When I met Bao Tang (Brother Treasure) in 2011, we felt an immediate connection. I had travelled to Plum Village, in France, to join a several-week retreat and receive the teachings and practice of the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Well, at least that’s the explanation I’ve always given. In truth, I went to Plum Village to heal my heart. I was recovering from a significant loss.
During the days we spent together in community, I had many conversations with Brother Treasure. One of them, which I remember with special fondness, was about what it means to live a spiritual life, and how difficult it is to maintain it in the modern world. Brother Treasure —a most fitting name, by the way— opened my eyes to monastic life. Like most people, I held preconceptions, stereotypes and beliefs about what it means to be a monk. It didn’t take him long to explain that life in the heart of the monastery is far more complex than it appears.
However, there is one thing that monastic life offers that is often lacking in the outside world: an environment that invites contemplation, silence, values, and discipline.
Ah, discipline… Most of us hear the word and immediately shiver.
Brother Treasure said to me, “You know? The biggest challenge for me was deciding to become a monk, because I knew what I was giving up.” Then he added, perhaps seeing my curious face eager to understand more: “Becoming a monk is a very important decision. You not only contemplate the life you are choosing —a deep spiritual life, dedicated to contemplation and to working to better the world and alleviate suffering— but you must also face the life you are leaving behind. That is the real challenge.”
I had never thought of it that way. To be a monk, you don’t only give up having children or a partner —you give up almost everything most people are used to: the freedom to watch a film whenever you want, to go on a weekend trip when you need it, to go dancing on a Saturday night, or to have a beer with friends on a Thursday evening.
Yet Brother Treasure added something I’ve repeated many times since then to students around the world: “My greatest challenge was deciding to become a monk. But from that moment on, maintaining my spiritual discipline was much easier, because my environment is built around it. For those of you who want to live a spiritual life without becoming monks, the challenge is much greater —because you have to sustain spiritual discipline in a world that neither promotes it, nor supports it, nor embraces it. Yet it is in your world that spiritual discipline is most needed, because it is in the so-called ‘real world’ where the deepest suffering resides.”
Since that quiet tea conversation with Bao Tang in the summer of 2011, my greatest challenge —both personal and as a teacher— has been to convey to students the importance and necessity of a regular practice.
If you lose your practice, life sweeps you away with terrifying ease. Fortunately, there are always people like Brother Treasure, and places like Plum Village, that help you recover your practice and strengthen your discipline.
If we asked elite athletes like Rafa Nadal, Djokovic, Michael Jordan, Nadia Comaneci, Pau Gasol, Leo Messi or Michael Phelps about the secret of their success, all of them —without exception— would mention discipline.
And if we asked the same question to great musicians, or to leading figures in the world of finance like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Jim Simons, Jesse Livermore, George Soros, or Peter Lynch, the answer would not be much different.
In the end, I’m not saying anything new when I speak about discipline. Deep down, we all know that it is the key to succeeding in any project we undertake, whether it is material or deeply spiritual.
The problem is clear. It’s not hard to see. Today, in a world that grows ever faster and has created a vast network of distractions, consumption and superficiality, maintaining a firm spiritual discipline —like practising yoga, Reiki or meditation daily— has become, for many, a true odyssey. Why? Because the energy of society is stronger than that of the individual. The collective current overpowers the personal one. That’s why we fall again and again, left with a desolate sense of guilt and failure.
But do we really fail? No.
The current of society may be stronger than that of the individual, but it is infinitely weaker than the current of life itself. And it is the energy of life that gently whispers to you each time you fall:
“Get up. Today you can begin again.”
Learning Reiki in Japan can bring the practice into a wider cultural context. Here is what to consider when choosing a course, and how we approach our Reiki Mastery journey at Kisetsu.
A clear guide to starting meditation from scratch: posture, breathing, duration, guided meditation, and how to build a consistent practice.
Discover what is taught in the three levels of Reiki, from Shoden and self-treatment to Okuden, the symbols, and Shinpiden Master training.
