Good morning everyone, this is today’s Dharma Espresso.

The other day, someone asked me: “Dear Thay, what do you usually do in the morning, and what should I do?

Of course, everyone knows that we need to get up in the morning.  However, after we get up, what should we do? Let me tell you a little of my morning routine.

I generally wake up around 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning and not earlier. When I get up, the first thing I do is open the door to my balcony.  It’s always dark outside. It’s even darker now since it’s winter. I open my arms and close my eyes.  Then, I open my eyes and affirm to myself: “I am open.” Usually, I say it in English and not in Vietnamese. “I am open,” I say, and I smile.  I thank heaven and earth for a new day and feel joy in my heart.  I wait until I experience that joy, then open my eyes to look at the world.  After that, I go to the bathroom.  I have done this routine every day for the last 10 years.   Afterwards, I make tea, which takes about 3 to 4 minutes. Then, I sit down, put the tea on my right, and bow three bows.  I practice in my room, not in the Buddha hall.  Typically, after the 3 bows, I sit down right away to drink tea, which takes about 2 to 3 minutes.  While drinking tea, I follow each sip of tea down to my dandien, and feel the heat gradually going down to my navel area.  

Drinking tea is the trigger for me to enter meditation promptly because I can very quickly settle into stillness with each sip.  Sitting in stillness is very easy, not hard at all; there’s no need to be an advanced practitioner.  

After finishing the tea, we may sit still in any style.  For me, I always sit in the lotus position. Just sit and let everything slowly settle.  Close the eyes and relax, slowly loosen up, starting from the top of the head to the eyes, tongue, shoulders, and arms, then from the neck to the back and abdomen.  Pay attention to relaxing the thighs and calves.  The process of relaxation takes about 5, 10, to 20 minutes.  I just let myself naturally become more and more relaxed.  

Then, I focus on my breathing.  I breathe deeply and gently.  I always remember that breathing is life; therefore, every day, I make my life gentler by breathing very slowly and deeply.  It usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes or even 20 minutes for me to meet the target of 2 or 2.5 breaths per minute, and maintain it for a while.  

You might ask how I know that I breathe 2 or 2.5 breaths per minute. I set a timer in front of me.  Immediately after I begin, I look at the clock and consciously slow down my breath.  When I slow down to 2 breaths per minute, I close my eyes and keep up that rate for half an hour.  It takes this half hour for my breath to become stable. I am then able to recognize my blind spots, fears, sadness, happiness, and desires in this state of deep breathing because my mind is completely open then.  

After my breath becomes gentle, my body feels very still and I have no wish to move. My heartbeat is also settled and becomes very slow and gentle.  I maintain this state for about 30 minutes. After that, my thoughts slowly settle.  During this brief period, I am not thinking much, and I switch to visualization according to the Avatamsaka Sutra.  There are many ways to visualize in the teachings of the Avatamsaka School, but I would rather not go into details. You should only need to know how to keep your breathing gentle.

Finally, I always return to the sphere of totality or sphere of effulgence, which means to come back to the image of a beautiful sphere of light, which represents who we are.  From there, countless seeds of light arise. Then we enter a state where we no longer feel stuck in the Form Skandha (the body), thoughts, feelings, or our habits.

When we get up from sitting, new habits will form, new curiosities, discoveries, and thoughts will develop.  These are all derived from our Habitual Energy Skandha. I usually go deeply into serenity so that when I open my eyes, I feel very light.  Usually, when I exit my meditation, the sun has already risen.  In the winter, I exit around 8 or 9 am; sometimes, I even sit until 9:30 or 10:30 am.

Currently, my commitment is that for 2 days a week (Monday and Friday) I will meditate longer; otherwise, I have to leave for class at 7 am on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, so I have to exit my meditation before 7 am.  Therefore, I usually record the Dharma Espresso on the previous night so that everyone can listen to it in the morning.

When I open my eyes after sitting, the sky is already bright, which means that I enter the meditation when it’s dark and exit when it’s light.  This fact affects my view of life which also changes from darkness to light.  My heart is joyful as I open my eyes and witness the sunrise.  

Usually, I immediately do Kwan Yin Hands and Eyes practice.  I practice the giving hand & eye, the letting-go hand & eye, the comforting hand & eye to comfort others’ suffering, the hand & eye that can untie our emotional knots, the hand & eye that uplift those who are utterly miserable, and lastly, the hand & eye that can fulfill wishes, the one that enables us to become the transformation body of Kwan Yin Bodhisattva with the Thousand Hands and Eyes.

This is my regular practice which usually lasts for 3 hours or more. I practice every day. My most joyful moment is when I’m about to get up from sitting.  It’s the time when I put my hands together and transfer the merits to others.  I would say: “Today, I cultivate for those who have not had the opportunities to cultivate.  Many people wish very much to cultivate, but because of many reasons, they cannot do it.  I cultivate for those who have an affinity with me, who have met and talked to me.  Let me share whatever merits, clarity, or openness that I have cultivated.  I cultivate for them with the hope that they can also recognize their inner light, and because I know that they would practice if they could.”  

Sometimes, when we cultivate, we cultivate for our loved ones without realizing it.  Everyone is the same, not only me, we all have loved ones.  For example, I love my father, mother, and siblings very much but don’t know how to get them to cultivate.  Hence, we want to cultivate for our family members, especially for those who have already passed away.  My parents are gone, so I always think that I cultivate for them.

These are the steps that we can do in the morning.  Whether we are practitioners or not, we don’t always think of planning for our day. We should plan so that whatever we do, we are doing it for others. We should cultivate in a way that we can share our joy with others.  Each day, as we open our eyes, our views should change from darkness to light so that all living beings can joyfully feel it.  

I hope you can be happy today. Have a great day!

Dharma Master Heng Chang

Translated and transcribed by Compassionate Service Society