Relaxing in the Present Moment

Summary

This talk presents a sustained teaching on mindfulness as the practical path to freedom, healing, and deep living. The speaker begins by framing the winter retreat as an opportunity to return to the present moment, emphasizing that life can only be truly touched in the present. He explains that people often lose contact with life because of a long-standing habit of running toward the future, getting caught in worries, projects, and internal mental chatter. This “mental discourse” is described as a constant inner conversation that pulls the mind in many directions and keeps both mind and body under stress. A central theme is the relationship between relaxation and self-healing. The speaker argues that the body has an innate capacity to heal itself, but that healing depends on allowing the body to be free from tension and pressure. He connects this to the mind: when the mind is agitated by fear, anger, jealousy, speculation, and anxiety, the body cannot fully relax. Rest, therefore, is not merely physical inactivity but a state of freedom from compulsive thinking. He uses the example of lying in bed at night to show that even when conditions for rest are present, people often cannot rest because they remain trapped in mental activity. Mindful breathing is offered as the direct remedy: by knowing the in-breath and out-breath, and by enjoying them, one can stop the mental discourse, relax the body, and allow healing to begin. The talk extends this same principle to walking, drinking tea, and ordinary daily actions. Mindful walking is described as a practice in which each step is fully enjoyed and fully known; when this happens, the mind becomes free and the body relaxes. Likewise, drinking tea or coffee with full awareness becomes a form of practice, not a mechanical habit. The speaker repeatedly stresses that true practice includes pleasure and ease. If there is no joy in breathing, walking, or drinking tea, then the practice is not yet correct. In this way, mindfulness is presented not as hard work but as a way of living that restores freedom and allows the practitioner to become “the best physician” for oneself. A major philosophical section of the talk distinguishes between the historical dimension and the ultimate dimension. The speaker explains that these are not separate realities. When one truly touches the present moment, one touches both the ordinary, historical level of life and the ultimate dimension of reality. He illustrates this with the image of a wave and water: a wave that knows it is water is not afraid of rising or falling, because it understands its deeper nature. In the same way, a practitioner who lives deeply in the present can touch eternity in a moment and experience the “all in the one,” a phrase linked to the Avatamsaka Sutra. This insight helps reduce fear and suffering because one no longer sees life only as transient appearance but also as participation in a deeper, undying reality. The speaker then turns to Buddhist practice traditions, especially Zen and Pure Land. He describes how these traditions in China, Vietnam, and Korea have interacted, and how Plum Village seeks to integrate them through mindfulness, concentration, and insight. He discusses the well-known kung an question, “Who is the person invoking the name of the Buddha?” and explains the meaning of niam as mindfulness or recollection. He notes that the practice of recollecting the Buddha can take many forms, including reciting the Buddha’s name or visualizing the Buddha. However, he also critiques the usual emphasis on the practitioner’s identity, arguing that people often assume they already know who the Buddha is while failing to know themselves. This leads to a deeper teaching on non-self and interdependence. The speaker explains that by looking deeply into oneself, one sees that the self is not a separate entity but the continuation of parents, ancestors, children, and the wider world. This realization reduces suffering because it loosens the grip of fixed self-identity. He suggests that understanding oneself more deeply also clarifies who the Buddha is, since the Buddha is one who is free from the notion of a separate self and who understands the world in order to help beings transform suffering into joy. He also compares this to Christian assumptions about God, suggesting that knowing oneself deeply is a better path to understanding God than relying on abstract beliefs. The talk concludes by returning to practical guidance: do not let the mental discourse carry one away; instead, use breath and steps to recognize life and oneself. The speaker encourages listeners to trust their own experience of mindfulness, to rely on the support of the Sangha, and to bring this practice into family life, work, and daily routines. The final message is that being alive in the present moment is itself a miracle, and that mindful living is the path to peace, happiness, understanding, compassion, and healing.