"The Miracle of Mindfulness" III

The Miracle of Mindfulness

The scholar monk Youyuan asked Zen Master Dazhu Huihai, "How has the monk been working hard lately?" Dazhu replied, "Hungry, eating, sleeping." "Ordinary people also eat and sleep?" This is also called repair?" Zen Master Dazhu: "Ordinary people are willing to eat when they eat, and they are willing to sleep when they sleep." The enlightened Zen master eats and sleeps like mortals, but he eats when he eats, sleeps when he sleeps, and this is Zen - really living in the present moment.

3. The right day

1. Today is yours

Every moment and every moment should be practiced.

This is very tolerant, but it is simple to start. That's why I suggest in the meditation class that you should all use the practice of correction one day a week. In principle, every day and every hour should be your own, but in fact few people can do that. We always feel like our time is being taken up by family, work and social affairs.

So, I recommend that everyone take a day out of a week, maybe a week .

If you choose the week, then the week is entirely your own, a day that you can take full control of. The week will be a ladder that will lift you up and make you into the habit of practicing righteousness.

All staff of peace task forces or service groups, no matter how urgent the work, has the right to have such a day. Because without our own day, we will quickly get lost in a life full of worries and busyness. No matter which day we choose, we can regard that day as the "right day."

In order to set a day, you have to find a way to remind yourself when you wake up on that day that this day is your day. You can hang something on the ceiling or on the wall, like a piece of paper with "positive" or a pine branch - anything that you will see when you open your eyes and remind you, "Today is my day."

Today is yours. Keeping this in mind, you may feel a smile blooming on your face, a smile that proves that you are fully aware and can further nourish pure positiveness.

2. Wake up in the middle

While still lying on the bed, slowly follow your breath for a slow, long, and conscious breath, and then slowly get up (and jump up as usual, nourishing with every movement). When you get up, brush your teeth and wash your face, and do all the morning work calmly and relaxedly, but every action must be done in the right direction.

Follow your breath, master it, and let your head run east and west. Every action should be done calmly. Measure your steps with quiet and long breaths. Keep smiling.

Spend at least half an hour in the shower. Wash slowly and properly, then when you wash well, you will feel relaxed and refreshed. After that, you might do some housework, like washing dishes, cleaning, wiping the table, brushing the kitchen floor, or the whole shelf of books. Whatever you do, do it calmly and easily in the middle. Do things with the mindset that you just want to get it done.

Make up your mind to do every job with a relaxed focus. Enjoy your work and be one with it. If you do this, the day is meaningless.

If you're doing every job, the feeling that every job is a headache will quickly fade away. Take those Zen masters as the guide, do the work, raise their hands and feet, they are all hurried, very calm, not at all reluctant.

For those who are just beginning to practice, it is best to maintain a spirit of silence all day long.

This is something you can say. You can chat, you can even sing, but whether you chat or sing, you must be fully aware of where you are or singing, and sing less or less before. Of course, as long as you are aware that you are singing and aware that you are singing, it is also possible to practice right while singing.

It should be noted that if your meditation is still very weak, when you talk about singing, you will be very tolerant of losing your righteousness.

3. Fall asleep in the middle

It's time for lunch, so prepare yourself a meal. Cook and wash the dishes in the middle.

After cleaning the house in the morning, and after busy gardening work or watching the clouds and picking flowers in the afternoon, make yourself a pot in the middle and sit down to taste it. Give yourself plenty of time to do these things; drink like some people drink coffee during their breaks. Drink it swiftly and reverently, as if it were the central axis of the rotation of the earth; slowly and steadily, and rush away in a hurry.

Live this real moment. This moment is life itself, life. To be a prisoner of the untouched. Worry about what you haven't done. Be anxious to start or get rid of things. Think about setting off.

Turn into buds that sit quietly in a hedge

Turn into a smile and become part of this incredible existence

Here it is. Departure is required.

This land is as beautiful as my childhood homeland

Please hurt it and keep singing....

--"Butterflies on a Mustard Flower Field"

In the evening, you can chant and copy a few passages, write letters to friends, or do whatever you enjoy, as long as it's the week's routine. But whatever you do, you must keep it straight. It's good to eat a little dinner; this way, around ten or eleven o'clock zazen, you'll be able to sit more easily because you're on an empty stomach. Afterwards you can take a leisurely walk in the refreshing evening air, follow the breath in the middle, and measure the length of your breath by your footsteps. Finally, go back to your room and fall asleep in the middle.

We have to find a way to make every staff member have a good day. Such a day is absolutely necessary. Its effect on other days of the week is measurable.

Ten years ago, thanks to the first day, ChuVan and the other sisters and brothers of our mutual membership were able to guide themselves through all kinds of difficulties.

I believe that by applying the weekly day for three months, you will see a great change in your life. The day will begin to penetrate the rest of the week, and you will end up living in the middle seven days a week.

I'm sure you'll agree with the importance of the day as much as I do!