To address the difficulties of raising children in North America, a story told by the Buddha is recounted regarding a lion cub raised by a monkey. After a mother lion loses her cub in a fall, a monkey adopts the baby, teaching it to eat fruit, climb trees, and speak the monkey language. When the mother lion later finds her daughter, the young lion angrily rejects her heritage, believing herself to be a monkey. Realizing that anger and force are ineffective, the mother lion uses patience, loving speech, and apologies to befriend the daughter. Through walking meditation and looking into a stream to see their reflections, the daughter realizes her true nature as a lion, learning to roar and jump, yet retaining the positive skills and appreciation for her adoptive monkey family.

This story illustrates the relationship between Vietnamese parents and their children growing up in the United States. Parents often lack the skill to transmit Vietnamese culture, resorting to shouting or force, which alienates their children. Parents must learn the patience of the mother lion to help their children realize they are both American and Vietnamese. Children are encouraged to profit from the jewels of both cultures, becoming real Vietnamese-Americans who can serve both societies. Practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings helps in becoming excellent members of both communities.

Introductions are provided for several monks and nuns, including Thầy Tịnh Mãn, Thầy Pháp Hướng, Thầy Pháp Trí, Sư cô Chân Vĩ, Sư cô Hiếu Nghiêm, Sư cô Tịnh Nghiêm, Sư cô Viên Nghiệp, Sư cô Bích Nghiêm, Sư cô Giải Nghiêm, Sư cô Hỷ Nghiêm, Sư cô Từ Nghiêm, Sư cô Thục Nghiêm, Sư thầy Đàm Nguyện, Sư cô Chân Bảo Lâm, and Sư cô Trinh Ngọc. Brief backgrounds are shared for many, such as Thầy Pháp Trí’s landscaping work, Thầy Pháp Hướng’s photography and flute playing, and Sư cô Chân Bảo Lâm’s recovery from cancer through practice and surgery. The books Bước tới thảnh thơi and Stepping into Freedom are recommended for those interested in monastic life.

This is the 3rd Dharma talk by Thay for the Italian Retreat: “The Mind of Love transforms all difficulties” in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village.

In this short teaching Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh answers a question about how to stop having negative perceptions of ourselves, asked on behalf of a group of teenagers attending the Summer Retreat of 2014, in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France: “I am sure I’m not the only one to feel loneliness or sadness as well as anger towards myself. I have recently struggled with self-hatred, and being overly demanding, impatient, uncaring and mean towards myself. I didn’t take care of my body and I would emotionally and physically harm myself. How do I learn to care for myself and love myself after having this deep sadness become my habit energy. And how do I stop the negative perceptions of myself?”

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

Buddhist psychology has existed for 2,500 years, while Western psychotherapy is only about 100 years old; the meeting between these two foundations can enrich both. Western therapeutic principles often rely on bringing up unconscious suffering and using transference onto the doctor to find relief. Conversely, meditation practice is not an anesthetic to escape reality or seek a neutral state, but a method to face the truth and the suffering within oneself. The practitioner does not fight alone but takes refuge in the teacher and friends, avoiding the projection of father-son feelings onto the guide, but building a teacher-student relationship and friendship to support each other in transforming suffering.

According to statistics in the United States, there are four types of people who enter mental hospitals the most:

1. Dentists.
2. Lawyers.
3. Doctors.
4. Psychiatrists.

A human being is a composite of all seeds (bīja). When a seed manifests, it is called a mental formation; afterwards, it falls back down into consciousness to become a seed again. Happiness or suffering depends on the nature of these seeds; if dark seeds are watered frequently, one will look at life through the lens of suffering. Suppressed suffering creates internal formations (formation antérieure), and the practice is to intervene in that totality of seeds with the light of mindfulness. Mindfulness is like a boat carrying a rock of suffering so it does not sink, supporting and transforming anger just as sunshine causes a flower to bloom. In the spiritual domain, it is necessary to let natural elements intervene in the healing process. Good seeds in the consciousness act like antibodies (anticorps), automatically surrounding and transforming painful internal formations when one knows how to dwell in peace, touch the wonders of life, and nourish bodhicitta.

This is the fourth and final Dharma talk of the Dutch retreat “Love is Understanding / Understanding Is Love” with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany. Given in English with consecutive translation into Dutch on August 24, 2014, the talk explores birth and death.

Topics include:

• Homework for the children: seed of corn, a teaching on birth and death
• What happens when you die? Why meditate on death?
• Our cosmic body
• Interbeing of birth and death
• Two levels of truth: conventional and ultimate
• Right View that transcends being and nonbeing, birth and death
• God is the Ultimate
• Teaching of the Flame: birth and death
• Teachings on the Three Recollections, the Six Sense Organs, and No Coming, No Going as given to Anathapindika on his deathbed

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

The gatha serving children and adults includes three versions in Vietnamese, English, and French, helping to refresh body and mind. When practicing, the practitioner goes through the steps:

1. In, Out
2. Deep, Slow
3. Calm, Ease
4. Smile, Release
   If practicing “Present moment, wonderful moment” three times, it will take exactly one minute, while practicing the full steps will take two minutes and ten seconds. When inviting the bell, one needs to breathe three times before releasing, keeping the sound of the bell clear, round, and strong. In walking meditation, the left foot always steps first accompanying the in-breath to create a habit of stillness, holding a flower or a bell as a way to celebrate life.

The story of the turtle by Chuang Tzu is mentioned to emphasize choosing to be a live turtle dragging its tail in the mud rather than a precious shell worshipped in a temple, meaning finding peace and joy right in the present moment instead of sacrificing for the future. Chanting texts need to be composed further to be suitable for young people, for example, the Exhortation, instead of just using old repentance texts. The most important thing in organizing a retreat is that the workers must have happiness and peace right while cooking, washing dishes, or organizing, not just aiming to get the work done.

The difficulties and crises in the history of Persimmon Village related to the family of Brother Thieu, Sister Mui, and lay friends like Chan Quan and Chan Khong are recounted in detail to draw lessons about true brotherhood and sisterhood. Without peace and harmony, organizing for others to practice will lack authenticity. Everyone needs the ability to sit down together, use loving speech to resolve internal formations, and nourish collective joy.

This is the third Dharma talk of the “Understanding Is Love” Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany, given on August 22, 2014. The talk is in English with consecutive translation into Dutch. Thay teaches on using the bell and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Topics

• The Bell. How to use the bell in the family. (40-minutes)
• Object of our mindfulness
• Producing Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
• Right Thinking
• Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood
• Four kinds of nutriments
• Right Diligence

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

Impermanence is ceaseless change, neither bad nor good; it is the essential condition for a child to grow up and for a kernel of corn to become a corn plant. To deal with unexpected changes like accidents or illness, the most important thing is to live awake, healthy, and deeply in the present moment. We need to cherish the loved ones around us and realize that we are in paradise with clear eyes and healthy limbs, instead of complaining and not knowing that we are luckier than 60 million compatriots back home. When encountering things that go against our wishes, a calm mind will help our Buddha nature manifest to recognize and fix the problem in a better way.

In the art of living together, people need to be cared for skillfully like a lettuce plant: we do not blame the plant when it wilts, but must check if the amount of water and fertilizer is appropriate, avoiding suffocating our beloved. To keep the mind peaceful in the face of all impermanence, the method of practice based on the 16 breathing exercises in the Anapanasati Sutra is summarized into a gatha:

1. Breathing in, my mind is calm.
2. Breathing out, I smile.

Conscious breathing helps thousands of cells calm down and releases the tension in the facial muscles. Looking deeply into life and death, we see that it is only transformation: a cloud does not die but transforms into rain, into a rose, or a cucumber. When a loved one passes away, it is not just the disintegration of the physical body; they continue to flow through their descendants and the merits they have left behind. The Buddha, the mendicant of old on Vulture Peak, is still there, and the Udumbara flower still blooms every day for those who know how to listen to the sound of the rising tide.

The second Dharma talk of the “Understanding Is Love” Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB) in Waldbrol, Germany, given in English with consecutive translation into Dutch on August 21, 2014. Thay teaches on the noble eightfold path, the five mindfulness trainings, and applying mindfulness in the world.

Topics:
• Living in Plum Village and living in brotherhood and sisterhood; what is life like at Plum Village?
• Story of a Bell and Thay’s Dream
• Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma – the Buddha’s first dharma talk; the noble eightfold path
• The popularity of mindfulness in the world today – is it an instrument to make more money and to kill better?
• The Five Mindfulness Trainings
• Applied Buddhism in schools; our experience in France
• Learning how to understand, communicate, and reconcile

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

The Four Noble Truths are four noble, wonderful truths and are basic principles of practice: Ill-being (suffering), the Making of Ill-being (the cause of suffering), the Cessation of Ill-being (the absence of suffering), and the Path (the path to end suffering). The first truth addresses sufferings such as birth, old age, sickness, death, the inability to obtain what one desires, separation from loved ones, association with those one dislikes, and the grasping of the five skandhas: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. The second truth points out that the roots of suffering are not only craving but also anger and ignorance. The causes of suffering include craving, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and wrong view. Among them, wrong view includes five types of erroneous perceptions:

1. View of the body: believing the body is the self.
2. Extreme view: a one-sided extreme view (caught in eternalism or nihilism).
3. Wrong view: a view not in accord with the truth of cause and effect.
4. Attachment to views: being caught in a perception considered to be absolute truth.
5. Attachment to rites and rituals: being caught in prohibitions and rituals.

The teachings of the Buddha are based on the principle of Dependent Co-arising, in which Ill-being, the Making of Ill-being, Cessation, and the Path rely on each other to manifest, just like the interbeing of the 18 realms (six sense organs, six sense objects, six consciousnesses). There is a harmful misunderstanding that the five skandhas themselves are suffering; in reality, the attachment to the five skandhas is suffering, like a dog chasing to bite the stone instead of the person who threw it. Besides the Southern School’s view on the Three Dharma Seals as impermanence, suffering, and nonself, the Dharma Seal Sutra presents three other seals: emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness. Suffering is not the nature of all things but is caused by wrong perceptions regarding impermanence and nonself.

The misunderstanding of “extinction of desire” leads to a dry and lifeless image, whereas Buddhism is a lively reality. The Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing are considered modern Bodhisattva precepts, carrying a spirit of openness, not only prohibiting but also guiding practice and nourishing joy. Traditional monastic precepts need to be understood according to the spirit of their content rather than rigid form, including the precepts:

• Not sleeping on high, broad beds (living simply).
• Not using money (avoiding attachment).
• Not wearing cosmetics or adornments (avoiding corruption by material things).
• Not eating at the wrong time (eating one meal a day to nourish health and mindfulness).

This is the first dharma talk of the Understanding Is Love Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany. The talk, given on August 20, 2014, in English with consecutive translation into Dutch, is the 1st Dharma talk for the Dutch Retreat “Understanding Is Love” in EIAB. In this talk Thay teaches on feeling joy and happiness and on True Love.

Topics include:

• Learning how to nourish and love and have it last a long time
• The cloud in my cup of water
• What does it mean: this is a happy moment?
• Mindfulness of body
• Producing a feeling of joy
• Producing a feeling of happiness
• Mindfulness of Suffering
• Understanding and Suffering
• Four Elements of True Love
• The four pebbles

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

Look into your hand to see that you are the continuation of your parents, and that your mother is alive in every cell. The peace and happiness of children and grandchildren are the peace and happiness of grandparents and ancestors. Birth and death are only surface phenomena, like waves and water. From the perspective of the wave, there is rising and falling, high and low, big and small, long and short; but from the perspective of the water, there are no such signs. When we recognize that the wave is water, we transcend suffering and fear, and see the ontological ground of no birth and no death.

A banana tree may die after bearing fruit, but the huge root system underground continues to sprout; life always finds a way to manifest. Facing impermanence and the uncertain accidents that can happen at any time, we need to practice:

1. Living the present moment worthily, with mindfulness and peace.
2. Breathing, smiling, and treating those around us with compassion.
3. Accepting impermanence as the nature of life, because without change, a grain of corn cannot become a corn stalk.

We have undergone rebirth into the ten directions through our descendants and what we have transmitted. Penetrate the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra to see that the nature of all dharmas is empty: no birth and no death, no impurity and no purity, no increasing and no decreasing.

This is the first dharma talk of the “Nourishing Happiness in Our Hearts” retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany, given in English with consecutive translation into German on August 13, 2014.

Topics include: the story of the corn seed; the realm of Dharma and how everything is a wonder; the kingdom of God and the cosmos; living happily in the present moment; three kinds of energy—mindfulness, insight, and concentration; the art of happiness—being able to generate a feeling of joy and a feeling of happiness; the art of suffering; interbeing; elements of meditation; and freedom and walking meditation.

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

The quality of the retreat lies in mindfulness, which is the awareness in daily life to heal the soul, not just to study the teachings. When hearing the bell, practice breathing in and out three times and recite: “Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.” When meeting each other, join our palms like a lotus bud to bow reverently in order to see the other person as a wonderful reality: “A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.” Awareness helps us look at our loved ones and all things as brand new, in the spirit of nhất hồi niêm xuất, nhất hồi tân (each time it arises, it is new again) of Tran Thai Tong.

At the age of 39, the Buddha was criticized for saying that love brings worry, sorrow, and despair. When King Pasenadi questioned the enlightenment of a young person, the Buddha taught that there are four small things that should not be underestimated:

1. A newborn prince.
2. A spark of fire.
3. A poisonous snake as small as a chopstick.
4. A young monk.

True love must have the substance of Maitri (loving-kindness – wanting the other person to be happy unconditionally) and Karuna (compassion – wanting to remove the suffering from the other person). Love is understanding each other’s suffering and aspirations; it is not possessiveness or locking the beloved in a tin can, but respecting their horizon of freedom like the clouds and the wind. We need to hold hands and ask if our love is making the other person wither and if we truly understand their suffering yet. To resolve conflict, we need to let go of attachment to views, like the story of the father holding the bag of ashes, and use loving speech to dialogue.

Telephone meditation transforms a source of irritation into a bell of mindfulness. Instead of running, stay where you are, breathe in to calm yourself, and breathe out with a smile, waiting for the third ring before answering. If you are making a call, a poem can be recited: Sound can travel hundreds of miles, and speech can bring mutual understanding and mutual acceptance. Each number dialed corresponds to a breath, because time is life, not money. This practice establishes calm and improves the quality of the conversation and of business.

Driving meditation uses red lights as friends who say “Stop” to dispersion, and the license plate “I remember” to remind us to breathe. A poem accompanies starting the car:

1. Before starting my car, I know where I am going;
2. The car and I are one;
3. If the car goes fast, I go fast.
   We must not become slaves to our instruments or destroy our ecological environment, because within us, there are the trees and the clouds; to destroy the tree is to destroy oneself.

Meditation brings us back to reality rather than being an escape, and we must invent opportunities to practice even in difficult conditions, like political prisoners cutting bamboo. It is essential to know one’s limits and learn to say no, because to make others happy, one must first establish calm and happiness within oneself. Faced with insecurity and suffering, the only answer is to live every minute in mindfulness, treating the person present as the most important one.

The Thirty-Seven Wings of Enlightenment are the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, comprising: the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Four Right Diligences, the Four Bases of Success, the Five Faculties, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Awakening, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The talk goes deeply into the Seven Factors of Awakening, also known as the Seven Limbs of Enlightenment, meaning the seven elements that lead to awakening. Enlightenment or Bodhi is not something far-fetched that only saints can reach; rather, it is the awakening and understanding that can be attained in daily life. Small awakenings accumulated will lead to Great Enlightenment, helping to untie the knots of fear and superstition and bringing about peace and joy.

The seven elements leading to awakening include:

1. Mindfulness: Bringing the mind back to the present moment to see what is happening in the four domains of body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind.
2. Investigation of phenomena: Deciding and investigating the nature of things through direct contact with the 18 realms, including: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind; form, sound, smell, taste, touch, objects of mind; eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. The aim is to see the nature of impermanence, nonself, and interdependent co-arising.
3. Diligence: Steady diligence, maintaining a reserve of energy so that the work of looking deeply can be continuous.
4. Joy: The joy and peace arising from the realization that one is on the right path.
5. Ease: The lightness, comfort, and peace of body and mind.
6. Concentration: Body and mind dwelling peacefully, focused on one object, like a lid retaining heat so that the fire of mindfulness can cook the dharmas, helping to see clearly the nature of things.
7. Equanimity: Letting go of discrimination and prejudice between suffering and happiness, defiled and immaculate, birth and death, love and hate; at the same time letting go of knowledge and possessions to attain higher liberation.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the path of eight right practices, discovered by the Buddha under the Bodhi tree and taught throughout his 45 years of ministry. “Bát” means eight, “Chánh” means right or straight, the opposite of wrong, and “Đạo” means the path. Before passing away, the Buddha affirmed to Subhadda, his last monastic disciple, that wherever the Noble Eightfold Path is practiced, there will be the fruit of practice and enlightenment. These eight elements hold a central position in the teachings; they are not separate but inter-are; each element contains the other seven, serving as both cause and effect of one another.

The content of the talk analyzes in detail the first five elements:

1. Right View: The correct view of all things and oneself. It is both the cause for right action and the fruit of the practice. Transmission via language is only a map, not reality itself; the practitioner must personally experience it to transform knowledge into solid insight.
2. Right Thinking: Thinking and discovering the true nature of reality, such as impermanence and nonself; equivalent to the factor of investigation of phenomena in the Seven Factors of Awakening.
3. Right Speech: Speech that accords with reality, capable of guiding, reconciling, and creating peace and joy. One must avoid four types of wrong speech: speaking untruths, speaking with a double tongue, speaking harsh words, and speaking with exaggeration.
4. Right Action: Bodily action; the correctness of action depends on the perception derived from Right View and Right Thinking.
5. Right Livelihood: A right means of livelihood that does not harm humans or nature, nor cause suffering and social injustice.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the path of eight right practices, a discovery made by the Buddha under the Bodhi tree. This is a teaching with a central position, taught by the Buddha in his first Dharma talk and used to remind his last disciple, Subhadda, before he passed away. In the Noble Eightfold Path, each element contains the other seven elements; when one develops, the other seven also develop. The first element is Right View, the correct way of looking at all things and at oneself. Right View is both a cause and an effect; it cannot be transmitted entirely through words—just as a map is not the city of Paris—but requires the practitioner to practice and experience it for themselves.

Next is Right Thinking, the thinking and exploring that is in accord with the reality of impermanence and nonself. Right Speech is speech that accords with reality, capable of opening up insight and reconciliation, avoiding four types of wrong speech:

1. Speaking untruthfully.
2. Speaking with a double tongue.
3. Speaking cruel words.
4. Exaggerating.
   Right Action is bodily action that depends on accurate perception. Right Livelihood is a correct means of living, not harming humans or nature, or causing social injustice. Right Diligence is the diligence and steady distribution of energy to practice daily towards peace and joy.

The center of the practice is Right Mindfulness, returning to the present moment to know what is happening in the body, mind, and environment. Right Mindfulness helps the practitioner avoid wrong mindfulness, such as wishing to live with Brahma without practicing. From Right Mindfulness arises Right Concentration, the concentration necessary for all other elements. There are two types of concentration: wrong concentration to escape suffering, and Right Concentration which helps to look deeply into the heart of reality to attain insight and dispel sorrow.

Having worked for peace in my heart, should I simply sit and walk while waiting for a door to open to help the suffering world?

