Q&A with Thich Nhat Hanh: How should I love myself?

How to love yourself?

First, you inhale; then, you perceive that you have a body.

Breathing in, I know that I have a body.

Your body is an important part of you. You spend 2 hours on the computer, you feel a lot of pressure, you don’t know how to stop, you completely forget that you have a body, during these 2 hours, you are looking for something, from the future, from Job hunting, while your body is suffering. Therefore, the first act of loving yourself is to inhale and return home to your body.

HI, body, I am back and I will take good care of you.

So being aware of your body is the beginning of loving yourself.

When the heart returns to the home of the body, the mind and body establish a connection in the present moment.

In the practice of mindful breathing, you may realize two things. The first thing you realize is that your body is a miracle.

You need to rediscover that your body is a miracle.

Biologists have been trying to understand the body. The body is a great masterpiece of the universe. The body is a miracle. The body is the habitat of consciousness and the habitat of the consciousness of the universe. However, you don’t know the body. of preciousness.

Your body contains all the information of the entire history of the universe. In every cell of your body, you can recognize the presence of ancestors, not only human ancestors, but also animals, plants and minerals. Ancestors, all of your ancestors are still alive in your body, along with their flaws and strengths. Maybe you take the existence of the body for granted, but it is a miracle.

Your brain, the neocortex, is a very, very complex tissue structure, and the entire universe gathers all the power to create miracles like this, which is your body, and if you can connect with your body, You will be able to establish a connection with the entire universe, with all your ancestors, and with all your descendants, those who are already in your body and will appear in the future.

Do you know how to appreciate the miracle of this body?

Mother Earth is within you, not just under your feet or around you, but within you, so is Father Sun, you are made of sunshine, you are living Composed of air and fresh water, being aware of the miracle of life and cherishing this miracle can already bring you a lot of happiness and joy.

Breathing in, I know that I have a body.

You can enjoy having this body, you can connect with the entire evolutionary history of life, you can also connect with your ancestors, your body contains information about the entire universe, that way Awareness can bring healing and nourishment.

The second thing you realize when you return to your body is that maybe there is tension and pain in your body because you have allowed tension and pain to build up in your body for a long time. You haven't loved your body in a long time and you've allowed your body to suffer.

So mindful breathing makes you aware of this.

Suddenly, you don't want to cause pain in your body anymore, which is why you exhale in a way that relaxes your body, which is an act of love.

These mindful breathing exercises can be found in the Anpan Shouyi Sutra.

Inhaling, I am aware of my body; exhaling, I release the tension in my body. This is an act of love, an act of loving myself.

So the question is: How do I love myself?

Between your breaths, as you bring your heart home to your body, you will realize that many of the elements that can awaken and heal you are already there, so you can create pleasurable feelings, Nourishing your own happiness is an act of love.

For a person who practices mindfulness, it is not difficult to create pleasant feelings or happy feelings. In fact, you are surrounded by many elements of awakening and healing. You already have it in the present moment. There are many conditions that can create happiness, so you can create feelings of joy and happiness.

This is how to love yourself well, as long as you practice mindful breathing.

Allow yourself to be nourished by feelings of pleasure and joy.

When you practice mindful breathing, you may become aware of painful feelings, painful emotions arising, and you know that the practice of mindful breathing can help you embrace - recognize and embrace your pain and sorrow, help you Reduce pain.

One, two, or three minutes of mindful breathing, embracing your pain and sadness, can make you feel less sad. This is the act of loving yourself.

Loving yourself can be done by practicing mindful breathing or mindful walking.

When you recognize your pain, you can calm down, and you can do more, which is to embrace your pain and listen to your pain.

Observe deeply the nature of pain, maybe you will find the source of a certain kind of pain, realize how a certain kind of pain arises, and then you begin to understand your pain, and you also discover your pain There is also the pain of your father, the pain of your mother, and the pain of your ancestors.

By understanding your own pain, you understand the pain of your father, the pain of your mother and ancestors, and understanding pain always brings compassion, which brings healing power that leaves you without So uncomfortable, this is also an act of love.

When your pain is reduced, you can help other people, your son, daughter, your father, mother, partner, and reduce their pain; if you can understand his/her pain, You won’t feel so uncomfortable anymore, and you will be inspired by your inner compassionate energy to do something to help others reduce their suffering. When the suffering of others is reduced, your pain will also be reduced, and you will have More pleasure, that's how you love yourself.

Also, if you don't know how to love yourself, you can't love others. This is the teaching of Buddha.

Loving yourself is very specific. When you inhale, release the tension in your body, you take care of your body, you take care of your feelings and emotions.

? Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh was born in Vietnam in 1926. He became a monk at Guiyuan Temple in 1942 and received full ordination in 1949. He is the 42nd generation of the Rinzai Sect in Vietnam. , the eighth generation descendant of Vietnamese Zen master Liao Guan.

In 1942, when he was sixteen, he became a Zen monk. After the outbreak of the Vietnam-US War, he was the chairman of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation. He and many of his fellow monks gave up their peaceful life in monasteries and actively participated in activities to rescue war victims. At the same time, they openly expressed their desire for peace. During this period, he founded the Youth Social Service School, the Van Hanh Buddhist University, and the Tiep Hien (Vietnamese, meaning interbeing) group.

In 1966, he visited the United States at the invitation of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and told the American people about the suffering of the silent lower-class Vietnamese people in the war and their desire for peace. During this period, he met with hundreds of organizations and individuals, including U.S. Secretary of Defense McNamara, Martin Jr. Luther. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas. Famous people such as Thomas Merton.

In Europe, he also met with Pope Paul VI. Later he settled in France, where he established a small group of meditators - Plum Village.

After being sent to the hospital due to severe cerebral hemorrhage in 2014, he has been living in Plum Village, France, to recuperate and receive regular treatment. However, according to a report by Time magazine on January 24, 2019, the 92-year-old Thich Nhat Hanh has refused treatment in recent months and returned to the place where he became a monk when he was 16 years old - Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam. ), awaiting liberation from the cyclical nature of existence.

In the West, Thich Nhat Hanh is known as the "Father of Mindfulness."

He has written extensively and has published more than 100 books sharing the art of mindful living, including the popular The Miracle of Mindfulness and Being Peace. Zen masters are good at using plain language to teach people how to practice mindfulness in small daily tasks such as washing dishes, drinking tea, and eating oranges. He said: "To cultivate mindfulness, you need to continue to do ordinary activities, whether it is walking, sitting, working, eating or other affairs, all with mindful awareness."

The Zen Master once wrote in his book In "No death, No fear" (No death, No fear), the way of life and death is revealed. He used a piece of paper as an example: before it was made into paper, the paper already existed. "If you look deeply, you will see a tree. Without the tree, there would be no paper. The tree needs the nourishment of sunshine, clouds and rain. If you look deeply, you can also see the grace of sunshine, clouds and rain in this paper. Paper Why doesn't it exist in the form of sunshine, clouds and rain?" And when the paper is burned ("dead"), the ashes will become nutrients that nourish the trees. One day, a tree will become a piece of paper again. In this way, the ashes are reborn in the form of paper. The Zen master said: "Life has no birth and death. The Buddha told us this truth. This is the principle of neither birth nor death."