Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet

[Eva Libre]

"A yogi, a practitioner, is an artist who knows how to handle their fear and other kinds of painful feeling or emotion. They do not feel they are a victim because they know there is something they can do.

You listen to the suffering in you and you get in touch with it. Breathe in and out deeply to see, “Why am I suffering? Where has it come from?” Your suffering, your fear, may reflect the suffering of your parents, your ancestors, and the planet. It also contains the suffering of your time, your community, your society, your nation. It’s very important not to cover it up with music, movies, or computer games. To have the courage to go home to yourself, to recognize and hold the suffering inside and look deeply into it, may be the most important thing for you to do as a meditator.

The meditator breathes in and says, “Hello, my fear, my anger, my despair. I will take good care of you.” The moment you recognize the feeling and smile to it with love and care, embracing the fear with mindfulness, it will begin to change. That is the miracle of mindfulness. It’s like morning sunlight shining on a lotus flower. The bud has not opened yet, but as the sunlight pours down, the photons penetrate into the bud, and after one or two hours of being penetrated by the light, the flower opens itself.

We have the energy of mindfulness generated by mindful walking, sitting or breathing. With that energy we embrace our fear gently as the light embracing the flower. When the two kinds of energy encounter each other, there will be a change, a transformation. The energy of tenderness penetrates the fear, anger or despair. You hold it as dearly as you might hold a wounded child."

Thich Nhat Hanh in “Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet”

(HarperOne 2021, available: https://smarturl.it/zenartofsavingplanet)