The Seven Miracles of Mindfulness

1. To be present and able to touch deeply.
2. To make the ‘other’ present.
3. To nourish the object of your attention.
4. To relieve the other’s suffering.
5. To look deeply.
6. To understand. To UNDERSTAND.
7. To transform.

The Four Establishments of Mindfulness

1. Mindfulness of the body in the body – a. mere recognition b. recognize all of the body’s parts c. see all of the elements of the parts (earth, water, fire, air)
2. Mindfulness of the feelings in the feelings – (fifty-one kinds of mental formation of which feelings is one of them with feelings being either pleasant, unpleasant or neutral)
3. Mindfulness of the mind in the mind – (this arena contains the other fifty kinds of mental formations separate from feelings)
4. Mindfulness of phenomena in phenomena (since there are fifty-one kinds of mental formation it follows that there are fifty-one kinds of objects of mind)

A. Five kinds of mediation

        i. counting the breath
        ii. observing interdependent rising
        iii. observing impurity
        iv. observing with love and compassion
        v. observing the six different sensory realms with 3 elements each
            a. eyes, forms, consciousness connected with seeing
            b. ears, sounds, consciousness connected with hearing
            c. nose, smell, consciousness connected with smelling
            d. tongue, taste, consciousness connected with tasting
            e. body, touch, consciousness connected with touching
            f. mind, the object of mind, mind consciousness

        (Alternative to these eighteen elements is to go with earth, water, fire, air, space & consciousness.)

B. The Six Realms – happiness, suffering, joy, anxiety, letting go, ignorance

        HAPPINESS – true (beneficial or nourishing) or deceptive (temporary)

        SUFFERING – essential for happiness because it provides a yardstick

        JOY – authentic versus it is just covering up our suffering and anxiety

        ANXIETY – comes from our inability to live in the present moment

        LETTING GO – gives us freedom and freedom is the only condition for happiness

        IGNORANCE – no commentary?

C. Another Six Realms – craving, freedom from craving, anger, absence of anger, harming and non-harming

        CRAVING – we already have what we crave because everything is already a part of everything

        FREEDOM FROM CRAVING – insight into unity

        ANGER – causes suffering

        ABSENCE OF ANGER – light and free

        HARMING – no commentary?

        NON-HARMING – to live in this realm is to love. Our world is full of hatred and violence, because we do not take the time to nourish the love and compassion
        that are already in our hearts. Non-harming is an important practice.

D. Three further realms – desire, form, formless (these three realms are created by the mind)

        DESIRE – material things are present in their grossest form (no meditation happens here)

        FORM – material things are somewhat subtle

        FORMLESS – material things are very subtle

        (the form and formless realm are states of meditative concentration)

E. Two additional realms – conditioned and unconditioned

        CONDITIONED – birth, death, before, after, inner, outer, small and large

        UNCONDITIONED – belongs to the historical dimension. It is the wave. It belongs to the ultimate dimension. It is the water. These two realms are NOT separate.

        Note: CORPOREAL or DUALISM vs. INCORPOREAL or Non-Dual highlights are mine alone for emphasis of my response and perspective below.

Response – I am constantly amazed at the affinity for the Buddhist’s love of numbers and linearity. I find it so ironic because at the core of the philosophy is the seeking to be non-dual.

Regardless, this chapter resonates with me. Rather than being swept up in the maelstrom of cause and effect, unfolding karma if you will, I find the opportunity here to pause. To focus outside of the self and reflect on and take action for others while simultaneously moving towards a non-dual state.

In the first miracle of mindfulness I see ‘be present’. This is a real challenge for most people because we tend to live so much of our lives in the past and in the future. ‘If only I had…’ or ‘I would have’… or ‘Someday’… or ‘One of these days’… are all common to the human species regardless of culture or circumstance. Being present, being in the moment is so peaceful and serene. We have a respite from the monkey mind. As a result, we have the opportunity to reflect and in reflecting we are capable of touching not just the surface but also to go deeper. We can consider the circumstances that surround a person or situation and not immediately judge. To dwell here is to be dipping the toes in the unitive state.

In the second miracle of mindfulness we can make the ‘other’ present. By being present we know the other. Rather than being a pesky fly that annoys us, the ‘other’ can be seen wholly, fully and without ego wrappings. The ‘other’ joins us in a non-dual field of awareness that exists ‘now’.

In the third miracle of mindfulness we nourish the object of our attention. When we take care of the ‘other’ it becomes part of our present. We engage with the ‘other’ on different levels making it/them more real, more realized, more meaningful and less surface. In so doing, we attend to the needs of the ‘other’ and take positive action to make that happen.

In the fourth miracle of mindfulness we relieve the ‘other’s’ suffering. This is an opportunity to express compassion. Compassionate living and giving is a major goal of any enlightened person. It is the expression of our innate Buddha nature.

In the fifth miracle of mindfulness we look deeply. This comes as a result of being calm and concentrated. We achieve this state through our mediation practice, whether that practice be Centering Prayer, Zazen, Transcendental Mediation ™ or Primordial Sound Mediation or any other number of meditative practices.

In the sixth miracle of mindfulness we come to understand. Here Hanh says that “Understanding is the very foundation of love.” I believe that that is true, but I also believe that we need to have a deeper understanding of what exactly ‘understanding’ is. There are several ways to approach ‘knowing’. For instance, we can ‘know’ a recipe for a meal, but it is not the experience of eating the meal which is ‘knowing’ the meal on a different level. There is also the idea of linear or constructivist knowledge versus non-linear or gnostic understanding. I feel that Hanh is referring here to the deeper type of understanding that is inherent in non-linear, experiential and holonomic comprehension.

In the seventh miracle of mindfulness is transformation of our ‘self’ from the suffering we create for ourselves as well as freeing ourselves to act in the world to transform it into a state of being that recognizes the Buddha nature inherent in all living organisms.

When it comes to the deluge of dharma as it relates to realms it seems to me to boil down to the last two realms that Hanh mentions – conditioned and unconditioned. To me these are corporeal (dual) and incorporeal (non-dual). The senses are wrapped up in the corporeal as is the mind. This includes, in my way of thinking, feelings (due to the emotional aspect being tied to the physical aspect of the brain and its chemicals (hormones, DNA, proteins, etc.). The mind is tied to the self-referential aspects of the ego not to mention the experiences that help it to form. To me the soul is the third entity at the party and finds itself more related to the unconditioned realm. Also, in many respects the non-corporeal represents the non-dual state and the corporeal or visceral represents the dualistic state of the human condition. The trick is to be able to transcend and transform. Mindfulness can facilitate this process by letting go.

By meditating with love and compassion we can achieve HAPPINESS, JOY, LETTING GO, FREEDOM FROM CRAVING, ABSENCE OF ANGER, NON-HARMING AND FORMLESSNESS in an UNCONDITIONED realm. When we do this we are immersed in a non-dual field of being.