The Art of Stopping

Thầy explains the importance of collective meditation in fostering love and compassion in the twenty-first century, emphasizing the Sangha body (community) alongside the Buddha body. Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and deep looking nurtures the Buddha and Dharma bodies within us. Taking refuge in the Sangha is essential for spiritual practice, embodying the Buddha’s teachings. Mindfulness helps overcome forgetfulness and habitual actions, reclaiming liberty and presence.

Thầy emphasises the importance of practicing śamatha (stopping), and the shares the relationship between stopping, calming, resting and healing. Learning to rest deeply, akin to animals, is vital for healing. Meditation involves resting the mind and body, fostering wisdom and enlightenment. Walking meditation and mindful breathing are integral daily practices, emphasizing non-practice practice. Through resting and mindfulness, healing from depression and suffering is possible. Practicing mindfulness collectively, such as through yoga meditation, supports healing and transformation.

This is the first talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

What Nutriments Do We Feed Our Suffering?

Thầy elucidates the understanding of suffering within Buddhism as revealed in the Buddha’s first sermon, “Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma” (c. 528 BCE), in which he delivered The Four Noble Truths: 1. The Truth of Suffering (it is inherent to being), 2. The Truth of the Cause of Suffering (our craving), 3. The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (it is possible); and, 4. The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of Suffering (by following the central tenets). The Buddha suffered like all human beings, and this fact is what makes his teaching accessible, practical, and healing for the human condition. Our suffering—our heart—is the path to the Buddha’s heart. By sharing his own suffering, Thầy models his exhortation to show and to name our suffering, since to deny or avoid it only generates more. Suffering is holy within Buddhism because without it we could not find the path to emancipation from it.

Thầy illustrates the non-duality of suffering/emancipation with his metaphor of the garbage or compost and the flower: without one, there cannot be the other. The bitter, universal pill is not only that our pain—our physical illness, our difficult relationship, our depression—exists, but that it is our own desire—our fear, our denial, our habit energy—that is a nutriment by which we feed that suffering. Thầy teaches us that the hard, necessary work is to sit with our suffering, to understanding the nutriments we feed it, to recognize how it is part of who we are, and, only in that way, come to understand it as it really is. Once the inevitable existence of suffering arises, it is up to us to take care of it, to heal it, to take it as “the object of our meditation.” And, Thầy urges, this difficult self-work can be eased by relying upon the support of the Sangha.

This is the second talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy presents the practice of Touching the Earth, starting with the five touchings and transitioning to the three touchings after a week, to heal pain and connect with ancestors and children. It emphasizes practicing mindfulness, belly breathing, and recognizing interconnectedness (interbeing) to overcome suffering and cultivate well-being.

Understanding the Four Noble Truths and practicing the Noble Eightfold Path are essential for liberation. The teachings highlight the interconnectedness of all things, transcending notions of self, lifespan, and impermanence to achieve nirvāṇa. Embrace mindfulness to cherish happiness and overcome suffering, recognizing that nirvāṇa is attainable in the present moment.

This is the third talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

The Buddha’s first teaching on the Four Noble Truths brought the immaculate vision of the Dharma to Kaundinya, revealing that everything has the nature of being born and dying. This insight of interbeing shows that nothing can be by itself alone. Authentic Buddhist teaching must be linked to real suffering, as the path to transformation is born directly from the understanding of suffering. Everyone possesses Buddha eyes and a Buddha heart, which are the capacity to be awakened and mindful. By practicing mindfulness in simple acts like drinking water or breaking bread, the energy of concentration and insight manifests, allowing one to see the cosmos within a single piece of bread.

The practice involves reconciling relative truth and absolute truth. While the Four Noble Truths are presented as worldly truth, they are also empty of a separate existence. To see the nature of interbeing is to use the Buddha eyes to touch the absolute dimension where there is no birth and no death. Right view, the first element of the Eightfold Path, is defined as the deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths and the capacity to identify the four nutriments that sustain us.

