What is the best way to eat an orange? Peel it by hand? Cut it by knife? Squeeze it into juice?
The answer is Mindfulness, which suggested by Thich Nhat Hanh (一行禪師), a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was one of the world’s most influential Zen masters and passed away in January this year. He said that if you eat an orange in forgetfulness, caught in your anxiety and sorrow, the orange is not really there. But if you bring your mind and body together to produce true presence and to embrace the spirit of thanksgiving, you can see that the orange is a miracle.
Peel the orange. Smell the fruit. See the orange blossoms in the orange, and the rain and the sun that have gone through the orange blossoms. The orange tree has taken several months to bring this wonder to you. Put a section in your mouth, close your mouth mindfully, and with mindfulness feel the juice coming out of the orange. Taste the sweetness and thanks for everything which bring this orange to you. Do you have the time to do so? If you think you don’t have time to eat an orange like this, what are you using that time for?
I like Thich Nhat Hanh using this simple example to explain one of the key points of mindfulness, that is spending time to give thanks for what you have right now, rather than using your time to worry about tomorrow.
Sunday, 4 May 2025