You know, the Buddha once held up a single flower in front of an audience of many disciples, according to the Zen tradition. And this was an unusual dharma talk for the Buddha, who was always very eloquent. If you read alone just the Pali version of the canon, of the text, it's quite huge: much bigger than the Judeo-Christian Bible. And yet, in this dharma talk, according to the Zen tradition, he just simply held up a flower. And for a very long time his disciples were wondering, "What's going on? Why isn't he saying anything?" But after quite a long time, maybe an hour or more, a disciple far in the back, Mahakashyapa, smiled. And the Buddha confirmed that this particular disciple understood the message.

Today is Mother's Day. And mothers are usually associated with the heart. Of course not every mother is able to be in touch with that quality. But those that are — it's a wonderful gift to all of us. Not only to the actual biological children, but to all people everywhere. Whenever there's a man or woman that embodies the quality of true compassionate nurturing sacrificial caring motherhood, it is a gift to the whole world.

So that day I wrote something in my journal. And I'd like to share it with you

Begin Anew inspired by the Buddha in you, as written through Br. ChiSing (March 16, 2007) Begin anew. . . . It has been a long time since last we spoke. It does not need to be so long. In every moment, the here and now — the eternal and timeless — is always present. It does not take a special feat to touch the here and now. You only need to awaken to this very breath, this very step. In just one moment of mindfulness, everything is made new, moment to moment. Enlightenment, peace, wisdom, joy — these are only one breath away, one step away. But the question is: Are you really there, my dear? Are you really there in your breath, in your step? Or are you only daydreaming, sleepwalking? Whatever you think you've done wrong, whatever penance you believe you must perform before you can awaken, I invite you now to let that go. Take a slow, deep breath. And remember the Greater Reality which holds you, which supports you, which nurtures you. Let there be a moment of awakening, let there be several moments of awakening, every time you rest into this Greater Reality, the Buddha Nature, your True Self. And as you begin to rest in your true vastness, a healing takes place organically and naturally — forgiveness takes place, understanding takes place, reconciliation takes place — effortlessly. In the eternal and timeless here and now, you can always begin anew. You can always find refreshment and rejuvenation for your earthly body and human mind as you awaken to your Universal body and Divine mind. Yes, you can do it. It is your birthless birthright. It is your deathless inheritance. So, my beloved, can you drop the story, drop the delusions? Can you let go of self-hate, shame and unworthiness? Are you willing to relax your hold on control and manipulation? Are you willing to loosen your grasp on false securities from false fears? It only takes one breath, one step, in mindfulness, my dear. In just one moment of enlightenment, you can awaken from the illusions of time, pressure, guilt, failure and regret. You can awaken to the eternal and timeless here and now — to peace and love and wisdom, to true strength and true joy and true beauty, to the Buddha that I am in you and in all beings, to the Ultimate dimension of all things — the Divine All in all: Dew drops on a spring leaf . . . ~ Br. ChiSing

You can do it! Because you are it. So what's stopping you from letting go of all the layers that prevent you from expressing the pure vast light that you are? It is in every cell of your body. It is in your very own heart.

You know according to the neuroscientists these days, they are finding all sorts of interesting things about the mind and about the heart as a physical organ of perception. The brain emits an electro-magnetic field. And the heart also emits an electro-magnetic field 5000 times stronger than the brain. There are many different neural cells connecting the brain to the heart that they are finding, As if the heart is also an extension of the brain. A different… just like there's different parts of the brain — the reptilian brain, the mammalian brain, etc. — there's also the heart functioning as a kind of brain. 60% of the cells of the heart are neural cells just like the brain. And so, some of the neuroscientists are interpreting this data with the hypothesis that it's possible that this field of energy that's being radiated so strongly is a form of… of the mind engaging with other fields to process energy and information in that way. So that, it's a way of knowing from the heart… a way of being with the energy of knowing in this heart way. Perhaps that is one of the meanings of heart to heart transmission. Maybe that's what it truly means to awaken to the mind of enlightenment, the heart of enlightenment… to remember there are other ways of knowing besides the small bandwidth of intellectual rational thinking and to come down to this heart knowingness and wisdom is one way to continually opening to that vastness. And of course, we just don't stop with the physical heart. It's just another physical organ. But it can clue us into a knowing and a connection… an energy field that connects us and reminds us that we are like the story of the stems connecting to all aspects of the cosmos.

