This week Annie will facilitate. We will watch together an excerpt from an interview that Sister Peace gave to the HuffPo in 2017.
Sister Peace is originally from the Washington area, and has been an ordained nun with Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) in Plum Village for many years.
In this interview, Sister Peace shares some of her experiences with growing up as an African-American in the U.S, and how listening to each other's pain in a deep way might be a way for us to heal as a country.
Mindfulness is about slowing down and really experiencing what is happening. During these times of great turmoil in the U.S., we sometimes rush to action without taking the time to feel. Using mindfulness, we can slow this process down so we can arrive at a deeper understanding of the situation and each other, and find more skillful action.
Sister Peace says this about how deep looking and embracing the truth, rather than unconsciously believing the cultural biases can support those who have experienced oppression:
"There are still a lot of things about ourselves that we need to look at and we need to embrace and we need to heal so when we hear this rhetoric coming from outside we can know that it's not true and we can hold on to a sense of balance and know that it's not true."
She goes on to say share how all of us can use deep listening to support empathy and healing:
"How do we prepare ourselves, how do we train ourselves? I think we do it as a group, we do it as a sangha. When we've looked and we see examples around the world of how countries who've have had civil strife for a long time, like South Africa as an example.
They had something called theTruth and Reconciliation Commission and groups that came together and they just listened to each other's pain so that they could understand what action or nonaction caused in one. And the other listened to the same. I think that as we can work on ourselves and we come together in sangha, we have that collective sense of trying to work these things out... "
Thay often says that we need to mindfully engage our feelings before we can take skillful action. Rather than avoiding the grief of racism and oppression, we can choose to practice embracing it with mindfulness in order to develop our understanding and compassion and see clearly what the next wise step should be.
In an exceprt from his book The Art of Living (in Tricycle), he says:
When a painful feeling comes up, we often try to suppress it. We don’t feel comfortable when our suffering surfaces, and we want to push it back down or cover it up.
But as a mindfulness practitioner, we allow the suffering to surface so we can clearly identify it and embrace it. This will bring transformation and relief. The first thing we have to do is accept the mud in ourselves. When we recognize and accept our difficult feelings and emotions, we begin to feel more at peace. When we see that mud is something that can help us grow, we become less afraid of it...
Mindfulness gives us the strength to look deeply and gives rise to understanding and compassion." (full article below)
On Monday, after our meditation period and listening to Sister Peace, we have a short guided practice of embracing our feelings.
Then, during our Dharma Sharing, we can explore together how it was to practice deep empathy, and what understanding, compassion and action steps may or may not have arisen from our feelings.
I look forward to seeing you on zoom then.
much love,
annie.
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Full Excerpt:
We should not be afraid of suffering. We should be afraid of only one thing, and that is not knowing how to deal with our suffering. Handling our suffering is an art. If we know how to suffer, we suffer much less, and we’re no longer afraid of being overwhelmed by the suffering inside. The energy of mindfulness helps us recognize, acknowledge, and embrace the presence of the suffering, which can already bring some calm and relief.
When a painful feeling comes up, we often try to suppress it. We don’t feel comfortable when our suffering surfaces, and we want to push it back down or cover it up. But as a mindfulness practitioner, we allow the suffering to surface so we can clearly identify it and embrace it. This will bring transformation and relief. The first thing we have to do is accept the mud in ourselves. When we recognize and accept our difficult feelings and emotions, we begin to feel more at peace. When we see that mud is something that can help us grow, we become less afraid of it.
Related: What Are the Four Noble Truths?
When we are suffering, we invite another energy from the depths of our consciousness to come up: the energy of mindfulness. Mindfulness has the capacity to embrace our suffering. It says, Hello, my dear pain. This is the practice of recognizing suffering. Hello, my pain. I know you are there, and I will take care of you. You don’t need to be afraid.
Now in our mind-consciousness there are two energies: the energy of mindfulness and the energy of suffering. The work of mindfulness is first to recognize and then to embrace the suffering with gentleness and compassion. You make use of your mindful breathing to do this. As you breathe in, you say silently, Hello, my pain. As you breathe out, you say, I am here for you. Our breathing contains within it the energy of our pain, so as we breathe with gentleness and compassion, we are also embracing our pain with gentleness and compassion.
Related: Cause and Effect
When suffering comes up, we have to be present for it. We shouldn’t run away from it or cover it up with consumption, distraction, or diversion. We should simply recognize it and embrace it, like a mother lovingly embracing a crying baby in her arms. The mother is mindfulness, and the crying baby is suffering. The mother has the energy of gentleness and love. When the baby is embraced by the mother, it feels comforted and immediately suffers less, even though the mother does not yet know exactly what the problem is. Just the fact that the mother is embracing the baby is enough to help the baby suffer less. We don’t need to know where the suffering is coming from. We just need to embrace it, and that already brings some relief. As our suffering begins to calm down, we know we will get through it.
When we go home to ourselves with the energy of mindfulness, we’re no longer afraid of being overwhelmed by the energy of suffering. Mindfulness gives us the strength to look deeply and gives rise to understanding and compassion.
Excerpted from The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh with permission by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2017.