Hanh - The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
Here you can read online Hanh - The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. City: New York, year: 2011;2010, publisher: Parallax Press, genre: Religion. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:
Romance novel
Science fiction
Adventure
Detective
Science
History
Home and family
Prose
Art
Politics
Computer
Non-fiction
Religion
Business
Children
Humor
Choose a favorite category and find really read worthwhile books. Enjoy immersion in the world of imagination, feel the emotions of the characters or learn something new for yourself, make an fascinating discovery.
- Book:The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
- Author:
- Publisher:Parallax Press
- Genre:
- Year:2011;2010
- City:New York
- Rating:4 / 5
- Favourites:Add to favourites
- Your mark:
The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight: summary, description and annotation
We offer to read an annotation, description, summary or preface (depends on what the author of the book "The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight" wrote himself). If you haven't found the necessary information about the book — write in the comments, we will try to find it.
Title Page; Introduction; 1 -- SUNSHINE AND GREEN LEAVES; Thanh Thuys Apple Juice; A River of Perceptions; Sunshine and Green Leaves; Darkness Becomes Light; A Poem for Buttoning Your Jacket; Three Hours for a Cup of Tea; Bathing a Newborn Buddha; Nourishing Awareness while Working; The Precious Smile; Breathing Rhythmically; A Poem and a Peppermint Plant; Establishing a Spiritual Homeland; Singing, Really Singing; From Sleep to Awakening; Awareness, Concentration, Understanding; Cooking a Pot of Corn; Examining a Koan; Awareness Is Both Cause and Effect; Conceiving the Inconceivable.;The Sun My Heart is one of Thich Nhat Hanhs most beloved books. Using the objects and events of everyday life in his hermitage in Plum Village -- the gradual settling of the pulp in a glass of apple juice or the wind blowing into the room and scattering papers about -- Thich Nhat Hanh draws from Buddhist psychology, epistemology, and the world of contemporary literature and science to guide the reader along the path of clarity and understanding. This book can be read straight through, but is also designed to be opened randomly and experienced chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph. Nhat Han.
Hanh: author's other books
Who wrote The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight? Find out the surname, the name of the author of the book and a list of all author's works by series.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thích. Nhất Hạnh
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work
Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.
Light
Font size:
↓
↑
Reset
Interval:
↓
↑
Bookmark:
Make
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Meditators have always known that they must use their own eyes and the language of their own times to express their insight. Wisdom is a living stream, not an icon to be preserved in a museum. Only when a practitioner finds the spring of wisdom in his or her own life can it flow to future generations. All of us must keep the torch of wisdom glowing in order to light the path ahead.
Our insight and our language are inseparable from the times in which we live. For many years, the East followed the West down the path of technological and material development, to the point of neglecting its own spiritual values. In our world, technology is the main force behind economics and politics, but scientists in the West have begun to see something similar to what the spiritual disciplines of the East discovered long ago. If we can survive our times, the gap that separates science and spirituality will close, and East and West will meet one another on the path to discover true mind. We can start working towards that convergence right now, using our own daily mindful lives.
This small book was not written to show off any special knowledge of the author. (In fact, there is not much for him to show off.) It prefers to be a friend rather than a book. You can take it with you on the bus or subway, just as you do your coat or your scarf. It can give you small moments of joy at any time. You may like to read a few lines, then close it and put it back in your pocket, and read another few lines sometime later. If you find a paragraph that is difficult or complicated, just skip over it and try the next one. You can return to it later and maybe you will find that it is not so complicated after all. Chapter Five, which is the last one, is quite pleasant to read. You can start there if you like.
Please draw on your own experience to understand this book. Do not be intimidated by any of the words or ideas. Only when you begin to see the words written here as your own, will you find the joy and the strength necessary to journey from mindfulness to insight.
SUNSHINE AND GREEN LEAVES
Thanh Thuys Apple Juice
Today three children, two girls and a little boy, came from the village to play with Thanh Thuy (pronounced Tahn Tui). The four of them ran off to play on the hillside behind our house and were gone for about an hour when they returned to ask for something to drink. I took the last bottle of homemade apple juice and gave them each a full glass, serving Thuy last. Since her juice was from the bottom of the bottle, it had some pulp in it. When she noticed the particles, she pouted and refused to drink it. So the four children went back to their games on the hillside, and Thuy had not drunk anything.
