Rebuilding our Health

Summary

This talk presents a Dharma teaching given at the Still Water Meditation Hall in the Upper Hamlet during the first Dharma talk of the Winter Retreat 2013–2014 at Plum Village. The speaker begins with chanting and blessings for the Sangha, invoking the Triple Gems, the Bodhisattva path, and the aspiration that all beings be protected, healed, and established in the land of purity. The opening also includes multilingual devotional phrases and praise of the World Honored One, framing the talk in a communal and liturgical atmosphere. The central theme of the teaching is healing through mindfulness. The speaker emphasizes that mindfulness is not merely a means to healing; it is healing itself. In the same way, mindful breathing and mindful walking are not preparatory exercises for a future result, but complete practices in themselves. Each breath and each step should contain peace, joy, and contentment. If breathing or walking is done with the intention of getting something later, the practitioner is still “running” and has not yet stopped the habit energy that causes suffering. The talk repeatedly returns to the idea that the practice must be lived as an end in itself, not as a tool for achievement. A major section explains the habit of “running,” which the speaker describes as a deep inherited tendency to flee the present moment in search of happiness elsewhere. This running is linked to the belief that happiness is not available here and now. The speaker argues that many people chase wealth, fame, power, and sensual pleasure because they think these will bring fulfillment, yet such pursuits often lead to sickness, loneliness, exhaustion, and even suicide. Mindfulness, when joined with concentration and insight, reveals the futility of this pattern and allows practitioners to stop. The speaker insists that the willingness to stop is not enough; only insight can truly interrupt the habit energy. The talk then turns to the Buddhist psychological framework of the 51 mental formations. The speaker explains the five universal mental formations—contact, attention, feeling, perception, and volition—and the five particular ones, including mindfulness, concentration, and insight. The teaching also introduces store consciousness as the lower level of consciousness that contains seeds or potentials. These seeds, such as anger, fear, compassion, joy, and mindfulness, manifest as mental formations when conditions arise. The speaker uses the image of a television with 51 channels to illustrate that one can cultivate wholesome states or allow unwholesome ones to dominate. Hell and paradise are presented not as external destinations but as states that manifest within one’s own consciousness. A significant portion of the talk focuses on restlessness as a harmful mental formation. Restlessness is described through classical Buddhist language, including references to Buddhaghosa’s definition in the Atthasalini. It is characterized by mental agitation, wavering, and inability to settle. The speaker connects restlessness to modern habits such as compulsive work, constant checking of email and news, internet addiction, and dependence on electronic devices or entertainment as a refuge from loneliness and inner discomfort. These behaviors may temporarily distract from suffering, but they do not transform it. The speaker warns that even meditation can become a mere refuge if it is used only to escape discomfort rather than to generate insight. The talk contrasts samatha and vipashyana, arguing that calm alone is not enough. Deep looking is necessary to transform afflictions like restlessness. Mindfulness must lead to concentration and then insight, and only insight can liberate practitioners from suffering. The speaker also discusses the seven factors of enlightenment, highlighting ease, peace, and tranquility as essential qualities to cultivate. These qualities support healing and counteract the pressure and tension created by modern society. Another major theme is the integration of practice and daily life. The speaker recalls a verse learned as a novice monk: waking up with the awareness of having 24 new hours to live, and making a vow to live them deeply and compassionately. The talk extends this principle to ordinary activities such as brushing teeth, using the toilet, driving, walking to work, receiving guests, and doing chores. In the Zen spirit, chopping wood and carrying water are themselves the practice of Buddhism. The speaker argues that work and life should not be separated; instead, one should reorganize life so that every activity becomes an opportunity for mindfulness, joy, and human connection. The talk concludes by introducing the winter retreat’s study of the school of “manifestation only,” associated with the idea that there is no creation from nothing, only manifestation. The speaker encourages the Sangha to study the 30 verses of Vasubandhu and the list of mental formations, and to apply the teachings critically and practically in daily life. The overall message is that each moment is a chance to return to the present, heal, and live as a true manifestation of life rather than as a victim of habit energy and distraction.