Today we attended a retreat and workshop put on by the Ahimsa Trust. The mission statement of the trust is to ‘cultivate mindfulness for a peaceful world,’ though none of us truly knew what this would entail. The trust teaches taking inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk who based his teachings around the vital nature of mindfulness. We began the retreat with a 30 minute meditation, aiming to create a feeling of understanding and compassion for ourselves and our parents/family members by imagining them as five year old children. The nun leading this meditation called on us to reflect on the innocent, and pure nature of a five year old, untouched by the hardening nature of the world. By keeping compassion in our hearts for this five year both within us, and our parents, we hold compassion in us for the people that that five year old has grown into.
Following this meditation we began the first (and final) workshop of the retreat. Despite the fact that we had missed the first two days and lessons of the workshop, the lessons we were taught today were still entirely comprehensible. I have struggled with presence and detachment for most of my life, with the consequence truly coming to fruition many times during this trip. Due to lack of presence, I lost much awareness of the feelings within my body, was filled with anxiety, and shifted my focus entirely to the overbearing thoughts in my mind. This caused me to suffer, though I had no idea why. In today’s lesson, a monk went over the teachings of the Buddha, and the eightfold path. Much of the teachings within this lesson stemmed from an awareness in the body, something I had been greatly lacking. One way to reconnect to the body, the monk said, was to consciously focus on the breath, as, “the breath is the spirit.” If we understand the nature of our breath, we understand the nature of our spirit. The next step, following an awareness of the breath, is to consciously relax your body. Through relaxing your body, you acquire a greater connection to the true emotions taking place within your body.
Once we went over the importance of connection to the body, it was time to understand the importance of suffering. I had been avoiding, or losing myself in my suffering for much of my time here in India, rarely allowing myself the space to examine why the emotion was present. The monk taught that the way to overcome these unpleasant feelings was to simply calm, and open our mind. From there we must notice the mental afflictions that we hold- feelings, ideas, emotions, and concentrate our focus on them. Therefore allowing yourself to be liberated from them. Suffering is not to be avoided, but instead, should be attempted to be understood.
Though there were countless teachings today that created an impact, these were the ones that I found affected me the deepest. It is not just something that has changed my thinking for a day, but teachings that I hope to bring with me every day from here on out. As the Ahimsa Trust directs, “the only way out, is in.” Through investing time into understanding yourself and your emotions, you change and affect not just you, but the world around you. -Emi Lord
On our last day in India, we were invited to join a mindfulness retreat that was hosted by the Ahimsa Trust. The retreat was led by a group of Buddhist monastics from Plum Village, who follow the teachings of Thich Nhat Hahn. The name of the retreat was, “The way out is in,” and a very large part of it had to do with looking within yourself and seeing how our own suffering is almost always caused by our own preconceived notions and ideas.
We started the day with a guided meditation led by one of the monks. It was an enlightening experience because it gave me a perspective that I hadn’t really had before. It was about envisioning ourselves as five year old children; easy to laugh, easy to cry, and easy to forgive. It went on to have us envision our parents in the same way. As five year old children; easy to love, easy to cry, and easy to forgive. While I don’t have disdain for my parents, the exercise was still a great way for me as a daughter to see my parents in a different light. Knowing that they were also children, and that they are still dealing with any conflict experienced at that time of their life, made me extremely grateful for them and the life that I have been given the opportunity to live.
The next part of the retreat was a Dharma talk led by another one of the monks. He branched off of the guided meditation and expanded the understanding for our parents as children to include anyone who has made us angry or made us suffer. He explained that the power of imagining anyone as a child can truly change the way you view them. It can bring you a deeper understanding of why they act the way that they do, and that if someone is making us suffer, whether intentionally or not, it’s because they have suffered themselves and have not reconciled with that suffering. According to him, the reason for our suffering is our preconceived notions and ideas. We have notions of everyone around us and especially about ourselves. We cause ourselves so much suffering because we have a notion of self. “You think you know who you are, but you’re not them…’self’ is apart of everying thing that is not ‘self.’” Essentially coming back to this idea of interconnectedness. That everything is empty of an independent reality. Everything is built upon the basis of everything else. All of our actions and even feelings are affecting living beings across the world. Shunyata. So in order to try and relieve our suffering, we must let go of all of these notions and accept and understand.
Near the end of the retreat, there was a question and answer session where the participants could come up and ask the monks a question. I went up and asked how we are able to choose the path of mindfulness and compassion even though at times it seems so much easier to succumb to anger and competition? The answer was essentially that while, yes, there is constant suffering and a seemingly never-ending stream of scary stories on the news, there are always people doing good. He gave me examples he had seen in his brief time in India, such as people giving shelter and feeding poor people in Old Delhi. He said that just the fact that so many people were at the retreat shows that there are many people who are striving for a better world. With so much negativity being pushed down our throats, it is difficult to put a spotlight on all of the people who are fighting for the good of humanity. It is important to acknowledge the good in everything and count our blessings. To always be thankful for the things you have instead of wishing for the things you don’t. -Lagi Hunnicutt
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