The four kinds of nutriments are:

1. Edible food, which should be consumed mindfully to preserve compassion and the health of our ancestors and children.
2. Sense impressions, involving the toxins or nourishment ingested through the six sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind.
3. Volition, the deep desires and intentions that drive actions and can either lead to suffering or liberation.
4. Consciousness, specifically the store consciousness that receives the totality of consumption and manifests as our physical and mental life.

Guarding the six sense organs with mindfulness is essential for survival. Because the modern environment is filled with toxins, the practice of mindfulness must become a collective effort within the Sangha and the nation. We must look deeply into our desires, or our cows, to see if they are obstacles to our happiness, and practice releasing them to become free.

The sangha is gathered in the Upper Hamlet on September 14, 1996, for a question and answer session.

1. When sitting in meditation, should the eyes be open, closed, or half-open?
2. What does it mean to look deeply, and is it possible to look without the mind?
3. How can one search for spiritual truth without being attached to the search and causing self-suffering?
4. What can be learned from the noble silence of the Buddha?
5. How can one live every day with five hundred swords sticking out of the heart?
6. How can pain and anger be seen as part of oneself without identifying with them or believing they are really me?
7. Why do senseless tragedies occur in a matter of space and time, and is there a karmic link to these events?
8. How can a true insight be recognized during sitting or walking meditation, and is it accompanied by specific sensations or thoughts?
9. How can the Five Mindfulness Trainings be received by someone who has already taken refuge in Jesus Christ?

Right View, the Five Mindfulness Trainings, and the Three Dharma Seals

Thầy teaches that Right View begins with understanding the Four Noble Truths, which are universal. It is essential to recognize and nurture wholesome seeds while avoiding unwholesome ones. Mindfulness helps us identify these seeds as they arise in our consciousness, allowing us to recognize and transform internal conflicts and suffering and practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings helps eliminate fear and hatred.

Thầy explains that an authentically Buddhist teaching should bear the marks of the Three Dharma Seals: impermanence, non-self, and nirvāṇa. Understanding impermanence and non-self leads to insight and nirvāṇa, the cessation of all notions and concepts; the ground of being beyond dualities. Thầy describes this teaching as a guide for the right view.

This is the fourth talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

This talk details fasting on the ninth day of the retreat, emphasizing consuming only water for at least 10 days annually. Another method involves magnesium sulfate dissolved in warm water each morning. Drink two glasses of magnesium solution and follow with ten mindful movements to aid toxin elimination. Drinking three liters of water or herbal tea daily aids flushing toxins. Enemas can help toxins leave the body. Fasting for 10 to 21 days can rejuvenate and improve well-being. Impermanence and non-self are key Buddhist teachings, enhancing daily life quality. Understanding interconnectedness reduces suffering and increases joy. Mindfulness nurtures right view, enriching the Eightfold Noble Path. Taking refuge in Buddha and Sangha is transformative, and emptiness should be a practical tool, not a debated concept. The retreat ends with a precept transmission ceremony for mindfulness trainings.

Thầy’s organizing purpose here is to advocate for insight-informed practice rather than views or notions that too readily become doctrines or dogmas. He opens with the “backbone of Buddhism,” the Noble Eightfold Path, not to dwell upon interpretations but to make the point that the Buddha intended the Path to be practiced, not idealized or idolized, from which he concludes that “Buddhism was engaged Buddhism from the beginning,” “engaged in actual life, social life, everyday life.” Thầy then takes an example from the history of Buddhism to show how its teachings can be reduced to a limiting notion, concluding that even the Dharma can be made into a “dangerous thing” if not learned carefully with intelligence and guidance. Thầy warns us about getting “caught in views,” assuming that our narrow perception constitutes the truth, a way of thinking that can lead to personal tragedy—Thầy shares a Vietnamese folk story to illustrate that—and to discrimination, violence, and war. Thầy’s prescribed antidote is to practice the teaching of Right View, understood in its ultimate sense as “free from all views” and, therefore, practicing non-discrimination. This is Buddhism not as doctrine but as method, and Thầy enlists the example of scientific method: remaining radically open to all theories that challenge one’s own current perception. Thus, Thầy challenges all Buddhists not to “be idolatrous about any doctrine. . .including Buddhist ones.” This is equally true of each of us in daily emotional life, because, as Thầy shows us, often our preconceived notion about what is necessary for our happiness is a limited view that blocks our ability to be truly happy. As Thầy concludes, true love practices the life-presence of mindfulness, which he contrasts to forgetfulness, and the insight of Right View, which is non-attachment to views.