• Is it easier to attain tranquility together with others, given that I personally find it very difficult to calm myself down?
• How can I follow my breathing and act with mindfulness in daily activities when I have not yet found inner peace?
• How can I overcome a nervous temperament that prevents me from finding peace?
• Are there any little tips for finding the time to breathe at work despite very tight deadlines?
• Are there practical ways to come out of the state of drowsiness that often invades the mind during sitting meditation?
• Is there any advice for a 15-year-old who is having trouble feeling comfortable in his own skin?
• How can we bring calm and mindfulness into the daily work environment when our energy is dispersed by so many demands?
• What elements should be considered during walking meditation, especially when lifting and placing the foot?
• How can I handle the guilt of limiting my energy to my family in order to maintain some serenity, while avoiding thinking about the world’s problems?
• What is our responsibility towards others, and how do we say no when someone asks too much?
• How can the practice equip us to handle the inner conflict created by employers who demand efficiency and speed out of economic fear?
• Do you have any comments on the feeling of being about to explode inside during the practice?
• How can we stay in touch with our body when doing abstract, analytical mental work or dealing with politics?
• How can I handle computer work when logical power is being manipulated by others for their own ends?
• How can I deal with the frightening experience of losing my sense of orientation and the dissolution of identity that sometimes occurs during the practice?
• After losing a son, how can one feel joy beyond serenity, and should one do everything possible to prolong one’s life when facing an uncertain illness?

To love, we should practice being solid and fresh, taking care of ourselves to avoid getting hurt in body and heart. If we suffer, we must know how to heal and ask for help using the magic formula: “Darling, I suffer. Please help me.” This mantra is a vow to the beloved, requiring us to overcome pride and trust the other, even if we believe they caused our pain. A mantra is spoken when body, speech, and mind are in perfect oneness. We must return to our roots in the blood and spiritual families. Buddha is a title for those with a high level of mindfulness, understanding, and compassion, and the next Buddha, Maitreya, may appear as a community. Taking refuge in the Buddha is taking refuge in our own capacity of being awake, which aligns with the Holy Spirit as the energy of God. God the Father is comparable to Nirvana, the ultimate dimension. Like a wave touching the water, we touch the ultimate to transcend fear.

Mindful consumption protects ourselves, our families, and society. There are two kinds of food: edible food and the food of touching, or sense impressions. Looking deeply into “what has come to be”—whether sorrow, depression, or anger—reveals the nutriment that brought it. The Five Wonderful Precepts are an art of mindful living. Regarding alcohol, “this is, because that is”; refraining from the first glass prevents the damage of the second. Sharing a meal in mindfulness is practicing the Eucharist, touching the whole cosmos in a piece of bread, making life possible and real.

Our consciousness consists of store consciousness and mind consciousness. Unmindful touching creates internal formations or saṃyojana. There are two recommendations for dealing with sorrow and distress:

1. Touching the positive in order to strengthen the positive seeds in yourself when the block of pain consents to sleep.
2. When the block of pain comes up, invite the energy of mindfulness to embrace the sorrow, like a mother holding a crying baby.

We do not fight or suppress pain but allow it to be and transform it. True happiness is the transformation of sorrow, described by the line from The Tale of Kiều: nạn xưa trút sạch làu làu (the suffering of the past is shed off utterly). Finally, taking refuge in the Sangha is essential, as a practitioner without a Sangha is like a tiger leaving his mountain.

Each person possesses at least two families: a blood family and a spiritual family. The blood family consists of parents, grandparents, and ancestors, while the spiritual family includes teachers, patriarchs, and the Buddha, who is a real ancestor within the lineage. People of this time suffer greatly because they are cut off from their traditions and uprooted. The practice is to get back in touch with these roots, as a tree cannot grow if uprooted. One must make inquiries into both the father’s and mother’s branches of the blood family and maintain contact with the spiritual lineage, never excluding one family for another.

Ancestral worship involves maintaining a permanent dialogue with those who have passed. In the Vietnamese tradition, every home has an ancestral altar, and everything that happens—whether a child’s fever, a marriage, or travel—is reported to the ancestors. When pain or difficulties arise, one breathes deeply and asks the ancestors for help. If immediate parents or spiritual teachers are unhappy or have caused suffering, they are simply not lucky enough to have transmitted the beautiful things from the lineage. One must not reject the ancestors due to the shortcomings of one generation but instead find a way to link with the whole lineage, perhaps through a grandparent or even through children and grandchildren who also carry the ancestors within them.

An assignment is given to write a short, true letter. The practice involves identifying a specific person who represents the ancestors—someone known, trusted, and loved, rather than an abstract symbol. During daily activities like walking or cooking, one calls on this person for help with specific fears or frustrations. After listening deeply for their energy and wisdom, the response is written down. The exercise concludes by writing a promise to the ancestor, detailing how one will walk, breathe, and smile to transform the suffering, thereby practicing with the support of the entire lineage.

The preface to the Anapanasati Sutra was written around the first half of the third century, certainly before the year 229 because the text refers to Luoyang as the Capital. Anapana is the Great Vehicle of the Buddhas used to save living beings; it is the method of breathing in and breathing out (Anapana) to guard the mind, in which Sati (Guarding the Mind) means grasping the mind in the present moment. This Sutra has been circulated in Vietnam since the beginning of the third century through the commentary of Zen Master Tang Hoi, demonstrating the early combination of Theravada meditation sutras and Mahayana thought in Giao Chau. Tang Hoi is the First Patriarch of the Vietnamese Zen school, who went to Eastern Wu to teach the Way, established Kien So Temple, and organized the first ordination ceremony.

Anapana consists of six categories, called the Six Wondrous Dharma Doors, aimed at treating the six sense organs:

1. Counting: counting the breath from one to ten.
2. Following: following the breath; wherever the breath goes, the mind follows.
3. Stopping: making the mind stop and become calm.
4. Looking Deeply: looking deeply into the self-nature of dharmas.
5. Returning: returning to see that the subject and object of observation are one.
6. Purifying: transforming afflictions and attaining clarity.

The six sense organs include the internal eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and the external form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and wrong perceptions. The mind of living beings is entered by wrong perceptions just as the ocean receives water from rivers, filled with all kinds of seeds that have neither form nor sound. In the time of a finger snap, the mind can undergo 960 shifts of thought; in one day and one night, the mind undergoes 1.3 billion thoughts. The method of practice begins with settling the heart, tying the mind to the breath, and counting to attain the first dhyana.

The Five Powers (bala) are five types of energy or strength needed to transform suffering and create peace and liberation, including:

1. Faith: Faith is a power; it is both a seed and a fruit. When faith in divine authority and science is shaken, humans need a rational faith in the Five Mindfulness Trainings to protect family and social happiness. True faith comes from insight (understanding); it can be verified and is not the result of propaganda.
2. Diligence (virya): Diligence, inner strength, will, and the joy of wanting to practice.
3. Mindfulness: The energy of mindfulness is generated through the practice of walking, standing, lying down, and sitting in awareness.
4. Concentration: Focusing the mind on an object, helping to see the truth clearly without being dispersed by the external environment.
5. Insight: Deep and accurate vision, which is the source that generates and strengthens solid faith.

These five elements are also called the Five Faculties (the five undefiled roots), the foundation that generates the energy of liberation, helping the practitioner not to fall back into samsara. A good spiritual friend is someone who knows how to water the seeds of faith and the five wholesome roots in others, instead of sowing doubt. True love is expressed through patience, accepting to give a second or third chance to those who have made mistakes, because everyone still has remaining roots of goodness that need to be cultivated.

The Honeyball Sutra teaches the principle of non-contention, practicing detachment from sensual desire, and leaving behind false perceptions. When a person is dominated by false perceptions, they need to contemplate their perceptions and thinking across the three times (past, present, future) to understand the causes, avoiding attachment to pleasure or taking sides. According to Manifestation Only teachings, wrong perception is often caused by subjective mind consciousness distorting the image of reality brought in by eye consciousness. Mind consciousness can operate independently (solitary mind consciousness) or together with other consciousnesses (simultaneous mind consciousness), creating three types of objects of perception (dharma objects):

1. The realm of things-in-themselves: The truth not yet distorted, still pristine.
2. The realm of representations: Images carrying the substance of reality but altered by subjectivity, love, and hate.
3. The realm of mere images: Pure images in the mind consciousness, not real (like in a dream or imagination).

Beginning anew is a practice that uses the substance of mindfulness to touch life, because life is available only in the present moment. According to the Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone (Bhaddekaratta Sutta), the wise person does not regret the past or worry about the future, but dwells solidly and freely in the present moment. Those bound by the past or future are likened to people buried alive, and their lives are merely a dream. To avoid being swept away by the whirlwind of society like the red dust in The Tale of Kieu, the practitioner needs to take hold of their destiny through the practice of dwelling happily in the present moment, walking, standing, lying, and sitting in mindfulness to nourish the energy of determination.

The process of beginning anew consists of two elements: repentance and vows. Repentance is seeing the mistakes and unskillfulness caused by forgetfulness and delusion; vowing is the determination not to repeat them and to open up a new path. Past suffering can become compost to nourish future happiness if we know how to transform our mind. The practitioner practices calming the mind to look back at the garden of the mind, where seeds are sown and the three karmas of body, speech, and mind are created. The text mentions four specific karmas that need repentance:

1. Killing.
2. Stealing.
3. Sexual misconduct.
4. Lying.

Instead of reasoning and blaming, which cause long-lasting internal formations and a deep chasm of separation, the practice requires watering the seeds of love and understanding, and avoiding watering the seeds of suffering in others. Only with understanding can there be love; deep looking helps give rise to compassion, likened to the pure nectar that extinguishes afflictions and the boat of the true Dharma that carries us across the path of resentment. A life of awakening includes practicing smiling, breathing, using loving speech, and repaying the gratitude to parents, teachers, and friends with one’s own peace and stability.

The Buddha visits Uruvela and encounters three communities of fire-worshipping ascetics led by the Kashyapa brothers: Uruvela, Gaya, and River. After spending a night in a fire chamber and taming a dragon, the Buddha converts Uruvela Kashyapa. Subsequently, the brothers and their one thousand disciples ordain as bhikkhus, discarding their hair knots and worship materials into the river. This new community reorganizes into small groups for mindful alms rounds and silent meals. Later, the Buddha returns to Rajagriha to fulfill a promise to King Bimbisara, who becomes a lay disciple and offers the Bamboo Grove (Venuvana) as the first Buddhist monastery.

Buddhism in North America is primarily lay Buddhism, making the family a central practice center. A “breathing room” can be established in the home as a sanctuary, containing a bell, cushions, and a flower rather than a statue. This space serves as a refuge during moments of anger, allowing family members to practice breathing and reconciliation. Mindfulness extends to daily activities: dinner becomes a time for deep looking and silence; the telephone ring serves as a signal to breathe and smile before answering; and red traffic lights are viewed as bodhisattvas helping one return to the present moment.

A supporting Sangha is essential for maintaining joy and mental health. In the Abhidharma, there are three kinds of feelings: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. Mindfulness allows the transformation of neutral feelings, such as a “non-toothache,” into pleasant ones. The teaching of apranihita (wishlessness or aimlessness) is the third door of liberation, encouraging a stop to the rushing for the future. This is illustrated by the story of a young river that stops chasing fleeting clouds to realize its own nature as water, eventually finding peace in reflecting the blue sky and the full moon.

Two vows are established: to develop understanding to live peacefully with people, animals, and plants, and to develop compassion to protect lives. Children often practice mindfulness naturally, reminding adults to breathe and smile. The history of Siddhartha is detailed, describing his return to the five ascetics at the Deer Park who initially despised him for abandoning self-mortification. Upon witnessing his presence, they accept his teaching of the Four Noble Truths: suffering exists, suffering has causes, suffering can be uprooted, and there is a way to uproot suffering. Later, Siddhartha teaches thirty young men to stop running into the future and look for themselves in the present moment, demonstrating through flute playing that art reaches its highest level when spiritual life is at its peak.

Dwelling in the present moment allows for planning the future and learning from the past without getting lost in them. Anger should be treated with non-violence and looked at deeply rather than suppressed or merely vented through physical acts like pillow punching, which offers only temporary relief. Consciousness operates through vasana (impregnation) and vipaka (retribution), where seeds of happiness or suffering ripen over time. Saṃyojana, or internal formations, are bonds of suffering transmitted by parents or created in daily life. The decline of the extended family—tam đại đồng đường (three generations under one roof)—and alienation from nature contribute to mental illness, illustrated by a parable of a city with only one tree.

The Heart Sutra offers the gift of non-fear through the insight of no birth and no death. Nothing is born from nothing, and nothing becomes nothing; a cloud does not die but continues as rain. This non-dualistic view transforms the perception of defilement and immaculation, helping to heal suffering. The Five Precepts are introduced as essential protection for families and society, involving a meditation on the emptiness of transmission where the transmitter, the object, and the receiver are seen as one.

The Five Precepts are:

1. Non-killing: Do not kill, let others kill, or support harmful vocations.
2. Non-stealing: Respect the property of others and prevent enrichment from the suffering of beings.
3. Sexual misconduct: Sexual expression must not take place without love and commitment.
4. Right speech: Speak truthfully to resolve conflicts and avoid words that cause division or hatred.
5. Intoxicants: Do not use alcohol or intoxicants, preserving the body transmitted by ancestors for future generations.

Svasti, an untouchable buffalo boy, encounters Siddhartha practicing meditation in the forest. Despite the rigid caste system, Siddhartha treats Svasti with friendship, breaking the barrier of untouchability, and accepts an offering of kusha grass for a meditation cushion. Svasti later meets Sujata, the village girl who saved Siddhartha with rice milk after his harsh asceticism. Siddhartha teaches the children to overcome discrimination by sharing food and water from the same bowl. Upon attaining enlightenment, the Buddha spent his first seven weeks teaching the children. The Sutra on Herding Water Buffaloes draws a parallel between the eleven ways to tend a herd and the eleven ways to be a good monk, starting with the ability to recognize one’s own elements.

The Sutra on Mindful Breathing and the Sutra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness serve as the basis for meditation, addressing real life issues rather than personal problems. The four foundations are the contemplation of the body in the body, the feelings in the feelings, the mind in the mind, and the objects of mind in the objects of the mind. Looking deeply into a flower reveals it is made only of non-flower elements, such as sunshine and compost. The flower is on its way to the garbage, and the garbage is on its way to the flower. Impermanence is not a cause for suffering but the very basis of life. Just as an organic gardener preserves garbage to transform it into compost, a practitioner accepts and transforms internal formations like anger without fighting them, embodying the non-dual insight that “this is because that is.”

Anger is a seed that can be transformed through the energy of mindfulness, much like cooking raw potatoes with the fire of concentration. True love is understanding; without understanding another’s suffering and aspirations, it is impossible to love them. The hand of the Bodhisattva contains an eye, symbolizing that action (Samantabhadra) must be guided by understanding (Mañjuśrī) to result in true compassion (Avalokiteśvara). Reconciliation becomes possible when one admits a lack of understanding and asks for help to love properly. Recognizing the suchness, or true nature, of oneself and others is essential for peace, a lesson illustrated by the story of a man who believed he was a grain of corn.

Social justice work in Vietnam is approached through the Buddha’s teachings of love and understanding, contrasting with Marxist methods of generating hatred to fight exploiters. When the arrest of friends and the tragedy of the war caused a block of pain that made breathing difficult, deep concentration and conscious breathing were utilized to survive. To resolve the overwhelming suffering of the country, mindfulness is applied to specific daily actions: walking meditation, sitting meditation, planting lettuce meditation, cutting carrot meditation, cooking meditation, and washing clothes. By dwelling in the present moment, the mind is prevented from being invaded by pain. Moving to the countryside allows for the watering of new seeds in the alayavijñāna or storehouse consciousness, calming the manovijñāna or upper level of consciousness.

Creative methods are employed to send aid to Vietnam after the government seized funds intended for 10,000 orphans. Medicine such as Camphre-long and Aspirin is sent to be exchanged for rice to feed hungry children. To protect recipients from being accused of CIA connections, the sender “dies” to their old identity, using different names and handwriting to coordinate distribution. Work is conducted without attachment, following the insight that one must be free like a cloud; when a cloud dies, it transforms into rain, which then becomes grass, lettuce, or a cucumber. This perspective allows for working wholeheartedly in the present without fear of death.

Efforts include crossing fire zones under a Buddhist flag to deliver aid and establishing support for writers and artists, who are considered rare flowers of humanity. Letters are sent to inspire these individuals, many of whom are in re-education camps. The development of Plum Village near Bordeaux is described as a response to the need for more space for practitioners. An appeal is made to sign three letters requesting release: one for writers and artists, one for monks, and one for prisoners in general. Attention is drawn to the plight of boat people facing forced repatriation to re-education camps, urging political influence to prevent them from being sent back to Vietnam.

Siddhartha’s first meditative experience occurs as a young child watching a farmer plow the fields. Seeing the suffering of the sweating farmer, the toiling buffalo, and the earthworms being eaten by birds, he is moved by compassion and sits under a rose apple tree, realizing that chanting cannot help the worms. Later, rejecting a political path filled with anger, hatred, and ambition, he leaves home to become a monk and transform his own delusions. We are invited to view ourselves as a leaf on a tree; though the umbilical cord is cut at birth, invisible stems link us to the Earth, the sun, and our ancestors. Just as a leaf is composed of non-leaf elements like sunshine and clouds, the self is made of non-self elements.

The mind functions through seeds, or bījas, stored in the lower level of consciousness known as ālayavijñāna (store consciousness). These seeds, whether wholesome or unwholesome, are transmitted by ancestors or planted during one’s lifetime. When conditions are favorable, a seed manifests in the upper level of consciousness, manovijñāna (mind consciousness). Allowing a seed of anger to manifest strengthens it, whereas inviting seeds of joy and smiling to manifest nourishes well-being. Meditation involves asking “what is not wrong?” and touching refreshing elements—like a non-toothache or a beautiful tree—allowing the ālayavijñāna to act like antibodies that naturally transform suffering. When internal seeds are too weak to handle pain, one must take refuge in a friend or the Sangha to reestablish balance.

Peace is not merely the absence of war but the capacity to enjoy the present moment, such as the blue sky or fresh air. Walking meditation is practiced not to arrive, but to be alive in every step, transforming the base of consciousness. With each step, a fresh breeze is created and a lotus flower blooms. Whether walking or eating an orange, mindfulness makes the object and the practitioner real. We get in touch with life through the four domains of meditation:

1. Contemplation of the body in the body.
2. Contemplation of the feelings in the feelings.
3. Contemplation of the mind (mental formations).
4. Contemplation of objects of mind (the world).

In the Western tradition, Christmas is a very important holiday, equivalent to the Vietnamese Tết, where people try their best to go home to be with their family. This is an occasion to really look at our father, mother, brother, and sister. The practice center is also a real family where people look at each other as brothers and sisters.

By learning how to breathe, smile, and recognize, we discover that everyone in the community is a gem, a jewel. Breathing deeply allows us to see that everyone living in the community is a real treasure, making us feel very rich. We are surrounded by people who know how to suffer and how to enjoy the present moment, learning the art of loving oneself and others.

While there are centers where people learn the art of killing, being together to practice love is a real golden opportunity. The true meaning of Christmas is to learn to look at each other as a jewel. If something befalls one of us, we will suffer. Therefore, we wish everyone good health, smiles, and joy, for that kind of peace is our own health, joy, and peace.

