The Great Bell Chant

Today I include a video and a prayer, the poem is read by Thich Nath Hanh and chanted by brother Phap Niem in Vietnamese.

May the sound of this bell penetrate deep into the cosmos. 
Even in the darkest spots, living beings are able to hear it clearly, 
So that all suffering in them ceases, 
Understanding comes to their heart 
And they transcend the path of sorrow and death.

The universal dharma door is already open.
The sound of the rising tide is heard clearly.
The miracle happens:
A beautiful child appears in the heart of the lotus flower.
One single drop of this compassionate water
Is enough to bring back the refreshing spring to our mountains and rivers.

Listening to the bell, I feel the afflictions in me being to dissolve --
My mind calm, my body relaxed,
A smile is born on my lips.
Following the sound of the bell,
My breath brings me back to the safe island of mindfulness.
In the garden of my heart, the flowers of peace bloom beautifully.

A Contemplation on death and dying.

The Fragility of our Existence.

The recent loss of the mother of a dear friend has once again brought my attention and focus on the subject of death and dying. Twenty years as an ambulance-man/paramedic showed to me the fragility of this existence, whether it was the tragedy of a road traffic accident, a child’s sudden death, the ravages of war, or the onset of old age and disease, the circumstance of each death may have been different but the net result was always the same. 

Peter’s mum was in her eighties when she passed away, my mother-in-law, the beautiful Li Zhen was 84. Although still in good health my teacher and great inspiration dear Thây, (Thich Nhat Hanh), is now 89, my mother is 83, I am 61 in a few days time. Whilst I can enjoy their company now, I know that life is only as long as the next heartbeat.

There have been times when “a near miss” has made me contemplate the fragility of my own existence, twice when caught in storms in the western approaches, three times when guns were directed at me, (including the one occasion when a shot was fired!), plus a couple very close shaves being reckless whilst riding motorbikes. But it was the 4-way bypass in 2003, and being told a year later that the surgeon had cut one of the grafts too long and that when in intensive care it had kinked and popped allowing the heart to pump life’s blood into the chest cavity, that I had the realisation that death for me was only one heartbeat away, this changed my perspective and confirmed the fragility of "my" existence. The Grim Reaper visited looked at his list and passed me by, I know one day the emissary form the nether world will stop and tap me on the shoulder and it will be my turn.

In the west dying has to some extent become so sanitized we distance ourselves from the thought of dying, but dying is as much a part of life as life its self, what matters is…… how we live our life. When we touch stillness, we give ourselves the opportunity to meditate and bring mindfulness into our everyday existence and enjoy life fully in this moment, the present moment, this heartbeat.

Thich Nhat Hanh on Embracing Reality: 
The Five Remembrances

When you deny the reality of life, you appreciate it less. Meditate on the Buddha’s Five Remembrances and rediscover the magic of life just as it is.

I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health.
There is no way to escape ill health.

I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love
 are of the nature to change.

There is no way to escape
 being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.

My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Things Have Not Changed…...

I watch people in the world
Throw away their lives lusting after things,
Never able to satisfy their desires,
Falling into deep despair
And torturing themselves.
Even if they get what they want
How long will they be able to enjoy it?
For one heavenly pleasure
They suffer ten torments of hell,
Binding themselves more firmly to the grindstone.
Such people are like monkeys
Frantically grasping for the moon in the water
And then falling into a whirlpool
How endlessly those caught up in the floating world suffer.
Despite myself, I fret over them all night
And cannot staunch my flow of tears.

                                        Ryōkan (1758 - 1831)

Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf

(Zen Poems of  Ryōkan)

Translated by John Stevens

The Core of Touching Stillness

Touching Stillness 
is the practice of using Tai Chi, 

Qigong and Meditation to harmonise 

the body, mind and the breath. It has both 

a therapeutic and spiritual quality that elevates us to 

the innermost centre of our being. Allowing us the opportunity 
to nourish the seeds of peace and tranquility.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Touching Stillness 16 "The Tightrope of Life"

"Let your life dance

lightly in the present moment,

like dewdrops balanced on the tightrope 
of a spiders web"

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 15 "Centre Body, Centre Mind"

Centre Body, Centre Mind 2.

With modern living it is easy for our mind to become distracted, multitasking in our 24/7-stress bubble. With the mind full of chatter, we indulge in an internal dialogue of self criticism, regurgitate the past, or rehearse for the future, and not be present in that space between heartbeats we call the present moment. We prevent ourselves from noticing the good things that happen in our lives and we fail to hear what our body is telling us. 

