This practice episode centers on ‘The Seven Miracles of Mindfulness’ by Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. The episode begins with a brief guided meditation focusing on mindfulness of the breath and body. Marc shares personal anecdotes from his time with Thich Nhat Hanh, and dives into the seven miracles of mindfulness, which include being present, making others present, nourishing others, relieving suffering, looking deeply, understanding, and transformation. 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[music]

[00:00:00] Marc: Welcome to Mindful Leadership with Marc Lesser, a biweekly podcast featuring conversations with leaders and teachers exploring the intersection of keeping our hearts open and effective action in these most uncertain and challenging times. Please support our work by making a donation at Marc lesser slash donate.

I am  pleased about today’s episode called The Seven Miracles of Mindfulness. We’ll start with a short guided meditation and then onto these seven beautiful practices that were introduced to me by Vietnamese Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. And they are. You’ll see they’re simple and they’re profound, and they are easily, uh, accessible and [00:01:00] integrateable into your daily life.

I hope you enjoy today’s episode.

Let’s begin with a few minutes of sitting practice together. I’m gonna ring my, ring my bell that has traveled the world with me.

Yeah, so an invitation to to pause, to stop and just, um, just noticing that you are here we are here

in bringing awareness to the body, mindfulness of the [00:02:00] body, right? Such a core core practice. Includes mindfulness of the breath

often thinking of one of the earliest teachings of the historical Buddha was, there’s only one way, only one way, one path to finding real freedom or kind of true. Happiness and, you know, so that, that that line, uh, got my attention. And then the next line in this teaching is when breathing a long breath, be aware that you’re breathing a long breath.

When breathing a short breath be aware that you’re breathing a short breath and. I think this teaching is both literal and, and a metaphor. [00:03:00] So literal, like anytime, like right now, right now, noticing that you’re breathing, noticing that breathing is happening and

as a metaphor, I think it’s, um. Bringing awareness to whatever we’re doing. Not only here while we’re stopping, but throughout, throughout the day. But this is, uh, this is this, mind training right now, mind training, to be able to notice not so simple and not so simple. So just stopping, noticing the body, noticing the breath.

Uh, nothing nothing to accomplish. That spirit, I think is also [00:04:00] useful. Nothing to accomplish. No need to change anything I.

Uh, simply being here

alive breathing.

And this, this sense, this, um,

realization that we bring our entire life. Behind is right here in this moment, this breath, right? This breath is new and fresh. And at the same time all of [00:05:00] our

Ancient twisted karma ancient. Precious life is all right here in this moment, this breath, this body,

uh, and keeping it simple breathing in and breathing out.

I am breathing in. I’m aware that I’m breathing in and breathing out. I’m aware that I’m breathing [00:06:00] out.

Maybe paying a particular attention to each exhale, you know, so with each exhale. A letting go. Letting go of the activities of the day, of any, anything that you might be holding onto that would be useful to let go. Yeah, regrets, worries, anxiety, let it go. Name it, if it helps, you know, regret this year.

Anxiety is here and with each exhale as much as possible letting it go[00:07:00] 

and just, uh, this practice of I. Appreciating whatever is here, appreciating without comparison or judgment, letting go of comparison and judgment.

And, uh, please, uh, feel free to continue sitting. I’m gonna ring the bell.

Pause for for now.

Marc: So I’ve been really pleased in studying some of Tik na Han’s writings. [00:08:00] I.

I’ve, I feel really lucky that when I lived at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center I got to spend, uh, two weeks with with Tik Han. He came, he came in and did a class every morning in the dining room for the. Or maybe 50 or 60 students there, Zen students there. And at the time that, that was the year I was director and one of my one of my jobs.

Somehow I, I don’t know exactly how or why, but it was my job to, uh, to go to where he was staying, his cabin at Tassajara, which was over on one end of the valley. I would knock on his door and he would come and we would bow to each other and he would come out and we would, we would walk from where he was staying across Tassajara [00:09:00] Valley, you know, along, along a gravel path.

And we would walk at his pace, which was very slowly. He had a way of doing. A kind of walking meditation even during this walk from his cabin over to where he was going to give a class. And so I knew that and so I, I would come early enough. So we had plenty of, there plenty of time. It was, uh, uh, extremely un rushed walking side by side with with Ty.