The Tathagata is one who has come from the path of truth, relying on the true way to attain right awakening, or one who comes from wondrous reality (truth) and will return to that reality, meaning coming from nowhere and going nowhere. The ten epithets of the Tathagata include:

1. The Tathagata;
2. The Worthy One (Arhat, one worthy of offerings, killer of thieves, unborn);
3. The Rightly and Universally Knowing (right and universal understanding);
4. Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct (complete in wisdom and action);
5. The Well-Gone (skillfully going to the other shore);
6. The Knower of the World (understanding the world thoroughly);
7. The Unsurpassed One (the highest one whom no one surpasses);
8. The Tamer of Men (the one who tames those needing transformation);
9. The Teacher of Gods and Humans;
10. The Buddha (The World-Honored One, the one honored in the world).
    All living beings possess the seeds of these ten qualities, just as Buddha nature exists in all beings, animate and inanimate.

True recollection of the Buddha is recollection of the Dharma, bringing mindfulness, understanding, and love into daily life, similar to the concept of the Kingdom of God or the Holy Spirit in Christianity. True love, as described in the Letter to the Corinthians, is patience, kindness, no envy, no pride, no hatred, and never ending. Catholic practices such as confession and the Eucharist share similarities in content with the Dharma door of repentance (Beginning Anew) and eating in mindfulness in Buddhism. The spirit of Protestantism regarding “only faith can save people” and the direct connection with God is also illuminated, corresponding to Bodhicitta and taking refuge in the island within, not relying too much on forms or church authority if the true substance is lacking.

Recollection of the Sangha is directing the mind toward the community traveling on the right path, accomplishing precepts, concentration, Prajñā, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. A true Sangha is a beautiful field of merit for investment and service, regardless of background. According to the Discourse on the White-Clad Disciple, a lay friend who practices the Five Precepts and the four recollections (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Precepts) will end the fall into the three lower realms of hell, hungry ghosts, and animals; attain the fruit of Stream-entry, and only need to return at most seven times in the realms of gods and humans to reach the frontier of complete liberation. The true value of a human being, like the carrying capacity of an ox, lies in ability and virtue, not in color or caste origin.

The Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone carries the meaning of living with mindfulness, attentively so as not to lose oneself and to keep an appointment with life in the present moment. If we do not look clearly at what is happening, everything will just be a dream. A basic element in the practice is the ability to slow down, to master every step, and to walk only in the style of walking meditation, whether going into the kitchen or out to the vegetable garden. Each leisurely step helps the practitioner master their movements, thoughts, and feelings, and not be swept away by the waterfall of afflictions like red dust in a whirlwind.

The practice of returning to take refuge in the island within helps the practitioner take refuge in the Three Jewels right within themselves: mindfulness is the Buddha, the breath is the Dharma, and the five skandhas are the Sangha. Mindful breathing helps harmonize the five skandhas to create harmony and happiness. The five skandhas include:

1. Form (body)
2. Feelings (sensations)
3. Perceptions
4. Mental formations
5. Consciousness

Besides contemplating oneself as a fresh flower, a solid mountain, still water reflecting, and spacious space, the practitioner needs to use the “magic mirror” of mindfulness to recognize the true nature of things and not let negative energy enter. Inviting the bell also requires deep practice: the inviter must have a beautiful standing posture, body and mind at ease, and breathe correctly with the gatha: “Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.” The sound of the bell needs space and time to bloom like a flower, helping the listener to awaken and transcend the path of sorrow.

When inviting the bell, one needs to breathe so that body and mind are at ease, sit beautifully, and silently recite the gatha: “Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of the bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.” One must wake up the bell so the Sangha is not startled, and invite the bell in a U-shape so the sound can soar. The listener breathes three times following the gatha: “Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.” Regarding abortion, the most important thing is prevention; if it has already happened, we must examine each case individually to avoid causing further suffering, even though the universal principle is to avoid killing.

In a relationship, a wife who is more capable needs to skillfully appreciate her husband’s virtues to avoid creating a complex. Children who suffer because of their parents need to find a second family or a Sangha to be nourished and to transform internal formations before returning to help their parents cut off the cycle of samsara and suffering. Regarding cultural exchange, young people need to combine the best of both East and West, avoiding the breakdowns of Western society. Lasting love needs a support network from family, friends, and society, rather than relying solely on emotion.

Liberation is the untying of the bonds that are tightening around body and mind, including:

1. The bond of birth and death.
2. The bond of misunderstanding between parents and children.
3. The bond of anger, jealousy, and craving.
4. The bond of the past and worry about the future.

A prisoner sentenced to death discovers the profound beauty of the blue sky only three days before his execution, realizing that he had previously lived like a dead person. Many people similarly live lost in past regrets or future worries, missing the appointment with life in the present moment. Mindfulness is the capacity to be truly alive and aware of the wonders available in the here and the now, such as the paradise of forms and colors available to those with eyes in good condition. If one cannot enjoy the beauty of their own surroundings due to internal sorrow or anger, they would not be able to enjoy a vacation in Japan or even the Pure Land.

To truly love another, one must offer the gift of one’s own presence and practice mindfulness to recognize the presence and suffering of the beloved. Three mantras are utilized to produce the miracle of happiness:

1. “Darling, I know you are there, and I am very happy.”
2. “Darling, I know you are there, and that is why I am here for you.”
3. “Darling, I know you suffer. That is why I am there for you.”

Reconciliation with parents is possible through the practice of looking deeply to see their positive qualities, realizing that children are the continuation of their parents. Deep listening, embodied by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, restores communication and heals relationships. Walking meditation is practiced not to arrive, but to enjoy walking on the earth, which is a miracle. This is done by coordinating steps with the breath, for example taking three steps while breathing in and three while breathing out, potentially using words like “earth,” “smile,” or the names of loved ones to maintain focus and enjoyment of every step.

Breathing in, see yourself as a five-year-old child; breathing out, smile to that child. The little boy or girl is always alive within, often suppressed and deeply hurt, and practice involves recognizing this presence. To reconcile with a father, one looks at the nature of transmission: the transmitter, the object transmitted, and the receiver form one reality. You are the continuation of your father; you are your father. Visualizing a father as a vulnerable five-year-old boy reveals that he also suffered and was hurt by adults. Understanding this suffering gives rise to compassion, allowing for reconciliation and peace.

The most precious gift parents can make to their children is their own happiness. The practice of the Three Prostrations helps restore this harmony. The first prostration is a vertical line, visualizing spiritual and blood ancestors, as well as descendants, accepting both the perfect and the imperfect. The second prostration is a horizontal line, touching the earth to visualize those alive in the present moment. This includes identifying with the suffering of a hungry child or a frog swallowed by a snake, while simultaneously identifying with the Bodhisattvas bringing joy and relief to the world.

The third prostration is a circle embracing the others, surrendering the idea that this body is the self with a limited life. Like a banana tree where the young shoot and the old tree share one root, we share the same reality with our ancestors. This relies on the Diamond Sutra and the practice of removing four notions:

1. Self: realizing the self is made only of non-self elements, just as a flower is composed of sun, rain, and minerals.
2. Man: understanding that humans cannot exist without non-human elements like animals and vegetables.
3. Living beings: seeing that living beings are made of inanimate substances.
4. Lifespan: discovering that life is infinite and not limited to a period between birth and death.

Peace is not possible without the capacity of arriving. While there is a deep desire to return to a “true home” of perfect security—reminiscent of the time in the mother’s womb—searching for this in the past or future is unrealistic. The true home, also known as Nirvana or the Kingdom of God, is one’s own nature found only in the here and the now. Life is available only in the present moment, and missing this moment means missing an appointment with life. Hope can be an obstacle as it invests energy in the future rather than the present. Buddhist meditation gathers body, mind, and spirit to make a breakthrough in the present, stopping the running and establishing oneself firmly.

Establishing oneself in the present allows for touching the refreshing and healing wonders of life, such as the blue sky and trees. To heal the environment, one must first heal oneself; an unhappy person filled with violence cannot effectively protect nature. The Buddha recommends selective touching, knowing what to contact in daily life to facilitate healing and avoid further suffering. Nourishing oneself through mindfulness, walking meditation, and sharing meals with a Sangha is essential. Building a community, or Sangha, provides necessary support, as the energy of mindfulness relieves suffering and generates compassion, transforming the environment into a Buddha land.

The practice of walking meditation involves coordinating breath with steps while reciting specific lines to deepen the experience. Success lies in walking naturally while being fully aware of each step, listening to the lungs to determine the rhythm of steps per breath. The four stages of the practice are:

1. I have arrived, I am home – signifying the cessation of running and the release of attachment to past and future.
2. In the here, In the now – confirming arrival in the present place and time.
3. I am solid, I am free – cultivating the stability and freedom characteristic of Nirvana.
4. In the Buddha land, I dwell – walking with peace and joy.

Children, even when they grow to be twelve or fourteen, still need to be embraced by their parents, as love involves both body and spirit. A campaign is proposed for the right of children to be hugged. The Buddhist way of greeting, gassho, involves joining palms to visualize a lotus flower. Breathing in, one says silently “A lotus flower for you,” transforming oneself into a flower. Breathing out, one bows and says “A Buddha to be,” recognizing the other as a future Buddha capable of deep understanding and love. Mindfulness must be practiced deeply during pregnancy, as everything the parents eat, drink, and feel affects the unborn child. The greatest gift parents can give a child is their own happiness; otherwise, they plant seeds of suffering, continuing the cycle of samsara.

A proposal is made for young people to undergo a year of mindfulness training before marriage to learn how to recognize and transform negative seeds and water positive ones. Without daily watering of the seeds of happiness, love can wither. A story illustrates this, where a wife finds old love letters and realizes her heart has become like dry soil. By reading them and writing a new letter with the sweetness of the past, she waters the seeds of joy within herself and her husband, transforming their relationship. One must acknowledge mistakes and the lack of mindfulness rather than blaming the other.

Love is the capacity of understanding. One must ask the other: “Have I made you suffer? Please help me to understand you.” The Bodhisattva with one thousand arms has an eye in each palm, symbolizing that action without understanding destroys rather than helps. Before acting in the name of love, one must ensure the eye of understanding is present. Walking meditation is a practice of stopping and settling in the present moment. True happiness is based on peace, whereas passion and excitement lack peace because they involve running after something not present. Looking deeply into the here and now reveals more than enough conditions to be happy.

To make yourself available to the person you love, free yourself from preoccupations by practicing mindful breathing to bring body and mind together. Once you have breathed in and out three times, you offer your true presence by saying, “Darling, I am there for you.” Hugging meditation involves hugging in mindfulness: breathing deeply, bowing, and recognizing that the person you love is alive in your arms. Mindfulness helps us recognize the true presence of the other, whether it is a person, the cherry blossoms, or the full moon. When presence is acknowledged, happiness arises. The second mantra is pronounced after deep concentration: “Darling, I know you are there and I am very happy.”

A true lover is capable of being aware of the suffering the other person undergoes. The third mantra relieves this suffering through true presence: “Darling, I know you suffer. That is why I am there for you.” The fourth mantra is used when you suffer, even if you believe the suffering comes from the person you love. Pride often blocks the way, but it is necessary to say: “Darling, I suffer so much. Please help.” The story of Mr. Truong illustrates the danger of wrong perception and pride. A soldier returns home, but his son refuses to call him father, claiming his daddy comes every night. The soldier’s coldness drives his wife to suicide, only for him to later realize the “daddy” was his wife’s shadow on the wall.

To restore communication, practice mindful breathing and deep listening. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara listens with calm and compassion, not to argue, judge, or blame, but solely to relieve suffering. Even when the other person speaks with anger, bitterness, or violence, mindful breathing helps retain calm. Finally, the miracle is not to walk on air or water, but to walk on earth. Walk as a free person, free from worries, the past, and the future, enjoying every step so that a lotus flower blooms with each movement.

The sound of the bell is the voice of the Buddha calling us back to our breathing. The Buddha is like a loving parent who never gets angry, and when we breathe in and out, we say “Lord Buddha, I am here.” In times of family conflict, children can help stop the difficult moment by inviting the bell or practicing the “Cake in the Refrigerator.” By announcing there is a cake and taking time to prepare it, the atmosphere changes, allowing parents and children to practice breathing and diffuse the war. Children are like flowers, and their freshness can transform the family.

Our true home is in the present moment, not the past or future. The essential practice is to stop getting lost in regrets or worries and to live deeply now. Through selective touching, we contact refreshing and healing elements like the full moon, cherry blossoms, or a cup of tea. We possess “Buddha eyes,” the energy of mindfulness that allows us to see deeply and appreciate the basic conditions of happiness already available, such as having eyes in good condition or a healthy heart. The greatest miracle is to be alive and to walk on earth, receiving the gift of twenty-four brand new hours each day.

Walking meditation is practiced with no intention to arrive, as we have already arrived in the present moment. Indoors, one step is taken with one breath, using the words “I have arrived, I am home.” Outdoors, the pace is faster, matching steps to lung capacity, such as three steps per in-breath. The practice shifts to the phrases “In the here, In the now,” which is the address of our true home. Walking mindfully on the earth is a celebration of life, capable of releasing anger and bringing peace, transforming the environment into the Pure Land.

Karma has three types: bodily action, verbal action, and mental action. A thought is an action, a seed that can produce fruit, causing the world to vibrate and affecting the moon and stars. Within karma, there is karmic cause (Hetu) and karmic fruit (Karmaphala). Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in a novel: “L’homme est la somme de ses actes,” man is the sum of his own actions. When an action of body, speech, or mind arises and leads us in the direction of suffering or happiness, that force is called leading karma. When that karma ripens and manifests fully, it is called completing karma. Alaya consciousness, or maturation consciousness, is where wholesome, unwholesome, and neutral karmas ripen, creating the totality of life like a “concoction.”

In the Sarvastivada version of the Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, there is mention of internal formations, which are blocks formed within the mind due to the contact between the six sense organs and the six sense objects. These internal formations can be painful feelings or pleasant feelings, and mind consciousness often increases their intensity. To transform them, we need to recognize the thought right in the present moment, using the light of mindfulness to shine upon it instead of pushing it away. Compared to Western psychotherapy which is only about 100 years old, meditation practice has a history of thousands of years. In the United States, the four professions that enter mental hospitals the most are:

1. Dentists
2. Lawyers
3. Doctors
4. Psychiatrists

Happiness is a collective matter, not an individual one; the practitioner needs to practice right within the family and society instead of running away. The Dharma talk analyzes the groups of mental formations:

• Four indeterminate mental formations (can be wholesome or unwholesome depending on the case): regret, sleepiness, initial application of thought, sustained application of thought.
• Wholesome mental formations: faith, shame, bashfulness, non-craving, non-anger, non-ignorance, diligence, pliancy, non-laxity.

The Four Noble Truths—suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering—are qualified as noble because the true understanding of them is holy. Looking deeply into the nature of the first truth, dukkha, naturally leads to finding the others. To cultivate this deep understanding and prevent mistaking suffering for happiness, a nine-line meditation practice is offered:

1. May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and in mind.
2. May I be safe and free from accidents.
3. May I be free from anger.
4. May I be free from unwholesome states of mind, fear, and worries.
5. May I know how to look at myself with the eyes of understanding and love.
6. May I be able to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness within myself.
7. May I learn how to nourish myself with joy each day.
8. May I be able to stay fresh, solid, and free.
9. May I not fall into the state of indifference, nor be caught in the extremes of attachment and aversion.

Peace is a practice enacted through daily activities like walking, drinking tea, and mindful breathing, which the Buddha stated prevents the body and eyes from fatigue while bringing the joy of dwelling in purity. Accidents often arise from a lack of mindfulness, where one mistakes dukkha for sukha like a fish biting plastic bait, or from internal formations like anger and fear. The Sangha offers a safety net, as seen in retreats for war veterans, where collective mindfulness prevents accidents. This meditation on love begins with oneself, as the capacity to love others depends on self-love. Once one is solid and free, the practice extends to a respected person, a neutral person, and finally a person who has caused suffering. Reconciliation is described as unilateral disarmament; by transforming anger and hatred within, one reconciles without needing the other person present.

Practicing without intelligence is likened to a story from the Sutra of One Hundred Parables, where a fool tries to cure an illness by repeating the name of a bird or eating a drawing of it, rather than making the soup prescribed by the doctor. True practice requires understanding, not mechanical repetition. Deep looking and loving kindness lead to the death of the self-centered, self-sufficient ego and the birth of a liberated self, abandoning the notions of body and lifetime. This preparation paves the way for the next Buddha, Maitreya, the Buddha of Love, who may appear not as a person, but as a Sangha.

140 years after the Buddha passed away, the Sangha divided into the Mahāsāṃghika and the Sthavira schools. According to the Northern tradition, this division stemmed from five points regarding the nature of an Arhat proposed by Mahādeva:

1. An Arhat is still subject to temptation in dreams.
2. An Arhat still has ignorance.
3. An Arhat still has doubt.
4. An Arhat needs instruction from others to know they have attained the fruit.
5. The Path is attained by an exclamation of suffering.

From the Sthavira school arose the Pudgalavāda (Personalist) school, which advocated for the existence of a self as a reaction against the dogmatic explanation of non-self. By the time of King Ashoka, the Sangha divided into the Vibhajyavāda and the Sarvāstivāda schools. We inherited the Madhyama Agama and Samyukta Agama sutras from the Sarvāstivāda, the Dirgha Agama sutra and the Four-Part Vinaya from the Dharmaguptaka, and the Ekottara Agama sutra from the Mahāsāṃghika. Vietnamese Buddhism unifies both the Northern and Southern schools, beginning with Zen Master Tang Hoi in the 3rd century, who used early Buddhist scriptures to teach in the spirit of Mahayana.

The Zen schools that were successively transmitted to and developed in Vietnam include:

1. The Vinitaruci school in 580.
2. The Vo Ngon Thong school in 820, with the Baizhang monastic code and the philosophy of farming Zen.
3. The Thao Duong school in the 11th century.
4. The Truc Lam school in the 13th century, influenced by the Linji school.
   King Tran Thai Tong once went up Mount Yen Tu to seek the Buddha but was advised by Zen Master Hien Quang to return to reign as king and practice right within daily life, marking the strong development of the philosophy of Engaged Buddhism.

The first exercise on the Four Immeasurable Minds begins with the wish for body and mind to be peaceful, light, safe, and free from accidents, anger, afflictions, fear, or anxiety. The first object of love must be oneself, because the capacity to love others depends on the capacity to love oneself. If we do not know how to love and take care of ourselves, we may become our own enemies through our daily thinking, acting, and speaking.

Practice looking back at oneself with the eyes of understanding and love, in which understanding is the key that opens the door of the heart. The practitioner needs to recognize and touch the seeds of joy and happiness, while also seeing the roots of the three poisons: craving, anger, and ignorance. When anger arises, one needs to return to guard the mind, using the energy of mindfulness to embrace and tenderly hold the anger like a mother holding her child, instead of suppressing or pushing it away.

To overcome anger toward others, the Discourse on the Simile of Water by Shariputra offers five methods of contemplation corresponding to five situations:

1. A person whose bodily actions are not pure but whose speech is pure: pay attention to the kind speech and forget the actions.
2. A person whose speech is not pure but whose bodily actions are pure: remember the kind actions and forget the speech.
3. A person whose bodily actions and speech are not pure but whose mind still possesses a little purity: look at the small positive point remaining in their heart.
4. A person whose bodily actions, speech, and mind are all not pure: give rise to compassion because they are suffering deeply and need help.
5. A person whose bodily actions, speech, and mind are all pure: take refuge in and live close to that person.

The Sangha is gathered in the Upper Hamlet on July 27, 1994.

