Fr. Dave's Thoughts - January 24th
Dear Friends,
As you may remember, I have, in the past, described the Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hahn as one of my spiritual guides. I never met him, but his writing has truly resonated with me for most of my adult life. During the Vietnam War, he was a strong advocate for peace. So strong in fact that he was exiled from Vietnam in 1966. Leaving his family and friends behind he sought political asylum in France. The French government granted him asylum and he was able to obtain what is called an apatride travel document, which essentially said that he was not a citizen of any country. Sad as that may sound, this allowed him to travel to any European country that had signed the Geneva Convention, but it did not allow him to come to the US or Canada without a specific invitation from the head of state. Of those times he wrote, “I have to admit that the first two years of exile were quite difficult. Although I was already a forty-year-old monk with many disciples, I had still not yet found my true home.” He continued, “[During that time] my practice was the practice of mindfulness. I tried to live in the here and now and touch the wonders of life every day. It was thanks to this practice that I survived…. The practice brought me back to my true home in the here and now…. People may think that I was suffering because I wasn’t allowed to go back to my home in Vietnam. But that’s not the case. When I was finally allowed to return, after almost forty years of exile, it was a joy to be able to offer the teachings and practices of mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism to the monks and nuns, and laypeople there…[i] Thich Nhat Nahn passed away in Vietnam in 2022 at the age of 95.
So why am I relating this story to you this week? For the benefit of our spiritual wellbeing, I think it is important for us to engage the idea of mindfulness. I am sure that I have written on this subject before, but I want to look at it from a different angle today. Normally when we hear the word “mindfulness” we think of meditation and meditation is not something that we all embrace. There are other ways to stay mindful, however, other than sitting down and meditating. A number of years ago I was given a boxed set of books by Thich Nhat Hahn entitled, How to Live. In the set there are five books, “How to Sit,” “How to Eat,” “How to Love,” “How to Walk,” “How to Relax.” These books are a study on how to live mindfully. Apparently, when Thich Nhat Nahn was young he was given a book of Zen Gathas which are little poems that are meant to be memorized and used at various times of the day to help us bring awareness to what we are actually doing in that moment. There are gathas for waking up, for putting on our clothes, brushing our teeth, walking, sitting, and eating, to name just a few. Here is an example of a gathas to be said upon waking up in the morning:
Waking Up
Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are
before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment
and to look at beings
with eyes of compassion.
Here is one associated with eating:
Eating
This food is a gift of the whole universe,
the earth, the sky and much hard work.
May I live in a way that makes me
worthy to receive it.
May I take only foods that
nourish me and prevent illness.
I accept this food so that I may realize
the path of understanding and love.
Finally here is one for the simple act of turning on a light
Turning on the Light
Forgetfulness is the darkness,
mindfulness is the light.
I bring awareness
to shine upon all life.
These are gathas from the Buddhist tradition, the Zen Buddhist tradition to be more specific. But we too have these kinds of gathas in our own western Judeo-Christian culture as well and they serve the same purpose, to keep keep us mindful of the present moment and the sacredness of life. Here are two from my childhood:
Eating
God is great,
God is good,
let us thank God
for this food. Amen.
When going to bed
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray thee Lord
my soul to keep.
Angels watch me
through the night
and wake me with
the morning light. Amen.
These are wonderful because they keep us tethered to the moment and remind us who we are. Unfortunately, in our culture, we think of these things as childish. The opposite of mindfulness, to my way of thinking anyway, is this illusion of autonomy. At least this is one way of looking at it. As we grow up and out of childhood, we gain a greater sense of autonomy and this is a good thing, we need to self-differentiate ourselves from our parents and our siblings. However, when this sense of autonomy takes us to the place where we understand ourselves as being in charge of our own destiny, we have taken a wrong turn and chosen a life that will surely bring us anxiety and loneliness and suffering. In our own tradition, we don’t call these gathas, we call them prayers and one of the most beautiful prayers we have in our Book of Common Prayer is found in the Office of Compline:
O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 134)
Our Book of Common Prayer has all kinds of prayers that can be used like the gathas are used by our Buddhist brothers and sisters. We can memorize these prayers and use them at various times of the day. We have a prayer we can use at meals, one we can use before worship or before we receive the eucharist, and even one we can use after we have received the eucharist (BCP 833-835). In the daily offices of Morning Prayer (BCP 75-102), Noontime Prayer (BCP 103-108) Evening Prayer (BCP 115-126), and Compline (BCP 127-135) we can find prayers that will help us stay mindful throughout the day. And we can supplement our prayer with some of the Buddhist gathas that we find meaningful.
Personally, in 2025, I want to start memorizing prayers and Buddhist gathas that will help me stay in the moment, because I think this is the only way to defeat the wiles of distraction which is the true enemy of the spiritual life. I don’t know how well I’ll do, but I want to give it my best shot and keep at it every day. Maybe you could join me.
Peace,
Dave
[i] Thich Nhat Hanh, At Home in the World¸ Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA; 2019; pp. 11-13.