Tesshin used this week’s talk to discuss the four steps of mediation as described by the Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.  This teacher comes out of the Vietnamese Zen tradition, but freely mixes in many other ideas such as Theravada Buddhism.   Thich Nhan Hanh is world renown for his clear and insightful teaching which are useful not just for his monks but for lay practitioners and common people around the world.

The four step process can be summarized as …

1.Stopping

2.Calming

3.Resting

4.Healing

Stopping, according to Tesshin, means exactly what it sounds like – namely stopping your daily activities and preparing for meditation.  This is particularly hard for people living in the United States as we are taught that to get ahead we must work all the time and never slow down.  Tesshin recounted that even after his elderly mother had multiple strokes, she could not slow down and adjust.  She would wander around the house upset that she did not “know what she should be doing now.”  We hold so much of this “nervous habit energy,” but we really do not know how to switch it off.  Tesshin mentioned that in Zen temples, the monks are commonly busy, but there are defined periods where they must stop and meditate.  This is done on purpose.  If one is constantly moving, there is not time and space to reflect and catch up.  We see this in our meditation.  When we come to sit, our minds are still racing with the day’s issues and problems.  Many times, we simply forget to stop and the meditation time flies by with little result.  So the gateway to success in meditation and mindfulness is building the skill to simply STOP.

The next step is to calm down.  Tesshin emphasized that there is a difference between stopping and calming.  One can sit on a cushion and stop the mental locomotive, but still be tense.  In this situation, we are still bringing in the problems of the day, but it is carried in the body which, of course, affects the mind.  To calm down, we must really let go and detach from everything.  Letting go is not suppression – it is recognizing what we bring to the cushion and simply allowing it to float away from our consciousness.  (Don’t worry, it will still be there when you are done sitting!)  Tesshin recounted a famous story in Buddhism.  Out in the forests, certain tribes catch monkeys.  They catch them by building a basket with thin spaces between the slats or a small opening at the top of the basket.  Inside is a treat irresistible to monkeys.  The monkey puts its hand in and grasps the prize, but then it cannot get its closed fist out.  Now, the monkey could easily release the prize and get its hand out of the trap, but it is INVESTED in the reward.  The fascinating thing is that the monkey holds on, even as it sees the captors approaching.  Of course, WE are the monkey and the cage is our delusions and habit energy.  All we need to do is open our hand and we can escape our suffering.  We learn to open our hand by calming down.

Once we have stopped and calmed the body and mind, we can begin to actually rest.  The nervous energy starts to dissipate.  However resting is not a passive activity.  It must be actively sought out.  Tesshin related this REST to the rest God commanded in the Abrahamic traditions.  He pointed out that in the hierarchy of commandments, the Sabbath rest is even higher than the injunction not to kill!  Why would this be?  It is because all wisdom traditions understand that rest and contemplation are “intrinsic” to our humanity and having this humanity is key to creating a harmonious civilization.  Tesshin mused that perhaps modern society is so precarious because people have forgotten the simple exercise of stopping, calming, and resting.

The last step is healing.  Tesshin remarked that this is the result of the above steps.  The healing can be mental, physical, or both.  Tesshin likened this to an athlete.  After intense physical training, there is a recovery period where the muscles repair themselves and grow.  One cannot become faster or stronger without these recovery periods.  It is the same with everything we do.  In order to progress, there must be a period of recovery.  This recovery is generated by first stopping, calming the nervous habit energy, and then finally resting.  Tesshin reminded us that meditation is a great way to do this and encouraged everyone to add a few extra minutes each day to our Zazen practice.