Ty was the name, you know, kind of a honorific for teacher. Yeah, as I’m saying this, I can kind of, hear this, hear and feel the sound of our, of our footsteps touching the, along the gravel, the gravel path that Sahara. And I don’t usually tell this, this part of the story, but I will here.

I’m not sure why, but I will, uh, but, uh, one day, [00:10:00] one day as we were walking he stopped turned. I turned and we stood there face to face and he looked at me, looked at me in the eye and said, we have known each other in a previous lifetime. And then you turned, I turned and we continued walking and nothing more was ever said about that.

Uh, but. I felt so it just moved me the the starkness and the intimacy of his, uh, comment. And, you know, whether, you know, I, you know, do I do, what do I think about previous lifetimes? I don’t know. I, I wouldn’t say I, oh yes, I’m sure, sure. Or no, no, I don’t, I don’t know. But in that moment. I felt his tick Han’s assuredness that he and I knew each other in a previous lifetime, and there was something very, I [00:11:00] felt so honored by that by that comment.

And, and interesting, I left Tasara the following, the following fall went to business school and uh, and a few years after business school I started a a company called Brush Dance, a greeting card company. And um, and we were. Creating journals and greeting cards and calendars and mostly licensing the names of, uh, you know, the Dalai Lama and poetry of Rumi were some of our lines.

And I had this idea of, oh, we should tick not Han, he was just, as he was becoming more and more known, I thought, oh, we should we should publish some cards and journals and calendars with his quotes. He had so many beautiful. Things that he had written. And I I called [00:12:00] his people and I received a response back that said uh, Han says that you can use anything he’s ever said, and we don’t want a contract.

And please make a donation of any amount that feels, um, appropriate and. The Han line that, um, brush dance produced for many, many years of greeting cards, calendars, journals, some other products as well. Uh, was one of our, one of our best selling lines. And so something very meaningful and potent to me about my connection and.

Relationship with with Han. And this morning I wanna share one of his one of his teachings that, um, I, I find he weaves in throughout much of his writing and talks are called The Seven Miracles of [00:13:00] Mindfulness. Seven Miracles of Mindfulness. And these miracles are uh, to be present, to make others present to nourish others.

To relieve other suffering, looking deeply, uh, understanding and and transformation. And you know, there’s a lot, there’s a lot I could say about each of these, but mostly I want to this morning, uh, just. Unpack a little bit. You know the first one, right? The first miracle of mindfulness is to be present.

Uh, one of our one of our, uh, greeting cards that we published was, uh, the greatest gift you can give someone is your presence. The greatest gift that you can give someone is your presence. And the way the way Tek Hanh describes this. First miracle of [00:14:00] mindfulness is to be present, to be aware of a flower, the smile of a child, of your hand, your, I sometimes throughout the day, just take a moment to to look at my own, my own hand as you know, what a miracle are our bodies and minds.

So just to be, uh, present and of course this this practice of presence includes, impermanence, right? That, that as I look at my hand, I notice my hand right now is a very different hand than, uh, it was when I was a child. And really probably a different hand than it was, yesterday and.

And we have the ability, I can also kind see my hand when I am when I’m an old person. And I can also [00:15:00] feel the impermanence of, before this hand came into existence and after this hand will be, transformed into something else after. I’m no longer here. So this is, this is all part of this, simple practice to be present, to be present.

The first miracle of mindfulness. And, and I think it also includes, seeing the, the inner beingness of things is also included in this practice of to be present, right? That this hand isn’t just my hand, right? It’s connected to. My, my mother and father’s hands, and their mother and father’s hands and all, all every human hand, every all of life is included in the right, the cells and synapses, you know, in this, this thing [00:16:00] that we call hand, body to be present.

So this is part of the. Part of this practice of the miracle of mindfulness. I love, you know, there’s a kind of audacity that Tekon has by using the word miracle, right? It’s a reminder, it’s a reminder ’cause it’s so easy to, we humans so acclimate to things. Make things, or ordinary.

And they are ordinary, right? My hand, this hand, your hand, our hands are very ordinary and they are completely mysterious and unexplainable. So they are miracles, right? So this is the, the core practice is to be present. And from there. We have the ability to be aware of others, right? To make others present.

