Wisdom Book

The Miracle of Mindfulness

An Introduction to the Practice

if Meditation

Translated by Mobi Ho

Thich Nhat Hanh

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Translated by Mobi Ho

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With Eleven Drawings by Vo-Dinh Mai

The Miracle of Mindfulness

An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

•

•

Beacon Press

Boston

Beacon Press 25 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108-2892 www.beacon.org Beacon Press books are published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

© 1975, 1976 by Thich Nhat Hanh Preface and English translation © 1975, 1976, 1987 byMobiHo Afterword © 1976 by James Forest Artwork © 1987 by Vo-Dinh Mai All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America

09 08 07 06 05 11 10 9 8 7

The Library of Congress catalogued the previous paperback edition as follows: Nhiit Hanh, Thich. The miracle of mindfulness. Translation of Phep la cua su tinh thuc. ISBN 0-8070-1232-7 (cloth) ISBN 0-8070-1239-4 (paper) 1. Meditation (Buddhism) 2. Buddhist meditations. I. Title. BQ5618.V5N4813 1987 294.3'433 87-42582

• Contents

Translator's Preface by Mobi Ho

vii

One The Essential Discipline

1 11

Two The Miracle Is to Walk on Earth

Three A Day of Mindfulness

Four

27

The Pebble

Five

33 45

One Is All, All Is One: The Five Aggregates

Six

The Almond Tree in Your Front Yard

55

Seven Three Wondrous Answers

69

v

Exercises in Mindfulness

79

Nhat Hanh: Seeing with the Eyes of Compassion by James Forest 101 Selection of Buddhist Sutras 109

vi

• Translator's Preface

The Miracle of Mindfulness was originally written in Vietnamese as a long letter to Brother Quang, a main staff member of the School of Youth for Social Service in South Vietnam in 1974. Its author, the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, had founded the School in the 1960s as an outgrowth of "engaged Buddhism." It drew young people deeply committed to acting in a spirit of compassion. Upon graduation, the students used the training they received to respond to the needs of peasants caught...