..续本文上一页ts when we have insight like that. There are moments when we can walk like that, when we can look like that, when we can touch like that, and these are moments of happiness. But the essential thing is to continue learning how to look like that, how to touch like that, how to think like that, how to walk like that. With the presence of the Sangha around us, that should be possible, because we are supported by the Sangha. The Sangha is a community of brothers and sisters who are dedicated to the practice, who are trying to do very much the same thing.
The practice is not just sitting, the practice is looking, the practice is thinking, the practice is touching, the practice is drinking, eating, and so on. The quality of our practice depends on its content, namely the energy of mindfulness and concentration. Every act, every breath, every step, can help us to become more of our selves, to get more of that energy of mindfulness and concentration. When I join my palms to greet a child, or to greet an adult, that is not for the sake of being polite. That is my practice. I don”t do it like a machine, because doing it like a machine would be the opposite of practice. In joining my two palms, I realize the oneness of body and mind. My left hand is like my body, my right hand is like my spirit, and they come together, and suddenly I arrive at the state of oneness of body and mind. The oneness of body and mind is the fruit of practice that you can get right away—you don”t have to wait until eight days later, or a few months later.
We can achieve oneness of body and mind every moment: bringing back the mind to the body, suddenly you are there, fully present and fully alive. It is very quick. You are using your palms, you are making a flower with your two palms. It is beautiful in appearance, and it must be beautiful on the inside. When you do this, your mind and your body come together, and you produce your true presence. You come fully alive. It is a living being that is bowing to a child, or to a friend, and that is not for the sake of being polite. The Buddha said that we should not be caught in rituals. When you do something deeply, and authentically, that looks like a ritual. When you drink, you pick up a glass of water and you drink it; if you are truly concentrated in your act of drinking, it looks like a ritual. It is true that when you walk with all your being you invest one hundred percent of yourself into making a step. Mindfulness and concentration become a reality, and that step generates the energy of mindfulness and concentration that make life possible and deep and real. If you make a second step like that, the same kind of energy is generated and maintained. Walking like that, it looks like you are performing a rite. But in fact you are not performing—you are just living deeply every moment of your daily life.
Eating breakfast is the same. You can try to eat breakfast as a practice, and eating breakfast like that can be very powerful. It generates the energy of mindfulness and concentration that make life authentic during the time of eating breakfast. When you prepare breakfast, breakfast making can also be a practice. You can be really alive, fully present and very happy during breakfast making. It is no longer considered to be hard work, but a privilege. It depends on your way of looking. The cold water is available, the hot water is available, the soap is available, the kettle is available, the fire is available; everything is there in order to make your happiness a possibility. If you are not there, if you are caught in your worries and anger by the past and by the future, although you are making breakfast, you are not alive, you don”t enjoy breakfast making. Breakfast making can be very nourishing. If someone sees y…
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