We have the ability to relieve, [00:17:00] you know, to nourish others, to relieve others suffering. And and in some way what I’ve been talking about as the impermanence and. The inner being is connected to the fifth practice of, look, this is looking deeply and through looking deeply, having some, some insight, some insight.

And under understanding is the, the sixth miracle of mindfulness. And the the seventh miracle is, transformation. You know that through, through these practices, through being present through these, we we are transformed. We are transformed, and we, and we transform.

And I was, as I’m, as I’m thinking of these, um, I’m remembering that I, I spent many, many hours, uh, teaching. Teaching at Google, [00:18:00] standing in front of, uh, Google Engineers teaching these, these practices or related practices, right under the, under the guise of mindful leadership or mindfulness based, um, emotional intelligence.

And all of these practices I think are so core to, uh, to leadership, right? To to emotional intelligence. And I think there’s. Tremendous overlap in what we label as mindfulness leadership and and emotional intelligence. And and one of the questions, one of the questions I was, you know, most asked by Google engineers is, uh, what is the least amount of time?

It can practice, you know, what is the least amount of time it can practice meditation or practice mindfulness and have it make a difference. And you know, and they, these were, these questions were coming from, I think [00:19:00] the mind, both, I think the mind of laziness, but also the mind of the scientist, right?

They wanted to know like what what studies have been done, what evidence is there that shows me about the relationship of. How much time I spend practicing meditation or mindfulness and some kind of measurable change. So I appreciated I got to really appreciate the mind of the scientists that wanted to know the data.

And there have been actually more and more, you know, scientists are also trying to answer that question. What is the least amount of time and that you can meditate and have it make a difference. And you know, but it’s interesting. One of the things that I learned about science is that there’s what you can measure and there is your experience and there’re both very useful and [00:20:00] important and one of the.

Important. Interesting. You know, pieces about science is it can teach us things beyond our experience, right? So much of science, what we’ve learned about vaccines and the body is how the brain works. And it can be really useful to have an understanding about how the brain works beyond what we can experience at the same time.

Our experience is really important. So like in, in any intervention or like in therapy, for instance, or in meditation, I would say it’s great that there is the science of doing, brain scans showing changes in the brain. But really it’s what really matters is how, is how do these practices.

Influence you? How do they change you? How do they change your [00:21:00] experience and how you are experienced? And my, my my answer to this question from Google Engineers of what’s the least amount of time I can practice and have it make a difference, became one breath, one aware, mindful breath each day. Can make a difference in your life.

Right. And again it’s a practice, right? It’s easy to, uh, you might make a commitment to do one mindful breath each day, but have some way of checking in at the end of the day. Oh, did I remember? And maybe then taking your one breath. So one, uh, one mindful breath. Each day is perhaps a, uh. Practice for me, one of my practices, I’m, I’m committed to sitting meditation every day for a minimum of three minutes.

I generally like to sit for 20 or 30 minutes, but there are some [00:22:00] days it does happen that for, you know, things happen. But I can always find three minutes. And I think anyone can always find one mindful breath, one mindful breath. This maybe is the core practice of Right, the seven miracles of mindfulness to be present starting with one breath, starting with three minutes a day, starting with the aspiration to be present for as many moments in your life as you, as you can, coming back again and again.

Breathing a short breath. I am aware that I’m breathing a short breath being, agitated. I’m aware, feeling joy. I’m aware whatever it is. Awareness. Awareness. Um, again and again, so [00:23:00] please do explore practicing. These are miracles. The simple ordinary, uh, miracles of to be present, to make others present, to nourish others, to relieve others suffering, to look deeply cultivating, understanding, and, uh, transformation.

Thank you very much.

I hope you’ve appreciated today’s episode. To learn more about my work, you can visit Marc lesser.net, and if you’re interested in enrolling in a self-directed course, called Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader, please visit www.Marclesser.courses.thinkific.com. This podcast is offered freely and relies on the financial support from listeners like you.

You can donate@marclesser.net slash donate. Thank you very much.

[END OF AUDIO]

The post The 7 Miracles of Mindfulness appeared first on Marc Lesser.