiration. Each succinct teaching is a luminous jewel, an invaluable guide to actualizing our innate potential and breathing with joy and ease.
Today, with so many struggling with financial, relationship, and career challenges, Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath is a timely prescription. Rinpoche offers the tools we need to experience genuine inner freedom, uncorrupted by endless craving for something better. Topics include beginning with a pure motivation, the preciousness of breath, healing oneself and others, the essence of meditation, and spontaneous fulfillment.
Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche has written the book that our troubled age has been yearning for. It is a treasure trove of heartfelt advice on how to seize the moment and live with kindness and understanding. Rinpoche’s teachings gently beckon us home to the purity and simplicity of our true nature. At peace with ourselves and at ease with the world, we can discover what it means to live our lives fully.
You can also view the full contents here:
http://www.livingfully.org/
Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche
His Eminence Shyalpa Rinpoche is a highly accomplished meditation master and learned scholar in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. With dignity and clarity, Rinpoche uncompromisingly transmits the profound teachings of the Buddha for the benefit of all.
His fresh and authentic teaching style provides a framework for using everyday situations to realize our highest potential. With genuine compassion, he manifests in order to meet the needs of each individual. Quite simply, he is a living expression of the precious wish-fulfilling jewel of Buddhadharma. He is one of the greatest living Dzogchen masters and a perfect teacher and guide for these complex times.
Rinpoche is renowned for his sophisticated understanding of Eastern and Western cultures. His students treasure his great compassion and kindness, unyielding loyalty, sense of humor, and skill in stripping away pretense. Rinpoche enjoys an active family life with his wife and three young children.
For over twenty years, His Eminence has tirelessly given teachings, retreats, seminars, and empowerments around the world and has lectured at universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Naropa University. In 1989 he founded Rangrig Yeshe, Inc., a nonprofit organization in the United States to preserve Vajrayana teachings. He also founded the Tibetan Children’s Fund, which has educated over three hundred children in India and Nepal. In Kathmandu, Nepal, he reestablished the Shyalpa Monastery and Retreat Center, and he founded Shyalpa Nunnery. Here, Shyalpa Rinpoche guides over 130 monks and nuns in the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingtig tradition.
His Eminence Shyalpa Rinpoche is in the process of establishing the Center for Enlightenment at Buddhafield in Millerton, New York, which he calls a sanctuary for complete awareness within ourselves, in the center of our hearts. Rinpoche has also established the Dharmachakra Teaching Funds in the United States and Europe. All the revenue generated from Rinpoche’s teachings goes into these funds and is used to organize and sponsor future teachings and retreats.
Rinpoche founded the nonprofit charitable organizations Wencheng Gongzhu International Foundation in Hong Kong in 2009, WGIF Taiwan in 2010, and WGIF Malaysia in 2011, in order to support his compassionate activities throughout Southeast Asia.
Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, author of Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath
New World Library Publisher Marc Allen talks to renowned Tibetan Buddhist lama, Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche about his book LIVING FULLY: Finding Joy in Every Breath.
There is a hidden meaning, a hidden beauty, in life’s most ordinary moments. It is the beauty of the human heart revealed, where what we have in common is greater than what keeps us apart. If we can learn to see the beauty in these moments, whether they are in the light or in the shadow, we become witnesses to the spiritual, testimonies to the sacred. We become true artists of the ordinary, and our life becomes a masterpiece, painted in the colors of the heart.
A chance encounter with a boy on a bicycle, a young girl’s graduation from eighth grade — these and other small moments are the subjects of this beautifully written collection. In elegant prose, Kent Nerburn uncovers the wonder hidden just beneath the surface of everyday life, offering poignant glimpses into the grace of ordinary days.
Whether he’s describing a kite’s dance on the winds above the high New Mexico desert, a funeral on an isolated Indian reservation, or a dinnertime conversation with family and friends, Kent Nerburn is among a handful of writers capable of moving so gently over such deep waters. Ordinary Sacred reveals the hidden beauty waiting to be discovered in each and every life.
Ordinary Sacred – Stories from Kent Nerburn
Kent Nerburn talks about his life and his latest book, Ordinary Sacred. This little gem of a book is full of intensely personal recollections that poignantly reveal truths we can all resonate with. With his artist’s eye Kent offers these shining moments of revelation to us, and we come away so enriched.
