The Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh has a special place in his heart for his mother. The word for uterus in his language means "the child's palace." And what a blessed place that was where we rested inside the womb and our mothers took good care of us. He writes:
"You were physically attached to your mother through the umbilical cord. And through that umbilical cord your mother channeled to you food and drink, oxygen, everything, including her love. You were there, you had not been born, and yet you were the object of love."
Thich Nhat Hanh states that maternal love is our first taste of this manna which sustains our lives. It is important for us to let our birth mother, adopted mother, or grandparent who raised and took care of us know that we are appreciative of all she has done for us. See the excerpt for a ritual the author suggests. There are other meaningful practices in this accessible paperback. Thich Nhat Hanh includes a meditative walk we can take with our mother, a touching the earth ceremony, a love letter to our mother, and a hugging meditation.
"Hugging is a deep practice. You need to be totally present to do it correctly. . . . You can practice it in the following way: during the first in-breath and out-breath, you become aware that you and your beloved are both alive; for the second in-breath and out-breath, you think of where you will both be three hundred years from now; and for the third in-breath and out-breath, you go back to the insight that you are both alive. Your hugging will be deeper, and so will your happiness."
