L'Esprit du Singe

Il y a 2500 ans, le Bouddha parlait de «l'Esprit du Singe».

Il a décrit l'esprit humain comme étant une bande de singes ivres, criant, se battant, sautant de branche en branche, semant pagaille et chaos autour d’eux. 

Pour les personnes souffrant d’anxiete chronique, de problèmes de stress ou de problèmes émotionnels complexes en témoigneront : il semble que nous soyons constamment en guerre avec notre esprit. Quoique nous fassions, le singe continue de sauter de branche en branche, comme notre esprit continue de sauter de pensée en pensée.

Et comme notre monde technologiquement avancé produit beaucoup plus de distractions que les sociétés principalement agraires d'il y a 2500 ans, il devient de plus en plus difficile de se concentrer sur quoi que ce soit et d'étudier. Cette situation est aggravée par un flux constant d’informations superflues en provenance du monde entier, qui augmente inutilement le niveau d'anxiété de nombreuses personnes.

Il est donc vital d'apprendre à calmer, apprivoiser et contrôler l’esprit du singe. De nous accorder des pauses loin des distractions constantes pour identifier ce qui est importe réellement et nous concentrer sur ce que nous pouvons effectivement contrôler.

Gérer l’Esprit du Singe

• Méditation,

• Techniques de respiration

• Tai Chi

sont 3 moyens efficaces pour calmer et maîtriser le singe. 

 

Quelques minutes de Méditation ou de Tai Chi chaque matin vous donneront un bon départ pour le reste de la journée, vous aideront à développer une pratique régulière et vous permettront d’apprivoiser le singe.

Malheureusement il est difficile d'apprendre a méditer ou a pratiquer le Tai Chi par soi-même. Les librairies et Internet fourmillent de differentes methodes de meditation. Il suffit de faire une recherche sur le theme "differentes techniques de meditation" pour se rendre compte de la grande variete des dans ce domaine. Certaines de ces techniques qui ont passe l'epreuve du temps sont tout a fait valides. D'autres sont nettement plus discutables. Je reviendrais sur la question importante des differentes formes de meditation dans un article ulterieur. 

Quant au Tai Chi, meme s'il est possible d'apprendre en etudiant a partir de videos visibles sur Youtube ou d'autres sites, il vous sera difficile de choisir entre les tres nombreuses formes proposees. Une forme de Tai Chi devrait etre adaptee a la personne qui la pratique. (Voir note 4 ci-apres)

Il est heureusement beaucoup plus facile d’apprendre les techniques de respiration. 

Meme si elles ne vous permettront pas d'apprivoiser totalement le singe, elles vous aideront à le calmer, ne serait-ce que pour un moment. Et vous pourrez facilement les utiliser dans de nombreuses situations.

 

Exercice Respiratoire de base

Voici un exercice de respiration très simple que vous pouvez apprendre et pratiquer quotidiennement le matin, et à tout moment où vous sentez que vous avez besoin de contrôler votre esprit.

1. Asseyez-vous dans une position confortable et fermez les yeux.

2. Inspirez par le nez pendant 4 secondes. (Comptez mentalement jusqu'à 4)

3. Retenez votre souffle pendant 4 secondes. (Comptez mentalement jusqu'à 4)

4. Expirez pendant 10 secondes. (Comptez mentalement jusqu'à 10)

 

Repetez cet exercice 10 fois avant de reprendre un rythme respiratoire normal.

Note 1 : Vous pouvez ajuster les durées des phases respiratoires. L’aspect le plus important de cet exercice en est la régularité.

Note 2 : De nombreuses techniques de respiration parfois fort complexes ont ete développées depuis des millénaires, principalement en Inde et en Chine. Ces techniques sont souvent liées a la méditation et a des pratiques telles que Yoga et Tai Chi.

Note 3 : Plusieurs types de méditations sont devenus populaires au cours des 30 dernières années. La plupart d’entre elles sont efficaces pour calmer l’Esprit du Singe. Il faut cependant être bien conscient du fait que pour les méthodes de méditation traditionnelles, calmer l’Esprit du Singe n’est pas un but en soi mais un moyen d’arriver a d’autres fins.

Note 4 : Pour plus d'iformation ou pour apprendre  le Tai Chi et/ou la Meditation dans la tradition Zen vous pouvez me contacter au 07 83 89 72 49 pu par email a frederic.lecut@gmail.com

 

Definition

When people speak and argue for hours it is often because they do not have a clear and common understanding of what they are talking about.

This at times happens in Buddhism. (Believe me, I was there...)

Clear definitions allow everybody to  be on the same page when discussing or reading about an issue.

Tibetan Buddhism defines mind as what distinguishes sentient beings from rocks or trees or bodies of water. Mind is that which grasps - or rejects - something external. It is characterized by a discriminating awareness or a sense of duality.

 "What is the mind? It is a phenomenon that is not body, not substantial, has no form, no shape, no color, but, like a mirror, can clearly reflect objects."

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

So we had better think again and use our common sense. 

If we let our mind mistreat us so that we spend our lives suffering and making others suffer around us, that’s a sign of a lack of common sense. The thoughts and words that come from a disturbed state of mind can be considered “negative.” 

Instead of complaining about our fate, if we cultivate altruism and compassion, so that those “positive” states of mind improve our well-being and that of others, that shows that we do have common sense.

JIGME KHYENTSE RINPOCHE (born 1964) 

Oral Advice translated by Matthieu Ricard

Sand Mandala by Tibetan Monks in Dothan, AL. March 2015

Please note that Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche does not say that thoughts and words coming from a disturbed state of mind are negative, but that they can be considered "negative." This is important !