Listen to the entire interview at http://www.ncreview.com/interviews/ordinary-sacred-with-kent-nerburn
If you have been wandering down the mythological spiritual path for a while, you may find yourself occasionally frustrated, confused or just plain tired. If so, it’s perfectly understandable. The problem with the spiritual path is that there is no path to spirit because there is nowhere to go. You’re already there but may not have yet awakened to that fact.
Last week, I was at a taping of Oprah’s Lifeclass Tour, listening to a conversation between Oprah and Deepak Chopra. The focus kept turning to the famous quote from Teilhard de Chardin’s The Phenomenon of Man, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
In essence, the message was: Stop pretending to be something you are not and instead awaken to the spirit of whom you truly are.
As the conversation focused on traveling the spiritual path, I was reminded of something that I have been learning from my spiritual teacher, John-Roger, that goes something like this: The notion of a spiritual path is just another illusion. Why? Being on a path implies a beginning, an end and some distance to go before you arrive at your destination, some kind of gap between where you are and where you need to be. If the spiritual path leads to spirit or to enlightenment or to being in the heart of God — feel free to substitute any language that works well for you here — then where do you have to go in order to arrive?
Are you sleeping through your spiritual journey?
Many who teach one of the many versions of “being on the path” would suggest that what you seek is already present — God, spirit, your soul, or whatever other language you prefer is already here, right now, patiently waiting for you to notice. Many spiritual paths actively use the notion of awakening to describe the purpose of the spiritual journey. However, rarely does anyone take the time to deconstruct the term “awaken.”
An awakening takes place when something that was previously asleep comes back into conscious awareness again. Notice the emphasis on again. Something that awakens was previously asleep — that part is probably obvious. What may not be so obvious is that something that is asleep was previously awake.
If the goal of the spiritual journey is to awaken, then the spiritual path doesn’t take you anywhere as much is it awakens you to where you already are. In my lexicon, spirit is present with me, but I may not be present with the spirit from time to time. Indeed, I find that I often fall asleep to the spirit in my daily life.
Just the other day, I found myself becoming upset with someone I have worked with over many years. What did I get upset about? We were working on a project that was important to both of us and he had made a choice with which I disagreed. Instead of simply noticing that we had different paths to the same outcome, I got all bent out of shape about his “error.”
At this point, my Self-Talk took over and became increasingly critical of him as well as his choice. As I have pointed out in an earlier article, criticism actually stems from caring, but loses track of the caring. Indeed, I had lost track of my caring and was way too focused on the criticism. Fortunately, a good friend also happened to be noticing what was going on and stopped me short by asking one simple question: “Did you forget that he is Divine as well?” The “as well” part was the most jarring — indeed, I had fallen asleep again, forgetting that each of us is a soul having a human experience. In order to become critical of him, I had to first forget my own Divinity before I could ignore his and enter into the criticism.
One way of framing this little detour on my spiritual journey was that I had simply lost track of the spirit that is always present and instead focused on something lesser. That little reminder about his divinity served as my “wake up” call, and I was able to get back on a more collaborative rather than critical path.
(Ever you ever noticed that one “falls” asleep, but wakes “up?” Isn’t it an interesting use of language to suggest that there is directionality to sleeping and to awakening? Indeed, if you have played with spiritual paths before, don’t they almost always have a sense of ascending, of waking “up?”)
In many religious or spiritual practices, the goal is often described as a spiritual awakening that allows you to “become more of who you already are.” If you find yourself breaking out in hives at the mere mention of the word religion, then a brief detour here may be useful. The word “religion” comes from the Latin root, legare, which means “to unite” or “to connect.” Re is a prefix meaning “again.” Simply put, a “religious experience” is one that reconnects or reunites you to something that you (a) were previously connected to, (b) still are connected to, (c) always were connected to, or (d) all of the above.
So, rather than meaning anything about a defined or dogmatic set of practices, a religious experience may well be one that “reconnects” you with something that you were previously connected to. Doesn’t this sound a lot like awakening? Perhaps the true awakening is the wake up call that reconnects you to that which you have always been — a soul, a spiritual being, having a human experience.
You may have heard the old cliché about “life is a journey, not a destination.”
If life is a journey, then the soul could well be the vehicle.