Touching Stillness is to an extent an active not a passive exercise, we have to want to find peace and tranquility, and then create the conditions for stillness to manifest. Stillness is all around us, like a giant ocean or the air we breathe, but just as we have to tune a radio to a specific station so we have to tune our body and our mind to the “stillness channel”. Centre Body, Centre Mind is a posture that allows us the chance to touch stillness and find peace and tranquility even for the briefest of moments.

Centre the Body:

Stand with feet shoulder width apart, parallel and pointing forward with equal weight in each foot. Slightly bend the knees and rotate the pelvis so that the posture is not unlike someone siting on the edge of a table or stool. At the same time imagine the crown of the head is being drawn upwards by a “golden thread”. 

With the weight evenly distributed in the legs and feet and the spine slightly stretched, relax and drop the shoulders, (we create so much tension by constantly “carrying imaginary shopping,”), relax, let go of the tension in the body. Let your arms fall naturally by your side and let your fingers relax. With correct posture you should feel lite and almost floating. Mentally scan your body and bring your attention to any areas that feel tense, feel the tension and breathe energy to those areas to help them relax. 

Centre Mind:

Now close your eyes and place the tip of the tongue on the top palette just behind the teeth, breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Concentrate on the breathing. Some people find it easier to feel the slight movement of the abdomen others may concentrate on the movement of air as it passes over moist lips. Take a few deep breaths and relax, it is important to focus the mind on the breathing. 

Thoughts and distractions will naturally occur, this is unavoidable; so don't worry. Just let the thoughts "float" to the surface and let them dissipate, just like the bubbles in a glass of lemonade, bubbles float to the surface, ‘pop’ and disappear. 

Try to avoid hanging on the thoughts and having an internal discussion with them, if necessary ‘think’ to your self “I am breathing in” when you are breathing in and “I am breathing out” when you are breathing out. You can try counting the spaces between the out breath and the next ‘in’ breath.. When you notice your mind has drifted, gently bring your mind back to focus on the breathing.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 14. "Mindful Moments"

Touching Stillness with Mindful Moments

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Mindfulness as:
Mindfulness /ˈmʌɪn(d)f(ʊ)lnəs/

1. the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.

2. a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.

It is easy for our mind to become distracted multitasking in our 24/7 stress bubble, listening to an internal dialogue of self criticism that prevents us from noticing the good things that happen in our lives and failing to hear what our bodies are telling us. We are either regretting the past, rehearsing for the future and not present in our own lives. When we learn to live in the present moment we learn to step away from our habitual thoughts and unconscious emotional and physiological reactions to everyday events, and see things as they really are.

The objective of mindfulness is to achieve a relaxed, non-judgmental awareness of our thoughts, feelings and sensations, switching off of our automatic pilot and maintaining a direct knowing of what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment. We become aware of the world around us and notice and observe our thoughts and feelings and wake up to the physical sensations of things.

With its origin in the 2500 year old teaching of the Buddha, "Mindfulness", is the English translation of the Pali term "Sati" and from Sanskrit "Smṛti", and refers to "Right Mindfulness", the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path. (Translated as "nian" 念 in Chinese, "nen" in Japanese and "trenpa" in Tibetan).

The Noble Eightfold Path
1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

The Noble Eightfold Path can be divided into three sections elements 1 and 2 is the Wisdom with in the Noble Eightfold Path, whilst elements 3,4,5 and 6 fulfil the section - Morality. Elements 7. Right Mindfulness and 8. Right Concentration form the third section - Meditation. For 2500 years within its teaching, Buddhism has never proposed beliefs of the supernatural or transcendent, but rather is concerned with feelings, emotions, sensations, and cognition of the causes of suffering and in doing so, offers a practice: the cultivation of cognitive, emotional, and physical practices to bring about change. Whilst the benefits of meditation, (and therefore Mindfulness and Concentration), have been known and practiced for thousands of years in the Buddhist tradition, it is only through the teachings of monastics such as Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, that the benefits of "Mindfulness" has been brought to the western attention.

But it is to practitioners such as Kabat-Zin, Teasdale, Seagal and Williams et al, who in the late 1970's, are credited with popularising mindfulness and putting scientific meat on traditional Buddhist bones, through the development of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme's to help with conditions as diverse as chronic pain, heart disease, anxiety, psoriasis, sleep problems and depression.