1. How can one amend unmindful actions and abuse committed against others as a child while also healing oneself?
2. When a suffering person cannot experience a moment as wonderful, is it appropriate to change the gatha to “only moment” in order to bear witness to the suffering as it is?
3. Is it true that lessening psychological suffering can also lessen physical suffering?
4. How can we understand the suicide of family members, which seems different from dying of old age or sickness?
5. Can we learn through joy rather than suffering, and how can we tell the difference between joy and excitement?
6. When working with suffering children and people in crisis without a physical refuge or Sangha to offer them, is it okay to keep living very small without having an answer for the world?
7. How does one reconcile the precept not to criticize with the desire to speak truthfully under evaluation?
8. How can one protect oneself physically, spiritually, and mentally while hugging an attacker?
9. Is it possible for a Christian to take the Five Wonderful Precepts while still drinking wine to remain in tune with the Christian tradition?

Frederick, a talented businessman, possessed an energy that pushed him constantly toward the future and perfection, making him incapable of living deeply in the present moment. His business acted as a demanding mistress, leaving no space for his wife to be seen, understood, or loved. Driven by pride and the will to be number one, he failed to realize that while desire is unlimited, a human lifespan is limited. He died without ever resting, proving that while a position in business is replaceable, a role as a husband and father is not.

The Buddha spoke of four kinds of food that we consume. The first is edible food, which requires mindful eating to discern if it is helpful or toxic. The second is sensorial impressions, consumed through the six senses; reading a magazine or watching television can introduce toxins like fear and despair, or nutrients like compassion. The third is volition, one’s deepest desire. It is crucial to examine the nature of this desire—whether it is bodhicitta or a craving for power—as wrong desires stem from wrong perceptions and attachment to rigid ideas of happiness.

To handle the limited nature of our bodies and energy, one must learn to say no and practice specific exercises for mindful breathing:

• In, Out: Identifying the in-breath and out-breath to reclaim freedom.
• Deep, Slow: Improving the quality of breathing to bring well-being.
• Calm, Ease: Calming the body and emotions. When a strong emotion arises like a storm, one must leave the level of the brain and focus on the “trunk of the tree” below the navel (đan điền), practicing belly breathing to survive the storm.
• Smile, Release: Relaxing the three hundred facial muscles and letting go of mental grips.
• Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Establishing oneself in the here and now, the only moment life is available.

Mindful eating is practiced by focusing entirely on the food and the community, seeing a piece of carrot as an ambassador of the cosmos. By chewing carefully and maintaining silence, one avoids consuming projects or anger. This mindfulness extends to walking meditation, using the gatha “In/Out, Deep/Slow, Calm/Ease, Smile/Release, Present Moment/Wonderful Moment” to touch the miracles of life with every step.

Looking deeply into a flower reveals the presence of the cloud, sunshine, earth, minerals, time, and space. The flower is full of the cosmos and contains everything except a separate self; it must interbe with everything else. This is the meaning of emptiness. Furthermore, the fresh flower contains the garbage, and the garbage contains the flower. Just as an organic gardener transforms compost, the practitioner uses the art of meditation to transform the internal garbage of anger, discrimination, and despair into the flowers of compassion, understanding, and love.

Meditating on a sheet of paper reveals that it is a continuation of the cloud and the tree, rather than a birth from nothing. In reality, nothing is born from nothing, and something cannot be reduced to nothing; a birthday is simply a day of continuation. Understanding this nature of no-birth and no-death leads to the greatest relief of non-fear.

Nirvana is the extinction of concepts, including being and non-being, which are wrong perceptions that do not apply to reality. Just as the ideas of above and below cannot apply to the cosmos, the notions of birth and death distort the true nature of being. The practice of looking deeply dissipates these perceptions to touch reality as “suchness.” The text concludes with the story of Anāthapiṇḍika, a young businessman from Sāvatthī, who falls in love with the Buddha immediately upon hearing his name.

People often hide their suffering out of pride, and without mindfulness, these deep roots are ignored until tragedy occurs. As parents pass seeds of happiness and suffering to their children, marriage is a great responsibility that requires training to recognize these internal formations. Although partners vow to make each other happy, unseen forces often compel them to act in ways that water seeds of suffering, eventually transforming love into hate. Mindfulness reveals that responsibility is shared, as both parties have responded to pain with anger and a lack of understanding.

To restore communication, one must practice deep listening, also known as compassionate listening. Embodied by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, this practice requires listening with the sole purpose of relieving the other’s suffering, without judgment or the need to argue the truth. This creates a safe space for the other to open their heart. Understanding (prajna) is the foundation of true love (maitri and karuna); without it, love becomes a prison where the other person has no space to radiate like a flower.

Breaking the cycle of samsara—where unfulfilled parents project dreams onto children who later repeat the same patterns—requires cutting through the wheel with mindfulness. One must overcome pride and ask for help in understanding the other person, inquiring if their love has unintentionally caused suffering. Right speech, or loving speech, treats the other as a friend (mitra) and an equal. Even without formal vows, the sincere practice of mindful breathing and deep listening has the power to reconcile relationships and transform family suffering into harmony.

At age eleven, a search for a hermit on Na mountain leads to the discovery of a natural well, the water of which brings complete satisfaction. This experience illustrates the importance of being rooted in one’s spiritual tradition to truly hear and touch the soul of the world. The transmission of the six paramitas concludes with the final two pebbles. The fifth pebble represents steady growth, or diligence, involving the selective watering of positive seeds in the heart while transforming negative seeds like anger into compost. The sixth pebble represents shila, or mindfulness trainings, encompassing: protecting life, bringing social justice, not stealing, abiding by commitments, avoiding sexual misconduct, using loving speech, telling the truth, and not consuming toxins through food or media.

Consciousness is described as having a basement and a living room; feelings should not be repressed but allowed to rise and be bathed in mindfulness to restore the psyche’s circulation. Through the example of a flower, reality is shown to be full of the cosmos yet empty of a separate self, revealing that to be is to inter-be. A sheet of paper further demonstrates the nature of no birth and no death; it is a continuation of non-paper elements and cannot be reduced to nothingness. This leads to the three doors of liberation: emptiness (śūnyatā), signlessness (alakṣaṇa), and aimlessness (apraṇihita).

The talk concludes with the account of the dying lay disciple Anathapindika. The Venerable Sariputra offers him guided meditations on the Three Jewels, the six sense organs, and the elements of earth, water, fire, and air, emphasizing that one is not caught by these forms. Finally, Anathapindika is guided to meditate on the nature of no birth, no death, no being, no non-being, no coming, and no going, allowing him to touch the ultimate dimension and pass away in peace.

Consciousness consists of two levels: mind consciousness, comparable to a living room, and store consciousness. Mind consciousness is visited by mental formations, things made up of thousands of elements that reside first in the form of seeds (bīja) in the depths of consciousness. There are fifty-one mental formations, both positive and negative. When the seed of anger is watered, it manifests as a zone of energy; the practice is then to invite the energy of mindfulness to embrace this anger with tenderness, like a mother holding her baby, in a non-violent and non-dualistic way.

Mindfulness (smṛti), the Chinese character for which represents the mind returning to the present moment, allows us to wake up from the dream to touch ultimate reality and practice resurrection. Without it, we live like dead people, unable to get in touch with the wonders of life, such as the blue sky discovered by Meursault in Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Because mental formations are organic in nature, we can transform garbage like hatred into compost to nourish the flowers of understanding, through the selective watering of positive seeds.

The five elements of the human person are:

1. Form
2. Feelings
3. Perceptions
4. Mental Formations
5. Consciousness
   Meditation uses śamatha to stop and concentrate, and vipaśyanā to look deeply. This allows us to identify the immediate and distant causes of suffering, such as depression, by understanding the food that has allowed this seed to grow.

The session takes place in the Upper Hamlet on July 20, 1994.
The seed of an answer is already within ourselves, and a good question concerning daily life and suffering contains a good answer inside.

1. Why does tiredness persist despite sleeping and eating enough?
2. How is it best to deal with people who offer unsolicited advice and try to fix problems without being asked?
3. How can families and children find their role and feel accepted in a retreat environment where many adults seem unaccustomed to them?
4. What help can practice offer for obsessive fears and worries that interrupt sleep, such as the need to repeatedly check things?
5. Do residents at Plum Village share the same formal practice, and should one seek external advice on how much reading or meditation to do?
6. How can one help a young friend with terminal cancer who is in denial, angry, and refuses to tell her family or seek treatment?
7. How can practitioners maintain mindfulness and confront accelerating violence in society without falling back into old patterns upon leaving the Sangha?
8. When is it appropriate to break a marriage commitment in light of the Third Precept, given the tendency to divorce rather than resolve conflict?

True Dharma is born from touching real suffering. Anger often arises from witnessing social injustice, leading to a revolt against the creator and the question of why suffering exists. This anger is not solely a matter of the psyche but is held within the body. The dualistic view separating body and mind must be transcended to realize nama-rupa, where body and mind are one reality, much like a “wavicle” in physics. Looking deeply into suffering, such as children born crippled from the effects of Agent Orange, reveals that causes are not just physical but rooted in collective fear and human mistakes.

The story of David and Angelina serves as a meditation on relationships and habit energy. David represents the loneliness and strong habit energy that prevents communication, while Angelina is the precious person who steps into one’s life. When one lacks the understanding to care for this gift, consuming poisons and refusing to listen, Angelina is forced to leave. The practice requires asking three questions:

1. “Where is my Angelina now?”
2. “How have I treated her?”
3. “What should I do in order to bring her home again?”

Recovering this connection requires stopping to look back deeply into one’s life to recognize the damage caused to oneself and others. By burning the “incense of the heart”—the mindfulness trainings—one can call Angelina by her true name, apologize for unskillfulness, and vow to begin anew. This practice of cherishing loved ones, whether a partner, child, or teacher, provides solidity and transcends fear, even in the face of death, as illustrated by the story of Charlie Mallard.

Breathing links body and mind, realizing oneness through the practice: “I am blooming as a flower, I am fresh as the dew, I am solid as a mountain, I am firm as the earth, I am free.” Just as a cloud transforms into rain, remaining fresh and solid allows for wonderful transformation. Meditation involves calming to restore stillness and looking deeply to understand. Many escape themselves through distractions to avoid internal conflict, yet peace is buried beneath suffering. The bell of mindfulness aids in returning to one’s true home. Mindfulness is the energy of awareness, producing true presence, which is the most important gift for a beloved: “Darling, I am there for you.”

Mindfulness is used to touch the body deeply. Breathing in, one is aware of the eyes; breathing out, one smiles to the eyes. This practice applies to the heart, lungs, and liver, bringing insight that stops harmful habits. Understanding is prajñā; without it, love can destroy. Love is composed of maitrī and karuṇā. One must return to the territory of the five elements: body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. The “true person” is found by touching this deepest level of being.

Lack of mindfulness leads to ingesting toxins through the senses. The Five Wonderful Precepts protect against this. This deep looking parallels Jewish traditions and the Christian Eucharist, where the Holy Spirit is the energy of mindfulness. Reconciliation begins with oneself by touching internal peace before making peace with other groups. The nature of interbeing means nothing can be by itself; a flower must interbe with sunshine. “This is because that is,” meaning the well-being of one group depends on the well-being of others.

The second pebble is understanding (prajñā), the capacity to understand being the basis of love. When one looks deeply to understand the underlying causes of another’s behavior, such as a fever causing irritability, anger vanishes and is replaced by forgiveness. The third pebble is meditation (dhyana), which means to stop, concentrate, and look deeply, allowing for the solution to problems to reveal itself. The fourth pebble is embracing, or the unlimited heart. Like a river that remains drinkable even after receiving a handful of salt, a vast heart can accept and transform injustice and unpleasantness without suffering.

The Kingdom of God exists within the heart as a seed. Through the parable of the physician in the Lotus Sutra and the analogy of the wave and water, reality is perceived through two dimensions: the historical dimension characterized by birth and death, and the ultimate dimension of no birth and no death. Nirvana is the extinction of all notions, including being, non-being, and specific ideas of happiness. Consciousness (mūla vijñāna) acts as a storehouse for all seeds (bīja), and mental formations manifest from these seeds. There are fifty-one categories of mental formations, and the practice involves the selective watering of positive seeds to cultivate joy and transformation.

Internal formations (samyojana) are blocks of pain or knots created in relationships when mindfulness is absent. Rather than repressing suffering or venting anger, the practice is to invite pain into the living room of consciousness and embrace it with the energy of mindfulness, much like a mother holding a crying baby or sunshine penetrating a flower. Deep, compassionate listening, akin to the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, relieves the suffering of others. By turning off distractions and facing the truth of ill-being, one can transform anger into compassion with the support of a Sangha.

The practice of freedom is likened to taking refuge in a “hut among the clouds,” where personal burdens, conflicts, and worldly competitions are cast aside. By settling into this dwelling of liberty, one becomes free like a cloud, staying or traveling without constraint. Loving implies remembering the initial deep desire, or Bodhicitta, promised to oneself and the ancestors. There is no need to hurry or worry, as all conditions for realization are available in the present. Professional skills are not abandoned but transformed; an architect continues to build space and bridges between people. One must learn to flow like a drop of water in a river, establishing harmony with the group to reach the ocean, rather than maintaining private ideas of flowing alone.

Living in the Sangha is described as the safest outpost, where days are made of silver and time is valued as life itself. Intelligence alone is often insufficient to transform strong negative habit energies; a supportive community is required to protect the practitioner. To find true happiness, one must close the windows of the senses to external validation and light a fire of warmth within the inner heart. The original mind is a clear mirror that dust can never destroy. Practicing walking meditation as steps of the Golden Lotus reveals this inherent brightness, allowing one to embrace everyone with love and without effort.

Practice is a collective endeavor of building a “Spring Garden” that serves as a refuge for generations. There is no need for individual courage to confront fear or complexes; instead, one allows oneself to be transported by the boat of the Sangha. By accepting oneself and others without judgment, and performing daily actions like cooking and cleaning with the intention of building this garden, fear dissolves. The collective energy of love and compassion carries the practitioner like a current, harmonizing the historical and ultimate dimensions.

The teaching of non-self is a practical practice to overcome the idea of a “self” being locked inside sorrow or fear. There is no prisoner, only mental formations such as confusion, restlessness, or anger. Mindfulness is also a mental formation, an impermanent energy that recognizes and embraces other formations like sunshine embracing vegetation. All formations are of an organic nature; flowers become garbage, and garbage can be transformed into compost and back into flowers. By mastering the art of organic gardening within the self, negative energies are transformed into well-being, and one is no longer a victim of mental states.

Sexual energy is simply a form of energy, neither evil nor good, yet it must be handled intelligently to preserve balance. Rather than suppressing it, this energy can be transformed into diligence to support the career of a Bodhisattva and the cultivation of compassion. Indulging in sexual actions, excessive worry, or idle talk wastes vital resources. Reference is made to the Taoist understanding of the three sources of energy that must be preserved:

1. Spirit
2. Breath
3. Sex

Venting anger, such as hitting a pillow or complaining to others, does not release the energy but feeds and rehearses it. Acting out of anger, even in the name of social justice or peace, often leads to failure and further conflict. True transformation requires generating mindfulness to embrace the anger and look deeply into its nature, often revealing that the anger is born of wrong perceptions. Understanding that others suffer and act out of their own pain gives rise to compassion, which is the flower born on the heap of garbage.

A story is shared of a twelve-year-old boy climbing Na Sơn mountain to find a hermit. Instead of the hermit, a natural well is discovered, offering water so delicious it removes all craving and brings deep satisfaction. This well represents the Buddha, Jesus, or a source of peace and freshness available in the present moment. The practice of Attadīpasaraṇa, or taking refuge in the island of self, is introduced as a method to return to this source. The self is made of non-self elements, and taking refuge within allows one to touch the Three Jewels:

• Buddha is my mindfulness: The energy of being aware in the present moment.
• Dharma is my breathing: Conscious breathing that guards body and mind.
• Sangha is my five skandhas: Form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness working in harmony.

To deal with pain and anger, one must be mindful of the four kinds of nutriment: edible food, touching (sense impressions), volition (intention or bodhicitta), and consciousness (seeds in store consciousness). Healing occurs by touching positive elements to strengthen the good seeds, rather than only touching suffering which can harden the heart. When anger arises, mindfulness acts like a mother holding a baby, performing the functions of recognizing the anger, being present for it, relieving or calming it, and looking deeply into its nature.

The first touching of the earth is represented by a vertical line, symbolizing time which is made of space. In every cell of the body, all generations of ancestors—both blood and spiritual—are fully alive. Whether these ancestors are close to being perfect or far from being perfect, they are accepted, allowing the illusion of a separate self to melt away and return to the stream of life. This practice includes seeing children, grandchildren, and disciples already present in the now, making peace with the past and future.

The second touching of the earth is represented by a horizontal line, symbolizing space. This involves connecting with great beings, Bodhisattvas, and Mahāsattvas alive in the present moment to derive energy, stability, and courage. Simultaneously, one touches those who suffer, the victims of injustice, hunger, and violence, recognizing that we are both the frog swimming happily and the snake feeding on the frog. Relying on the stability of Bodhisattvas prevents burnout while embracing the suffering of the world.

The third touching of the earth is represented by a circle, the substance of the other two. This touching embraces the Three Dharma Seals:

1. Impermanence.
2. No-self.
3. Nirvana.

Nirvana is the extinction of all notions, particularly ideas of birth, death, coming, going, being, and non-being. Just as water is the ground of waves, free from the notion of high or low, Nirvana is the ground of being. Zen Master Tăng Hội taught that to touch Nirvana, one must release two notions: that this body is self, and that this lifespan is one’s lifespan. Reality is the nature of no birth and no death; as Lavoisier noted, “Nothing is born, nothing dies.” The talk concludes with the transmission of the Buddha eyes to look deeply, the Buddha feet to walk with stability, and the Buddha heart to offer love and tolerance.

Pāramitā is the practice of crossing over to the other shore, moving from the shore of irritation to the shore of peace through mindful breathing. The first pebble represents dāna, giving. Like the hẹ plant which grows stronger the more it is cut, giving one’s flowerness, a look of compassion, or mindful words enriches the giver. A powerful gift is the mantra: “Darling, I know you are there, and I am so happy.” When anger arises, rather than punishing the other, the Buddha suggests offering a gift prepared in advance, or giving the gift of listening with sympathy.

The human person is composed of five elements or skandhas, visualized as sections of an orange. The first is form, rūpa. Meditation involves scanning the body with mindfulness, smiling to the eyes, heart, and liver to offer recognition and love. Physical pain must be seen as only physical pain, avoiding the “second arrow” of fear and imagination which magnifies suffering. The second section is feelings, which flow like a river in four types: pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and mixed. Neutral feelings, such as non-toothache, non-craving, or non-anger, are states of true well-being and happiness that should be cherished.

Wrong perceptions are a primary source of suffering. To overcome pride and clarify misunderstandings when hurt by a loved one, the practice is to use the mantra: “Darling, I suffer so much. I don’t understand why. Please help. Please explain to me.” When facing strong emotions, one should not stay in the storm of the mind but return to the trunk of the body, the đan điền. By focusing on the rise and fall of the abdomen during belly breathing, stability is regained. Walking meditation is a celebration of life, allowing the old to die and the new to be born, touching the reality of no birth and no death.

