Publication
Berkeley, CA : Parallax Press, c2006.
Call number
Meditation / Nhat
ISBN
9781888375558
Original publication date
2006
Collections
Physical description
155 p.; 17 cm
Description
'The act of praying is not just an empty wish, because behind each prayer there is a practice of mindfulness and concentration.' -Thich Nhat Hanh, from The Energy of Prayer. In this extraordinary celebration of spirituality, The Energy of Prayer demonstrates the relevance of prayer in our daily lives. Thich Nhat Hanh reveals how the energies of prayer and meditation allow reconnecting with a higher self while satisfying basic need to connect with the world as a whole. With a generous spirit that acknowledges the many different types and functions of prayer, The Energy of Prayer provides a guide for deepening our spiritual practice through the use of prayer. Thich Nhat Hanh introduces the listener to several meditation methods that reenvision prayer as an open, inclusive, and accessible practice that helps create healthy lives through the power of awareness and intention. This book includes visualization and breathing exercises, as well as a rich sampling of prayers, chants, and invocations from the Buddhist tradition.… (more)
Language
Similar in this library
The heart of understanding : commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra [sound recording] by Thích Nhat Hanh
Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, & Liberation : The Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, & Other Basic Buddhist Teachings by Thich Nhat Hanh
Cultivating the mind of love : the practice of looking deeply in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition by Thich Nhat Hanh
User reviews
LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
This small, unassuming book makes clear and grounding sense. Appendices include useful gatthas for rooting prayer in your daily life. I destress just reading it!
LibraryThing member IonaS
This is another great book by the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
He is no longer with us but has left us many wonderful books.
There is an introduction by Larry Dossey. He tells us that prayer is a bridge to the Absolute.
Thich Nhat Hanh informs us that a prayer can be a silent
He tackles the question of whether prayer works, and why it is sometimes successful and sometimes not.
Our prayer needs to have the energy of faith, compassion, and love to lead to a result.
He states that we and God are not two separate existences and therefore the will of God is also our own will.
He also says that you and the Buddha are not two separate realities. You are in the Buddha and the Buddha is in you.
I don’t know about the Buddha but I know that when I was fourteen I had an amazing out-of-body spiritual experience where I realized that I was a part of God, a cell in God’s body. The experience was pure bliss. So I know that Thich Nhat Hanh’s statement is true.
He enlightens us about reciting the Sutras, a Sutra being a teaching of the Buddha, and informs us that this is prayer too.
Buddhists also have chants that can appear very much like prayer.
Here is a chant known even by small children in Vietnam.
“Relying om the favor of the Buddha
Whose compassion will protect us,
May our body not be in ill health
And our mind not be afflicted.”
The author tells us how he sent what we might call remote healing to a nun in Hanoi, Vietnam, who was very ill. (He himself lived in Plum Village in France.) He called this a transmission of energy and said it was a form of prayer.
The nun made a complete recovery. We are told that when our heart is full of love, then we are creating more love, peace, and joy in the world.
The energy he sent was the energy of love and compassion. “When love and compassion are present in us, and we send them outward, then that is truly prayer.”
In prayer there has to be mindfulness, concentration, insight, loving kindness and compassion.
“We have to pray with our body, speech, and mind and with daily life.”
The one who prays and the one prayed to are two realities that cannot be separated from each other.
“The one who bows and the one who is bowed to are both, by nature, empty.
Therefore the communication between us is inexpressibly perfect.”
The first element of an effective method of prayer is the communication between ourselves, and the one we are praying to.
The second element we need for prayer is energy. In prayer, this is love, mindfulness, and right concentration. Mindfulness is the real presence of our body and our mind, which is directed toward one point, the present moment.
The book contains many valuable chapters, In one, the author looks at the Lord’s Prayer, line by line.
There’s a chapter about the role of prayer in medicine.
He suggests that once doctor have finished examining patients for the day, they could sit and meditate on the health of their patients. Families and friends of people who are ill could do the same.
There is also a chapter on meditation and healing.
Appendix 1 contains meditation exercises.
For example:
Breathing in, I feel calm.
Breathing out, I smile.
Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment.
Breathing out, it is the most wonderful moment.
Appendix II contains Buddhist prayers and Gathas.
A Gatha is a verse recited (usually mentally, not aloud) in rhythm with the breath as part of mindfulness practice.
Here is a Gatha for Waking Up:
“”Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”
I highly recommend that you read this excellent book.
,
He is no longer with us but has left us many wonderful books.
There is an introduction by Larry Dossey. He tells us that prayer is a bridge to the Absolute.
Thich Nhat Hanh informs us that a prayer can be a silent
Show More
meditation or a full chorus of chanting. He tackles the question of whether prayer works, and why it is sometimes successful and sometimes not.
Our prayer needs to have the energy of faith, compassion, and love to lead to a result.
He states that we and God are not two separate existences and therefore the will of God is also our own will.
He also says that you and the Buddha are not two separate realities. You are in the Buddha and the Buddha is in you.
I don’t know about the Buddha but I know that when I was fourteen I had an amazing out-of-body spiritual experience where I realized that I was a part of God, a cell in God’s body. The experience was pure bliss. So I know that Thich Nhat Hanh’s statement is true.
He enlightens us about reciting the Sutras, a Sutra being a teaching of the Buddha, and informs us that this is prayer too.
Buddhists also have chants that can appear very much like prayer.
Here is a chant known even by small children in Vietnam.
“Relying om the favor of the Buddha
Whose compassion will protect us,
May our body not be in ill health
And our mind not be afflicted.”
The author tells us how he sent what we might call remote healing to a nun in Hanoi, Vietnam, who was very ill. (He himself lived in Plum Village in France.) He called this a transmission of energy and said it was a form of prayer.
The nun made a complete recovery. We are told that when our heart is full of love, then we are creating more love, peace, and joy in the world.
The energy he sent was the energy of love and compassion. “When love and compassion are present in us, and we send them outward, then that is truly prayer.”
In prayer there has to be mindfulness, concentration, insight, loving kindness and compassion.
“We have to pray with our body, speech, and mind and with daily life.”
The one who prays and the one prayed to are two realities that cannot be separated from each other.
“The one who bows and the one who is bowed to are both, by nature, empty.
Therefore the communication between us is inexpressibly perfect.”
The first element of an effective method of prayer is the communication between ourselves, and the one we are praying to.
The second element we need for prayer is energy. In prayer, this is love, mindfulness, and right concentration. Mindfulness is the real presence of our body and our mind, which is directed toward one point, the present moment.
The book contains many valuable chapters, In one, the author looks at the Lord’s Prayer, line by line.
There’s a chapter about the role of prayer in medicine.
He suggests that once doctor have finished examining patients for the day, they could sit and meditate on the health of their patients. Families and friends of people who are ill could do the same.
There is also a chapter on meditation and healing.
Appendix 1 contains meditation exercises.
For example:
Breathing in, I feel calm.
Breathing out, I smile.
Breathing in, I dwell in the present moment.
Breathing out, it is the most wonderful moment.
Appendix II contains Buddhist prayers and Gathas.
A Gatha is a verse recited (usually mentally, not aloud) in rhythm with the breath as part of mindfulness practice.
Here is a Gatha for Waking Up:
“”Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”
I highly recommend that you read this excellent book.
,
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