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The Sun My Heart
Feb. 12th, 2025 06:14 amStarting Thich Nhat Hanh, whose writings to me always feel like a warm embrace--it's as if you can feel the lovingkindness he's sending out into the world in his writings. And it's interesting to see the different perspective from the Zen tradition, compared to the Tibetan Buddhism I've been reading. The Sun My Heart starts with the story of a Vietnamese refugee child he's caring for who refuses to drink her home-meade apple juice because it has too much pulp, but after a few hours of resting it has become clear, and she asks him if it has been meditating. That of course is one of the fundamental metaphors of Zen: sit quietly with your mind and that which has been stirred up will settle to the ground and your mind will clarify.
Like Chodron, he emphasizes being gentle with yourself while meditating and not condemning yourself for the scattered train of yourself, but just observing. "True mind and false mind are one. Denying one is denying the other. Suppressing one is suppressing the other. Our mind is our self. We cannot suppress it. We must treat it with respect, with gentleness, and absolutely without violence...The only thing we can do is to let the sunlight of awareness shine on our "self" and re-enlighten it, so we can look at it directly."
This chapter is also about mindfulness in everyday life--he cites this poem: "While buttoning my jacket/I hope that all beings/ will keep their hearts warm/ and not lose themselves." I thought that was lovely. He also emphasizes being fully present in the moment. "Each minute, each second of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and the fact that I am here washing them are miracles!...One day, while washing a bowl, I felt that my movements were as sacred and respectful as bathing a newborn Buddha. If he were to read this, that newborn Buddha would certainly be happy for me and not at all insulted at being compared with a bowl. Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane. I must confess it takes me a bit longer to do the dishes, but I live fully in every moment and I am happy."
That's a very lovely philosophy of life that I would like to be able to apply.
Like Chodron, he emphasizes being gentle with yourself while meditating and not condemning yourself for the scattered train of yourself, but just observing. "True mind and false mind are one. Denying one is denying the other. Suppressing one is suppressing the other. Our mind is our self. We cannot suppress it. We must treat it with respect, with gentleness, and absolutely without violence...The only thing we can do is to let the sunlight of awareness shine on our "self" and re-enlighten it, so we can look at it directly."
This chapter is also about mindfulness in everyday life--he cites this poem: "While buttoning my jacket/I hope that all beings/ will keep their hearts warm/ and not lose themselves." I thought that was lovely. He also emphasizes being fully present in the moment. "Each minute, each second of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and the fact that I am here washing them are miracles!...One day, while washing a bowl, I felt that my movements were as sacred and respectful as bathing a newborn Buddha. If he were to read this, that newborn Buddha would certainly be happy for me and not at all insulted at being compared with a bowl. Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane. I must confess it takes me a bit longer to do the dishes, but I live fully in every moment and I am happy."
That's a very lovely philosophy of life that I would like to be able to apply.