A parallel supportive practice method is proposed to be practiced on a trial basis for six months between two families: the Rosebud family (young people) and the Dharma Cloud family (adults), or applied to the Rose Bush family and the Sweet Dew family. The two families practice in parallel, supporting each other based on eight principles:

1. Separate and joint activities: Each family organizes their own Dharma sharing, Beginning Anew, Tea Meditation, Walking Meditation, and Sitting Meditation in a way suitable for their age group to nourish themselves. When having joint activities, the hosting family takes full responsibility for the content and quality; the other family supports unconditionally, without criticism, helping by being present and observing the way of working.
2. Learning and Shining Light: After the day of activities, the families meet separately to review strengths and weaknesses and submit constructive feedback in writing as a collective, not using individual voices.
3. Avoid triangulation: Practice the Fourth Mindfulness Training; anyone with something unsatisfactory must directly resolve it with the other person within 24 hours, not seeking a third person to complain to or create an alliance.
4. Distribution of responsibilities: Everyone has the opportunity to practice roles such as Incense Offering and inviting the bell to learn. If the person in charge is absent, another person immediately takes their place in the spirit of collective responsibility.
5. Focus on content, not form: The activity session begins with Noble Silence to welcome guests, without reading lengthy opening speeches; the silence is only broken when Tea Meditation begins.
6. Listening and loving speech: During Dharma sharing, each person speaks for no more than 5 minutes; the facilitator uses the bell to signal.
7. Pamphlet: Each family drafts their own pamphlet with suitable language, presenting the purpose and method of practice for newcomers to grasp.
8. Family leader: Elect a virtuous person to coordinate for six months; the whole family must trust and support them completely.

The purpose of the practice is to create opportunities to understand, love, and unite more with each other through working and practicing together. The activities can include sharing life experiences, difficulties, and actual happiness of each person, helping the two generations understand and absorb each other’s insight. After six months, the families will make an evaluation report to supplement the next practice.

Pebble meditation utilizes six pebbles as friends to help cross from the shore of sorrow to the shore of well-being. While one pebble is named concentration and another giving, four specific exercises are practiced to restore flowerness and cultivate solidity:

1. Breathing in, I see myself as a flower; breathing out, I feel fresh.
2. Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain; breathing out, I feel solid.
3. Breathing in, I see myself as still water; breathing out, I reflect what is real.
4. Breathing in, I see myself as space; breathing out, I feel free.
   Inviting the bell involves waking it up to avoid doing violence to it, breathing in and out three times to calm the body and mind, and listening to the sound as the voice of the Buddha calling us back to the land of bliss.

Walking meditation is the practice of walking in the land of peace and joy in the here and the now. One method involves saying “yes, yes” to recognize the precious conditions of happiness available, such as sunshine and loved ones, and “thanks, thanks” to express gratitude. Another method applies the images of flower, mountain, water, and space to the steps, focusing on the soles of the feet massaging the earth with no intention to arrive. Eating meditation requires switching from the mode of thinking to the mode of being. By looking deeply at food, such as an orange or a string bean, it reveals itself as an ambassador of the cosmos. Chewing is done without thinking, allowing the collective energy of mindfulness to penetrate and nourish.

The Art of Mindful Living involves resisting long-standing habit energies and cultivating mindfulness to reclaim liberty. Meditation is not a battlefield of good fighting evil, but an organic process where negative formations like hate are transformed into love. This is achieved by “changing the peg,” where a positive mental formation is invited up to replace a negative one, similar to changing a television channel. Mindfulness has two aspects: first, to recognize and get nourishment from the healing elements within and around us; and second, to embrace and transform pain and suffering. Stability and freedom are the two characteristics of nirvana cultivated through these practices.

This is a unique occasion for teacher and students to sit together to practice inclusiveness (embracing all), leaving no one out, because the teaching of the World-Honored One is one of love and complete protection. Living in a community like Plum Village with 100 residents from many nations, despite small disagreements and unskillfulness, everyone still lives as a family thanks to learning how to forgive and Begin Anew. Towards students or children, one must treat them with reverence as whole human beings, as future Buddhas, because this respect nourishes love and mutual respect.

The most precious gift parents leave for their children is not money but their own happiness and harmony. Young people suffer greatly when they see that adults, whether parents or teachers in the temple, are talented and sweet but cannot live together. To resolve division and become a solid refuge, the Sangha needs to practice:

1. Beginning Anew: Frequently forgiving and apologizing for mistakes and unskillfulness so that small differences do not become major breakdowns.
2. Shining Light: Each person kneels down to ask at least six people to point out their strengths and weaknesses in order to transform, based on the tradition of the Pavarana ceremony.
3. Peace Treaty: Committing to how to behave when angry and when making others angry to protect long-term happiness.

A drop of water can never make it to the ocean alone but must go together as a river. Groups like Rosebud or Rose Bush need to sit together, combining individual talents to work as a harmonious Sangha, ending the samsāra of division and acting as a refuge for others. Just as Sariputra and Moggallana used non-violent methods to reunify the Sangha in the time of the World-Honored One, a disciple must know how to protect and nourish their teacher with the peace and solidity of the community itself.

Being rooted in one’s own tradition allows for the enjoyment of values from other cultures, whereas a lack of roots leads to wandering like hungry ghosts, starving for understanding and love. To love another, one must first learn to love and take care of oneself, transforming internal blocks of pain and anger. True love is described by maitrī, the capacity to offer joy and happiness, and karuṇā, the capacity to remove and transform pain. Both rely on prajñā, or understanding, without which love is merely desire or craving.

Meditation generates mindfulness, the energy of being truly present in the here and the now. Whether drinking tea or practicing walking meditation, uniting body and mind performs the miracle of being alive, as noted by Zen Master Linji: “The miracle is to walk on Earth.” The Bhaddekaratta Sutta teaches the art of living happily in the present moment, the only time life is available. Rather than distracting oneself from ill-being (dukkha) through television or consumption, one practices śamathā—stopping to look deeply into the situation with courage.

Mindfulness is applied to daily activities through specific methods:

• Using two hands for incense or tea to invest one hundred percent of oneself in the act.
• Telephone Meditation: Using a verse to calm the mind before dialing, and using the ring as a bell of mindfulness to breathe and smile before answering.
• Hugging Meditation: Breathing to produce true presence before embracing to acknowledge that the other is alive.
• Mantras: Pronouncing “Darling, I am here for you” to offer true presence, and “Darling, I know you are there and I am very happy” to recognize the beloved.

There are grandmothers and grandfathers in Vietnam finding ways to send tapes of Dharma talks to the West for their children and grandchildren because they earnestly want their descendants to learn the teachings of the Buddha to reduce suffering, responding to authentic needs rather than being a secret system.

1. The environment in Vietnam is being heavily destroyed; how can the Five Mindfulness Trainings be applied to protect the environment in Vietnam?
2. In the work of rebuilding the Vietnamese people, does Thay have a message for monastics, young lay friends, and Vietnamese Buddhists in general?
3. Regarding young people and their elders who want to hold on to power and position due to ambition, even though they know about freedom and democracy, what should be done?
4. Personally, what priorities does Thay have for the country and for future generations, and how does the Dharma contribute to the improvement of human beings?
5. How can we build a bridge to unite different Buddhist tendencies abroad and inside the country into one?
6. Does Thay feel he is preaching to the converted, and what does Thay plan to do to reach young people involved in gang activities who need the teachings to change their lives?
7. With readers from all different backgrounds, what would Thay want them to know if they ask the question “Who is Thich Nhat Hanh”?
8. How are the efforts to select potential monks and nuns from this retreat taking place?
9. How can heritage and tradition be preserved and continued in the next generation, helping them keep in touch with their spiritual roots and language?
10. How can Thay’s practice be used to heal the wounds of war and help Vietnamese people be liberated from fear in a concrete and practical way in daily life?

The problem is not to be or not to be, but how to be and what to be. Practicing meditation means being truly there in the present moment, uniting body and mind. Mindful breathing is a wonderful way to realize this oneness and encounter life, which is available only in the here and the now. If the present moment is missed, the appointment with life is missed. Mindfulness, or smṛti, is the energy that allows this deep presence, freeing us from the habit energies that drive us to lose ourselves in worries, the past, or the future.

A simple exercise of mindfulness involves using the breath to touch and smile to specific parts of the body. Breathing in, one becomes aware of their eyes; breathing out, one smiles to them. This generates the insight that the eyes are in good condition, opening a paradise of forms and colors, which is a basic condition for happiness. The practice extends to the heart, smiling with gratitude and making a promise to eat, drink, and work in ways that do not give the heart a hard time. Recognizing these existing conditions of happiness allows for healing and transformation.

The most precious gift to offer a beloved one is true presence, for it is impossible to love without being there. Through the concentration of body and mind—investing one hundred percent of oneself into an act like lighting incense or drinking tea—one can offer the mantra: “Darling, I am here for you.” A second mantra follows: “Darling, I know you are there. And I am very happy,” because to love means to recognize the presence of the other. Finally, mindfulness is used to embrace pain and strong emotions. All mental formations are of an organic nature; like a flower and garbage, love can turn into hate, and hate can be transformed back into love through the insight of interbeing.

Within a person, there are demonic forces and holy forces. The ghost lies within the mind, urging us to do things we do not want to do, causing destruction. That pushing energy is called habit energy, an energy of habit transmitted from many generations of ancestors and parents. Because we do not have a teacher or friends to help us control and transform it, the demonic energies of craving, anger, hatred, and suspicion grow day by day, while the capacity to love, forgive, and sacrifice becomes weaker. We must recognize that habit energy, like the story of the American practitioner who recognized the energy of rushing and hurrying inherited from her mother and smiled at it.

We seek a teacher to learn the Way and ask them to point out our weaknesses, our strengths, and our shortcomings. In the Buddhist tradition, there is the Pavarana ceremony, where monastics must find six people to shine light on their positive qualities and the shortcomings that need to be transformed. In the family, parents and children also need to ask their loved ones to shine light on them with a sincere heart. The most precious gift parents can leave for their children is their own happiness. To practice Buddhism is to find the method to recognize the forces of Mara, which is the call of craving. The four great cravings are:

1. Wealth
2. Fame
3. Sex
4. Food

The method of practice is to ask the family to support us in observing noble silence for three days. During those three days, we practice mindful breathing, working in silence, and walking meditation to stop the running of the energy of restlessness. When walking, use the gatha: “I have arrived, I am home. In the here, in the now. I am solid, I am free. I return, I take refuge.” The energy of mindfulness helps us recognize what is happening in the present moment, and recognize the ghost so that it cannot create chaos. Practicing to transform habit energy is to end samsāra for generations of ancestors and descendants.

How to establish understanding, reduce anxiety, apply meditation practice in daily life, and maintain family happiness. During the trip to India with a delegation of about thirty people, five books were published, including Old Path White Clouds. At a meeting with the Vice President of India, three concrete measures were proposed to improve the atmosphere of the parliament:

1. Read a text reminding everyone of the capacity for listening and loving speech at every opening.
2. Use the bell of mindfulness so that everyone becomes silent, stops all words, and breathes when the atmosphere becomes heated.
3. The Chairperson has the right to stop anyone using harsh language and ask them to practice breathing until they can speak gently.

The family is also a kind of parliament; if communication is blocked, happiness cannot be present. Pain and suffering crystallize into what are called internal formations, turning love into hatred and causing people to turn to the television to avoid looking at each other. To practice, we need to turn off the TV, breathe gently, and ask: “Are we happy? If not, for what reasons?” We must look deeply into the first truth, which is suffering, to find the second truth, which is the cause; from there, we see the third truth, which is happiness, and the fourth truth, which is the path to liberation from suffering. The practice of loving speech goes together with listening with compassion, just as the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara listens to the cries of suffering in the world.

Suffering is never one-sided; this is because that is; parents and children are both responsible for each other. We need to practice Beginning Anew to commit to not repeating mistakes. When irritated, practice walking meditation, taking leisurely steps to see that the miracle is to walk on the earth. Happiness is available in the present moment (dwelling happily in the present moment) through conditions such as clear eyes or a normally functioning heart. Practice the mantra: “Darling, I know you are there alive for me, and I am very happy,” or embrace your parents to nourish mindfulness.

The journey to seek the World Honored One began in childhood, passing through dangerous paths of life, the wild, and barren deserts. Despite enduring hunger and cold or suffering in the Avici Hell, a miraculous faith remained in the heart that the World Honored One is always present and the distance between the two is not more than a thousand heartbeats. After the storms of heaven and earth, the late moon appears bringing peace, reflecting oneself in the moon mirror to see the undying smile of the World Honored One, who sits there solid as Mount Sumeru. The World Honored One is the pristine first love, the ever-fresh stream of spiritual life, the substance of peace, solidity, and freedom that needs to be nourished and transmitted to all species.

The poem “Butterflies over the Golden Mustard Fields” evokes the image of a mother calling her child back to the warm hearth, where time—ten years, twenty years, or thirty years—does not take away the fluttering butterfly in the ancient garden. Happiness is not built with mortar and bricks but comes from becoming a flower and a smile, being part of the miraculous existence. We have been present together since ancient times, drinking from the same clear fragrant well, and there is no need to depart for anywhere because the homeland of childhood is still beautiful and present right today. Please let no one violate it so that the singing still resounds like the murmuring stream and the bright moon.

The marriage between a groom of Catholic roots and a bride of Buddhist roots is a major step forward, proving that love can transcend religious barriers to achieve success. Buddhism and Christianity did not come into existence to separate or cause suffering to human beings; a narrow-minded attitude is not in accord with the spirit of the founders of these traditions. The Dharma talk clearly distinguishes between two terms: solitude and loneliness. Solitude is the capacity to live alone, knowing how to return to the present moment to get in touch with the wonders of life and enrich one’s inner life. Without the capacity for solitude, the life of living together (living as two) will become impoverished because there is nothing to offer each other, leading to boredom and loneliness even while living together.

The secret to happiness is to enrich oneself every day with spiritual capital so that love becomes sustainable. Human beings can inherit a “double culture” or two spiritual roots, for example, being both Vietnamese and American, or practicing Buddhism while preserving Christian roots. A person with two roots will be richer than a person with only one. The younger generation has the mission to dismantle the barriers of separation and heal the wounds of humanity, as described in the poem Needle and Thread by Xuan Dieu, consisting of 16 words: “Bound by barbed wire, the borders bleed. The pain of separation, how can one bear it for eternity?”

The final part consists of Plum Village songs, which include specific practice contents:

1. The Two Promises: I promise to open my heart of love and seek ways to protect life; I promise to open my heart of understanding to be able to love and live together with everyone and every species.
2. The Three Jewels: Returning to take refuge in the Buddha (the one who shows the way), taking refuge in the Dharma (the path of love and understanding), and taking refuge in the Sangha (the community living in mindfulness).

In 16th-century Vietnam, the scholar Tu Uyen, though intelligent and talented, lived a lonely and unhappy life due to his hot temper. After marrying Giang Kieu, a beauty who stepped out of a painting, their happiness did not last long because Tu Uyen suffered from three major shortcomings:

1. Drinking alcohol to excess, losing clarity, and often scolding and beating his beloved.
2. Being unable to listen to others, thinking that he knew everything.
3. Not knowing how to speak gently and softly (lacking Right Speech), often using harsh words when angry.

When Giang Kieu left, Tu Uyen, in despair, sought to end his life but suddenly remembered the Dharma teaching on the five kinds of incense: the incense of precepts, the incense of concentration, the incense of insight, the incense of liberation, and the incense of liberation of knowledge and views. He realized that to light the true “heart incense,” he had to keep the precepts, specifically by not drinking alcohol and not using harsh speech. Thanks to looking deeply, repenting, and Giving Rise to Our Aspiration to practice, Tu Uyen was able to transform himself and regain his happiness.

Everyone has a Tu Uyen inside, and the Giang Kieus are the parents, spouses, children, or friends around us. To preserve happiness and not cause our beloved to leave, we need to practice the Three Refuges, the Five Precepts, and the practice of deep listening and loving speech of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. This morning, about 100 English people made the vow to receive the precepts, reminding Vietnamese people to cherish and practice the spiritual heritage of their ancestors to protect family happiness.

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.

Pāramitā means crossing over, crossing over to the other shore of suffering right in the present moment. Practicing Kṣānti Pāramitā (the Perfection of Inclusiveness) is not about gritting your teeth to suppress or repress (refouler), because repression will lead to an explosion (le retour du refoulé). In Vietnamese, Nhẫn is understood as chịu đựng (endurance). Chịu means accepting the truth so that the mind can have peace. Đựng is the capacity of the mind to contain; the larger the mind, the smaller the suffering, just like a large river that can receive filth yet the water remains drinkable, unlike a small bowl of water.

To practice is to make the capacity of the heart grow larger every day, called the great capacity of inclusiveness. Elders (parents, teachers, older siblings) must have a large capacity to embrace those below them, as Nguyen Du wrote: “Only by embracing those below does one show superior capacity.” In the teacher-student relationship, the teacher needs to have authority (thanks to precepts and mindful manners) accompanied by grace (kindness, inclusiveness). Inclusiveness helps the practitioner face and untie the four greatest sicknesses of human life using the substance of understanding and love:

1. The sickness of death: Everyone carries the sickness of death; we need to touch the ultimate dimension to see that birth and death are only waves and we are the water, attaining immeasurable life.
2. The sickness of birth: Where there is birth, there is death; the goal is to be liberated from birth and death to attain the state of no-birth, as Tue Trung Thuong Si said: “Birth and death press in on each other, but how can they harm me?”
3. The sickness of old age: Old age is inevitable; instead of resisting, use looking deeply to transcend it, just as Zen Master Huyen Quang borrowed the plum blossom to relieve the sickness of old age.
4. The sickness of sickness: The fact that humans can always fall ill; we need to get used to it, embrace it, and not pray for the absence of sickness to avoid craving.

Communication is essential for harmony and happiness, yet it has become difficult between family members and even within oneself. To restore and nourish these relationships, one practices compassionate listening, the art of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. This listening is not for criticizing or judging but has the sole intention of relieving the other person’s suffering. Mindful breathing is used to maintain compassion while listening, ensuring that irritation or anger does not arise. When struck by strong emotions like fear or despair, one should not remain at the level of thinking—the swaying branches of a tree in a storm—but bring attention down to the navel, the trunk of the tree, to find stability.

The practice of Touching the Earth helps cultivate peace and reconciliation. In the first prostration, one connects with blood and spiritual ancestors as well as descendants, accepting their imperfections and seeing oneself as a continuation of the stream of life. In the second prostration, one connects with all people and living beings in the present moment. This involves looking deeply to see oneself as both the victim and the oppressor—the girl on the boat and the sea pirate—fostering compassion for all, while also touching the stability and freedom of great beings around us.

To maintain true presence and prevent pride from destroying happiness, four mantras are practiced with the beloved:

1. “Darling, I am here for you,” offering the gift of true presence.
2. “Darling, I know you are there, and I am very happy,” acknowledging and appreciating the other’s existence.
3. “Darling, I know you suffer. That is why I am here for you,” making oneself available when the beloved is in pain.
4. “Darling, I suffer. Please help,” overcoming pride to ask for support when hurt by the person one loves most.

Additionally, a Peace Treaty helps resolve conflict. This agreement involves not suppressing anger but communicating it calmly within twenty-four hours, either verbally or through a written peace note, to restore harmony within the Sangha.

Using incense is a means of communication with ancestors, the Buddha, and loved ones. In the story of David, he attempts to communicate with Angelina by burning physical incense, but she does not appear until he remembers the heart incense. There are five kinds of incenses of the heart:

1. The incense of the precept: concrete manifestations of mindfulness, such as deep listening and loving speech, to avoid creating suffering.
2. The incense of concentration: living deeply every moment to see things clearly.
3. The incense of insight: shining the way near and far.
4. The incense of liberation: being no longer caught by anger or hatred.
5. The incense of the fruit and the flowers of liberation: the nourishment that relieves suffering.

