Thich Nhat Hannh, the Buddhist teacher, peacemaker, poet and author of over 40 books, spoke at the Maryland Correctional Institution on October 16, 1999. This pint-sized paperback is the transcript of that talk. The author emphasizes that mindfulness practice can be done anywhere. Even in prison an individual can know liberation. But it takes intention and training.
Thich Nhat Hanh begins with a poem of his entitled " For Warmth" :
I hold my face in my two hands.
No, I am not crying.
I hold my face in my two hands
to keep my loneliness warm —
two hands protecting,
two hands nourishing,
two hands preventing
my soul from leaving me
in anger.
The energy of anger pervades prisons. But there is a practice whereby individuals can care for their anger and not allow it to get out of hand.
The author goes on to present other mindfulness practices appropriate to this milieu. Walking mindfully, prisoners can experience liberation. Eating mindfully, consciously savoring each morsel of food, is another way of experiencing joy. "Freedom," says Thich Nhat Hanh, "is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves." The more mindfulness we bring to our activities. the more meaning and fulfillment we will find in them — even doing something as menial as scrubbing the floor. The way in which we do it signals whether we are free or enslaved.
In one of the most profound sections of this paperback, Thich Nhat Hanh discusses the battle we all have with strong habit energies "that push us to say and do things we don't want to say or do." They often have been passed to us by our ancestors and hammered into our consciousness by the culture. Yet through the miracle of mindfulness and compassion, we can work with these habit energies and transform them.
All of this is part and parcel of the process of sainthood: "Every moment of your daily life can be a moment of practice. Whether you are waiting for your food or lining up to be counted, you can always practice breathing mindfully or practice smiling. Do not waste a moment of your daily life. Every moment is an opportunity to cultivate your solidity, peace, and joy. And after a few days, you will see people beginning to profit from your presence. Your presence can become the presence of a bodhisattva, a saint. It is possible." Thich Nhat Hanh's words offer hope and a way of recasting freedom that has a universal meaning.
