MEDITATE LIKE A MONK
A divorce and her mother’s death left Anna Magee in dire need of some calm.
The methods of Buddhist monks — the original mindfulness gurus — are big news.
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh was the first to bring mindfulness to a western consumer audience, and has written more than 100 books on the subject.
Andy Puddicombe, creator of the wildly successful meditation app Headspace, is a Buddhist monk turned millionaire (money is not a bad thing in Zen Buddhism, as long as you’re making it in the pursuit of good).
Earlier this year, New Yorkbased Haemin Sunim — dubbed the “megamonk” — released his second book, Love for Imperfect Things, the followup to his international bestseller, Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down.
Shunmyo Masuno, head priest of the Kenkohji temple in Yokohama, Japan, is a modern day Zen priest. His new book, Zen: The
Art of Simple Living, brings the spirit of Zen Buddhism to everyday life. He offers 100 snack-size Zen activities you can do daily to add more calm to your life.
And I was definitely in need of “monk therapy.”
Shunmyo — who is also a university lecturer and landscape architect who has written 18 books on Zen garden design — claims his philosophy can help us slow down and find calm in the chaos of the modern world — something I’ve never needed more.
Haunted by grief about my mother, who lost her battle with cancer a year ago, my commute has felt like walking through treacle. But on top of that, I’ve been living with a low-level terror about the future, translating into a barrage of constant “what ifs” that hit me at the first sign of a stressful email or event. Along with my mother’s death, my husband and I had long since split and I was going through a nasty divorce.
After the meditation session with Shunmyo and three other Zen monks at the temple, a young man who has been coming every Sunday for four weeks, bows and says to Shunmyo in Japanese: “Thank you, my heart doesn’t hurt any more.”
It spurs me on to continue the recommended practices for three weeks when I return home.
I learned a lot.
IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, MEDITATE
Who knows why meditation makes being human easier, but it starts with the often terrifying idea of doing absolutely zip.
“Making time for not thinking about anything is the first step toward a simple life,” says Shunmyo. “If something is in your mind, it will stay and grow ... and that clouds your judgment on everything else.”
While 40 minutes is optimal, 10 minutes daily is enough to benefit, he says.
LINE UP YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU GET IN
This is as simple as it sounds, but for me it also translates to hanging up my clothes when I take them off, instead of throwing them in the spare room until Saturday.
“Enlightenment comes not all of a sudden but only after you add up small things,” says Shunmyo.
“These may, over time help you become more attuned to noticing tiny changes in your mental state.” In other words, if you feel anger, you might be able to realign it before it blows up.
Making time for not thinking about anything is the first step toward a simple life. If something is in your mind, it will stay and grow ...