It is only through focusing one's awareness and experiencing the present moment with mindfulness that we encourage the regular practice of mindfulness in our daily lives. Accepting life is only as long as the space between heartbeats, we can focus and learn to live fully in the present moment non-judgmentally. Assuming a heartbeat of 60 beats a minute, then we have 3,600 opportunities per hour, (or 86,400 opportunities a day), to experience a present moment. The Japanese have an expression "Ichi-go ichi-e" (一期一会 "one time, one meeting"), that reminds us that each "present moment" is unique and never to be repeated.

Mindfulness-Moments.
Everything we do or say, everything….. can be done with mindfulness, with total concentration, focusing on the present moment, (this heart beat), when we loose the present moment and we are aware of it … … come back to the breath, relax into your breathing….. focus. Mindful moments will vary in length from a few seconds to many minutes and some mindfulness moments will stand out over others, the most important thing is focus on that one object, when you listen to the ships foghorn, "Listen to the ships foghorn" when you watch Great Tits dancing in catkins, "watch! Great Tits dancing in catkins" and if the mind wonders come back to your breathing. When you walk….. only walk. When you do the dishes…. only do the dishes. 

At the end of the day reflecting on the days mindfulness moments and distilling one mindful moment to a short sentence, we allow the opportunity to review and record a mindful moment. By concentrating on our breathing whilst writing about mindfulness moment's, the very act of writing becomes an act of practicing mindfulness.

(Example of a week of recording Mindfulness Moments).
Monday's Mindfulness Moment:
"Mist and the mournful sound of ships foghorns"

Tuesday's Mindfulness Moment:
"Feeling the emotion's when seeing my wife after 6 months being apart"

Wednesday's Mindfulness Moment:
"Great Tits dancing in hazel catkins"

Thursday's Mindfulness Moment:
"Watching clouds scud across a winter blue sky"

Friday's Mindfulness Moment:
"Warmed by the smile that says Thank You"

Saturday's Mindfulness Moment:
"The sound of rain on the window's"

Sunday's Mindfulness Moment:
"The Stillness in early morning meditation" 

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 13

Dissolving Anger

"With anger in your heart, there is no room for love, compassion and forgiveness…."

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 12.

Mindfulness in Every Action… With Tea and Tai Chi.

Every action is unique and of the greatest significance. When an action is performed with total concentration and non attachment, the value found in each  and every 'movement' is more than worthy of our full attention. Developing that attention is as simple as the act of making and drinking a cup of tea or practicing Tai Chi mindfully.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 11.

Sowing The Seeds.....

To read books and “know” about mindfulness is to be like the gardener walking into a garden center and reading the information on the back of a packet of seeds.

To “practice” mindfulness, is to be like the gardener who prepares the soil and nourishes the seeds.

But to have mindfulness as "part of your daily life" is to be like the gardener who reaps the benefit of a bountiful harvest.

In the practice of Tai Chi/Qigong we practice “mindfulness of movement”, and with the concentration of the breath we turn the mindfulness of movement into a deep meditation that touches the vast ocean of stillness that lies within.  

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Developing Stillness 10

The Mindfulness of drinking tea…..

Tea is the product of the whole universe the earth the sky and much hard work….

The “terroir” of tea refers to the environmental conditions the tea grows in, the sunlight, rain, wind, clouds earth type, and minerals, everything that nourishes the tea bush and gives tea its unique taste. In the act of adding hot water to tealeaves we create an intimate dialogue between man and nature. Drinking our tea mindfully we elevate tea from the mundane to the spiritual and create a state of “Wa” – harmony, “Kei” – respect, “Sei” – purity, and “Jaku” – tranquility.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

Touching Stillness 1

A monk sips morning tea,

it's quiet,

the chrysanthemum's flowering.

Matsuo Basho

(1644-1694)

Translated by Robert Hass

Developing Stillness 9.

So What is Qigong?

Although the origins of Qigong has its roots lost in ancient Chinese Shamanistic and Daoist culture the word Qigong can be traced to the Tang dynasty (618-907AD), and comes from the words Qi meaning “breath”, “air”, “energy” and gong meaning “work” or “practice”. Traditionally the practice was past from Master to Student in unbroken lineages, but China’s turbulent 1940’s and 50’s the Chinese government banned all Qigong practice, before reinstating the practice in the 1980’s after the cultural revolution. Different Qigong styles were integrated into a coherent system. The style of Qigong we practice in the west today has grown out of the Post Mao Zedong era when a number of “Masters” came down from the mountain to seek fame and fortune as China opened its doors to the Western world.

