No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering

When we experience a strong emotion, the mind is agitated like the top of the tree. We have to bring our mind down to the trunk, to the abdomen, and focus all our attention on the rise and fall of the abdomen.

write down all the conditions for happiness available to you right now. One page may not be enough. Two pages may

The truth is, there are insights that can come right away. When you practice mindfulness of breathing, you know right away that you are alive, and that to be alive is a wonder. If you can be aware that you have a living body, and notice when there’s tension in your body, that’s already an important insight. With that insight, you have already begun

We have to learn how to sit so that we can produce peace and joy during the time of sitting. We have to learn how to walk so that we can enjoy every step.

Both suffering and happiness are of an organic nature, which means they are both transitory; they are always changing.

Being able to enjoy happiness doesn’t require that we have zero suffering. In fact, the art of happiness is also the art of suffering well.

To stay in the present moment takes concentration. Worries and anxiety about the future are always there, ready to take us away. We can see them, acknowledge them, and use our concentration to return to the present moment.

If we can recognize and cradle the suffering while we breathe mindfully, there is relief already.

Where there is suffering, there is happiness.