Welcome to episode 75 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives.

In this installment, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach/journalist Jo Confino discuss the practice of being and doing – in terms of both Buddhist and mainstream-society perceptions. Together, they look at practical ways to create conditions in which our way of being present can be truly valued and made essential in all our daily actions. How can we train ourselves to maintain presence, in spite of our circumstances?

The conversation tackles various relevant topics, such as being as the ground of our actions; being as a state which is crucial for the art of peace; training our concentration; the super-strength of allowing and sharing our vulnerabilities; creating a schedule for practicing being; how ‘to be’ in Zen and what people can get wrong about it; being as a way to access interbeing; doing as an avoidance of being (what is it about being that scares us?); the risks of not bringing being into doing; and more.

The episode ends with a short meditation on being, guided by Brother Phap Huu.

Co-produced by the Plum Village App:
https://plumvillage.app/

And Global Optimism:
https://globaloptimism.com/

With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:
https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/

List of resources

Online course: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
https://plumvillage.org/zasp?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=twoii&utm_campaign=zasp

Interbeing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing

‘The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Village’
https://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village

The Way Out Is In: ‘The Art of Laziness: Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There! (Episode #41)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-art-of-laziness-dont-just-do-something-sit-there-episode-41

The Way Out Is In: ‘Taming Our Survival Instinct (Episode #65)’
https://plumvillage.org/podcast/taming-our-survival-instinct-episode-65

John Bradshaw
https://www.johnbradshaw.com/

Quotes

“Mainstream society seems to believe that action equates to what we do, and how we are and the way we are in the world tends to be relegated to a very, very poor second place.”

“In the deep view of Buddhism, ‘being’ can only be when you interbe with everything else.”

“To be is to interbe.”

“Don’t just do something, sit there.”

“We tend to think in terms of doing and not in terms of being. We think that when we are not doing anything, we are wasting our time. That is not true. Our time is, first of all, for us to be. To be what? To be alive, to be peace, to be joy, to be loving. And that is what the world needs the most. So we train ourselves in order to be. And if you know the art of being peace, being silent, then you have the ground for every action, because the ground for action is to be. And the quality of being determines the quality of doing. Action must be based on non-action.”

“This mindset of doing and being has been divided. Whereas, in our training we don’t separate between spirituality and doing.”

“In Buddhism, our actions – which we leave behind in this world – are our truest karma. They are the true continuation of our thoughts, our speech, and our bodily actions: how I open the door, how I see you, how I speak to you, how I engage in difficult conversations.”

“The schedule is our teacher.”

“Being can be very confronting because, when we’re truly there, we start to see ourselves more clearly.”

“The real art is being blissful and being present through every storm that arises.”

“By being and understanding how to be, you can act with integrity and with understanding.”

“Don’t try to explain it; be it first.”

“The essence of our practice is to develop our quality of being present. Being present is the ground of all actions. But, a lot of the time, we don’t do it with the foundation of right intentions. So when we practice meditation, study the teachings of the Buddha, and really put it into practice, it comes down to becoming more and more present and alive for whatever is present for us.”

“We can’t convince people of the importance of being; they have to taste it.”

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