Thầy details the significance of Sangha, emphasizing unity, mindfulness, and collective intelligence akin to bees, ants, and termites. Living in Sangha supports spiritual practice, diminishes suffering, and enhances joy. Mindfulness in daily activities like walking and eating nurtures the Sangha and individual well-being, and leads to concentration and insight, connecting us to life’s wonders and the ultimate dimension. Building Sangha is crucial in a world plagued by individualism and compassion.

This is the first talk of a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet in Plum Village, France.

Thầy opens with the wisdom of non-discrimination—nirvikalpajñāna—observed in the way the right hand naturally tends to the left hand’s pain without any sense of separate self. Like bees in a hive or ants in a hill, he teaches, practitioners can function as an organism rather than as individuals — cooking, cleaning, or speaking for the community with the energy and hand of the Sangha.

He then explores three complexes rooted in the notion of self—superiority, inferiority, and equality—and how freedom comes from transcending all three. In the ultimate dimension, Thầy reminds us, the past and future are present in the now: when one walks mindfully or smiles in awareness, all ancestors and future generations smile and walk within every cell of the body.

The talk then turns to the several bodies of the Buddha—available, Thầy teaches, to every practitioner:

• Dharmakāya (Dharma body): Illustrated through the story of the monk Vakkali, who was attached to the physical beauty of the Buddha rather than his Dharma body. Thầy explores three of the Dharma’s characteristics: saṃdṛṣṭika—addressing the present moment directly; akālika—transcending time; and ehipaśyika—an invitation to come and see for oneself.
• Saṅghakāya (Sangha body): Thầy recalls King Prasenajit’s declaration that seeing the Buddha’s Sangha gave him complete confidence in the Buddha — the Sangha body, he teaches, is how the teacher is truly seen.
• Nirmāṇakāya (Transformation body): Thầy shares the story from the Lotus Sūtra of the stūpa appearing in the sky, the voice of the ancient Buddha Prabhūtaratna congratulating Śākyamuni, and the transformation bodies called back from every corner of the cosmos — revealing to the disciples the true vastness of their teacher. He then gently parodies the Tibetan tulku tradition — imagining disciples searching America for a little boy who reaches for oolong tea — to show how attachment to form prevents us from recognising the transformation body already present everywhere.
• Saṃbhogakāya (Enjoyment body): Introduced briefly, to be explored in the next talk.

This is the third talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

This talk details the exploration of the Fourfold Sangha during a 21-day retreat at Lower Hamlet’s Dharma Nectar Temple. The Sangha comprises four parts: fully ordained monks, fully ordained nuns, laymen (Upasaka), and laywomen (Upasika). Lay practitioners follow the Five Mindfulness Trainings and participate in Sangha Karma. The Sangha operates collectively, emphasizing practice, harmony, and mutual support. Regular gatherings and mindful activities strengthen the Sangha’s unity. Plum Village practices vegetarianism naturally, without attachments to possessions or money, fostering simplicity and freedom. The Sangha teaches letting go of attachments for security and peace. Cultivating Sangha and Dharma bodies is essential for stability and interconnectedness, transforming both mind and body through mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Understanding suffering through the Four Noble Truths guides the Sangha’s practice. The Sangha eyes provide collective wisdom, guiding individual growth and harmony. Decisions are made collectively, emphasizing democratic traditions and interconnectedness.

This is the fourth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy discusses the Buddha’s teaching on the Four Nutriments, namely edible food, sense impressions, volition and consciousness. Through stories from the time of the Buddha and our present time, Thầy teaches about the transformative power of mindfulness and simple living, how to nourish true love and transform suffering through understanding, deep listening and loving speech, insights on how our deep desires can lead to happiness or suffering and the nature of consciousness as individual and collective.

This is the fifth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet in Plum Village, France.

In this session of questions and answers the following questions were asked:

Question to be listed here.

This the first of three Question and Answer sessions organised during the Eyes of the Buddha?, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this session at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy discusses the importance of cultivating mindfulness and practicing in harmony as a Sangha. Thầy emphasizes collective mindfulness, compassion, and understanding, practices that guide us toward liberation and joy. The Buddha’s teachings on mindfulness, awareness, and liberation from suffering are highlighted, stressing the importance of non-attachment to views and doctrines. The Buddha’s eyes symbolize clarity and perception of ultimate reality, transcending notions and concepts. The teachings caution against rigid beliefs and attachments, advocating openness, humility, and liberating the mind. The essence of Buddhist practice is freeing oneself from fixed perspectives, leading to true happiness and Nirvana.