Half an hour later, while I was meditating in my room, I heard her calling. Thuy wanted to get herself a glass of cold water, but even on tiptoes she couldnt reach the faucet. I reminded her of the glass of juice on the table and asked her to drink that first. Turning to look at it, she saw that the pulp had settled and the juice looked clear and delicious. She went to the table and took the glass with both hands. After drinking half of it, she put it down and asked, Is this a different glass, Uncle Monk? (a common term for Vietnamese children to use when addressing an older monk).
No, I answered. Its the same one as before. It sat quietly for a bit, and now its clear and delicious. Thuy looked at the glass again. It really is good. Was it meditating like you, Uncle Monk? I laughed and patted her head. Lets say that I imitate the apple juice when I sit; that is closer to the truth.
Every night at Thuys bedtime, I sit in meditation. I let her sleep in the same room, near where I am sitting. We have agreed that while I am sitting, she will go to bed without talking. In that peaceful atmosphere, rest comes easily to her, and she is usually asleep within five or ten minutes. When I finish sitting, I cover her with a blanket.
Thanh Thuy is the child of boat people. She is not yet four-and-a-half years old. She crossed the seas with her father and arrived in Malaysia in April of last year. Her mother stayed in Vietnam. When her father arrived here in France, he left Thuy with us for several months while he went to Paris to look for a job. I taught her the Vietnamese alphabet and some popular folk songs from our country. She is very intelligent, and after two weeks she was able to spell out and slowly read Leo Tolstoys The Kingdom of Fools, which I translated into Vietnamese from the French.
Every night Thanh Thuy sees me sit. I told her that I am sitting in meditation without explaining what it means or why I do it. Every night when she sees me wash my face, put on my robes, and light a stick of incense to make the room fragrant, she knows that soon I will begin meditating. She also knows that it is time for her to brush her teeth, change into pajamas, and go quietly to bed. I have never had to remind her.
Without a doubt, Thuy thought that the apple juice was sitting for a while to clear itself, just like her Uncle Monk. Was it meditating like you? I think that Thanh Thuy, not yet four-and-a-half, understands the meaning of meditation without any explanation. The apple juice became clear after resting awhile. In the same way, if we rest in meditation awhile, we too become clear. This clarity refreshes us and gives us strength and serenity. As we feel ourselves refreshed, our surroundings also become refreshed. Children like to be near us, not just to get candy and hear stories. They like to be near us because they can feel this freshness.
Tonight a guest has come. I fill a glass with the last of the apple juice and put it on the table in the middle of the meditation room. Thuy is already fast asleep, and I invite my friend to sit very quietly, just like the apple juice.
A River of Perceptions
We sit for about forty minutes. I notice my friend smiling as he looks at the juice. It has become very clear. And you, my friend, are you clear? Even if you have not settled as thoroughly as the apple juice, dont you feel a little less agitated, less fidgety, and less disturbed? The smile on your lips hasnt faded yet, but I think you doubt that you might become as clear as the apple juice, even if we continue to sit for hours.
The glass of juice has a very stable base. But you, your sitting is not so sure. Those tiny bits of pulp only have to follow the laws of nature to fall gently to the bottom of the glass. But your thoughts obey no such law. To the contrary, they buzz feverishly, like a swarm of bees, and so you think you cannot settle like the apple juice.
You tell me that people, living beings with the capacity to think and to feel, cannot be compared with a glass of juice. I agree, but I also know that we can do what the apple juice does, and more. We can be at peace, not only while sitting, but also while walking and working.
Perhaps you dont believe me, because forty minutes have passed and you tried so hard but werent able to achieve the peace you hoped for. Thuy is sleeping peacefully, her breathing is light. Why dont we light another candle before continuing our conversation?
Little Thuy sleeps this way effortlessly. You know those nights when sleep eludes you, and the harder you try to sleep the less you can? You are trying to force yourself to be peaceful, and you feel the resistance inside of you. This same sort of resistance is felt by many people during their first experiences with meditation. The more they try to calm themselves, the more restless they become. The Vietnamese think this is because they are victims of demons or bad karma, but really this resistance is born out of our very efforts to be peaceful. The effort itself becomes oppressive. Our thoughts and feelings flow like a river. If we try to stop the flow of a river, we will meet the resistance of the water. It is better to flow with it, and then we may be able to guide it in ways we want it to go. We must not attempt to halt it.
Light
Font size:
↓
↑
Reset
Interval:
↓
↑
Bookmark:
Make
Similar books «The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight»
Look at similar books to The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thích. Nhất Hạnh
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh
Reviews about «The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight»
Discussion, reviews of the book The Sun My Heart: Reflections on Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.