And the path of the soul is one that is guiding you back to where you already are. The path, as it turns out, actually turns in(ward). You are not traveling somewhere away from where you are, but right back to where you started, only this time with awareness.
A recognized expert in personal and organization transformation, Russell has coached thousands of individuals around the world, helping them discover more about who they truly are and how to create balance and success in their personal and professional lives. He is the creator of Insight Seminars, one of the largest and most successful personal transformation programs in the world, with well over one million graduates in 34 countries.
Russell is an internationally regarded speaker, author, coach and consultant. His corporate clients include Fortune 500 executives in aerospace, healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, information technology, telecommunications and oil and gas. He has extensive international experience working in Europe, Asia, North and South America.
He is the author of numerous articles on the power of choice and awareness as well as his new book Workarounds That Work: How To Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work.
Biography
Marilyn Schlitz, PhD is President and CEO of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she has worked for 15 years.
Her work focuses in psychophysiology, cross cultural healing, and consciousness studies. She has given lectures, conducted workshops, and taught all around the country.
She completed her training in psychology, behavioral and social science, and philosophy at Stanford University, University of Texas, San Antonio and Wayne State University, Detroit. She received her PhD in anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin.
She has been featured in various writings, interviews, and videos. As well, she has authored and co-authored numerous books, such as Living Deeply: The Art of Science of Transformation and Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine.
Education
1993-1994
Post Doc, Psychology
Stanford University
1986-1992
PhD, Anthropology
University of Texas, Austin
1983-1986
MA, Behavioral/Social Science
University of Texas, San Antonio
1975-1979
As we already are feeling divisiveness of current politics and upcoming presidential elections…
As we feel into pain and complexity of people holding seeming irreconcilable values which actually harm each other, on topics like the economy, immigration and same-sex marriage…
As even people’s intentions for doing good in the world, whether through nonviolent dissent, or simple holiday shopping to provide for a family’s happiness is met with pepper spray and handcuffs…
Now more than ever we need our Mindfulness Practice.
We need the Freedom that Mindfulness invites for us — the freedom that we do not have to follow the unconscious patterns of acute reactivity. We need to remember that it is possible to notice deeply what is happening, understand it with some wisdom, treat it with some of the compassion inherent in our humanity, and move into responses and actions that are of benefit — that is, to move toward that which lessens suffering and creates happiness, not just for us as individuals, but us as a collective world.
Our Mindfulness practice, whether it is on the cushion paying attention to the emotions and thoughts that weave between the breath and bodily sensations, or whether it is in the world paying attention to our actions and behaviors which emerge from our emotions and thoughts, is always a reminder that in order to change any unhealthy or harmful patterns — in order to transform any suffering — we have to first become aware of the patterns themselves. We cannot change anything that we are not aware of. This is also true of our collective transformation into a culture that meets the needs of greater numbers of people and beings: We first have to become deeply aware of the conditions that we are living within, and then that will guide us into transforming the world into a better place to live.
On a personal level this may show up within the experience of intense emotions. Often we are driven by unconscious motivations of our emotional landscape. How often do we feel lost in the rage or the upset that sometimes arises? The powerful impact that Mindfulness brings is that the experience of being aware of the rage is not the rage itself. Being mindful of all the sensations of rage or anger is not being lost in or consumed by the fire. How often do we actually feed the experience of anger without examining what is really happening? Do you find yourself pouring fuel on the fire of rage, or even getting angry at the anger? What might be happening other than the thoughts or emotions inflaming the fuel?
If we examine closely, we will likely find that the experience of anger and rage have pleasant sensations associated with them. Pleasant sensations are always seductive. That is the nature of “pleasant.” And generally, without an awareness practice, unconscious conditioning impels our human experience to desire more pleasant sensations — without any questions asked. We begin to enjoy the sensations of feeling angry and even feed them with experiences such as self-righteousness, or a sense of “better-than,” or even revenge. The deceptive nature of the pleasant feelings of rage is that the behaviors and actions which emerge do not always lead to less suffering in the world. Much of our behavior and actions in the world are driven by the immediacy of this kind of reaction toward strong emotions or acute pain. These actions often lead to more suffering — unless there is Mindfulness.
