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The Way Out Is In

Mindfulness, Concentration and Insight – Where to Start? (Episode #3)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Buddhism, Mental Health, Religion & Spirituality, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Education

0.00 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2021

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to episode three of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. In this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and lay Buddhist practitioner and journalist Jo Confino talk about the ancient roots of mindfulness and its growing contemporary popularity.  Along with special guest Sister Trai Nghiem, from the Plum Village community, the hosts further discuss the differences between mindfulness and concentration; how to deal with strong emotions; ways to awaken the seeds of awareness and mindfulness; being present to ourselves; asking for forgiveness.  All three share insights about changes mindfulness has brought to their personal lives: “the fruit of the practice”.  Brother Phap Huu explains what it means to dwell in the present moment; shares observations about Thich Nhat Hanh’s daily mindfulness practice and his “superpower”; addresses the different styles of walking meditation and how to make the most of nature’s energy; and considers the importance of resting in today’s society. Both monastics go on to share about the weekly ‘lazy day’ in a busy monastery, and why this may just be the most advanced practice day.    Jo contributes memories of Thich Nhat Hanh explaining the difference between practicing concentration and practicing mindfulness; ways to heal past wounds by being in the present moment; and methods for getting instant understanding when we are good observers of ourselves. Sister Trai Nghiem shares about her spiritual journey to becoming a nun, and about life in the nunnery before and during the pandemic; being a musician both inside and outside of the monastery; combining playing violin with mindfulness; and how she let go of professional goals for perfection, instead just enjoying the energy of music created by the monastic community.   Finally, the sister ends the episode with a guided meditation. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resourcesPlum Village Communityhttps://plumvillage.org/ Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Pathhttps://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path/  Books by Thich Nhat Hanhhttps://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/key-books/ John Bradshawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bradshaw_(author)Namo Avalokiteshvaraya https://plumvillage.org/library/chants/namo-avalokiteshvaraya/  Samsarahttps://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/nirvana-is-in-samsara-samsara-is-in-nirvana-dharma-talk-by-sr-chan-duc-2018-06-21/  Sanghahttps://plumvillage.org/about/international-sangha-directory/  Lazy dayshttps://web.plumvillage.app/item/give-yourself-a-lazy-day Quotes “Mindfulness is the capacity to also see the beauty of life.” “When we observe ourselves as though we’re an outsider looking in, then we can develop instant understandings.” “To develop the seed of mindfulness, we need a few formal practices that we can develop in our daily life; that way, we can always come back to them when strong emotions come up. We want to invite mindfulness to be present to take care of these strong emotions.” “Mindfulness is the energy of cultivating awareness in our daily life.”  “Only when we’re truly ourselves can we go into the past and heal things, because we’re bringing that awareness of who we truly are. It’s about lifting the veil and being present to ourselves.”“If you want to take care of the future, learn to handle the present moment.” “Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh would define love as understanding, because if you want to have compassion a

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome back to the latest episode of the podcast The Way Out is In. I am Joe Konfino and I am Brother Faphoo and today in this episode we're going to be talking about

0:26.7

Zen and the art of mindful living most of us live incredibly busy lives and we're often caught up in all our busyness but actually if we take account of every moment

0:37.2

We can come back to ourselves. We can find the joy and in today's episode we shall also have a guest, Sister Dryngen from the nuns community in Plum Village.

0:47.0

The way out is in. Brother Fat Pooh, do you want to just say hello to everyone?

1:06.0

Hello everyone to all of our friends who has been following us from the beginning

1:10.4

and hello to all of our new friends that are joining us today for the first

1:14.0

podcast. Yes, so we are here to talk today about mindfulness and the thing about mindfulness is to many people it's very new.

1:25.8

I mean this has come into the sort of mainstream of Western society and a lot of people are

1:31.4

talking about it and teaching it.

1:33.2

But of course, mindfulness comes from the time of the Buddha.

1:37.4

And in the Plum Village tradition, and Tignat Han,

1:46.4

mindfulness is actually one of the key practices that helps us to live a better life.

1:48.5

So Brother Fapu, do you want to just give us a sense,

1:51.4

what? What is mindfulness simply mindfulness is the energy that

1:56.8

allows us to be in touch with the present moment and to come in touch with the energy of mindfulness we do need to have a practice

2:06.5

and a practice here it can be called a meditation or an exercise and what we like to focus on as a basic

2:16.5

practice is the breath. So most of the time our mind is elsewhere and our body is here but we are thinking in 10,000

2:26.1

directions and for us to really live the Buddha teaches us that we have to be able to touch the present moment.

2:37.6

And so to be in the present moment, we have to allow ourselves, allow our mind and body to come together for it to unite.

2:47.3

It sounds much easier than done.

2:50.3

So what we like to invite people to do is to connect to their breath, let the breath become a bridge.

2:58.0

And as they become aware of the breath, suddenly what is happening is that they're bringing their attention, their mind to their

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