Am 16. Oktober 2013 hielt Thich Nhat Hanh den letzten Vortrag des Retreats «Finding Our True Home» im Deer Park Monastery, zugleich seinen letzten dort. Mitten in der Lehre zu den sechzehn Atemübungen kommt er auf die siebte und achte Übung zu sprechen, das Erkennen und das Beruhigen eines schmerzhaften Gefühls. Der folgende Abschnitt ist das Kapitel «Befriending the Storm of Emotion» im Wortlaut des Transkripts.
And we know that it is possible to use the energy of mindfulness in order to embrace our pain. When a strong emotion is coming up, we know. We can feel that. It is like a storm. The symptoms of the coming of a storm, we know. So we should abandon what we are doing and get ready to handle the strong emotion that is coming up.
00:42:58And the practice of deep, mindful breathing, belly breathing, is very helpful. Because with the stomach, you can breathe much more deeply. You are in a sitting position or in a lying position, and you may like to put your hand on your stomach, abdomen. And you like to begin breathing in and notice the rising of your abdomen.
00:43:50Don't stay on this level. This level is the level of thinking. The more you think, the more you are confused and the emotion will be stronger. So bring your attention down to this level, the navel — dāntián. And breathe in and focus your attention on the rising of your abdomen. And when you breathe out deeply, you focus your attention on the falling of your abdomen.
00:44:31Breathing in, it may take seven seconds, or nine seconds, or ten seconds. Breathing out, it can take ten or fifteen seconds. Just focus your attention on that, on the rising and falling of your abdomen, and persist. Do not think. Do not think anymore.
00:45:01When there is a storm and you look out the window, you see a tree suffering. If you focus your attention on the top of the tree, you feel the fragility of the tree. And you have the impression that the tree may be broken at any time. But if you focus your attention on the trunk of the tree, you see that it is deeply rooted in the soil and you have another impression.
00:45:30So we are stronger down here than up here. This is our trunk. That is why in the time of a strong emotion, we should bring our mind down here, our attention down here, and stop holding entirely to thinking, and just focus our attention on the rising and falling of the abdomen. And you are safe. You are safe.
00:46:02And there is an insight that you have to keep alive during that time. That insight is very important: that your emotion is impermanent. It comes, stays for some time, and will have to go. “Why do you have to die just because of one emotion?” You are much more than one emotion. That is the insight you already have. So while breathing, you keep that insight alive. Many young people do not know how to do this, which is simple enough for everyone to do. They don't know how to handle a strong emotion. And when they suffer so much, they believe that the only way to stop suffering is to go and kill themselves. And many young people are doing that every day, everywhere. In America, in France, in Great Britain, in Hong Kong, many young people commit suicide every day.
00:47:15And that is because they are not taught how to deal with a strong emotion. So parents and teachers have to master the practice and transmit it to their students, their children. And we have to train ourselves so that breathing can become a habit. Every time we have a problem, we know how to go back to our in-breath and out-breath and breathe mindfully. We are there in order to take care of ourselves, to handle what is to be handled.
00:48:00So if we practice every day that kind of breathing, it will become a habit. And when the emotion comes, we will remember to practice. Otherwise, at that time we will forget to practice and allow the emotion to take over. That is not good. So if we practice daily in a few weeks, it will become a habit. And it is pleasant. To practice mindful breathing, deep breathing is very pleasant.
00:48:30The other day, sitting on the mountain, I felt so pleasant to breathe in and out. The air was so fresh. I had that wristwatch on my ear and I counted “Breathing in nine seconds and breathing out fourteen seconds.” And every breath is a delight, nourishing and healing you. And if every day we begin our day by mindful breathing, or practice mindful breathing five minutes before we go to sleep, then it becomes a habit.
00:49:14And every time a strong emotion comes, we know how to do, what to do. And you are safe, you are truly safe during that difficult time. Stop the thinking. Focus your attention on the rising and falling of your abdomen. Keep alive that insight: you are more than your emotion. You don't have to die just because of one emotion.
00:49:51And the school teachers can hold the hand of one student who is a victim of an emotion and teach him to breathe. Because the teacher or the parent knows how to do it. So holding the hand of a child, you say: “Darling, shall we breathe together? Breathing in, I know my stomach is rising. Breathing out, my abdomen is falling. Rising, falling.” So help the child to stop thinking and to focus on that. And the child will learn, and you may save his or her life just by teaching him or her that kind of practice.