Anger is an important barometer possibly indicating when boundaries have been crossed, or injustices have occurred or oppression has been inflicted. However, anger can also have an unconscious life of its own when it is not met with the central question of our Awareness practice, which is also a vital choice-point of Buddhist spiritual practice: Will this lead to more suffering, or will this lead to less?
Life is complicated and this is not always a clean or clear decision point. Our practice simply invites us to do the best we can — to be as mindful, aware and kind to whatever arises, even our intense emotional landscapes. The personal mantra that I have developed to navigate through the complex dilemmas and social issues arising currently is:
Can I be mindful and loving of whatever arises.
If I can’t be loving in this moment, can I be kind.
If I can’t be kind, can I be non-judgmental.
If I can’t be non-judgmental, can I not cause harm.
And if I cannot not cause harm, can I cause the least amount of harm possible?
Our awareness practice does not simply end with how it applies to our personal life. The Buddha did not design an individual practice that solely leads to personal salvation or enlightenment. The invitation of the Buddha’s teachings is to make our Mindfulness relevant and integral to not only our personal journey towards happiness, but our collective transformation towards Freedom. It is written in the Satipatthana Sutta:
The Noble Ones abide contemplating internally, they abide contemplating externally, they abide contemplating both externally and internally.
This practice of applying awareness to our internal personal experience and the external collective experience is how we create Freedom for all beings — it is how we become aware of what needs to be transformed. Referencing our current reality, to change the dynamic of the 1 percent and the 99 percent, we first need to become fully aware of the suffering and the disparities involved, and how these disparities actually cause harm to the 100 percent, not just the 99 percent. In addition, not everyone in the 99 percent is aware that that they are part of the 99 percent.
This is a process that is beginning to expand. Some of the 99 percent might have a few more creature comforts than others (i.e. “pleasant” conditions in life); however, this does not mean that they are not oppressed by a larger system in place. Our collective consciousness is in the midst of being raised. And this collective awareness raising is not separate or different from the deepening of our personal mindfulness practice, internally and externally.
What we do on the meditation cushion to create clarity of mind, openness in our hearts, and mindfulness of our thoughts, emotions and actions is not any different than the work we do in the world to create a better life for all of us. As many spiritual masters and social activist elders have told us, from Mahatma Gandhi to Audre Lorde, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Mindfulness can be the practice that connects our individual spiritual path with the path of all beings. Our paths toward Freedom are the same. We are not separate from one another.
Thich Nhat Hanh writes:
When you break through to the truth, compassion springs up like a stream of water. With that compassion, you can embrace even the people who have persecuted you. When you’re motivated by desire to help those who are victims of ignorance, only then are you free from your suffering and feelings of violation. Don’t wait for things to change around you. You have to practice liberating yourself. Then you will be equipped with the power of compassion and understanding, the only kind of power that can help transform an environment full of injustice and discrimination. You have to become such a person — one who can embody tolerance, understanding, and compassion. You transform yourself into an instrument for social change and change in the collective consciousness of mankind.
Thich Nhat Hanh describes one of the meanings embedded in sati, or mindfulness, and that is the capacity to remember what will lead to freedom in our lives — remembering that our personal and collective path toward Freedom is not dependent on any external conditions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has spoken, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In his wisdom, he prepares us that Justice, as worthy a task as it is in our lives, will take longer than any of us would like. It will require the efforts of the many rather than the few. And it will require every spiritual attribute we can muster.
There is tremendous injustice and unfairness in our cultures, our society and our world. And the teaching is that Freedom is not even dependent upon Life being fair or just. True Freedom does not mean to be in a place where there is no problem, struggle or oppression. True Freedom means to be in the midst of any and/or all those things, and have clarity in our minds, openness in our hearts and integrity in our actions. This is the kind of Freedom that will allow us to move through even our most difficult struggles with greater ease and benefit for us all.
Now more than ever, we need to remember this.
Larry Yang teaches meditation retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. Larry has practiced extensively in Burma and Thailand, with a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of meditation master Ajahn Tong. Larry is one of the core teachers and leaders of the East Bay Meditation Center and is on the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. He is one of the coordinating teachers of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader training program.
Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh explains to Joe Confino why mindfulness and a spiritual revolution rather than economics is needed to protect nature and limit climate change
Thich Nhat Hanh has been practising meditation and mindfulness for 70 years and radiates an extraordinary sense of calm and peace. This is a man who on a fundamental level walks his talk, and whom Buddhists revere as a Bodhisattva; seeking the highest level of being in order to help others. Ever since being caught up in the horrors of the Vietnam war, the 86-year-old monk has committed his life to reconciling conflict and in 1967 Martin Luther King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying “his ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” So it seems only natural that in recent years he has turned his attention towards not only addressing peoples’ disharmonious relationships with each other, but also with the planet on which all our lives depend.
Thich, as he is known to his many thousands of followers, sees the lack of meaning and connection in peoples’ lives as being the cause of our addiction to consumerism and that it is vital we recognise and respond to the stress we are putting on Earth if civilisation is to survive. What Buddhism offers, he says, is the recognition that we all suffer and the way to overcome that pain is to directly confront it, rather than seeking to hide or bypass it through our obsession with shopping, entertainment, work or the beautification of our bodies. The craving for fame, wealth, power and sex serves to create only the illusion of happiness and Thich ends up exacerbating feelings of disconnection and emptiness. Thich refers to a billionaire chief executive of one of America’s largest companies, who came to one of his meditation courses and talked of his suffering, worries and doubts, of thinking everyone was coming to take advantage of him and that he had no friends.
In an interview at his home and retreat centre in Plum Village, near Bordeaux, Thich outlines how a spiritual revolution is needed if we are going to confront the multitude of environmental challenges. While many experts point to the enormous complexity and difficulty in addressing issues ranging from the destruction of ecosystems to the loss of millions of species, Thay sees a Gordian Knot that needs slicing through with a single strike of a sharp blade.
Move beyond concept of the “environment”
He believes we need to move beyond talking about the environment, as this leads people to experience themselves and Earth as two separate entities and to see the planet in terms only of what it can do for them. Change is possible only if there is a recognition that people and planet are ultimately one and the same.
“You carry Mother Earth within you,” says Thich. “She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment. In that insight of inter-being, it is possible to have real communication with the Earth, which is the highest form of prayer. In that kind of relationship you have enough love, strength and awakening in order to change your life. Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.
Fear, separation, hate and anger come from the wrong view that you and the Earth are two separate entities, the Earth is only the environment. You are in the centre and you want to do something for the Earth in order for you to survive. That is a dualistic way of seeing. So to breathe in and be aware of your body and look deeply into it and realise you are the Earth and your consciousness is also the consciousness of the Earth. Not to cut the tree not to pollute the water, that is not enough.”
Putting an economic value on nature is not enough
They says the current vogue in economic and business circles that the best way to protect the planet is by putting an economic value on nature is akin to putting a plaster on a gaping wound. “I don’t think it will work,” he says. “We need a real awakening, enlightenment, to change our way of thinking and seeing things.”
Rather than placing a price tag of our forests and coral reefs, Thich says change will happen on a fundamental level only if we fall back in love with the planet:
“The Earth cannot be described either by the notion of matter or mind, which are just ideas, two faces of the same reality. That pine tree is not just matter as it possesses a sense of knowing. A dust particle is not just matter since each of its atoms has intelligence and is a living reality.
When we recognise the virtues, the talent, the beauty of Mother Earth, something is born in us, some kind of connection, love is born. We want to be connected. That is the meaning of love, to be at one. When you love someone you want to say I need you, I take refuge in you. You do anything for the benefit of the Earth and the Earth will do anything for your wellbeing.”
In the world of business, Thich gives the example of Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of outdoor clothing company Patagonia, who combined developing a successful business with the practice of mindfulness and compassion: “It’s possible to make money in a way that is not destructive, that promotes more social justice and more understanding and lessens the suffering that exists all around us,” says Thay. “Looking deeply, we see that it’s possible to work in the corporate world in a way that brings a lot of happiness both to other people and to us … our work has meaning.”
Thich, who has written more than 100 books, suggests that the lost connection with Earth’s natural rhythm is behind many modern sicknesses and that, in a similar way to our psychological pattern of blaming our mother and father for our unhappiness, there is an even more hidden unconscious dynamic of blaming Mother Earth. In a new essay, Intimate Conversation with Mother Earth, he writes: “Some of us resent you for giving birth to them, causing them to endure suffering, because they are not yet able to understand and appreciate you.”
