The River of Body and Mind
This is the second talk offered by Thay in the second week of the Summer Opening Retreat, given in the New Hamlet of Plum Village on Saturday, July 16th, 2011. Thay teaches about the 5 skandhas as the river of body and mind: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. He continues into the steps of practice based on the Mindfulness of Breathing Sutra: 1) recognizing the in and out breath, 2) following the in and out breath, 3) mindful of the body, 4) calming the body, 5) recognizing joy, 6) recognizing happiness, 7) aware of painful feelings, 8) embracing painful feelings, 9) selective watering of good seeds, 10) recognizing negative mental formations, 11) concentrate the mind, 12) free the mind. There are three principal concentrations that we practice: 1) the concentration on emptiness, 2) the concentration on signlessness, 3) the concentration on aimlessness. What is happiness?
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