When David burns these incenses from his heart, Angelina returns, and they support each other in practice. Through the balm of compassion and understanding, communication is restored with family, friends, and teachers. The deepest aspiration is not to hold a high position or make money, but to be really happy and share that happiness. Transformation takes place through practice; for some, it is short, while others need more time and the embrace of love and patience. Patience is the sign of true love.

If you practice the Dharma, you get the kind of energy described as faith. Faith in a Buddhist context is not a notion or an idea, but the fruit of practice. It provides the energy to stand firm in the face of difficulty and prevents being drowned in the ocean of despair and suffering.

When experiencing anger, sadness, or bitterness, there are eight specific inquiries regarding what is needed from others:

1. Do you want to be alone?
2. Do you want them to comfort you?
3. Do you want them to listen to you?
4. Do you want them to understand you?
5. Do you want them to ask you questions?
6. Do you want them to tell you what to do?
7. Do you want them to get angry back at you?
8. Do you want them to explain everything to you?
   The responses indicate a fundamental desire for comfort, listening, and understanding, while rejecting questions, instructions, retaliation, or explanations.

Keeping communication alive is the most important practice; it is a life vest that prevents drowning in the ocean of suffering. When anger arises, touching and talking become difficult, marking the beginning of hell. Parents and children must maintain this conversation, sharing their difficulties and suffering to allow for mutual understanding and healing. To resolve conflict, one must look deeply into the nature of suffering and how it has been nourished. Everything is food—television, books, and conversations—and ingesting toxins feeds the internal blocks of pain. Recognizing the First Noble Truth of suffering leads to the Second Noble Truth, seeing the causes of that suffering in what has been consumed.

Communication skills alone are insufficient without a transformation at the base (āśraya-parāvṛtti). True restoration of relationships requires compassionate listening, where the sole intention is to relieve the other’s suffering without judgment or reaction. Reconciliation with parents, even those who have passed away, is possible by realizing that the transmitter, the object transmitted, and the receiver are one; we are the continuation of our ancestors. The practice of the Three Prostrations aids in accepting all ancestors and descendants, regardless of imperfections. By visualizing oneself as a vulnerable five-year-old child, and seeing one’s parents also as fragile five-year-old children, the energy of compassion is born, breaking the cycle of samsara.

Paradise, the Pure Land, is either present now or it will never be present. When sitting in stillness, with no craving or longing in our hearts, we can touch the wonders of life, the Buddha Land, Nirvana, and the Kingdom of God. If there is still craving, body and mind cannot stop in the present moment to see the marvelous beauty that is available. Every moment, whether it is the sound of falling rain or golden sunshine, is a wonder. All things and humans go through the process of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, and it is thanks to that nature that all things become a wonder. The secret of meditation practice is stopping, it is shamatha. A restless person keeps running in circles and cannot get in touch with life. To enter the Kingdom of God or the Pure Land, we must be very alive and present in the here and the now.

True happiness is based on peace, whereas sensual pleasure is just a burning fire, a fever. Nirvana is a state of coolness, refreshing peace. Life is not measured by time; living deeply for one moment is better than living 100 years without mindfulness. Even if we only have 10 days left to live, those 10 days are very worth living. When we practice the 10 mindful movements, not only us but the air, the water, and the plants are also practicing with us. Buddhism is the path of awakening; we only need to wake up and everything is sufficient; this is called sudden awakening. The most precious gift we can offer our beloved is our understanding and our own capacity for happiness.

The career of a practitioner is to practice peace and joy, stopping to have peace and looking deeply to have vipassanā. The phrase “Be still and know” corresponds to stopping and looking deeply: stopping to hear the wondrous sounds of Nirvana, listening to the wind blowing through the trees like the voice of the Buddha speaking about:

1. The Four Noble Truths
2. The Four Establishments of Mindfulness
3. The Noble Eightfold Path

In terms of feelings, there are three types: unpleasant feelings, pleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. A holy person also has these feelings like an ordinary person, but the difference lies in the way of receiving and handling them so that the pain stops at the minimum level. In the Samyukta Agama Sutra, the Buddha taught about the second arrow: when struck by one arrow (physical pain), if we add fear, anger, and imagination, it is like shooting ourselves with a second arrow right into the old wound, making the pain increase ten or thirty times. We need to recognize the pain, smile to it, and see clearly its nature of impermanence so as not to magnify it and cause ourselves more suffering.

Ignorance gives rise to craving (Tanha), which includes three types: craving for sensual satisfaction, craving for existence, and craving for non-existence. To escape and cover up the pain and inner emptiness, people often plunge into the deep oceans full of undercurrents, sea monsters, and storms of the six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind) or run after the five sensual desires:

1. Wealth (money).
2. Form/Beauty (sex).
3. Fame (reputation).
4. Food (eating).
5. Sleep (resting).

Seeking relief through sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or alcohol is actually just a way to cover up the wounds in the heart, making people suffer more the more they seek to cover it up. We are often contradictory when we both detest the current state of suffering, yet do not dare to change and keep clinging to that painful existence (bhava).

The initial mind of a practitioner is the mind of understanding and love; happiness depends entirely on the quality of these two substances within us. The reason we still suffer is because we lack understanding and love, and because the seeds of anger, suspicion, and jealousy within us are too strong. Instead of blaming others, the practitioner needs to recognize three essential points to reduce suffering and maintain faith on the path of practice:

1. Suffering originates from the seed of suffering within oneself; the other person is not the main cause.
2. We are not solely responsible for that seed; it has also been transmitted and watered by ancestors, grandparents, parents, and society.
3. When mindfulness intervenes, suffering and anger will certainly decrease, even if only by 1%, 2%, 5%, or 10%.

The teachings of the Buddha have the nature of Sanditthika (directly visible here and now) and Akalika (timeless), meaning they bring peace immediately when practiced rather than promising happiness in the future. Mindfulness is the only method to embrace and to transform pain. We do not need an external judge to pass judgment, because the Buddha within will witness whether or not we nourish mindfulness in daily life, from washing dishes and cooking rice to being in the restroom.

Individual happiness is intimately linked to the happiness of the Sangha; there cannot be a separate, private future because the future is made of the present. The practice is based on the principle of non-duality, accepting that both the good and the evil, the love and the hate are oneself, in order to arrive at reconciliation. When facing conflict, we practice the insight: “You are me, and the other person is also me” so that there is no longer opposition and tearing apart internally as well as within the community.

A ninety-year-old gentleman asks where he will go after he dies, and the answer is that he is not going anywhere. While popular Buddhism teaches of birth, death, coming, and going, deep Buddhism reveals there is no birth, no death, no coming, and no going. It is impossible for something to come from nothing. Looking deeply into a sheet of paper reveals that before it was born, it was a tree or paper paste. It is impossible to reduce the paper to nothingness, just as a cloud does not die but transforms into rain.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara offers the gift of non-fear through the Heart Sutra, which teaches that reality is beyond birth and death. This insight is crucial when supporting a dying person. When a man named Albert was in a coma, he was reminded of his life’s happy events and his work for peace and reconciliation, including his efforts in Rome with Catholic priests supporting Buddhist monks in Vietnam. Upon hearing these memories, he briefly awoke to say “Wonderful, Wonderful” before passing away peacefully.

Everything has the nature of no birth and no death; there is only manifestation. When something manifests, it does not mean it suddenly exists, and when it does not manifest, it does not mean it has ceased to exist. This is explained through the concept of hiện hành (manifestation). Like a radio set that allows music to manifest, the music exists even when the radio is not turned on. When conditions are sufficient, seeds manifest. This teaching on the nature of no coming and no going is available in the Majjhima Nikāya sutra number 143.

The energy of mindfulness nourishes us, heals our wounds, and transforms suffering. It is the capacity to be aware of what is going on in the present moment, whether drinking water or contemplating the moon. Without mindfulness, life passes like a dream, and we miss our appointments with life and the people we love. To visit the Pure Land or see the beauty of the Buddha Land, one must bring mindfulness to see the trees, flowers, and Bodhisattvas. In daily life, we often live in forgetfulness, lost in the past, future, or our worries. Mindfulness brings us back to the here and now, allowing us to offer our true presence as the most precious gift to our beloved.

To cultivate this energy and restore communication and happiness, there are three mantras to practice. The first mantra is: Darling, I am there for you. By practicing mindful breathing, you free yourself from preoccupations to become fully available. The second mantra is: Darling, I know you are there and I am very happy. This recognizes the presence of the other—whether a person, the full moon, or a flower—which brings happiness to both the recognizer and the recognized. Mindfulness also acts as a gatekeeper for consumption, helping us decide what to eat, watch, or discuss, preventing the intake of toxins found in food, television, books, magazines, and conversations that create internal war and despair.

Suffering often arises from an inability to listen and communicate, leading to irritation and anger. We must practice compassionate listening, akin to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, listening without judgment solely to relieve the other’s pain. Love requires understanding; without it, love becomes a prison. We often harbor wrong perceptions, illustrated by the tragedy of a husband who mistook his wife’s shadow for a secret lover because he let pride prevent him from asking for the truth. To avoid such suffering, we must check our perceptions and use the third mantra: Darling, I suffer so much. Please help. In true love, there is no place for pride. By going home to ourselves and harmonizing our internal elements, we cease the war within and can truly accept and love others.

The session takes place in May 2000 in the Lower Hamlet.

1. When powerful and disturbing things arise in the mind during mindfulness practice, where does one start to look at and accept these feelings in order to transform them?
2. How can one respond to family members who believe that the practice community is a sect?
3. Can you explain the concept of true self in relation to mental illness, particularly when the illness renders the practices unavailable?
4. Is there a tradition in Buddhism similar to the Christian ritual of receiving the Holy Ghost through the laying on of hands?
5. Do the categories of the sacred and the profane apply to marriage, and is it possible to love a partner and family with equanimity and without attachment?
6. Since looking deeply into a vegetable reveals the compost and life cycle involved in its growth, does eating vegetarian still involve killing, and how does this differ from eating animals?
7. How can one handle the anxiety of returning to a family dynamic where a mother is suffering in her relationship with a stepfather, making it difficult to feel compassion for him?

When astronauts look at the Earth from space, they see it is very beautiful because it is fragile, but human beings often forget to cherish what is present; only when separated do they feel love. Many people regret being born 2,600 years after the World-Honored One, but in reality, many who lived at the same time and served as His attendants still felt resentment and left. The World-Honored One sometimes admonished, or even sent away 300 monks because they were as noisy as a fish market, but that admonition was based on love and the desire for a pure Sangha. Spatial and temporal distance cannot prevent a meeting if there are sufficient conditions, whereas without conditions, even sitting opposite each other, one does not see the other.

We often live with mental images and accumulated concepts instead of touching reality. For example, we see a star as a small speck of light, but science sees it as a massive ball of fire thousands of light-years away. The practice is to shatter wrong perceptions in order to discover:

• Original face: one’s true face.
• The true person of no rank: the true person without a position. Zen Master Linji once declared this concept to be a “stick of dried dung” to prevent disciples from seeking it through the intellect.
• True nature: the true nature of the object, unobscured by the creations of the mind (mental constructions).

Suffering and war, as in Vietnam, arise because humans stick labels (such as Communist, American puppet) on one another to destroy the label without seeing the real human being. The play “The Path of Return Continues the Journey” recounts the story of five workers from the School of Youth for Social Service who were unjustly shot and killed simply because they were wrongly labeled. The purpose of looking deeply is to remove these labels; just walking one-third of the way and removing some illusions, we already have a lot of happiness.

Searching for your true nature is the practice of getting rid of mental constructions, labels, and wrong perceptions accumulated over time. It is not about bringing something in, but taking things out, similar to the Ajanta Caves where temples are created by removing rocks rather than adding materials. To see the true nature, one must destroy the block of ignorance, sometimes requiring drastic means like the advice of Master Linji to “kill the Buddha” to shatter the mental notion of the Buddha. True study involves throwing away wrong understanding rather than accumulating intellectual luggage, which only makes the self heavier.

The wisdom of non-discrimination removes the three kinds of complexes: the complex of superiority, the complex of inferiority, and the complex of being equal. These are all built on the notion of self. This wisdom is illustrated by the right hand and the left hand; the right hand is never proud and instantly cares for the left hand if hurt, knowing they belong to the same body. The Sangha is an organism, and realizing this wisdom brings immeasurable happiness.

Ly means to abandon or let go, and Định means concentration. Ly sinh hỷ lạc: from the practice of letting go are born joy and happiness. Định sinh hỷ lạc: from the practice of concentration are born joy and happiness. Concentration keeps the awareness of conditions for happiness—like the blue sky or a loved one—alive in the here and the now. The practice of aimlessness, or la pratique de la non-poursuite, reminds us that we do not need to run or search, as the present moment contains all the wonders of life. “This is it.”

Thich Nhat Hanh addresses a gathering at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, hosted by Action for Happiness. He speaks on the necessity of generating love and compassion to heal suffering, particularly for the younger generation, and introduces the practice of mindful breathing and the insight of interbeing to transform suffering into happiness.

1. How can a business based on financial desire be helped to be less desirous and more happy without being considered unsuccessful?
2. How can those driving transformational change balance awakening themselves with helping others, and is a collective awakening possible in time to avoid environmental and social collapse despite government resistance?
3. How can a young person addicted to drugs or alcohol find love for themselves when their actions cause self-hatred?
4. What advice is there for politicians and educators on how best to spread mindfulness and motivate children to learn its benefits?
5. How can the difference between consciousness and observing consciousness within the five aggregates of clinging be explained?
6. How can humans overcome the fear of the future lived through the past when previous love, compassion, and reconciliation have been betrayed?
7. How can teachers and children come to recognize each other’s suffering without causing extreme embarrassment?
8. What exactly is meant by the instruction to understand our suffering?
9. Given the negative signs regarding the environment and leadership, what will trigger a spiritual revolution and the understanding that change is necessary?
10. What is the place of competition in this philosophy and belief?
11. Is there a compassionate way to help trigger awareness in those who are suffering but are unwilling to begin the journey or talk about their pain?
12. Could the famous bell in this building be used to help the noisier members come back to themselves and practice loving speech?

The Sangha is gathered in England with almost four hundred people practicing mindfulness.

1. How do you deal with the pain when your loved one just turns their back on you and walks out of your life?
2. How can you talk to someone who is not open to the words that you want to say and cannot face what is inside them?
3. Do we all embody in our past life some form of evil, and is retribution correct if someone is not good in this life?
4. Can we remain a Jew or a Christian by practicing Buddhist meditation or practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings?
5. When one feels totally alienated from the institution and beliefs of the Irish Catholic Church but feels very close to the Buddha, how does one deal with the vulnerability of not being able to go back to one’s roots?
6. From your point of view, how do you view the concept of God or higher power, and how do you see the role of prayer?
7. Is it possible to receive and practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings without formally participating in the ceremony of transmission?

What should I do when I feel afraid everywhere I go, and even hearing noises or watching television makes me fearful and my mind cannot be at peace?
Please teach me a method to concentrate the mind during sitting meditation when my mind is often agitated and unstable.
Why is it that when I solemnly try to bring my mind into mindfulness, I am unable to bring it back?
Please explain the different states experienced during sitting meditation, such as seeing a soft light or feeling a pulling sensation at the crown of the head that makes the mind silent.
How can I transform the habit of comparing and calculating when working with others, even though I have practiced looking and smiling but have not yet succeeded?
Why do I always feel so sleepy when chanting or reading books?
Why do I feel pain during sitting meditation, which only goes away when I feel as if a small child is hugging me or lingering near my left hand?
How can I reduce my anger, practice patience, and speak gently to my three daughters instead of scolding them all day?
When I achieve a little silence during sitting meditation but then generate the thought “I am being silent,” does that cause me to lose that silence?
Is there a method to help reduce anger and jealousy toward colleagues while working?
What criteria can be used to know if someone is speaking correctly about the Buddha Dharma?
Please suggest a method to calm my mind when, while reading sutras, frightening images of the invisible world intrude and disturb me.
What conditions or principles are there to maintain harmony in a large Sangha and for a person to be accepted into that Sangha?
Please help me with a method to improve my sitting meditation; I am fine when reading sutras, but whenever I sit in meditation, I feel pushed and unsettled.
What should we do when the whole family reads sutras, but our 20-year-old child does not believe in it and feels forced?
How can I encourage my children to go to the temple to bow to the Buddha when they believe in the Buddha Dharma but refuse to go when I try to take them?
Why do I get so emotional and want to cry, unable to speak, every time I am angry and want to scold my children?
Why is it that after understanding the self and no longer arguing to win or lose, I still feel suffering in my heart due to suppressing my anger?
How should I act to guide my children when they integrate into Western life and may encounter religious differences when they start a family?
How can I find myself again when I feel dispersed between helping others and my own happiness?
How can I harmonize two lives: one being happiness with my family, and the other being work and German friends where it is difficult to introduce the Buddha Dharma?
Why do I feel very uneasy in my heart, as if everything is incomplete and language is insufficient?
How can I explain to my parents so they will stop worrying excessively about my health?

The World Honored One taught that whenever four or more people come together to live and practice the path of precepts, concentration, and insight, the Buddha is present. Coming from many different directions, the community lives as a Sangha, going as a river and operating like a beehive to continue wisdom and love. With the signless eye, the presence of the World Honored One is seen in every moment of daily life.

Realizing this presence brings great happiness. A vow is made to practice in such a way that brings the Buddha to many people and species, sharing peace and happiness in order for suffering to stop. The Sangha body is the true body. Breathing in, the Sangha body is seen breathing in. Breathing out, the Sangha body is seen smiling. Unifying the whole being in mindfulness, the joy of living becomes possible for every species.

Suffering plays a very important part in making happiness; where there is no mud, there is no lotus. The Kingdom of God is not a place without suffering, but a place where people know how to make good use of suffering to create understanding and love. In relationships, we must help each other understand the suffering inside of us by practicing compassionate listening. Listening to another person for one hour with the sole intention of helping them suffer less requires keeping compassion alive in the heart to protect against irritation and anger. Loving speech is then used to restore communication and reconcile, admitting that we have reacted badly because we did not understand the other person’s difficulties, and asking for their help to understand what is in their heart.

When coming home to the body, there may be tension, stress, and pain. The fourth exercise of mindful breathing is to allow the body to release this tension. It is possible to release tension in all the four positions of the body:

1. Sitting
2. Walking
3. Standing
4. Lying down

Mindful walking allows every step to release tension and bring healing. By stopping thinking and getting in touch with the wonders of life available in the here and the now—such as the blue sky, white clouds, and the people around—we are nourished and transformed. Walking like a free person, free from sorrow about the past and fear of the future, allows us to enter the Kingdom of God. The sunshine, the clouds, flowers, and our own bodies all belong to this Kingdom. We have more than enough conditions of happiness available right now; recognizing them causes joy to be born immediately. Breathing in, we say “I have arrived,” and breathing out, “I am home.” The Kingdom of God is our home, just as the ocean is the home of the waves, and the waves do not need to search for the ocean because they have the ocean within themselves.

March 26, 2011, at Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University in Bangkok, Thailand: a 97-minute Dharma talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, given in English with consecutive translation into Thai, during the Understanding Our Mind retreat.

Thay offers a lesson on inviting and listening to the bell, a practice that generates the energy of mindfulness and concentration. He guides practitioners in walking and eating meditation, and begins discussion on vijnaptimatrata (Manifestation Only) and the Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu.