In his book “Tao, the Subtle Universal Law and the Integral Way of Life” Hua-Ching NI writes:

“Vital energy or chi (qi), as the ancient developed ones¹ in the integral way referred to it, is formless, elusive, and without tangible qualities, yet it is the subtle breath of life which permeates and vivifies the entire universe……..”

Everything that exists in the universe is a manifestation or projection of that energy, in grosser or finer states, everything in the universe (including man) has a time to be born, grow, ripen, mature, and finally a time to fall. The heart beats because of Qi energy and it is said that if our Qi becomes stagnant we become ill, if our Qi stops…..

The concept of Qigong and the cultivation of a universal life force or energy, “Qi” has been practiced since the dawning of man, but the maintenance of Qi for good health was first postulated in the Chinese Classic, the “Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine”, and is considered to be a reflection of medical accomplishment dating from the Warring States Period (475-221BC) and earlier.

Traditional Chinese Medicine, (TCM), Chinese pharmacology (herbalism), acupuncture, massage and Qigong, has proven effective for a range of conditions, and is used extensively by tens of millions of people daily around the world for preventative medicine and self-healing, (however TCM has not received widespread acceptance by Western medical practitioners). Good health results from a well balanced and free flowing Qi energy, which is encouraged by regular Qigong practice and meditation to relieve tension in the body. When our body relaxes, our mind relaxes as well, and the division between the mind and body dissolves enabling us to create a higher state of consciousness. This expanded awareness leads to greater mental clarity and a healthier physical and emotional state.

Chinese Philosophy suggests there are three basic types of Qi (also known as the three treasures), Heaven Qi - (Tian Qi), the Qi of the Universe, and the largest most powerful form of Qi, Earth Qi - (Di Qi), the Qi that is contained within our planet and Human Qi - (Ren Qi). Human Qi regulates our growth, vitality, spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical balance.

The Sages understood, that everything from the smallest particle to the movement of galaxies through space and time, (including man), is a product of Qi energy in its grosser or finer states. However just as a fish is unaware that it lives in water, so man is unaware that he lives in a vast, inexhaustible sea of energy that supports life and is the subtle essence of all creation. They reasoned that if everything comes from the same subtle origin then everything shares the same true nature, a universal nature of harmony and balance, they called it the Tao.

The Sages reasoned the Tao contained within it all that does not exist, the un-manifest, the “nothingness”, that existed before heaven and earth was born, as well as all that does exist, the manifest, that which is perceptible, that which occurred after heaven and earth were born. This polarization of manifest and un-manifest the Sages called Yin and Yang. The polar aspects of Yin and Yang describe the inter-relationships of everything. We will explore Yin and Yang later, but first let us continue in the realm of Qi……

Today science informs us that air we breathe is made up of 78% Nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 2% of a mixture of gasses of which approximately 0.03% is Carbon dioxide. Every cell in our body requires oxygen in order to generate energy through aerobic respiration, (see the Krebs cycle) in which a molecule of Glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆), combines with six molecules of Oxygen (6O₂) to produce six molecules of Carbon dioxide (6CO₂), and six molecules of water (6H₂O), plus energy this can be seen in the equation:

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ = 6CO₂ + 6H₂O  Energy.

Conversely, plants produce the oxygen and glucose that we need to survive through the process of photosynthesis this can be shown in the equation:

6H₂O + 6CO₂ + Light = C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

So we live in a symbiotic relationship with all plant life and our surroundings, they give us food and the oxygen we need to survive. Is it not better to respect and cherish plants that give us oxygen rather than cut off our supply?

Whilst I am not suggesting the ancient ones knew the chemical processes that are so important to our survival, they were aware of the natural order of things and the importance of harmony and balance. Today our lives are filled 24/7, we have grown accustomed to living in our own stressed filled bubble at the expense of our own health. Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation helps to regain control over our lives and to find balance in our life style. Today living in a mountain top retreat in isolated seclusion is not an option, but we can use the methods of the ancient ones to find stillness, peace and tranquility in our lives.

Leon Edwards

© The Stillness Project

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¹The Sage:

The Sage lived in close touch and co-operation with nature and though often solitary or hermit was not necessarily so. Often, like the Hindu forest dwellers’, he had served state, or humanity, in some capacity before retiring to the wild places to live a life of contemplation. His life was not world renouncing, but looking at life and rejecting the artificial and sophisticated in favour of that which is real and of primary importance.

Cooper J (1990) Taoism The Way of the Mystic Crucible page 69

Ni Hua-Ching (1998) Tao - The subtle universal law and the integral way of life (seventh printing), USA, Seven Star Communications.