“Every time I offer incense or prostrate before the altar in my hermitage, I do not do this as an individual self but as a whole lineage. Whenever I walk, sit, eat, or practice calligraphy, I do so with the awareness that all my ancestors are within me in that moment. I am their continuation. Whatever I am doing, the energy of mindfulness enables me to do it as “us,” through interbeing, not as “me.” When I hold a calligraphy brush, I know I cannot remove my father from my hand. I know I cannot remove my mother or my ancestors from me. They are present in all my cells, in my gestures, in my capacity to draw a beautiful circle. Nor can I remove my spiritual teachers from my hand. They are there in the peace, concentration, and mindfulness I enjoy as I make the circle. We are all drawing the circle together.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen master, poet, scholar, and peace activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Excerpted from The Art of Living.
Source: https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2619
Insights
Those of us who have followed works of Thich Nhat Hanh have deep regard for him. There are many tiny insights in his quote. We highlight them and invite all of us to explore how to bring them into our practices.
1.There is a certain aspect of deeper body work that goes beyond the individual and her/his healing. Entering this impersonal and universal dimension of body work, yet done deep in the cells of our body is fascinating.
2. To develop subtle awareness such that we are able to detect the interfacing-embedded thoughts, emotions, energies, sensations and currents within our body is sometimes painful in the beginning and yet it brings forth deep awareness and opportunities for clearing if we are in some deeper body work practice. Thich Nhat Hanh has used this term – “We do not exist independently. We inter-are.” It perhaps would help us to go beyond ego to acknowledge that lot of what we are experiencing in our cells is from our ancestors and people whom we have interacted with.
3. If we manage to do this practice mindfully we may observe in the small things, like the way we hold a cup of tea, the way we sip it, the way we walk, our body language, our voice, our facial expressions, the way we eat, what we eat, how do we respond to illness is all programmed into the cells of our body.
4. Now we come to the most fascinating insight. In the beautiful circle that is drawn through his hand through a brush, he notices the influence of his father, mother and ancestors. There is deep peace and acceptance beneath this experience. First is awareness of influence of others. And for most of us this could lead to irritation and annoyance. In this case we notice deep acceptance and through these ‘cells’ of his hand is drawn a beautiful circle. We can aspire to do our own practices of acceptance and memory work of releasing all stuck energies to come to a living and evolving acceptance of others influences in the way our body and cells are operating in the present.
5. Then comes the master clue. The influence of spiritual teachers on his hand is seen as peace, concentration and mindfulness. This opens up an insight in our deeper body work where we become aware of our body’s substance and its different points / cells. We then connect our body’s cells in a impersonal and universal way to our Divine or Master in an intimate way. Slowly we enter Their subtle body and subtle presence. If we can be in this state with eyes closed or eyes open, while meditating or while doing daily activities slowly the ‘Qualities’ present within the Divine or Master cast their presence within our body’s cells. This is Pran pratishtha of our body’s cells, an act of great humbleness and the underlying purpose of our existence of our life, beneath all other purposes.