The talk continues with an exploration of manifestation, subject and object, mental formations, body, mind, and consciousness, key themes of Buddhist psychology.

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

The Ten Ox Herding Pictures illustrate the journey of practice. In the first drawing, the buffalo boy looks for his beloved buffalo. In the third, the boy rediscovers the buffalo. In the fourth, the boy rides the buffalo. In the fifth, the boy nourishes the buffalo with love and tenderness. In the sixth, both look relaxed with absolute freedom. In the next drawing, only the boy remains as the buffalo becomes one with him. In the following drawing, even the boy is gone, representing utmost emptiness. In the ninth, the buffalo sits by the source of a stream. In the tenth, the buffalo goes into town, doing what everyone else does. Meditation is not something in the sky, but the actions of daily life. Performing acts like drinking or kissing with total concentration may resemble a ritual, but it is actually living the moment deeply. The “buffalo boy” is the energy of mindfulness that helps navigate feelings towards rituals and precepts, which are designed to ensure safety and freedom rather than impose restrictions.

Buddhist meditation involves Samatha (stopping, calming) and Vipasyana (deep looking), leading to Prajna (understanding). Three Bodhisattvas represent the aspects of mindfulness required for true practice: Manjushri embodies deep looking and understanding; Avalokiteshvara represents the capacity of deep listening to understand suffering; and Samantabhadra symbolizes great action to relieve suffering. Without the energy of mindfulness, activists risk burnout, but with it, one practices engaged Buddhism. Deep listening requires emptying oneself of judgment and prejudice to help relieve the suffering of others, who may be like “bombs” ready to explode due to a lack of communication.

Society produces “hungry ghosts” (Pretas), described as having mouths on fire, big bellies, and throats as small as needles, making them unable to absorb love or nutrition. While tantric rituals use mantras to expand their throats, helping real-world hungry ghosts requires patience, trust, and a supportive Sangha acting as a family. Transforming relationships requires recognizing that parents who cause suffering were once fragile five-year-old children themselves. By touching this vulnerability, compassion arises, allowing for the restoration of communication and happiness through the practice of deep listening and loving speech.

Peace is always present inside and outside, yet it must be touched to be realized. Using mindful breathing to touch the heart brings comfort and relief, acknowledging its ceaseless work to preserve well-being. This act serves as a promise to eat, drink, and work in a way that preserves the heart’s condition. Touching the eyes reveals the paradise of forms and colors available in the present, while touching the liver allows for reconciliation with the body and an understanding of its suffering. Reconciling with the body and feelings is necessary to end the internal war that fuels conflict with others, as daily life often waters seeds of violence and fear.

The energy of mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of what is going on in the present moment, allowing for deep looking and listening. This energy is the foundation of true love; the most precious gift one can offer is their true presence, which soothes the suffering of beloved ones without the need for words. Mindfulness is the energy that makes a Buddha and is equivalent to the Holy Spirit, serving as the door to the Kingdom of God or nirvāṇa.

Reality consists of the historical dimension, likened to a wave with a beginning and end, and the ultimate dimension, the water itself. Touching the ultimate dimension in the here and now brings the gift of non-fear, removing the fear of death. Teachings are merely a raft to cross the river or a finger pointing to the moon; one must not be caught in concepts or dogmas, even to the point of “killing the Buddha” to allow the true Buddha to manifest.

The energy of mindfulness and deep listening helps heal pain and tension in the body, while simultaneously transforming suffering. Spiritual practice should begin when one is young, like the kings of the Tran Dynasty, to bring happiness and solidity to oneself and the country. The story of the student Tu Uyen and the beauty in the painting, Giang Kieu, illustrates loneliness, despair, and The Path of Transformation. When one loses a beloved due to a dissolute and hot-tempered lifestyle, the correct method of Incense Offering becomes a bridge to re-establish communication.

Incense Offering does not require much, just one stick is enough, but it must be heart incense or precept incense, performed with concentration and the full investment of body and mind in every gesture. The Five Precepts are the foundation of precept incense to communicate with the Buddhas and our beloved:

1. Seeking ways to protect the lives of all beings.
2. Not cheating, stealing, or deceiving.
3. Not engaging in sexual misconduct, breaking up families, or damaging others’ reputations.
4. Not cursing, lying, or speaking with a double tongue.
5. Not getting drunk, drinking alcohol, or using drugs.

Everyone has a “Giang Kieu” in their life—parents, spouses, or children—those who have come into our lives with great love and affection. We need to recognize and cherish their presence through a mindful way of life, upholding the precepts so as not to cause suffering and regret, and to ensure that happiness is always present.

To practice as a bell master, one bows to the bell, holding it like a jewel in the heart of a lotus flower. A specific verse is memorized to coordinate with the breath: Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with the sound of this bell. May all those who listen to me awaken from their forgetfulness and transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow. A half sound is produced first to allow listeners to prepare by stopping thinking and returning to the breath. The full sound follows, offering an opportunity to enjoy breathing in and out three times, silently reciting: I listen, I listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home. This is repeated for three full sounds, bringing peace to the family morning and evening.

The first exercise of mindful breathing is to recognize the in-breath and out-breath. The second exercise is to follow the breath all the way through, without forcing it to be long or short. In walking meditation, this can be practiced by taking steps while breathing, using the phrases This is it for the in-breath and No seeking anymore for the out-breath. The third exercise is to become aware of the whole body, bringing the mind home to the body to be established in the here and the now. The fourth exercise is to release tension in the body. Mindfulness is used to scan the body like a farmer recognizing seeds, embracing specific parts like the eyes, heart, or liver to soothe pain and accelerate healing.

The fifth and sixth exercises are generating a feeling of joy and generating a feeling of happiness. A practitioner is a maker of joy and happiness, which is achieved through letting go of ideas about what is required to be happy. By recognizing the countless conditions of happiness already available—such as having eyes in good condition or a functioning heart—mindfulness becomes a source of happiness. Concentration is the third source of energy; drinking tea or brushing teeth with mindfulness and concentration allows one to be established in the present moment.

The history of Buddhism from 1964 to 1999 is a significant subject, yet the immediate work of helping those who suffer takes precedence over historical documentation. While many spend years obtaining a university diploma, it is often more vital to invest time in restoring communication and happiness with loved ones. Instead of writing books about others, one is encouraged to “write a book on oneself” by transforming into a free, happy person. When direct dialogue is difficult due to irritation, writing a letter becomes a crucial practice. This letter employs the language of loving kindness, admitting the possibility of wrong perceptions and asking for correction. It acknowledges the other person’s suffering and its roots in ancestral habit energy. Before sending, the letter should be reviewed by a Dharma brother or sister to ensure the language is calm and the insight is deep.

Writing such a letter, or creating art, is not limited to the time spent at a desk; the work is produced while watering vegetables, walking, or cooking for the community. Just as growing lettuce is essential for writing poetry, living deeply in every moment of daily life allows insight and compassion to bloom. Enlightenment is not separated from dishwashing. A true love letter is made of the insight and compassion cultivated during these daily acts, capable of producing transformation within oneself and the other person.

Hell is created by the mind, and only the mind can destroy it. This is illustrated by the story of David, a wealthy but egoistic young man unable to maintain relationships due to his arrogance and tendency to blame his parents. After a miraculous encounter with a woman named Angelina who comes to life from a painting, he eventually loses her because of his inability to listen or love. On the verge of despair, he remembers to burn the “incense of the heart”—the incense of mindfulness, the incense of śīla (precepts), the incense of concentration, and the incense of insight. Through this practice, he discovers his own responsibility for his suffering, sheds tears of repentance, and commits to Beginning Anew, allowing for the return of happiness.

Point Five of the Manifesto 2000 addresses the environment. An environmentalist who is full of anger and pollutes himself with nicotine and hatred cannot succeed, because the base of operation is oneself. Many take refuge in drugs, alcohol, consumption, television, and work to avoid the suffering, lack of peace, and the internal “film” of impermanence. Freedom of expression must go together with a sense of responsibility, not destroying children or adults with toxic media. To truly protect the planet, one must first take care of the therapist or the environmentalist; the well-being of the world depends on the well-being of the body and mind.

The Diamond Sutra offers a deep teaching on ecology by helping to remove four notions:

1. Self: Seeing that the self is made of non-self elements, just as a flower is made of non-flower elements.
2. Living beings: Recognizing that living beings are made of non-living elements like water, air, and minerals; to protect the living, one must protect the non-living.
3. Human being: Seeing that humans are made of non-human elements like animals and vegetables.
4. Lifespan: Realizing that life does not begin at birth or end at death, but shares the nature of no birth and no death.

Point Six focuses on contributing to the development of community. The twentieth century was characterized by individualism, but happiness is not an individual matter. As a drop of water, one evaporates, but as a river, one reaches the ocean. Building Sangha allows for the development of talents while being protected by the collective. This point calls for the full participation of women, including the reestablishment of bhikshunī orders, and creating new forms of solidarity. Signing the Manifesto is not enough; it requires concrete practice. Communities and leaders should gather every two weeks to recite the six points and discuss their implementation in daily life, transforming the agreement into a culture of peace and non-violence.

The story of the monk Thera illustrates that true living alone does not mean physical isolation, but rather not getting lost in the past or the future. Whether sitting alone or with a friend, if one is established in the present moment, one is truly living alone. Mindfulness grounds the practitioner, unlike an astronaut floating on the moon, allowing for deep living, self-care, and healing. It is the instrument of transformation that makes things real; when touching a sunset, the blue sky, or a loved one with mindfulness, they reveal themselves clearly. Life, peace, and happiness can be found only in the present moment.

To inspire non-fear, one must touch the ultimate dimension. There are two dimensions of life: the historical dimension, compared to waves with birth, death, ups, and downs; and the ultimate dimension, compared to water, which is free from these concepts. Touching the ultimate dimension allows one to smile to birth and death, sorrow and joy. Mindfulness contains light, understanding, and compassion. Everyone possesses the seed of mindfulness, sometimes called the Baby Buddha or Buddha nature. Practicing mindful breathing and drinking waters this seed, preventing it from being buried under layers of sorrow and forgetfulness.

To address guilt regarding the past, such as a veteran who killed children or a bystander unable to save a mole, the practice is to touch the present moment deeply to save life now, rather than suffering from the past. The exercise of “Flower Fresh” involves visualizing oneself as a flower during the in-breath to restore freshness, and smiling during the out-breath. Walking meditation is practiced slowly, focusing entirely on “in, in, out, out” without conversation. The secret of practice is not to think too much, but to be; being is the basis for effective thinking. Finally, the talk touches on the nature of consciousness, describing the river of perceptions and feelings, and the two main functions of consciousness: store consciousness and mind consciousness.

Meditation is the application of mindfulness in daily life, described as the practice of mindful living. It is possible to practice while cooking, driving, or watering the garden. The Sangha serves as a boat, keeping practitioners from sinking back into habit energy and forgetfulness. Collective energy penetrates and supports the individual, making transformation and healing possible. The essential is not thinking, but being; becoming aware of the in-breath and out-breath allows one to be fully alive. Enlightenment is the light that allows awareness of what is happening in the here and the now. Whether washing dishes or driving, the practice is to establish oneself firmly in the present moment, rather than sacrificing the activity for the sake of arrival.

Vasana, or habit energy, pushes us to do and say things we do not want to, often transmitted by ancestors. The energy of mindfulness helps recognize this habit energy, allowing it to return to the form of a seed and become weaker. To cultivate mindfulness, specific exercises are proposed, such as eating an orange in perfect mindfulness to see the sunshine, rain, and cosmos within it, or hugging a loved one with 100% presence. Deep relaxation involves scanning the body with the beam of mindfulness, smiling to each part to release tension and promote healing.

To overcome the belief that happiness is not possible in the here and the now, four questions are asked:

1. What are the one or two conditions believed to be absolutely essential for happiness?
2. Can one manage to be happy even if that condition is never realized?
3. What are the conditions of happiness available right now?
4. What arrangements can be made to come in touch with these conditions every day?

Mindful walking trains one to live deeply without the need to arrive, touching the wonders of life with every step. This practice of arriving and feeling at home is supported by the verses: I have arrived, I am home; In the here, in the now; I am solid, I am free; In the ultimate I dwell.

Looking deeply into the palm of the hand reveals the presence of mother, father, and all generations of ancestors. When the hand touches the forehead during a fever, it is the touch of millions of ancestors bringing comfort. This insight from the Avatamsaka Sutra reveals that every mindful step, breath, and smile is taken simultaneously with blood and spiritual ancestors, including the Buddha and Master Linji. The question “Who is invoking the Buddha’s name?” is a door unlocked by the teaching of dependent co-arising. A flower contains clouds, sunshine, earth, the gardener, and the cosmos, possessing everything except a separate self.

Daily activities such as drinking tea, cooking, and cleaning are opportunities to act with the solidity and compassion of a Buddha in the present moment. The habit of running is replaced by dwelling in the here and the now. In meditation, mind consciousness acts as the gardener while store consciousness (alaya vijnana) is the garden soil. A huàtóu or kōan is entrusted to the store consciousness, nurtured continuously like a baby within a pregnant mother. Enlightenment is not a destination but the way itself; the means and the end are one.

The past and future are available only in the present; by handling the present with mindfulness, the past can be transformed and the future assured. Eating an orange becomes a meditation on the cosmos, revealing that both the fruit and the eater are miracles without a separate self. Joy and happiness are generated through two specific practices:

1. Releasing: Letting go of regrets concerning the past and anxiety regarding the future.
2. Concentration: Living every moment in samadhi, born from mindfulness.

Mindfulness, concentration, and insight arise together, allowing the practitioner to teach the Dharma through their daily life and way of being.

March 31, 2011. A 155-minute dharma talk given in English, with consecutive translation into Thai, on the seventh and final day of the Understanding Our Mind retreat at Mahachulalongkornrajavidhayalaya Buddhist University (MCU) near Bangkok, Thailand.

After a brief review of manas and store consciousness, Thay speaks about the nature of no-birth and no-death discovered by the Buddha. Being and nonbeing—we can’t have something from nothing. How are we continuing the teacher? The young monks, nuns, lay practitioners are also Thay—their practice becomes Thay’s continuation, like the Century plant at Deer Park Monastery: one plant can become many plants.

Right thinking is your continuation. Thinking is already action—karma. Our karma continues after the dissolution of the body. The second karma action is speech. The third is body: the way we eat, the way we drive. So, dissolution of the body is not our death.

Birth and death, being and nonbeing, coming and going, sameness and otherness—the ultimate reality is free from all these notions. Suchness, the ultimate reality, cannot be conceived of by ideas or notions. Nirvana is the other word for ultimate reality: the extinction of all notions.

At the end of the talk, Sister Chan Khong shares about the Thai Plum Village and the new international practice center in Thailand.

Note: this description was automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest Edit’ if it’s incorrect.

Listening to the bell allows the sound to penetrate every cell, meeting the sound already inside. This is the voice of the Buddha within, calling us back to our true home. The Bell Master prepares by reciting a gatha: “Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness. I send my heart along with this sound of the bell. May all of you who listen to me awaken from your forgetfulness. And transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.” A half sound is invited, followed by three full sounds, allowing the community to enjoy nine full in-breaths and out-breaths. A practice gatha is used: “I listen, I listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.” This generates the collective energy of the Sanghakaya, the Sangha body.

Walking meditation is the practice of Samatha, meaning stopping the habit energy of running. Every step signs the earth, bringing one home to the here and the now. In slow walking, one step is taken with an in-breath to realize “I have arrived,” waiting until fully arrived before taking a second step to realize “I am home.” This cultivates freedom and solidity. Steps are coordinated with the breath, such as two steps in and three out, or three steps in and five out. This establishes one in the present moment, the door to the Kingdom of God.

Understanding and compassion are lotus flowers that require the mud of suffering to grow. Recognizing and embracing suffering is essential for transformation, yet a function of consciousness called Mano urges us to run away. Mind consciousness must reprogram Mano, which has five characteristics:

1. The tendency to run away from suffering.
2. To ignore the goodness of suffering.
3. To always seek pleasure.
4. To ignore the danger of pleasure seeking.
5. To ignore the law of moderation.

Promoting Buddhist culture and doing good deeds are universal actions that help reduce war, conflict, and poverty. Standing before the Sangha feels like a return home, despite thirty-six years of exile caused by war, which felt like being a cell separated from the body. Chinese Buddhism serves as a spiritual treasure and source of nourishment, and renewing these teachings to suit the modern mind and younger generation is essential for contributing to world peace and making people happy.

Practices introduced to the West focus on going back to the present moment rather than dwelling in past regrets or future worries. Upon hearing the bell, thinking and talking stop to allow a return to the in-breath and out-breath, overcoming affliction. Similarly, the telephone is answered only after three sounds, using the ringing as a reminder to breathe. Prostrations are acts of devotion, mindfulness, and concentration, while maintaining precepts and manners generates an energy that makes one a beautiful person.

Great compassion and wisdom are perfect and do not take sides. On Wutai Mountain, yellow flowers cover the landscape like golden sand, representing Manjushri. Scientifically, looking into one cell reveals the totality of all cells, just as a new ear of corn manifests hundreds of grains that contain the plant’s history. One must not be attached to images, such as Samantabhadra riding a white elephant, but rather look deeply to see the Buddha in disciples like Shariputra. This is akin to seeing the first flame in the second and third flames, recognizing that the Buddha is alive within.

The Soviet Union proposed a six-point plan regarding the withdrawal of troops from Kuwait, yet the rejection of this leads to continued violence and contradictory prayers for divine support from opposing nations. Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount” shares profound similarities with the Buddhist “Discourse on Happiness.” “Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor” parallels the wisdom of knowing one does not know, preventing the blockage of insight. “Happy are those who mourn” reveals that suffering is the necessary base for happiness and learning. “Happy are those who are humble” highlights humility as a condition to overcome ignorance. “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires” equates to bodhicitta, the vow to help living beings through understanding and love. “Happy are those who are merciful” reflects karuṇā, the capacity to remove suffering, which immediately transforms the practitioner. “Happy are the pure in heart” signifies Tự tịnh kỳ ý, purifying the mind to see reality and enter the Pure Land.

“Happy are those who work for peace” requires a peaceful heart, for one cannot overcome evil with evil. “Happy are those who are persecuted” relates to the practice of patience (kṣānti), maintaining peace even in prison. Practitioners are described as the “salt of the earth,” akin to the Sangha providing the taste of liberation, and the “light of the world,” emitting mindfulness that enlightens others. Jesus’s teaching that anger is equivalent to murder aligns with the Buddhist view that action by thought is the most basic action; soldiers practicing killing in their minds inflict deep, lasting wounds on their own consciousness and future generations. The instruction to reconcile with a brother before offering a gift at the altar teaches that God and the altar are found in one’s relationships; hugging meditation and bowing to ancestors are concrete ways to practice this reconciliation and recognize the spiritual nature of all beings.

The teaching on adultery emphasizes that wrongdoings spring from the mind (Tội tùng tâm khởi), and transforming the mind eliminates the transgression without the need for surgical removal of parts of oneself. “Love your enemies” is possible by perceiving the fear and suffering within the other person, transforming the concept of an enemy into an object of compassion. Prayer should not be a performance for others or a list of demands, but a sowing of good seeds of wisdom and happiness in the heart. The petition “Give us today the food we need” calls for living in the present moment and protecting the environment, as destroying nature is destroying the source of life and God. Finally, true forgiveness arises from awareness and understanding, a necessary practice in times of war and in countering the seeds of violence planted by society and media.

