Fear

Thich Nhat Hanh

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780062123817
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Buddhism

"Written in words so intimate, calm, kind, and immediate, this extraordinary book feels like a message from our very own heart….Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most important voices of our time, and we have never needed to listen to him more than now."
—Sogyal Rinpoche

Fear is destructive, a pervasive problem we all face. Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, scholar, peace activist, and one of the foremost spiritual leaders in the world—a gifted teacher who was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.—Thich Nhat Hanh has written a powerful and practical strategic guide to overcoming our debilitating uncertainties and personal terrors. The New York Times said Hanh, "ranks second only to the Dalai Lama" as the Buddhist leader with the most influence in the West. In Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting through the Storm, Hanh explores the origins of our fears, illuminating a path to finding peace and freedom from anxiety and offering powerful tools to help us eradicate it from our lives

Practices for Transforming Fear

Releasing Fear from Body and Feelings: Eight Simple Mindfulness Exercises

Practicing mindful breathing helps us experience joy and peace. When we concentrate on our breath, we’re not carried off by thoughts about the past or the future. We’re free of all thinking. When we’re lost in thought, we can’t be really present. Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”; but most of the time, the truth is more like “I think, therefore I am not really here.”

When we bring our attention to our in-breath, we’re not thinking about our in-breath; it’s direct experience. We’re living our in-breath. Our in-breath is not a thought; it’s a reality. We are living the reality that is our in-breath. “Breathing in, I enjoy my in-breath.” When we breathe this way, in mindfulness, we can see many things. We can touch the miracle of life, because when we breathe mindfully, we realize that we’re alive. To be alive is a fantastic thing. To be present in the here and now, breathing, is a miracle. To be alive is one of the greatest of miracles. Parents holding their newborn child know this; people on their deathbeds know it too. To be alive, breathing, taking steps on this planet, is a wonderful thing. We don’t need to drink some wine or host a dinner party to celebrate life; we can celebrate in every moment with our breathing and our steps. With mindfulness and concentration, we can get in touch and live every moment of our daily lives as a miracle. And we can do it right now, today.

The energy of mindfulness can be generated anytime, anywhere. With mindful breathing, mindful walking, that energy brings us deeply in touch with the wonders of life, and that’s what brings us happiness. Our practice is very concrete, very simple. When you breathe in and really pay attention to your in-breath, there will be a change right away. You are more there, and you touch more of reality. When you practice walking meditation, you walk so mindfully that you’re able to be in touch with reality in a deeper way. And you begin to live your life more deeply. How closely you’re in touch with reality depends on your way of breathing and looking.

Here are some simple exercises of mindful breathing to use whenever fear arises. Exercises 1 through 4 are for taking care of the body; exercises 5 through 8 are for taking care of the feelings.

Exercise One

The first exercise is extremely simple, but it brings great benefit: the insight that you are really here, alive. And you’re not only this body, but also your environment—you’re all of this. The practice is so simple, yet it can bring the miracles of joy and happiness.

The first exercise is, “Breathing in, I know this is an in-breath. Breathing out, I know this is an out-breath.” We recognize the in-breath as an in-breath and the out-breath as an out-breath. It’s easy. When we do that, we bring our attention to the in- and out-breath. We let go of our thinking; we let go of the past, of the future, of our projects. We are only with our breath, and we are free. Our in-breath becomes the sole object of our attention and awareness. We can enjoy just breathing.

Exercise Two

The second exercise is, “Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the way from the beginning to the end. Breathing out, I follow my out-breath all the way from the beginning to the end.” The in-breath may last two seconds, five seconds, or more. You follow the entire in-breath from the very beginning to the very end, without any interruption, and you enjoy the whole journey, the whole length of the breath. In that way your concentration becomes stronger and stronger. That’s how we train ourselves in concentration. Mindfulness carries within it the energy of concentration, and with concentration, conditions are ripe for insight to manifest at any moment.

So the first exercise is the identification of the in-breath and the out-breath. The second exercise involves staying with the in-breath and the out-breath for their whole length.