This is the sixth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of The Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village. France.

Thầy teaches us that all emotions are impermanent and pass with time. He teaches us how to take care of ourselves and how to handle strong emotions. He offers concrete practices for embracing our despair and encourages us to be in touch with our ancestors for support and healing. He also teaches ways to cultivate love and understanding.

This is the seventh talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of The Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. France.

Thầy details the transformative power of mindfulness and compassion in healing the scars of war, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all beings and the illusion of a separate self. Reflecting on the Vietnam War and advocating for peace since 1966, mindfulness helps embrace suffering, transforming it into tranquility. Understanding the Five Skandhas—form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness—reduces unnecessary suffering.

Buddhism recognizes fifty-one mental formations, both wholesome and unwholesome. Consciousness holds these formations, manifesting based on conditions. Meditation nurtures mindfulness, transforming negativity gently. Understanding interconnectedness reveals the absence of a separate self, emphasizing manifestation over creation.

The Diamond Sutra teaches recognizing the four marks of existence: self, man, living beings, and lifespan. Understanding interconnectedness reduces hatred and cultivates compassion. Practices shared with prisoners emphasize mindfulness and compassion. The teachings of non-self are tools for liberation, emphasizing aimlessness and present happiness. Meditation reveals timeless essence, freeing from notions of liberation and nirvana. Aimlessness is a tool for immediate happiness, recognizing life’s wonders in the present. Forming mindful lay communities can benefit society, drawing wisdom from monastic practices.

This is the seventh talk in a series of thirteen given during The Eyes of The Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village. France.

Thầy introduces us to two nuns who were victims of war, and who now practice to reduce their fear on behalf of everyone. The practice of mindfulness begins with returning to the breath and to our steps to establish a sense of safety and security. By not closing our eyes to suffering, we get in touch with the First Noble Truth, allowing for transformation and healing. The Sangha functions not as a collection of individuals but as an organism where every member is a cell, and decisions are made through the collective, through the wisdom of Sangha eyes — an orchestra without a conductor.

Mindful breathing is a tool for healing both physiological and psychological distress. Speaking openly from his own experience, Thầy shares how he suffered a severe depression during the war—compounded by the loss of his mother, the deaths of colleagues, and the frustration of seeing the Buddhist hierarchy resist renewal. It was the practice of mindful breathing alone that healed him, and his faith in the Dharma remained intact throughout.

Every deep, mindful breath renews billions of blood cells with oxygen, supporting the healthy cells so they can embrace those that are not healthy. Establishing oneself in the present moment allows one to get in touch with the miracles of life. This shift from worrying about the future or regretting the past enables the work of transformation, as seen in the story of a man given three weeks to live who, through learning to live fully in the present moment, survived another fifteen years and took the Dharma name True Life.

Only two years after his mother’s death did Thầy touch the insight that she had never truly died—an insight that came not through striving but naturally, like a fruit ripening, while walking among tea plants in moonlight. Through all these difficulties, Thầy’s bodhicitta—his deep desire to help living beings—never wavered.

The practice of the Three Touchings of the Earth facilitates deep reconciliation. Thầy shares on the first two:

1. The first touching: recognising the presence of all ancestors within oneself. We are a continuation of our parents and all our ancestors, carrying their wisdom and their shortcomings. Understanding this allows for forgiveness and the transformation of negative habit energies.
2. The second touching: recognising all living beings and bodhisattvas in the present moment. This practice of non-discrimination fosters reconciliation between nations and individuals.

Through these practices, we realise the insight of interbeing (tương tắc or pratītya samutpāda). Just as mitochondria live within our cells in symbiosis, we cannot be by ourselves alone; to be is to inter-be with the entire cosmos.

This is the ninth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of The Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village. France.

Our practice of transformation and healing is to go back to the present moment in order to get in touch with both the positive elements and also the suffering that is present in us and around us. Thầy talks about the three causes of ill-being in our current time: loneliness and individualism, violence and intolerance, fear and uncertainty. He tells us that we should get together and address these issues together as a sangha.
Thầy presents Buddhist teachings on dependent co-arising, interbeing, emptiness, the middle path, pairs of opposites like birth and death, being and non-being, and the three doors of liberation. When we hear these teachings we should ask what they have to do with our suffering, both individual and collective. The Dharma should address the real issues, the real suffering, of our times for healing and transformation of ourselves and society.

This is the tenth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

In this session of questions and answers the following questions were asked:

Question to be listed here.

