The Five Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
These trainings originated from the Five Buddhist Precepts and were updated by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. More info at www.plumvillage.org
Opening Heart Mindfulness Community 3812 Northampton St. NW, Washington DC 20015 www.openingheartmindfulness.com
(Bell) (Bell) (Bell)
Dear Friends, it is now time to recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are offered as suggestions to support our mindfulness practice. They provide us with a compass with which to orient our lives. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha and were the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. Thich Nhat Hanh translated these precepts for modern times, because mindfulness is at the foundation of each one of them. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. When we are mindful, we arrive at our own unique insight.
To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate a way of life that can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear, and despair. Following this way of life, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.
First Mindfulness Training: Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.
I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate open- ness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to trans- form violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
(full breath)
This is the first of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have I made an effort to study and practice it during the past few weeks?
(Bell)
Second Mindfulness Training: True Happiness
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speak- ing, and acting.
I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others, and I will share my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering, that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion, and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to working in ways that can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.
(full breath)
This is the second of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have I made an effort to study and practice it during the past few weeks?
(Bell)
Third Mindfulness Training: True Love
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.
Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made known to my family and friends. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct. Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy. I will
cultivate loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness, which are the four basic elements of true love, for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others. Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.
(full breath)
This is the third of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have I made an effort to study and practice it during the past few weeks?
(Bell)
Fourth Mindfulness Training: Loving Speech and Deep Listening
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations.
Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope. When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak. I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and to look deeply into its roots, especially in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to release the suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will make daily efforts, in my speaking and listening, to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy, and inclusiveness, and I will gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.
(full breath)
This is the fourth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have I made an effort to study and practice it during the past few weeks?
(Bell)
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
Fifth Mindfulness Training: Nourishment and Healing
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.
I will practice looking deeply into how I take in edible foods, sense impressions, volition, and consciousness. I am determined not to use alcohol, drugs, gambling, or any other products that contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books, and conversations. I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in con- sumption. I will make every effort to consume in a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and our Earth.
(full breath)
This is the fifth of the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Have I made an effort to study and practice it during the past few weeks?
(Bell)
Friends, we have recited the Five Mindfulness Trainings, the foundation of happiness for the individual, the family, and society. We recite them regularly so that our study and practice of the mindfulness trainings can deepen day by day.
(Bell) (Bell) (Bell)
The Five Mindfulness Trainings:
ARISE Contemplations
A new Paradigm for Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic Recitation
by Marisela Gomez and Valerie Brown
Hear Valerie Brown’s Dharma Talk on the Five Mindfulness Trainings: ARISE Contemplations
Valerie Brown gives a Dharma Talk on "Understanding the Contemplations of the Five Mindfulness Trainings: A New Paradigm for Racial Justice and the Global Pandemic”
August 22, 2021, Music of the Heart Nashville Sangha.