Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight in Daily Life | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching)

If our mindfulness is good,

if it's strong enough,

then there is concentration.

The energy of mindfulness...

carries within herself
the energy of concentration.

Because when you are
mindful of something...

very mindful of something,
you are concentrated on it.

Suppose you are
mindful of your body.

Breathing in,
I know my body is there.

And then your body becomes
the only object of your mindfulness.

Mindfulness of body,
that is the practice.

And when mindfulness
is strong enough,

concentration is born.

The object of your concentration
is also your body.

Only the body.

And mindfulness and concentration,
when they are powerful enough,

they can make a breakthrough.

Une percée.

(French)

And you get the insight.

You discover things.

You get realization.

And that is called insight.

Mindfulness (念)
is the first energy.

And mindfulness brings about
concentration (定).

Together mindfulness and concentration
bring insight (慧).

This is Smrti (Mindfulness);

this is Samadhi (Concentration);

this is Prajna (Insight).

And to meditate means...

to generate these
three kinds of energies.

And you don't have to ask for them
from the outside.

Everyone has a seed of mindfulness;

everyone has a seed of concentration;

everyone has a seed of insight
within himself or herself.

And with the practice...

we help these seeds to manifest
as energies.

These are three kinds of energies
that make a Buddha,

make you awake,

make you be there fully,
body and mind together,

make you touch 
all the wonders of life,

and make you stop running
to look for happiness elsewhere,

help you to see that happiness is possible
in the here and the now.

And it makes joy and happiness possible
right away in the here and the now.

Because with mindfulness and
concentration strong enough,

you discover the insight...

that your body is there,

all the wonders of life are there,

so many conditions of happiness
are already available.

These are already insight.

And that insight can help you to be
free from your worries, your fear,

your longing, your searching.

That kind of insight helps you recognize
many conditions of happiness

that are more than enough for you
to be happy here and now.

And it brings freedom,
joy, and happiness.

These three energies...

can be generated by the practice of
breathing, walking, sitting, and so on.

When you are inhabited by
these three wholesome energies,

you have the element of holiness.

We speak of la sainteté, holiness,
but we don't know exactly what it is.

And this teaching is very clear:

Holiness is made of mindfulness,
concentration, and insight.

When you are inhabited by these
three energies, you are a Buddha.

In Christianity we speak of
the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit can be interpreted as...

mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

Because where these three energies are,

life is, healing is,
nourishment is, happiness is.

So it is possible to generate
the energy of holiness.

When these energies of holiness are in you,
you don't suffer anymore.

You are free.

And I can call you,
"Good morning, Your Holiness."

Everyone can be holy

if they know how to generate the energy
of mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

And it is not too difficult.

When I pour the tea...

I like to pour the tea mindfully.

And when I pour the tea mindfully,

my mind does not think of
the past or the future or my projects.

My mind is focused
on pouring the tea.

I am fully concentrated...

on the act of pouring the tea.

Pouring tea becomes the only object
of my mindfulness and concentration.

And that can bring many insights.

I can see that
in the tea there is a cloud.

Yesterday it was a cloud,
but today it is my tea.

You see things.

And that is insight.

And insight is not
something very far away.

With mindfulness and concentration
you begin to get insight

that can liberate you
and bring you happiness.

Suppose you breathe in
mindfully...

and you focus your attention
on your in-breath.

And that is called
"mindfulness of breathing."

Mindfulness of pouring tea,
mindfulness of drinking tea,

mindfulness of walking,

mindfulness of breathing.

And when you breathe,

you focus your attention only
on one thing: your in-breath.

That is concentration,

and you are concentrated
in your in-breath.

If you are really concentrated on your in-breath,
insight can come right away.

You might get the insight
that you are there alive.

You are there,
and you are alive.

That is an insight
because to be alive...

...is a miracle.
To be still alive is a miracle.

In the past,
living in the war,

I have encountered many situations
where I could die.

One time, they threw
a grenade into my room.

Fortunately, I was not there.

So the fact that I am sitting here,
this moment, is a miracle.

So while breathing in,
focusing your attention on your in-breath,

you might touch the miracle
of being alive.

And being alive is a miracle

and the greatest of all miracles.

Because if you are already dead,
you cannot breathe in anymore.

Because you are breathing in,
You know that you are alive.

When you have already
breathed your last,

no amount of money can help you
to breathe in again.

So I'm breathing in...

I get the insight that I'm alive.

"Breathing in, I feel alive;
I know I'm alive."

And when you breathe out,
you can already celebrate

the fact that you are alive.

Breathing out like that
can bring joy, happiness.

So insight is not something far away.

Insight is enlightenment,
awakening.

You are enlightened on the fact
that you are alive.

You are awakened to the fact
that you are there, still alive.

There are many insights like that

that can happen
while you breathe in mindfully.