At my first retreat at Plum Village in France, I remember trying to engage in all the practices there… like sitting meditation, walking meditation, eating meditation, hugging meditation, singing meditation. And I remember the practice I really did not like the most was eating meditation. I was too used to growing up with my parents working late hours, trying to make a life for the family in this new country, and my brother and I would just make our own food and watch cartoons. So it was very difficult for me to break this habit of watching TV and eating, or conversing and eating, or doing anything else but just eating.

And yet, through this practice, I remember one day at lunch, about third or fourth day of the retreat. I just simply eating my tofu, broccoli, and rice, chewing slowly… getting one with the texture, taste, temperature of the food… just really being with it. And then I just stopped, and I looked up at the people around my table and they were just so peaceful and happy, eating slowly. And that was the first time that I really looked up. I was kind of just like doing my own thing and I just looked up. They were all so happy and peaceful — so mindful. And I felt this little smile come to my face, just looking at them. And I looked outside the window, and the sun was shining through the tree, and the leaves were rustling in the wind. It was very beautiful. And the children, with their parents outside, were laughing and playing a little bit during lunch. And then my heart just melted and opened and expanded. And tears came down my eyes, as I just felt the reality of the intervening nature of the whole universe. And instead of just being an intellectual concept, it was real in my own body and the whole universe.

And I realized what eating meditation was all about. It is as if the whole universe was eating meditation. Just like I'd be eating the food, receiving nourishment. I'd be giving nourishment as I went to the bathroom later, to give to microorganisms. And also, as my friends around me were eating so mindfully, they were nourishing me. And I hope I was also nourishing them with my mindfulness and smile. And the trees outside were giving us oxygen, nourishing us with oxygen. And we human and animals were nourishing the trees outside with our carbon dioxide. And the adults with their very stable mindfulness and kindness were nourishing the children with a safe environment. And the children were nourishing the adults with their playful energy, reminding us not to take anything too, too seriously — to remember the inner child, that needs nurturing as well. Everything in the whole universe is eating meditation, giving and receiving nourishment. And my heart just opened. Itwasn't something that I hadn't felt before. But through mindfulness practice, it deepens and widens and it stays longer. And the more glimpses you get, the wider the glimpses are until one day you're a full-time Buddha instead of just a part-time Buddha.

You know a few years before I even entered in mindfulness practice, I did actually have a mystical experience. I didn't really share it very often because I was a little embarrassed, because it happened during sex. (Is this being recorded?) I was with this very beautiful person. And, it was so playful and so free and so joyful and uninhibited. All of a sudden, it was as if the walls were permeable and expanded. And I could feel the whole universe and all the galaxies and the stars. As if all the galaxies were dancing around each other — lovers dancing with each other. And all the molecules, all the atoms were lovers, dancing with each other as I and this person were a dance of lovers too.

Everything is this divine love, making love to itself in myriad ways. And the interesting thing about that experience is, I didn't need it to last forever. In that experience, I knew that the possibility was that I would not stay in this state of consciousness and that it was OK. Because I knew the truth now — in every moment, we're all a dance of divine love, Buddhas making love to Buddhas, from the smallest subatomic particle to the vast mega-galaxies of the universe. You know, it was such an unexpected experience that I actually asked the person I was with if there was like something put in my drink or something. Because I wasn't sure why I was experiencing this. And… But it was just a glass of water. That was all it was.

But that same reality was glimpsed in a retreat setting… a different aspect of that same reality, but that same reality nonetheless. In the first experience, I experienced the vast reality from the angle of love. In the second experience, I experienced that same reality from the angle of nurture. So, we all can experience the same reality in different kinds of ways, in different openings. And whatever you call it, and whatever angle it is that you experienced it, it's the same vast spacious clear purity of awareness. The same Buddha nature, manifested refracted like pure light into different rainbows of experiences.