 

Practical Exercises for Zen Meditation

I am just back from a zazenkai retreat at the Atlanta Soto Zen Center.

Michael Elliston Roshi, abbot of the center and founder of the Silent Thunder (Mokurai) had invited me to teach at this event.

In my presentation of actual exercises to help the practice of Meditation I put emphasis on the 2 following aspects of Zazen:

• Focusing (Thinking of Non Thinking)
• Relaxing (to help focusing) 
  
  

I introduced to my audience a set of physical practices inspired from Traditional Oriental Martial Arts and Medicine. (Tai Chi, Chi Gong, Taoist exercises...) which I have been using  for several years in my own practice.

These exercises are designed to improve :

• Body awareness,
• Breathing,
• Balance,
• Physical Relaxation.

I addressed in particular :

1. How strength and mental energy follow Awareness and Mind. And how the Chinese concept of Chi explains this.
2. How to channel awareness and one's mind to parts or points of the body to tame one's monkey mind.
3. How to practice regular and reverse abdominal breathing to calm the mind.
4. How Tai Chi can actually remove muscular tensions and joint pains during long meditation sessions.

In the next weeks, I will get into the details of my presentation.  Stay in touch ! 

Writings of Suzuki Shosan - II

A warrior asked Suzuki Shosan, "They say the law of Buddha and the law of the world are like the two wheels of a chariot. But nothing would be lacking in the world even without Buddhism. Why liken them to two wheels of a chariot?”

Shosan replied, ‘The law of Buddha and the law of the world are not two separate things. According to a saying of Buddha, if you can enter the world successfully there is nothing more to leaving the world.

“Whether Buddhism or worldly law, there is nothing more than reasoning correctly, acting justly, and practicing honesty.

“There are differences in depth of honesty. Not twisting reason, preserving justice, correctness in social relations, not crossing people, not being egotistical - these constitute honesty in the worldly sense. This is a way into the deep via the shallow.

“Honesty in the context of Buddhism means realizing that all conditioned phenomena are illusions, and using the original reality-body in its natural state. This is true honesty.

“The fact is that the ordinary people are very sick patients, while the Buddha is a very great physician. Ordinary people ought to recognize sickness first. In the ignorant mind that fluctuates, there is the sickness of delusion, there are sicknesses of greed and false views, there are sicknesses of weakness and injustice. Based on the mind infected by the three poisons, there are diseases of eighty-four thousand afflictions. Getting rid of this mind is called Buddhism. How is this any different from worldly law?

“People who attain the Way know the principle of fundamental emptiness, use principle and duty as a forge to temper this mind day and night, get rid of the residue of impurities, make it a pure unhindered mind-sword, cut through the root of selfish and obsessive thoughts, overcome all thoughts, surmount everything, and are unfazed by anything, unborn and undying. These are called people of the Way.

“Now, then, ordinary people are those who take the falsehood of illusions to be true, produce a selfish mind attached to what has form, develop greedy, angry, and ignorant thoughts, create all sorts of afflictions and lose their basic mind, always distracted, overcome by thoughts as they occur, racking their brains and belaboring their bodies, without buoyancy of mind, vainly passing the time benighted, alienated from themselves and fixated on things. This is called the mind of ordinary people.

‘That being so, you should know the different terms for the original mind. It is called the adamantine actuality, the indestructible body of reality, This mind is not hung up on things; it is unafraid, unshakable, undismayed, unfazed, undisturbed, and unchanged, master of all. Those who realize this and use it effectively are called great; they are said to have iron guts, and to have attained the Way. People like this are not obstructed by myriad thoughts; able to let go of all things, they are very independent.

“However, people who would practice the Way of Buddha will be unable to succeed unless they have an intrepid mind first. It is impossible to gain access to the Way of Buddha with a weak mind. If you are not rigorously observant and do not practice vigorously, you will experience misery along with those afflictions.

“One who overcomes all things with a firm mind is called a wayfarer. One who has thoughts fixated on appearances, is burdened by everything, and so suffers misery is called an ordinary person.

“So people who work up the courage of violence with an afflicted mind may have the force to’ break through iron walls for the moment, but violence ‘eventually comes to an end. The mind of a strong person, being immovable, does not change. If men who are warriors cultivate this, why would they not attain a strong mind?

“Even people of outstanding heroism, when the killing demon of impermanence comes lose their usual power, their ferocity, and ability to exert any effort. When they try to open their eyes they cannot see anything; their ears can't hear, their tongues shrivel and can't speak. When the killing demon enters the heart and destroys the internal organs, breathing becomes difficult, pain invades their bodies, and under it they become unable to overcome and kill the demon of impermanence, unable to bear the great hardships of the mountain of death, drowning in the river between here and the afterlife, shamed at the court of the king of death, falling forever into the three evils and four dispositions, disgraced generation to generation, lifetime after lifetime, as self and as other, unable to escape. 

Would you say this disgrace is insignificant because shallow people don’t know of it ? Even in the illusory human society disgrace is nothing to take lightly; how much the more so is eternal disgrace ?

“Can someone ignorant of this logic be called someone who knows principle or embodies justice? Think ahead before you act.

If you know the principle, you should fear it. If you embody justice, use the fierce and firm mind-sword to cut down the enemy of birth and death and live in great peace.”

Somehow, this story reminds me of the - probably apocryphal - episode of the viper coming upon Takuan Soho and Miyamoto Musashi meditating together.

How about that ?