Exercise Three

The third exercise is, “Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I’m aware of my whole body.” During the length of the in-breath you get in touch with your physical body, and your body becomes the object of your mindfulness. That means bringing the mind back to the body. There’s a reunification, a reunion of the body and the mind, so that you are truly present, body and mind together. Oneness of body and mind is the object of the third exercise. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body.” This is an act of reconciliation between the mind and the body.

Perhaps you’ve abandoned and neglected your body for some time. You may not have taken good care of your body in the way you eat or the way you work. So this is a moment when you bring your awareness back to your body and care for and reconcile with your body: “Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body.” And we know very well that, breathing like this, you’re really here, you’re really alive, and you have something to offer to other people. You’re here for yourself, and you’re here for others.

Exercise Four

We should apply this practice in our daily lives. Being with your body, you can see what’s going on in the body. You may recognize that there’s tension or pain in the body. Perhaps the pain is chronic, because you’ve allowed it to go on like that for a long time. You’ve allowed the tension and pain to accumulate in the body. Now, as you return to the body, you can do something to release the tension and reduce the pain. That’s why the Buddha offered us the fourth exercise: “Breathing in, I am aware of some tension and pain in my body; breathing out, I calm and release the tension and pain in my body.”

The third exercise is recognizing the existence of the body, and the fourth exercise is releasing tension, allowing the tension to flow out of the body. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I’m aware of my whole body.” “Breathing in, I am aware of some tension and pain in my body; breathing out, I calm and release the tension and pain in my body.” When tension is released, pain is reduced.

So with the first four exercises, we learn to handle our breathing and our body, to take care of our body. “I am not just my thoughts and projects; I have a body. I want to take good care of my body and handle it well. The breath is part of my body.” And since everything is connected, we’re already starting to get in touch with feelings, because when we get in touch with our body we recognize the tension, the pain. Tension produces an unpleasant sensation, an unpleasant feeling. Pain is also an unpleasant feeling. Because of that, we practice letting go. We release the tension so that we can feel better and reduce the pain in the body. These exercises of mindful breathing are very methodical.

The Realm of Feelings

In the next four exercises, we move fully into the realm of feelings. The fifth exercise consists of bringing forth a pleasant feeling, a feeling of joy. When we practice mindfulness, we should be capable of generating a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness. In Buddhism we often speak of how we can take care of suffering, but we also speak of joy. A practitioner should know how to take care of happiness as well as suffering. The fifth and the sixth exercises are for bringing forth joy and happiness. The seventh exercise is for taking care of pain and suffering. There is a reason these exercises speak about happiness first and suffering after. We need some joy and happiness to give us the strength to transform suffering.

“Breathing in, I recognize a pleasant feeling.” Traditionally we say there are three kinds of feelings: pleasant feelings, unpleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. For me there’s also a fourth one: a mixed feeling, when happiness and pain are mixed up together, like a bittersweet feeling.

The fifth and sixth exercises are for recognizing feelings that are pleasant. You can recognize a pleasant feeling when it manifests. Or you can bring up a pleasant feeling at any moment. Since you’re a practitioner of mindfulness, you know how to recognize a feeling of happiness, and you can also produce a feeling of happiness. With mindfulness and concentration, it’s always possible to bring forth a feeling of happiness.

The Conditions of Happiness

There are so many conditions of happiness available in the present moment. You can take a piece of paper and a pencil and write them all down. In the beginning, you may think your list won’t be very long. But you’ll be surprised to find that even both sides of the paper aren’t enough for writing down all the conditions of happiness that are already available.

When we look at our own body and the environment, we can identify many conditions of happiness that are already available—hundreds, thousands of them. For example, your eyes are a condition of happiness. When you have eyes still in good condition, you need only to open them to see a paradise of shapes and colors. When we’ve lost our eyesight, we recognize that to have good vision is a wonder. So your good eyesight is already a condition of happiness. Thanks to your eyes being in good condition, this whole paradise is available to you. If you touch this condition with awareness, happiness naturally arises.

