It needs more people who are good at living meditation-living in the middle of the world with a mind that is still at ease: not entangled, not escaping, not clinging.

"Facing circumstances with an unmoving mind-do not ask about meditation." -King-Monk Trần Nhân Tông
When the mind does not stir amid the ten thousand scenes, that is meditation.

II) The core of Middle-Way meditation

Middle-Way meditation is the path that leans to neither side-neither still nor restless, neither grasping nor rejecting.

It is when you see, hear, feel, breathe, act… and yet are not fused with any of it.

It is wakefulness in every moment, and release in every breath.

When you meditate and know you are meditating, you are still clinging to meditation.

When you try to let go, you are still clinging to "letting go".

Only when you let go even of the one who lets go-when you observe as though not observing-does meditation become the natural current of life.

Meditating as though not meditating.
Still as though not still.
Doing as though not doing.
That is the doorway of the Middle Way.

III) How to practise living meditation

1) Waking up in each moment

Meditation is not only on a cushion-it is everywhere:

- When you eat-simply know you are eating; do not cling to pleasant tastes.

- When you walk-simply know you are walking; do not long for arrival.

- When anger arises-know you are angry, yet be angry as though not angry. (Still within; active without.)

- When you love-love as though not love; then love is free and clear-seeing.

Each moment is a living sitting meditation-and life itself is the widest meditation hall.

2) A simple formula for regulating the mind

Whenever you notice your mind has begun to sway, simply breathe in very deeply, breathe out very gently, and whisper inwardly:

- I choose love. or

- I choose gratitude.

This sentence acts like a shift in energy, bringing you back to the still point-where the mind is bright and the body is at ease.

For among thousands of possible reactions, you always have the right to choose love and gratitude for whatever is.

3) Turning meditation into instinct

At first, living wakefully may feel tiring-because you are watching yourself in such detail.

But practise for 21 days and it becomes a habit; practise for 60 days and it becomes instinct.

It is like learning to ride a bicycle: one day you no longer need to think about balance-your body simply does it, automatically, without conscious effort.

Meditation is the same: when you no longer need to remember meditation, that is when you are living meditation.

IV) From meditation-in-action to meditation-in-love

When you live meditation, every area of life becomes an opportunity to wake up:

- Work as though not working-do not cling to outcomes.

- Love as though not loving-love in freedom, without possession.

- Give as though not giving-because receiving and giving are one stream of energy.

- Speak as though not speaking-no need to think; words pour out of emptiness.

- Think as though not thinking-thoughts arise and pass on their own; you do not control them, and you are not affected by them. To you, they are simply reference material.

Any action, when it begins from the Empty Mind, becomes the Way moving through you.

V) When meditation and life become one

One day, you will see there is no longer a boundary between practise and living.

Each step, each smile, each breath is meditation.

You no longer need to search for peace-because you are peace.

The enlightened one no longer meditates-because they have become Meditation itself.

The one with God within has no need to pray-because every breath and every action is the highest prayer.

When the body releases, the mind becomes bright.

When the mind is bright, wisdom reveals itself.

You live in the world, and yet the mind is like a still lake-reflecting everything, holding on to nothing.

VI) Distillation: living meditation is living freedom

Living meditation is not abandoning the world.

It is living in the world without belonging to the world.

You work-yet are not ruled by work.

You love-yet are not bound by love.

You live-yet are not haunted by death.

Because you understand:

Everything comes and goes; only wakefulness remains.

Then each breath of yours is the breath of the universe.

You are no longer the one who meditates; you are meditation, alive.

VII) Closing

Living meditation is the gentle dissolving of the ego-the simplest return, and also the deepest.

Not striving to reach somewhere, but letting go, little by little, until there is nothing left to let go of- and you, yourself, have become Emptiness.

The more you let go, the more at ease you are.

The more at ease, the brighter you become.

The brighter you become, the freer you are.

And freedom is awakening.

Hoàng Nhật Minh
Excerpt from the book: Spiritual Science - A Journey Back To Your True Self

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