Happiness is here and now

As usual, there were many issues that trouble my mind in November.  Just to name a few: the scandal of repeated influenza vaccination due to greed, the strategies from candidates of Medical Council election and the Voluntary Medical Insurance Scheme.  But I am not going to trouble you with all these.  Happiness is here and now.  I am going to share with you my Zen retreat.

The retreat was organized by the Center of Buddhist Studies, the Plum Village Foundation Hong Kong and the Chinese Buddhism Cultural Center.  It was named “Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Hong Kong 2010 – Awaken to Joy at Our Mindfulness Retreat”.  Thich Nhat Hanh is a great Zen Master.  He is a Vietnamese and was born in 1926.  He entered a Zen monastery at the age of 16, and was fully ordained as a monk in 1949.  He travelled to study at Princeton University in 1960.  During the Vietnam War in 1963, he returned to Vietnam and founded the School of Youth for Social Services which helped rebuilt bombed villages, set up schools, establish medical centers and resettle homeless.  Throughout the years, he heads his monastic and lay group, establishing monasteries all over the world (Vietnam, France, New York, Mississippi etc).  Since 2007, he has based at the Plum Village Monastery in the South of France, travelling internationally to offer talks and retreats.  He teaches Mindfulness trainings.  He has also written over 100 books. 

The five-day retreat was held at Wu Kwai Sha Youth Village from November 4 to November 8.  The theme of the event was “happiness is here and now”.  For this visit, Thay (Vietnamese: “teacher”) brought along 80 monks and nuns from the Plum Village.  There were approximately 1,400 people joining the retreat.  Practicing together allowed people to engage in a joyful, steady and supportive environment.  This retreat attracted people from various religious and spiritual backgrounds.  Yet, we all learnt and practiced mindfulness with an open mind and receptive heart.  

During the retreat, all of us were required to observe noble silence.  (There was no need to wear a “I’m in silence.” badge like what Julia Roberts did during a retreat in India in the movie “Eat Pray Love”.)  There was a timetable for both the residents and commuters.  Daily activities included sitting meditation, walking meditation, dharma talk, total relaxation, dharma sharing, yoga, qigong etc.  Everybody just did the same things as everyday life, except we learnt to do them with mindfulness.

So what is mindfulness?  According to Thay’s teachings, mindfulness is the energy of being aware of the present moment.  To be mindful is to be truly alive, present, and aware with those around you and what you are doing.  Are you aware of what you have and what you are doing at the present moment?  Are you distracted by memories of the past and worries of the future?

To practice mindful eating, we were required to appreciate the appearance and taste of the food; as well as to think of where the food came from.  After putting the food into the mouth, we were all requested to chew at least 30 times before swallowing the food.  And we were also requested to let the chopsticks and spoons take a rest during the chewing process.  The chewing process had to be enjoyable, thankful, and slow and relax.

Total relaxation was another amusing practice.  It aimed at removing our tension by breaking a day into several sections.  After lunch, we were all required to move to the main hall, lying down on the mat with a big towel on top.  Sister Chan Khong (a 72-year-old Buddhist nun, who followed Thay for 50 years) started guiding us to breathe in and out slowly and soothingly.  With the magic of her voice, I heard snoring around the hall very soon.  After a series of breathing exercise, sister then sang a number of lullabies to keep us relax (i.e. asleep).  There were over hundreds of people, lying in the same place, enjoying breathing and then sleeping together for an hour.  The hall was full of tranquility at the very beginning, followed by of a concerto of snoring.

I am not going to describe all the other exercises as space is limited in this column.  The one I certainly have to mention is also the most important one – mindful breathing.  During the retreat, the sound of a big bell was heard in a regular interval (even during dharma talk or eating).  Whenever the bell rang, everybody stopped still, stopped walking, stopped moving.  These were actually the bells of mindfulness.  They reminded us to relax, to stop whatever we were doing and to become aware of the present moment.  Attention was also paid to our breathing.  Thay teaches us that our breathing is always with us like a faithful friend.  When breathing, we feel the flow of air coming in and going out of our noses.  We feel how light and natural, how clam and peaceful our breathing functions.  Thus, whenever we feel heartrending, whenever we are sunken in a deep emotion, or whenever we are having fears or worries, we return to our breathing in order to anchor our mind.  Conscious breathing is the key to unifying body and mind.  It also brings the energy of mindfulness into every moment of our life.   

Accordingly, the mindfulness bells during the retreat brought our awareness to our breathing.  Whenever we heard the sound of the bell, we cited repeatedly, “breathing in, I know that I am breathing in; breathing out, I know that I am breathing out…“  With a couple of breaths we released our tensions and restored calm in our body and mind.  We returned to the peaceful source of life.

Happiness is here and now,

I have dropped my worries.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do,

no longer in a hurry.

Happiness is here and now,

I have dropped my worries.

Somewhere to go, something to do,

but I don’t need to hurry.

(Source: HKMA News November 2010)