There are innumerable other wonders just like that in your life. For example, there is your heart. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my heart.” With mindfulness you recognize the presence of your heart. “Breathing in, I know my heart is there, and I’m very happy.” To have a heart that functions normally is a great happiness. When you’ve worked a long shift, you may have a chance to take a rest, but your heart never stops working; it’s beating for you twenty-four hours a day. Your heart is healthy and working for you; that’s a wonderful thing. There are those among us who don’t have such a heart, who are always afraid of having a heart attack or some other emergency. There’s nothing in the world they want more than to have a normal heart just like the one you have. So you breathe and recognize the presence of your heart, and you are touching another condition of happiness. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my heart. Breathing out, I smile to my heart with a lot of gratitude.” You’re touching another condition of happiness. You can touch hundreds of conditions of happiness right there in your own body and mind, as well as around you.

With mindfulness and concentration, it’s always possible to bring forth a feeling of happiness. All we have to do is to come back to ourselves so we can recognize the conditions of happiness that are available, and then happiness comes right away. Someone who practices mindfulness can always generate a feeling of happiness, anytime, anyplace.

If you’re capable of producing a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness, then you’ll also be able to handle painful feelings. A person who doesn’t practice doesn’t know how to deal with painful feelings or strong emotions. But for those of us who are practitioners, when a painful feeling or a strong emotion comes up, we’re not victims—we know what to do. When a feeling of happiness or suffering comes up, we just recognize the feeling as it is. Even with a pleasant feeling, we just recognize it. We don’t need to grasp it or cling to it. We just practice mere recognition of what is happening, that is, a pleasant feeling.

We don’t try to grab on to the pleasant sensation, and we don’t try to push it away. We just acknowledge its existence. When a painful feeling comes, we do the same thing. We don’t need to grab onto, fight, or repress the unpleasant feeling. We simply recognize its presence. We stay free, even when we have a painful feeling. A feeling is just a feeling. And you are much more than that feeling. We shouldn’t let ourselves be carried away by a feeling, even a pleasant one, much less an unpleasant one. We just practice recognition of the feeling.

Recognizing Joy and Happiness

The fifth exercise is to recognize a feeling of joy: “Breathing in, I feel joy. Breathing out, I know joy is there.” And the sixth is to recognize a feeling of happiness: “Breathing in, I feel happy. Breathing out, I know happiness is there.” Buddhist teachings draw a slight distinction between joy and happiness. Imagine someone is walking in a desert, is very thirsty, and has nothing to drink. All of a sudden he sees an oasis ahead, and he knows he’s going to be able to drink there. “In about fifteen minutes I’ll be there and I’ll have water to drink!” That’s the feeling of joy. When our friend arrives at the oasis, kneels down, and drinks the water, then there is the sensation of happiness. Joy and happiness are slightly different. In the joy there’s still a little bit of excitement. Happiness is a more peaceful feeling, like contentment.

We have to be there for our feelings. There’s a whole river of feelings flowing in us day and night. Every feeling is a drop in that river. A feeling is born, manifests, stays for a time, and then passes away. We can sit on the bank of the river of feelings and observe, recognizing each feeling as it manifests, seeing it remain, and seeing it pass away. We shouldn’t identify ourselves with the feeling, nor should we try to push it away. We’re free, even from our own feelings. We have to train ourselves to recognize feelings. And with mindfulness we can bring forth a feeling of well-being, a feeling of happiness, at any time.

Recognizing and Embracing Pain

The seventh exercise is to recognize a painful or unpleasant feeling: “Breathing in, I know that a painful feeling is there. Breathing out, I calm that painful feeling.” Pain is a kind of energy, and a nonpractitioner can be overtaken by that painful feeling. We become a victim of the painful feeling, whether it’s a sensation in the body or an emotion. There are strong emotions that are very painful, zones of energy that manifest from the depths of our consciousness.

Every time a painful feeling or emotion comes up, the practitioner should know how to handle that feeling. The method the Buddha proposed is to get in touch with the seed of mindfulness in us. We can breathe, we can walk, to generate mindfulness as a second zone of energy that will be able to take care of the first energy, the painful feeling. It’s so important for ...