You breathe in,
and you realize...

that your two feet are still 
strong enough for you to walk

and jump and run.

There are those of us
who can no longer walk.

So when I practice walking,

happiness is possible.

Many friends of mine
of the same generation...

cannot walk anymore.

And I am still capable
of using my feet.

Walking with your feet,
you bring a lot of happiness...

just walking.

Every step can generate
the energy of joy and happiness.

thanks to mindfulness,
concentration, and insight.

And that is meditation:

to bring your mind home
to your body

and establish yourself
in the present moment

using the energy of mindfulness 
and concentration,

and touch the wonders of life,

the conditions of happiness
that are available,

and make joy, happiness,
and freedom...

possible in the here and the now.

Everyone can do this.

Anyone can pour...

his tea mindfully.

Anyone can drink
her tea mindfully.

It's called
"mindfulness of drinking."

Instead of thinking about
the past or the future,

just focus our mindfulness
on drinking.

I'm here, fully present in 
the here and now.

And the only thing I touch
is my tea.

If I am mindful of my body...

and become established
in the here and the now,

I become something very real.

And when I am real,

something else
becomes also real: life.

The tea I'm holding in my hands
is something real

because I am real.

That is why the tea
becomes also real.

The encounter between me and the tea
is real life.

If you are possessed
by fear, anger, or thinking,

you are not truly there.
And your tea is not truly there.

They are not real.

You and your tea
are not real.

It's not true life.

And that is why...

the energy of mindfulness
makes things true and alive.

The practice of mindful walking,
mindful sitting, and mindful breathing...

that help generate the energy of mindfulness
is the basic practice.

You can take a shower in mindfulness

and enjoy entirely
the time taking a shower.

When you prepare your breakfast,

if you allow mindfulness every moment,
you enjoy making breakfast.

And it is a time of happiness.

Every moment of breakfast-making
can be a delight.

When you wash dishes,
you can do it the same way

to breathe in,
and to feel alive

standing,

and recognize that
the water is flowing.

The water has come
from far away to your kitchen.

Get in touch with water and wash
each plate and bowl in mindfulness...

can be a joy.

You don't need to hurry
to finish with dish-washing.

You can enjoy washing,
you are in the Kingdom of God

washing your dishes.

Because washing your dishes
is also...

as holy as doing sitting meditation
or walking meditation.

When you go to the toilet, bathroom,

you may choose to
urinate in mindfulness.

Take your time
and enjoy urinating.

Why hurry?

Time is for us to live.

It can be a very pleasant moment
to urinate.

Happiness and freedom is
possible during that time.

You don't want to do it quickly
in order to do other things.

That is why in meditation centers...

they put a flower pot
in the toilet room

to remind that this is
a meditation hall also.

Enjoy the time
when you take a shower.

And then the time
when you prepare your breakfast.

Enjoy the time when you
urinate or defecate.

It can be very pleasant.

And when you brush your teeth,
brush in such a way...

that makes
freedom and joy possible.

You have two minutes, three minutes
of tooth brushing.

Make them into a happy moment.

If you can get happy during
the time of brushing the teeth,

then buttoning up your vest
can be a joy also.

Every moment of your daily life
can be a happy moment

if we know how to
allow mindfulness to be present.

And concentration.

With mindfulness and concentration 
we can enjoy...

every moment that is given us to live.

That is an art of living.

We need freedom.

Freedom from what?

Freedom from our sorrow,

our regret
concerning the past...

The past may become a a prison.
We cannot get out of the past.

And mindfulness helps us
to get out of the prison of the past

and to be with the present moment.

The future can be
a prison also,

because many of us
are afraid of the future,

are uncertain about future.

We are anxious about the future.

That is why
the future has become a prison.

And we have to get out
of that prison.

Breathing in, bringing our mind
home to the body,

to come back
to the present moment...

is already liberation.

So these three kinds of energies...

are agents of liberation.
They can help us to be free.

True happiness is not possible
without freedom.

We have to learn the habit
of being free.

When we sit,
we sit like a free person

light, happy,

enjoying our body
and the time of sitting.

When you walk,
you walk like a free person.

We do not allow the past and the future,
our project, our fear...

to get hold of us.
We are free.

And we taste every step

Every step is freedom.
Every step is nourishment.

Every step is healing.
Every step is joy.

And we can borrow
the collective energy of the group

in order to walk.

We flow like a river.

Walking like that is a kind of 
celebration of life.

Every step is a celebration.

We arrive
in the here and the now.

We arrive in the Kingdom of God,

in the Pure Land of Buddha
with every step.

We practice
not only with our mind,

but also with our body
with our in-breath and out-breath.

because in meditation,
mind, body, and breath are always together.

When these things are together,
you are...

well established in
the here and the now, free.

You can live every minute
of your daily life deeply.

You don't waste your life.

(Bell)