This is the sixth talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Working with street people and those facing progressive dementias offers a chance to be a wounded healer, entering a world of shadows and misperceptions as a great opportunity. The new version of the Fourteen Precepts is introduced as the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing. The Vietnamese term giới is explained not as precepts, but as a means to alert, warn, prevent, and protect. Mindfulness is the essence of the precepts, and the wording has shifted from “I vow” to “I am determined to.” The concept of “Sangha eyes” is vital, allowing individuals to see themselves more clearly and profoundly through the collective insight of the community.

A four-year training program for Dharma teachers and Tiep Hien members is detailed, emphasizing that a Tiep Hien person cannot exist without a Sangha body. The Order of Interbeing comprises both monastic and non-monastic branches, requiring different structures and ways of practice. Decisions regarding ordination and Lamp Transmission are made by a council representing the whole Sangha, utilizing Sangha eyes. Thirty-nine chapters on mindful manners are available for the training of novices and lay members, offering concrete proposals for mindfulness in daily life.

Various Sanghas provide updates on publications and activities, including the Mindfulness Bell, which is transitioning to a journal to reflect in-depth experiences of transformation. The UK Sangha is publishing a Manual of Interbeing, a loose-leaf folder containing five sections:

1. Practice
2. Teachings
3. Ceremonies
4. Readings
5. Information

Reports follow from German, Maple Village, Italian, Manzanita Village, Australian, Dutch, French, and Vietnamese communities, noting that the Vietnamese newsletter is read underground by tens of thousands. Local Sanghas in Washington D.C. and New York describe activities such as family retreats, morning sitting groups, and the integration of Vietnamese and American communities.

Thầy begins with Right View, the highest kind of understanding that is free from all views. He explains Right Thinking, the kind of thinking whose foundation is interbeing. He spends extended time discussing Right Concentration which brings understanding to problems, helps us discover their solutions, and leads to insight. Thầy offers concrete examples the three kinds of Right Concentration—impermanence, non-self and nirvāṇa.

As Thầy teaches the elements of the Noble Eightfold path, he explains how they are all interconnected, interdependent, inter-are. He shows how the path includes the three doors of liberation: emptiness (non-self, interbeing), signlessness (where there is a sign there is illusion) and aimlessness (since you do not have to become anything, you can live in the present moment.)

The Dharma talk ends with a a full discussion of Right Mindfulness—establishing our true presence in the here and now. Thầy offers many examples of the beautiful and healing manifestations of Right Mindfulness.

This is the seventh talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Questions & Answers, No description yet, ‘suggest edit’ to add one.

Thầy opens by responding with tenderness to one or two retreatants who wrote saying they had not yet felt the Heart of the Buddha — gently pointing to the breath, the step, the cup of tea as the very place where the Buddha is always available.

The talk’s central teaching is a clarification Thầy presents as born from his own practice: that śīla (precepts) and smṛti (mindfulness) are not two separate things but one. The precepts are mindfulness in its most concrete form — and mindfulness is the heart of Buddhist meditation. Without the precepts, there is no meditation. Thầy addresses directly the tendency in some Western practice centres to seek meditation while setting the precepts aside, and the harm this has caused.

Mindfulness, he teaches, leads naturally to concentration, and concentration to insight — illustrated through the image of photons from the sun patiently embracing a tulip until, unable to resist, it opens. Whatever we embrace long enough with mindfulness must eventually reveal its true nature.

