Thich Nhat Hanh

MUSINGS: "How to Sit" begins my journey through the profound words & works of this wise man.

I’m always thinking, worrying, wondering. I can rarely rest my mind. I simply can’t imagine being able to just stop and meditate.

But, recently I was introduced to the idea that life is always about suffering and that that suffering should be recognized and embraced as the path to enlightenment. And that ‘mindfulness’ is a useful tool. Those are fairly loose paraphrases of thoughts from author Thich Nhat Hanh.

Wikipedia says this about Hanh:

Thích Nhất Hạnh was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Known as the "father of mindfulness", Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhisms.

I was intrigued that this seemingly simple, simple-minded idea of ‘mindfulness’ might be actually about something. And something I might find useful, even transformative.

I got a Kindle from my daughter for Christmas 2022. So, I started loading it with Hanh’s works, including the “Mindfulness Essentials” series, which begins with “How to Sit.”

Today I took a walk from the historic Pioneer Square district, where I live in Seattle, and down to the waterfront. There used to be an elevated highway between the piers and the city. It’s been torn down and now there is a massive construction project underway in the wide swaths of land newly opened to the sky. It will soon be walkways and green spaces and recreational areas and bike paths and an actual beach.

I found a comfortable chair on Pier 62, one of the first completed sections that overlooks Elliott Bay, and began reading. I was quite taken with the simple wisdom on these digital pages.

I began highlighting passages. I have always loved highlighting passages. It’s a very short book. So, I wound up with lots of notes. Again, they sound so simple. And yet, they are quite profound. I feel awakened.

Being is non-action, so the quality of action depends on the quality of non-action.

We don’t need to sit with an intention like getting smarter or becoming enlightened. We can sit just to enjoy sitting and breathing.

There’s not a reason for doing it. Sit in order to sit. Stand in order to stand. There is no goal or aim in sitting. Do it because it makes you happy.

Each time we practice mindful breathing, we know a little more what mindfulness feels like.

Insight has the power to liberate us from our own suffering and bondage.

As we become freer and happier, we cease to act in ways that make others suffer, and we are able to bring about change in ourselves and help others around us become free.

When you sit, sit in such a way that you feel you have already arrived. To sit doesn’t mean to struggle. When you sit, sit so that sitting becomes an arrival into the present moment.

In the present moment, we can be free from regret concerning the past and from fear concerning the future. Happiness isn’t possible without freedom.

When you smile to your whole body, it is as if you are bathed in a fresh, cool stream of water.

A few moments of sitting and conscious breathing can bring great happiness.

To be alive means to be in the here and the now so we can be in touch with the wonders of life within us and around us.

There is nowhere to arrive except the present moment.

Habit energy is energy that is fueled by an old pattern, situation, or habit.

We have the habit of thinking that happiness isn’t possible in the here and now, that we have to go and look for it somewhere else or in the future.

Sitting and breathing mindfully brings four important elements into our lives: peace, clarity, compassion, and courage.

If you don’t have enough compassion for yourself and for others, you won’t have the courage to cut off the afflictions that make you suffer.

Sitting and breathing mindfully, we bring the mind back to the body and begin to recognize its presence and release the tension held there.

So we have to practice sitting just to be with ourselves without distractions.

Sitting can produce the most nourishing calm and joy and we can all afford some time to sit. How wonderful to sit and do nothing.

What is getting in the way of your being able to experience the present moment? Keep breathing. Keep sitting. This is the practice.

Naming can be a first step in giving us some distance from our feelings, so we can see that a feeling is just a feeling and that it is impermanent. A feeling comes and eventually it goes.

We can learn to take care of the painful feelings and strong emotions emerging from the depth of our consciousness. We are more than our emotions. We can recognize what is there, “Breathing in, I know that this is only an emotion. It’s not the whole of me. I am more than my emotions.” This is a very basic insight.

Each time a storm comes up sit quietly and return to your breathing and your body. Turn your attention away from whatever it is that you believe is the source of your suffering and instead focus on your breathing. Mindful breathing is your anchor in the storm.

Practice breathing with your mind only focused on breathing into your lower belly and just let your emotions go by.

Sitting meditation has two aspects. The first is stopping and calming the body. This in itself can be a source of great happiness. The second is looking deeply. In silent meditation, you are able to calm your body and your mind.

We can continue our mindful awareness in every action, in how we walk, talk, and work. In this way, we engage fully in life and are able to bring joy to our relationships and our world.

When we’re sitting, we’re truly there in the present moment; we have come home, we have arrived. We are present in that time and place; we’re not pulled away by the past, the future, or by anger or jealousy in the present. When we sit like that, we sit as a free person.

Consider daily sitting meditation to be a kind of spiritual food. When we sit, we produce the energy of mindfulness and a feeling of ease that nourishes our joy.

When you sit, you are coming back to yourself, to your body, your feelings, your emotions, and your perceptions in order to take care of them. That’s good news.

Breathing in, give complete attention to your in-breath. Wherever the breath may be in your body, feel the calm it brings. Feel how the breath cools the inner organs of the body, just like drinking cool water on a hot day.

While breathing out, smile to relax all your facial muscles, and your nervous system will also relax.

Inside each one of us there are seeds of mindfulness, peace, and enlightenment. When you sit, you give these seeds a chance to manifest.

I am breathing. I am sitting. There is the breathing. There is sitting. There is no one breathing. There is no one sitting.

If we can become familiar and comfortable with our fear of dying, we can begin to transform that fear.

The thundering silence, which is the silencing of all speculation, philosophies, notions, and ideas.

If we overcome the notion of birth and death, we are no longer afraid of impermanence.

I’m actually smiling re-reading these useful passages. Tomorrow I think I’ll take another walk to the waterfront, sit down in a comfortable chair, and read “How to Walk.”