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SÁCH AMAZON


Mua bản sách in

On weekends, I often go to a coffee shop or bookstore near my house to sit and read books. There are big bookstores here, inside there are coffee shops with small tables, we can sit and drink water, read books or write anything, very enjoyable and convenient.

Once, sitting at a small table in the corner of the room, I heard them play the song "Send In the Clowns". The song has a slow rhythm, with steady notes like a lament. I have listened to this song many times but perhaps never understood the author's meaning! Someone explained that, in the past in circuses, whenever there was a dangerous performance and an accident happened, there would often be a clown running onto the stage to cover it up and distract the audience's attention. And in life, when facing suffering, sometimes people also want to find some temporary joy to cover up the problem. That song is about a female character in a musical, she laments and mocks the disappointments in her life, send in the clowns. And she hopes that next year her life will be happier, well, maybe next year…

But is there ever a time in this life that is free of disappointments? Surely you remember the story of the young mother who lost a small child. She went to see the Buddha and begged him to bring her beloved child back to life. The Buddha told her to ask for a mustard seed from a house where no one in the family had ever died. She went from morning to evening, but every house she knocked on the door to ask, someone had passed away. Then one day she suddenly realized! What she wanted, it did not exist in this life.

What do you think about the Buddha's advice to the young mother? The Buddha did not preach to her about impermanence, about suffering. He just advised her to look and listen for herself, and then she would see. And thanks to that, she stopped embracing a common suffering, and accepted it as her own. There are sufferings so great, questions so vast, that language cannot express them. Many times explanations only make people more entangled.



Seeing, not searching

It has been raining a lot these days. I heard that this winter will be colder than usual. This morning the sky was covered with dark clouds all day. After the rainy days, the stream was flooded, the clear water flowing strongly over the large crevices of the rocks. The stream was small but the sound of the water flowing echoed far away in the forest.

Mindfulness means we have a clear awareness of what is happening in this moment. And I also realized that mindfulness is not for us to find out the cause of the problem, but to help us see what is really present. That has helped me a lot in my practice. I experienced that just seeing and feeling what is happening in the body and mind also brings a great liberating energy. Every time we are angry, we just need to be aware of how that anger manifests in us, in the feeling in the body, through our emotions...

We do not need to ask why, do not need to find out the cause, and do not need to change anything, just recognizing it is enough! Once we see it, we will be less controlled and bound by it. The more we try to understand the problem, the more we are led by it to follow the old path, of our own small ego.



To see the whole sky

But to see clearly, we need to know how to let ourselves be empty and clear, right? Who is so hasty and hurried that they can see what is happening? Mr. Trang Tu wrote, “People do not look at themselves in flowing water, but in still water. Only something that is still can make others stop.” I think, in our busy daily lives, we hardly have the ability to stop! Sometimes we also need a new space to help us stop and see ourselves. Only something that is still can make others stop. When the water is calm, we can see the whole sky.

Mindfulness has the ability to transform the difficulties and problems it illuminates, but that transformation must be an organic process. That transformation is due to a simple seeing and knowing. For example, when anger arises in us, if we are mindful and aware that we are angry, what will happen? Will we become less angry? Actually, I think, being mindful of anger does not mean that we will become less angry, but that we are clearly aware of our anger. That is important. And when we see that anger in us, expressed through our feelings and thoughts, then the transformation will happen organically and naturally.

A deep seeing will bring us great freedom. I find myself freer when we look, pay attention, and do not ask why! Whenever I have to face difficult situations, enter awkward situations, instead of analyzing and worrying, wishing or fearing, I just remember to look back at my own emotions. When we are truly present with what is happening, reality becomes clearer, and we also see what we need to do.

Meditation is a natural practice

When we talk about meditation, we often think that it is a mental job. We think that sitting in meditation means we practice, contemplate, or think deeply about a certain issue. The Soto Zen sect has a practice motto: “Just Sitting”, just sitting. Sitting still is enough. We sit comfortably, sitting so that our body is intact and alert, we do not need to analyze, think, contemplate, or find any peace. We just need to sit, relax, and let go naturally. When the body is at peace, the mind will also be at peace. If our lamp is still flickering, what we see are only old shadows of ourselves, right?

In meditation courses, I see people often wonder and ask questions like why, how, how to practice... I wish we could just try to sit still to let our body and mind be light and let go first. Actually, it is not true that when we sit still, we will find the answer! But then, we will see that we really do not have any questions, there is nothing important that needs to be answered. Because everything is present very naturally.

Smile to see

There are Zen masters who advise us to smile at what is present with us. We smile at the rosy sun in the morning, at the purple clouds in the afternoon. We smile at Monday mornings at work, smile at a rainy day, at a beautiful leaf, a good song, when our car has a problem, when our heart is uneasy, when there is pain in our body...

Pain is also a sign of life, isn't it? And every day I smile at my pain. Let's do everything we need to do to make life easier, but also remember to smile at everyone!

In life, there will be problems and difficulties that come to us, unavoidable. They are like an arrow shot into our body. But we often shoot ourselves a second arrow in our mind, which is our blame, anxiety, imagination... towards them. Buddha advises us not to pile suffering on top of suffering. Don't shoot yourself a second arrow! See and smile at the first arrow, so that the second arrow becomes a warm hand of loving kindness. Thanks to that, the wound will also heal faster.

Happiness is where you are sitting

I went to buy a cup of hot coffee and walked down the shelves of books on psychology, self-help, and religion in the bookstore. Do you know what the most popular book titles are about these days? Happiness! On the shelves, I saw many books with titles related to “happiness”! We are living in a society that has all the material needs, but people still feel empty, lacking, and are searching for happiness. I see that today, books about happiness often mention living in the present moment. This may make us think that when we are present in the present, we will be happy.

But you know, I come back to the present not to find happiness, but to reconnect with what is present. As long as we are still searching and hoping, we will never find it. I read a calligraphy sentence, "Sometimes if we miss an appointment by an hour, the next time we want to meet, we have to wait a hundred years." I think, we miss this present moment not because we hesitate, but mostly because we try and have too many expectations. Let's smile and sit here, so that we don't miss this moment.

This morning the weather turned really cold and cloudy. I heard that it will snow this afternoon, it seems like the sky and earth have really turned to winter this morning!

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