Thầy then introduces the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta—the Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness— and the Ānāpānasati Sutta—the Sutra on Mindful Breathing—as the essential handbooks of Buddhist meditation. Using a tangerine divided into five sections, Thầy maps the five skandhas and explains store consciousness as the ground that holds all fifty-one mental formations as seeds, manifesting when conditions are sufficient. The river of the body, feelings, and perceptions flows continuously—to meditate is to sit on the bank and observe.

The talk closes with practical instruction: the In-Out, Deep-Slow, Calm-Ease, Smile-Release, Present Moment–Wonderful Moment gāthā, sung together by the Sangha; and the ancient practices of counting the breath (sổ tức) and following the breath (tùy tức) — the first a way of testing and steadily developing concentration, the second its natural reward once counting is mastered. In a characteristically playful closing moment, Thầy invites everyone to stand on one foot until the sitting cushion begins to feel like a very great luxury indeed.

This is the eighth talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy begins this talk by providing details of the story of Anāthapindika, his dedication to the Buddha, Sangha, and Dharma, and his friendship with Śāriputra. Thầy then introduces teachings from the Samyutta Nikaya. This text emphasizes practicing The Five Mindfulness Trainings to transcend hatred, anger, and fear. It also contains the Recollection of the Four Things—the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, and precepts, which is the Mindfulness Practice.

Thầy reads from The Four Recollections and comments on it. Thầy next reads from and discusses each of The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing, emphasizing non-attachment, awareness of suffering, mindful consumption, addressing anger, living in the present moment, compassionate communication, protecting the Sangha, right livelihood, reverence for life, justice and equality, and ethical sexual conduct. There are two versions of the mindfulness trainings on sexual conduct—one for monastics and one for laypersons. The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings are for everyone, and the Five Mindfulness Trainings are intimately connected to the Fourteen.

This is the tenth talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thầy shares that by practicing the Six Pāramitās, we can arrive at the shore of peace in just one mindful step. The first pāramitā is giving. By practicing giving, we see that the more we give, the happier we are. The other five pāramitās are mindfulness training, forbearance, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. The practice of forbearance is about capacity—the capacity to receive, contain, absorb, and transform.

Thầy relates the story of Śāriputra’s Lion Roar, which was his response to slander, and shares the Dharma teaching that the Buddha gave to Rāhula, many years earlier about practicing like earth, water, fire, and air. Through deep looking, we can arrive at understanding that grants us forbearance.

Thầy tells the story of Nhất Trí’s encounter with an American soldier and also his own dangerous encounter with an American Army officer during the Vietnam War. He reminds us that we are all victims, including the perpetrators of injustice. Bodhisattvas are everywhere, and we need to remember that if something happens to any of us, it happens to all of us.

Thầy relates the story of Reverence, who wanted so much to practice that she disguised herself as a man so she could become a novice at a temple. She suffered great injustice, and yet, she continued to practice and feel joy because she had the mind of love. If we suffer, it’s because we lack that mind of love.

This is the eleventh talk in a series of twelve given during The Heart of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 1996. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Questions & Answers, No description yet, ‘suggest edit’ to add one.

This talk details compassion as potent and healing, akin to nectar held by the bodhisattva, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and nurturing seeds of happiness within ourselves and others, especially in challenging times. Shariputra guided Anathapindika to meditate on the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, alleviating his suffering. Stories of compassionate communication, even with those in comas, highlight the profound impact of mindful presence. Shariputra teaches meditation on senses and aggregates to understand the impermanent nature of body and consciousness. The sutra emphasizes cultivating qualities like solidity, compassion, and fearlessness. Effective communication rooted in loving speech and attentive listening is essential for harmony in families, schools, and communities. Creating peaceful spaces for reflection and meditation is crucial. The Buddha teaches that true happiness arises from practicing Dharma within a Sangha, addressing real-life problems with mindfulness and concentration. The Sangha’s task is to embody mindfulness, concentration, understanding, and love, spreading teachings and nurturing mindfulness seeds planted during retreat. Let’s strive to bring happiness to those around us and embody the Buddha’s teachings in daily life.