This the second of three Question and Answer sessions organised during the Eyes of the Buddha?, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this session at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

This talk details the profound concept of “this is because that is” through the 12 links, Nidana, highlighting interconnectedness and causality. Ignorance (Avijja) clouds perception, but mindful examination can dissolve its grip. Ignorance extends to Sangha, encompassing bodies and minds. Pratitya Samutpada signifies dependent arising, emphasizing interdependence. Ignorance leads to formations, consciousness depends on formations, and Nagarjuna illustrates cause and result arising together. Consciousness resides in nama rupa (name and form), crucial for senses. Practicing mindfulness transforms consciousness into mirror wisdom. Feelings (Vedana) arise from contact and senses, leading to craving. Buddha teaches mindfulness to break cycles of craving, grasping, and suffering. Understanding impermanence aids in letting go of attachments. Buddha emphasizes self-discovery of teachings. Anuradha’s inquiry illustrates Buddha’s teachings on existence and aggregates. Sutra discusses avoiding extremes and practicing the middle way for peace, joy, and compassion.

This is the eleventh talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy opens with Nāgārjuna’s four key terms—dependent co-arising, emptiness, conventional designation, and the Middle Way—as the framework for a wide-ranging exploration of interbeing and the nature of reality.

Everything, he teaches, is a metaphor—a conventional designation, an object of perception—not a changeless, solid, everlasting entity. Drawing on a twelfth-century Vietnamese poet, Walt Whitman, and the physicist David Bohm, Thầy shows how the insight that the one contains the all—and the all contains the one—has been expressed across traditions, centuries, and disciplines.

The Avataṃsaka Sūtra runs as a central thread, with its teaching that in one particle of dust, countless buddhas and buddha lands can be found. Thầy illustrates the same principle through science—the wavicle, the somatic and germinal cell—mapping wave/particle duality onto nāmarūpa, name and form, and inviting us to release our dualistic view of mind and matter.

Thầy tells the story of Sudhana finding Mahāmāyā, the mother of the Buddha, not in the world but in his true mind—and her revelation that the infinitely small contains the infinitely large. Each of us, Thầy reminds us, has the capacity to be a mother or father of a buddha.

The ten realms—from hell to buddhahood—exist in every cell of our body and consciousness. Which realm manifests depends on environment: commercials turn on the realm of animals; Plum Village is designed to turn on the realm of bodhisattvas. The same is true of our mental formations—we cannot eliminate the negative seeds, because each contains the totality of all the others.

Thầy reflects that even cloning him would not produce another Thầy, because environment shapes us as much as DNA. A genetic vulnerability is not a genetic inevitability. The talk closes with an urgent call for collective awareness—generated through practice—to guide humanity through what Thầy sees as one of the most consequential moments in human history.

This is the twelfth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Speaking the Dharma Appropriately and Living It In Action

Thầy expounds on the four viewpoints or modes of expression that the Buddha used in helping others perceive the Dharma, the truth of reality. He shares that the Buddha spoke in the plain language of the world, adjusted to match the background and understanding of each individual, while offering a therapeutic or healing view. To those who could understand, the Buddha also shared the Absolute Truth. In the second half of the talk, Thầy expands on the therapeutic view of the Dharma as a kind of medicine for ourselves, and the world, as realized through mindfully living the teachings of the Four Nutriments.

This is the thirteenth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Transforming Anger. Learning the Language of True Love.

Thầy touches the depth of true love, real love, made possible with the full understanding that we are not separate from the “other”, no-self. Offering examples of communications between parents and children, and between husband and wife, particularly in times of difficulty, he teaches how mindfulness practice, anchored in the Dharma teachings, and using the language of true love, can bring about compassion, reconciliation, and healing. Creating sacred spaces for mindfulness at home, such as a breathing room available to the whole family, also helps nurture harmony and provides self care. Thầy teaches that “Love is not possible without insight.”

This is the fourteenth talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy begins with an introduction to deep listening, explaining how listening with compassion can offer us protection. This is followed by a teaching on the Noble Eightfold Path, interwoven with insights from the Five Mindfulness Trainings. Thầy concludes by outlining UNESCO’s Manifesto 2000 and shares how to practice it alongside the Five Mindfulness Trainings, guiding us to live as bodhisattvas with Buddha Eyes, fostering both collective and personal awakening.

This is the final talk in a series of fifteen given during The Eyes of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

In this session of questions and answers the following questions were asked:

Question to be listed here.

This the third of three Question and Answer sessions organised during the Eyes of the Buddha?, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2000. Thầy offered this session at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.