Bài viết nộp ngày 15 tây không nên mang tính lý thuyết mà phải dựa trên kinh nghiệm thành bại của bản thân, làm nổi bật sự liên hệ mật thiết giữa sự thực tập với những hạnh phúc, đau khổ, ước mơ và bực bội hằng ngày. Trong kinh Duy Ma Cật, Bồ tát thị hiện ngu si hay đi vào môi trường đọa lạc để độ sinh cần phải có nội lực mạnh mẽ và phương tiện giải thoát bất tư nghì, nếu không sẽ rất nguy hiểm. Tình thương chân thật (Mahākaruṇā) khác với sự luyến ái ủy mị ở chỗ có tuệ giác làm bản chất, giúp nhận diện và chuyển hóa những hạt giống giận hờn, ghen tuông hay tự ái còn sót lại trong tâm.

Khi muốn can thiệp giúp đỡ người khác, chánh niệm giúp nhận diện rõ ba điều kiện:

1. Người kia có vấn đề thật sự hay không.
2. Mình có đang sẵn sàng, tươi mát và sáng suốt đủ hay không.
3. Đó có phải là thời điểm thích hợp để can thiệp hay không.

Danh từ A-la-hán bao gồm ba nghĩa: sát tặc (giết giặc phiền não), phá ác (phá tan điều ác) và ứng cúng (xứng đáng được cúng dường). Sự phân biệt giữa các tông phái thường xuất phát từ thái độ cố chấp hẹp hòi hơn là thực tại tu chứng, vì trong Bắc truyền đã có Nam truyền. Phong trào Đại thừa phát khởi vì hai lý do chính: thứ nhất là để phá vỡ tính cách thủ cựu, khép kín khiến đạo Bụt mất đi sinh khí; thứ hai là nhu cầu hiện đại hóa để đáp ứng lại các trào lưu tư tưởng văn hóa đương thời, giúp đạo Bụt không bị lạc hậu và đánh mất giới trẻ. Sơ tổ Thiền tông Việt Nam là thầy Tăng Hội đã thực hiện sự kết hợp này từ sớm bằng cách dạy thiền Đại thừa nhưng sử dụng các kinh điển Nguyên thủy như An Ban Thủ Ý.

Đức Đạt Lai Lạt Ma đề cập đến việc đối trị cơn giận, bắt đầu bằng sự phân biệt giữa hai loại ham muốn và hai loại cái ngã. Ham muốn vật chất phù phiếm là không tốt, nhưng ham muốn để thành đạo và giải thoát là điều cần thiết. Tương tự, cái ngã chạy theo danh lợi là xấu, nhưng cái ngã đem lại sự tự tin và quyết chí làm việc thiện là tốt. Đối với cơn giận, giận vì công bằng xã hội có thể chấp nhận, nhưng giận vì tư lợi thì không nên. Để bổ sung cho lý thuyết này, cần áp dụng những phương pháp thực tập cụ thể, được xem là tuệ giác chung sinh ra từ khổ đau của nhiều thế hệ cha ông và đất nước.

Tri giác của con người về sự vật và người khác thường sai lầm do bị chi phối bởi tàng thức và những kinh nghiệm quá khứ, giống như mỗi người có một cái thấy khác nhau về cùng một chiếc khăn. Để xử lý cơn giận và tri giác sai lầm, cần tuân thủ các bước:

1. Không nói và không làm gì khi đang giận.
2. Trở về với hơi thở chánh niệm và đi thiền hành để làm lắng dịu tâm tư, tách rời tâm khỏi cơn giận.
3. Thực hành thiền quán (nhìn sâu) để thấu hiểu hoàn cảnh, lịch sử và nỗi khổ của đối tượng, từ đó chuyển hóa cơn giận.

Việc lắng nghe để tháo gỡ những “trái bom” cảm xúc đòi hỏi phải lắng nghe với tâm không thành kiến, thực sự đặt mình vào da thịt người khác để hiểu chứ không chỉ im lặng chịu đựng. Trong trường hợp cần thiết lập kỷ luật hoặc sửa đổi người khác, có thể hành xử mạnh mẽ nhưng phải xuất phát từ tâm bình tĩnh, không phải từ cơn giận. Khi tiếp nhận phê bình, nên dành thời gian (ví dụ một tuần) để quán chiếu và nhận diện phần sự thật trong đó trước khi phản hồi. Sự nhẫn nhục phải luôn đi kèm với tuệ giác và sự nhìn sâu, nếu chỉ đè nén mà không chuyển hóa thì những ức chế nhỏ sẽ tích tụ thành nội kết lớn.

Buổi thực tập bắt đầu bằng việc bốc thăm tên và đề tài để chia sẻ pháp thoại, với các chủ đề được liệt kê bao gồm: Vô Thường, Vô ngã, Niết Bàn, Duyên Sinh, Gốc Rễ, Hơi Thở, Thiền Làng, Từ, Bi, Hỷ, Xả, Tánh, Niệm, Định, Huệ. Nội dung đầu tiên đề cập đến việc thực tập chánh niệm với ba loại cảm thọ: lạc thọ, khổ thọ và xả thọ, cũng như khả năng chuyển hóa cảm giác trung tính. Tiếp theo là chủ đề Chánh kiến, một chi phần của Bát Chánh Đạo cần sự lắng nghe (chánh thính) và được soi sáng bởi Tam Pháp Ấn là Vô thường, Vô ngã và Niết bàn (tương ứng với Không, Vô tướng và Vô tác).

Đề tài Diệt được khai triển qua lăng kính của Tứ Diệu Đế gồm bốn sự thật: Khổ, Tập, Diệt và Đạo, giúp hành giả nhận diện nguyên nhân khổ đau và cắt đứt vòng luân hồi. Tiếp đến là sự phân biệt giữa Thức (nhận thức) và Trí (tuệ giác), nhấn mạnh vai trò của tàng thức và việc dùng chánh niệm để nhận diện các hạt giống tập khí. Chánh tinh tấn được thảo luận trong mối liên hệ mật thiết với chánh kiến, chánh tư duy và chánh niệm, giúp hành giả sử dụng năng lượng một cách lành mạnh, tránh tiêu hao vào lo lắng và tiếp xúc với chiều không gian tích môn thay vì chỉ ở chiều lịch sử.

Chánh ngữ đòi hỏi sự có mặt của chánh niệm, chánh tư duy và chánh kiến để đem lại an lạc và chuyển hóa khổ đau. Để thực hành chánh ngữ, cần tránh bốn điều:

1. Không nói lời hung ác.
2. Không vọng ngữ.
3. Không nói lời đôi chiều.
4. Không lưỡng thiệt (nói lời thêu dệt).
   Phần cuối nhắc lại nội dung của Tứ Chánh Cần liên quan đến việc tưới tẩm hạt giống: hạt giống tốt chưa sanh làm cho sanh, hạt giống tốt sanh rồi làm cho lớn, hạt giống xấu chưa sanh đừng làm cho sanh, và hạt giống xấu sanh rồi thì chuyển hóa cho mau.

“Truyền Thống Sinh Động Của Thiền Tập Đạo Bụt” là bộ pháp thoại Thiền sư Thích Nhất Hạnh giảng trong giai đoạn 1994-1997, dẫn dắt người nghe qua hành trình lịch sử của thiền tập đạo Bụt từ Ấn Độ đến Việt Nam và Trung Hoa. Thiền sư cho thấy Phật giáo đã truyền từ Ấn Độ vào Việt Nam trước Trung Hoa hàng trăm năm rồi mới lan sang Trung Hoa, đồng thời giới thiệu những vị thiền sư Việt Nam lỗi lạc, uyên thâm mà ít được biết đến, mở ra một cái nhìn mới mẻ và phong phú về truyền thống thiền tập của dân tộc.

Lưu ý: mô tả này được tự động lấy từ các mô tả YouTube hiện có và các nguồn khác. Vui lòng ‘Đề xuất thay đổi’ nếu nó không chính xác.

“TTSĐCTTĐB – Truyền Thống Sinh Động Của Thiền Tập Đạo Bụt” là bộ pháp thoại Thiền sư Thích Nhất Hạnh giảng trong các năm 1994-1997, dẫn dắt người nghe qua hành trình lịch sử của thiền tập đạo Bụt từ Ấn Độ sang Việt Nam rồi tiếp tục truyền sang Trung Hoa, chứ không phải ngược lại như quan niệm phổ biến. Qua đó, thiền sư giới thiệu những vị thiền sư uyên thâm, lỗi lạc của dân tộc Việt Nam vốn ít được nhắc đến, mở ra một cuộc hành trình dài tập, sâu sắc và đầy thú vị.

Lưu ý: mô tả này được tự động lấy từ các mô tả YouTube hiện có và các nguồn khác. Vui lòng ‘Đề xuất thay đổi’ nếu nó không chính xác.

Lòng từ bi là hạt giống của bài hát và liên hệ sâu sắc đến cội nguồn người Mỹ bản địa cũng như giới thứ nhất về không sát sinh. Từ bi thuộc về Tứ Vô Lượng Tâm, bao gồm bốn yếu tố nhiếp phục lẫn nhau:

1. Từ (Maitri)
2. Bi (Karuna)
3. Hỷ
4. Xả

Theo “Câu Xá Luận”, Bi nghĩa là bạt khổ (làm cho cái khổ tiêu tan), còn Từ là dữ lạc (cho niềm vui). Trong khi chữ “compassion” phương Tây hàm ý khổ đau chung với người khác, đạo Bụt quan niệm không cần phải khổ mới làm người khác bớt khổ.

Pháp là ngôi báu thứ hai trong Tam Bảo và phải mang ba Dấu ấn Pháp để trở thành giáo lý chân thực:

1. Vô thường
2. Vô ngã
3. Niết bàn

Tăng đoàn (Sangha) là đoàn thể tu tập gồm bốn chúng: tỳ kheo, tỳ kheo ni, upasaka và upasika. Về sự tiêu thụ, có bốn loại thức ăn:

1. Đoàn thực
2. Xúc thực
3. Tư niệm thực
4. Thức thực

Đoàn thực cần chánh niệm để không đưa độc tố vào cơ thể, trong khi tư niệm thực là ý chí hay động lực đẩy mình đi tới, có thể hướng về ngũ dục hoặc hướng về độ sinh.

Sách “Luận ngữ” của Khổng Tử bắt đầu bằng ba câu hỏi: Học mà có cơ hội thực tập, há chẳng phải là niềm vui sao? Có bạn từ phương xa tới, há chẳng phải là niềm vui lớn sao? Người không hiểu mình mà mình không giận, há chẳng phải là bậc quân tử sao? Buổi pháp thoại cũng đề cập đến việc kết nối lại với gia đình huyết thống và gia đình tâm linh để không còn là những “cô hồn” lạc lõng, cùng sự thực tập xả như một yếu tố thiết yếu của tình thương chân thật.

Thích Nhất Hạnh nhấn mạnh tầm quan trọng của việc chăm sóc bản thân trước khi chăm sóc người khác, tránh thương một cách mù quáng và nhớ rằng mỗi người đều có “gai” riêng. Ông kể câu chuyện về cây hường để minh họa rằng mỗi người đều có nhược điểm và cần chấp nhận họ với tất cả những gai đó. Ông cũng chia sẻ về trải nghiệm đau thương trong gia đình và sự hỗ trợ từ quý sư chú, nhấn mạnh việc thực hành từ bi và kiểm soát hơi thở để đạt hạnh phúc thật sự. Ông khuyến khích việc nhìn sâu vào bản thân và tương tác với thiên nhiên để tìm thấy niềm vui và tránh những suy nghĩ tiêu cực. Ông kể về trải nghiệm thiền hành và nhấn mạnh rằng hạnh phúc thật sự đến từ việc buông bỏ và yêu thương. Ông cũng chia sẻ về việc nhìn nhận và xử lý những hạt giống tiêu cực trong tâm trí, và rằng việc chú ý đầy đủ có thể mang lại sự cân bằng và bình an. Ông kết thúc bằng lời khuyên rằng chúng ta nên sống đúng với bản thân, tận hưởng từng khoảnh khắc và giữ gìn sự yên bình trong tâm hồn thông qua việc tu tập.

In daily life marked by insecurity, human beings seek a refuge, permanence, and an absolute identity, even though reality is impermanent. Taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha is not about seeking a future or abstract security, but about touching the truth of inter-being and of no-birth and no-death in the present moment. A flower is made of non-flower elements like sunshine and clouds, just as the Buddha is made of non-Buddha elements; understanding this allows us to sail on the ocean of impermanence with peace.

Buddhism addresses fundamental truths to transform our view:

1. Impermanence (Vô thường): it is not sad but essential for life, allowing children to grow and seeds to become plants.
2. Nonself (Vô ngã) or Inter-being: the absence of a separate existence, summarized by the phrase “This being, that is.”
3. Suffering (Khổ) or Nirvana (Niết bàn): seeking happiness in permanence leads to suffering, while basing it on the wisdom of impermanence leads to freedom.

Taking refuge is a concrete practice: the Buddha is the capacity for understanding and love that we touch within ourselves through conscious breathing. The Dharma is the living path of calm (śamatha) and looking deeply (vipaśyanā), manifested in everything, like a flower or a smile (Dharmakāya). The Sangha is the indispensable community for supporting the practice, for a practitioner alone is like a tiger who has left his mountain; it is crucial to build a Sangha with our loved ones or colleagues. This insight dissolves the fear of death, revealing that nothing is born and nothing dies, but only continues in other forms.

To invite the bell to sound, one must practice conscious breathing and a verse uniting body, speech, and mind to transcend the path of anxiety. The sound of the bell is the voice of the Buddha calling us back to our true home; upon hearing it, we must stop all thinking and return to ourselves to allow the Buddha to be in our heart. After the practice of the solid mountain, the fresh flower exercise allows us to restore our freshness through breathing, for a human being is a flower that needs care. To love, one must be capable of offering one’s solidity and freshness to the other by saying: “I am here for you,” which constitutes the true language of love to relieve suffering.

Mindfulness applies to consumption to avoid creating war within oneself, illustrated by the image of a couple eating the flesh of their own child or a skinless cow assaulted by living beings. We must practice selective touching to nourish ourselves with healthy and healing elements in the present moment, such as the blue sky or a tree, a capacity for awakening that Paul Verlaine touched while in prison. The human person is composed of five elements, compared to the sections of an orange:

1. Form, the physical body that must be touched with mindfulness to establish harmony within it.
2. Feelings, which require healthy consumption to avoid toxins.
3. Perceptions, often erroneous like mistaking a rope for a snake, thus creating illusions and suffering.
4. Mental formations, which reside as seeds in store consciousness and manifest at the level of mind consciousness; anger must be embraced by mindfulness and not suppressed.
5. Consciousness, which is the base of all formations.

Each person is the king or queen of their own territory constituted by these five elements and must tend to it to put an end to the internal civil war. It is only by establishing peace within oneself, by transforming one’s perceptions and mental formations through continuous practice, that one can truly reconcile with others.

The session takes place in the New Hamlet of Plum Village. Thay begins by contrasting “I think, therefore I am” with “I breathe, therefore I am,” explaining that thinking disperses and separates the body from the mind, whereas mindful breathing brings the mind back to the body to live in the present moment. He then addresses the notion of inter-being through the image of the flower composed of non-flower elements, the transcendence of being and non-being, and defines nirvana as the extinction of notions and afflictions, accessible here and now through the practice of mindfulness.

Here are the questions asked during this session:

• How do you feel about, and what explanation do you give for the fact that many monastic brothers, Francophone or Western, are leaving the Village?
• What do you think of the interpretation from Christian mysticism where the word being is written with a capital letter to express the ultimate reality that never ceases?
• How should one educate one’s child, knowing that it is perhaps with them that we most easily touch inter-being?
• What is your secret for becoming powerful in opening the heart and the capacity to love one’s brothers and sisters, despite the difficulties felt in inter-being with them?
• What is your insight for the members of the Order of Interbeing regarding the phrase “The lotus does not grow on marble”?

The details of this discussion highlight the importance of cultivating understanding, compassion, and peace (Bhavana) as a farmer cultivates his plants. Knowledge alone is not sufficient for transformation; it must be accompanied by real practice, such as mastering one’s negative energies like anger through mindfulness and the support of a spiritual community (sangha). Taking refuge in the sangha means trust and commitment to its instructions. The practice of mindfulness allows one to manage anger without acting impulsively, thereby fostering inner peace and open communication. Calmly expressing one’s sufferings strengthens intimate bonds and fosters compassion. Using walking meditation and mindfulness with family and friends is essential for cultivating true love and mutual support, thus avoiding tragedies and cultivating peace and harmony.

Thay introduces the session by suggesting the practice of gathas to accompany daily actions like hearing the bell, turning on the computer, or driving.

1. How do we practice looking deeply into objects of mind and mental formations?
2. What skillful means can be used to share the practice with friends outside without facing their prejudices regarding Buddhism or cults?
3. How can one love without attachment?
4. How can we sincerely invest ourselves in social or political engagement without falling into the trap of the ego, arrogance, or perfectionism?
5. How can we open up and respond to our aspirations when the world within us holds us back or casts blame upon us?
6. What is the relationship between the spiritual path and sexuality, and why is the latter sometimes perceived as a danger?
7. How can we embrace and help a very young child whose manifestations of suffering are not socially accepted?
8. Does the determination to protect life in the First Mindfulness Training extend to approving therapeutic obstinacy?
9. How can we train ourselves to breathe consciously while speaking to avoid getting lost in idle chatter?
10. How can we purify the unconscious of the nocturnal world when the body experiences parallel suffering during sleep?
11. How can we build a Sangha in harmony with organic farming?
12. How can we make the world of physical sensations and traumatic memories of the body more explicit compared to conceptual emotions?
13. Why did the Buddha leave his life as a prince for a life as a monk?

The session closes with the presentation of the book “Chanting from the Heart” and a mention of Martin Luther King and the “Beloved Community” in connection with Barack Obama.

If a tourist agency offered tickets to the Pure Land, many would rush to sign up, imagining an easy life of walking meditation and listening to the Dharma through the wind and birds. However, upon arrival, one might be disappointed by the crowds and the inability to get close to Amitabha Buddha. Furthermore, those habituated to running and hurrying on Earth would disturb the peace of the Pure Land. It is therefore essential to learn to walk peacefully on Earth first, establishing oneself in the here and the now. With enough mindfulness and concentration, the Pure Land manifests in the present moment; it is in the heart, not solely in the future.

This teaching resonates across traditions, illustrated by a Catholic nun realizing the “Kingdom of God is now or never,” and a Protestant minister using Buddhist practices to heal. The blue sky, sunshine, and children’s faces belong to the Pure Land, and nature teaches the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. By mastering the art of walking meditation, one carries a “mobile Pure Land,” transforming environments like airports, markets, or the Great Wall of China into sacred spaces. Walking with the feet of ancestors and using “Buddha eyes” to look cultivates understanding and compassion.

Buddhism must be renewed to offer concrete practices, such as the Five Precepts, that help the younger generation and busy people transform suffering and conflict. During the Q&A, the importance of understanding an individual’s suffering before offering a method is highlighted, alongside the necessity of a Sangha to support practice. Finally, the concept of “Amitabha as true nature” and “Pure Land in the heart” is clarified not as a mere idea, but as a reality experienced through the energy of mindfulness, concentration, and insight.

Teaching by Thay in French during the 2008 Winter Retreat:
09:00 – Taking refuge in the present moment
36:45 – Happiness – Understanding suffering…

Note: This description has been automatically sourced from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please suggest an edit if it is incorrect.