Thay then introduced the audience to a practice taught at his centre to young practitioners – the pebble meditation. The young practitioners are instructed to look for four pebbles, clean them and put them in a bag. He further explained “After breathing in and out, with three sounds of the bell, use your right hand to pick up the first pebble. It represents a flower. Then you call it a flower, then place it in your left hand. Breathing in I see myself as a flower, Breathing out, I feel fresh. Breathe in and out three times.” “When you look at the face of a child, you see a flower,” Thay observed, “whether they are awake or asleep. Human beings are like flowers in the garden or humanity. We allow anger, fear and despair to destroy us and we are less beautiful than before. This practice of flower fresh is to help us restore our freshness, our flowerness. Just one minute of practice can help restore us, and your presence becomes more enjoyable to your beloved.” “Pick up the second pebble, the name is mountain. Breathing in I see myself as a mountain. Breathing out I feel solid.” Thay explained “A person without solidity or stability can not be happy. You can not count on him or her.” The third pebble represents still water. “Breathing in I see myself as still water. Breathing out I reflect thing just as they are. This helps to cultivate calmness.” “When we know how to restore our own peace and tranquillity, we can reflect things as they are, we don’t distort things anymore. However when we are jealous, angry or fearful, we loose our calm. What we see becomes a distorted image of the truth. When we have wrong views, we make those around us suffer as well.” The fourth pebble represents space. “Breathing in I see myself as space. Breathing out I am free.” Space means freedom. He said “True happiness is only possible with space and freedom in our heart. Those filled with fears and worries don’t have space in their hearts. We are filled with our ideas and we want to impose our ideas. Without space in our heart, we can’t help anyone. If you love someone, offer them freedom and let them be themselves.” Thay ended the talk on the subject of suffering: “If you are able to take care of your suffering, you can find happiness.” He likened suffering to the mud that nourishes a lotus flower, without it, there can be no flower. “Many believe to find happiness, you have to run from suffering. But we have to hold it close and look at it. This,” he says, “will reduce it. And when you can do this, you can then help others.” “And if you are a good gardener, you can look in the mud and see the flower.” Frances is a mother of two, teaches at Pure Yoga in Hong Kong and publishes Namaskar.
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