BEING AWARE OF, AND LOOKING DEEPLY AT, THE OBJECT

Thich Nhat Hanh, Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2006) ("To practice meditation is to look deeply in order to see into the essence of things.  With insight and understanding we realize liberation, peace, and joy.  Our anger, anxiety, and fear are the ropes that bind us to suffering.  If we want to be liberated from them, we need to observe their nature, which is ignorance, the lack of clear understanding.  When we misunderstand a friend, we may become angry with him, and because of that, we may suffer.  But when we look deeply into what has happened, we can end the misunderstanding.  When we understand the other person and his situation, our suffering will disappear and peace and joy will arise.  The first step is awareness of the object, and the second step is looking deeply at the object to shed light on it.  Therefore, mindfulness means awareness and it also means looking deeply."  Id. at 9.  "Practicing Buddhist meditation is not a way of avoiding society or family life. The correct practice of mindfulness can help us bring peace, joy, and release both to ourselves and to our family and friends as well.  Those who practice mindful living will inevitably transform themselves and their way of life.  They will live a more simple life and will have more time to enjoy themselves, their friends, and their natural environment.  They will have more time to offer joy to others and to alleviate their suffering.  And when the time comes, they will die in peace.  They will know that to die is to begin anew or just to continue with another form of life.  When we live our life this way, every day is a Happy Birthday, a Happy Continuation Day."  Id, a 123.).