How mindfulness can reconnect people to Mother Earth
He points to increasing evidence that mindfulness can help people to reconnect by slowing down and appreciating all the gifts that the Earth can offer.
“Many people suffer deeply and they do not know they suffer. They try to cover up the suffering by being busy. Many people get sick today because they get alienated from Mother Earth. The practice of mindfulness helps us to touch Mother Earth inside of the body and this practice can help heal people. So the healing of the people should go together with the healing of the Earth and this is the insight and it is possible for anyone to practice.
This kind of enlightenment is very crucial to a collective awakening. In Buddhism we talk of meditation as an act of awakening, to be awake to the fact that the Earth is in danger and living species are in danger.”
Thich gives the example of something as simple and ordinary as drinking a cup of tea. This can help transform a person’s life if he or she were truly to devote their attention to it. “When I am mindful, I enjoy my tea more,” says Thay as he pours himself a cup and slowly savours the first sip. “I am fully present in the here and now, not carried away by my sorrow, my fear, my projects, the past and the future. I am here available to life. When I drink tea this is a wonderful moment. You do not need a lot of power or fame or money to be happy. Mindfulness can help you to be happy in the here and now. Every moment can be a happy moment. Set an example and help people to do the same. Take a few minutes in order to experiment to see the truth.”
The need to deal with ones own anger to be an effective social activist
Thich has over many years developed the notion of applied Buddhism underpinned by a set of ethical practices known as the five mindfulness trainings, which are very clear on the importance of tackling social injustice. However, if social and environmental activists are to be effective, Thich says they must first deal with their own anger. Only if people discover compassion for themselves will they be able to confront those they hold accountable for polluting our seas and cutting down our forests.
“In Buddhism we speak of collective action. Sometimes something wrong is going on in the world and we think it is the other people who are doing it and we are not doing it. But you are part of the wrongdoing by the way you live your life. If you are able to understand that, not only you suffer but the other person suffers, that is also an insight.
When you see the other person suffer you will not want to punish or blame but help that person to suffer less. If you are burdened with anger, fear, ignorance and you suffer too much, you cannot help another person. If you suffer less you are lighter more smiling, pleasant to be with, and in a position to help the person.
Activists have to have a spiritual practice in order to help them to suffer less, to nourish the happiness and to handle the suffering so they will be effective in helping the world. With anger and frustration you cannot do much.”
Touching the “ultimate dimension”
Key to Thich’s teaching is the importance of understanding that while we need to live and operate in a dualistic world, it is also vital to understand that our peace and happiness lie in the recognition of the ultimate dimension: “If we are able to touch deeply the historical dimension – through a leaf, a flower, a pebble, a beam of light, a mountain, a river, a bird, or our own body – we touch at the same time the ultimate dimension. The ultimate dimension cannot be described as personal or impersonal, material or spiritual, object or subject of cognition – we say only that it is always shining, and shining on itself.
“Touching the ultimate dimension, we feel happy and comfortable, like the birds enjoying the blue sky, or the deer enjoying the green fields. We know that we do not have to look for the ultimate outside of ourselves – it is available within us, in this very moment.”
While Thich believes there is a way of creating a more harmonious relationship between humanity and the planet, he also recognises that there is a very real risk that we will continue on our destructive path and that civilisation may collapse. He says all we need to do is see how nature has responded to other species that have got out of control:
“When the need to survive is replaced with greed and pride, there is violence, which always brings about unnecessary devastation. We have learned the lesson that when we perpetrate violence towards our own and other species, we are violent towards ourselves; and when we know how to protect all beings, we are protecting ourselves.”
Remaining optimistic despite risk of impending catastrophe
In Greek mythology, when Pandora opened the gift of a box, all the evils were released into the world. The one remaining item was “hope”. Thich is clear that maintaining optimism is essential if we are to find a way of avoiding devastating climate change and the enormous social upheavals that will result. However, he is not naïve and recognises that powerful forces are steadily pushing us further towards the edge of the precipice. In his best-selling book on the environment, The World we Have, he writes:
“We have constructed a system we can’t control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims. We have created a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and in which we are so caught up in our own immediate problems that we cannot afford to be aware of what is going on with the rest of the human family or our planet Earth. In my mind I see a group of chickens in a cage disputing over a few seeds of grain, unaware that in a few hours they will all be killed.”
