Thich Nhat Hanh - A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles

A Handful of Quiet

Happiness in Four Pebbles

Thich Nhat Hanh

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Berkeley, California

Some years ago, I held a retreat for children in Santa Barbara, California. Many hundreds of children came for the retreat, and their parents came to support them. During that retreat, we invented this pebble practice as a tangible way for children and families to return to their breathing and their bodies and connect with the world around them.

The pebble practice is very simple. It is a little meditation you can do anywhere or anytime. To meditate is to think quietly about something. You may practice pebble meditation at the foot of a tree, in your living room, or wherever you like, but the place should be quiet.

If you have a small bell, that can be very helpful. If not, you might want to use a timer or a stopwatch, or you can do it without any of those things. You can do this practice by yourself, but it is also wonderful to do with your family, with some friends, or with a teacher.

For this meditation, each of the pebbles represents a different image in nature.

Each imageflower, mountain, water, spaceembodies a particular quality. After practicing pebble meditation this way, you might find other qualities that you want each pebble to represent. You may want to say that the pebbles represent love, compassion, joy, and inclusiveness, the four qualities of true love. The pebbles could also represent loved ones, such as a mother, father, sibling, close friend, or grandparent. Holding each pebble, we can send our love to that person as we breathe three times.

When I look at a child, I always see him or her as a flower: fresh, beautiful, and open to the moment. This pebble practice can help preserve our freshness.

When we say, Breathing in, I see myself as a flower, we dont have to imagine. Each of us is born as a flower, and the seed of flowerness is still in us. If after the practice you can smile easily and feel fresh as a flower, then you are doing the practice correctly.

The second pebble represents a mountain. There is a mountain inside each of us and it keeps us solid and calm. Solidity makes it possible for us to be happy. When you are solid, people can rely on you. When your loved one is solid, you can rely on her. Your solidity is something that you can offer to the person you love.

The third pebble represents calm water. If you have seen the surface of a lake when its very still, you may have noticed that it reflects the mountains, clouds, and trees around it perfectly. You can take a picture of the lake, and it is as if you are taking a picture of the surrounding sky, trees, and mountains because theyre so clearly reflected in the surface of the lake.

When you are calm, when you are still, you see things as they truly are. You dont distort things. When you are not calm, its easy to get confused and angry. All of us make a lot of mistakes and create a lot of suffering when we are not calm. Each human being should have enough tranquility to be truly happy. With the third pebble, we cultivate stillness and calm.

The last pebble represents space and freedom. Space is freedom, and freedom is the foundation of true happiness. Without freedom, our happiness is not complete. We want to be free from fear, anger, despair, and worries. Breathing in, you can bring a lot of space into yourself. Breathing out, you can bring a lot of space to your beloved ones.

If you love someone, try to offer him more space within and around him, and he will be happy. If you learn flower arranging, you will learn that each flower needs space around it to show its beauty. Human beings are also like this. All of us need some space inside and around us to be truly happy. If we love someone, we should offer our loved one enough space, inside and outside.

If you dont have enough space for yourself, how can you offer space to the person you love? Its important to know how to cultivate more space for ourselves.

Pebble meditation can help children and adults cultivate more freshness, solidity, stillness, and freedom. It can be done anywhere, with pleasure and without difficulty.

Begin by drawing the four objects that your pebbles represent. You can draw with whatever paper and pens, pencils, or crayons you have available.

First draw a flower, any kind of flower. As you draw the flower, notice that you are breathing in and breathing out. Enjoy your in-breath and your out-breath as you draw.

FLOWER A flower represents our freshness. We all have the ability to look at things with fresh eyes and see them as if seeing them for the first time. If we have lost our freshness, all we have to do is practice breathing in and out to restore it. You too are a flower. You have your flowerness. We become light and joyous every time we restore our flowerness.

MOUNTAIN The second thing I would like you to draw is a mountain. Breathe in and out and smile as you draw the mountain. It doesnt have to be a large mountain. It may be snowy or sunny, full of rocks or covered in grass. Maybe you only need two lines in order to make a mountain.

A mountain represents solidity and stability. There is a mountain within you. When you practice sitting and walking with awareness, you grow your capacity to be solid and stable. Solidity and stability are very important for our happiness. They are the mountain within us.

WATER The third thing I would like you to draw is a picture of water. This could be water that you are familiar with and love, perhaps a lake, a pool, a puddle, or a slow-moving river. Choose water that doesnt move too fast, water that can reflect the sky, the clouds, and the mountains. Breathe in and out and smile as you draw the water.

Calm water is beautiful. When water is still, it reflects nature as it really is. When we learn how to mindfully breathe in and breathe out, we are like the still water. We make ourselves still and calm. We can breathe in and out and become calm and serene. Then we can see things as they really are and not get caught in fear, blame, or anger. We have the capacity for great clarity. That is the still water within us.