Today is May 24, 1997, and we are on our last day of the retreat in our question and answer period.

1. We have meditated on the nature of no birth and no death of the sheet of paper, but how about a human being and the soul?
2. What does it mean for Jews to get back into their Judaism and tradition, and how deeply are you urging this recognition of a way of life that makes specific demands?
3. What can a woman with breast cancer do to suffer less from the fear and worries caused by her mother dying of the same illness?
4. If life is an ocean and a continuation of transformations, why try to go on living instead of dying?
5. What can be done about the negative emotions, prejudices, and political atmosphere in Israel, drawing from the experience of the work done in Vietnam?
6. Is eating slowly easier for thin people, and what should a large person do if they feel that eating slowly is killing them?
7. How can one feel compassion for a father who has consistently raped his daughter?
8. Is there any way to break the conditioning of one’s environment and family in order to maintain a mindful, balanced state of mind while living in Israel?
9. What is your advice for raising children in modern times when parents work and children watch many hours of television?
10. How can we deal with the hurts and wounds each side carries toward the other so that we can leave this retreat in peace?
11. Why have you not mentioned God and God’s consciousness during this teaching?

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara represents love and the capacity to listen deeply, helping to alleviate suffering and remove wrong perceptions that create fear and suspicion. The practice of compassionate listening and mindful breathing helps the body to relax, healing aches and pains and to transform the resentments in our hearts. When dwelling in the present moment, we recognize the countless conditions for happiness that are already present, realizing the state of Happiness in the Present Moment instead of running after the future.

Engaged Buddhism is a practice that is not confined to the meditation hall but enters into life through social service activities, helping to nourish compassion and solidity. The history of Vietnamese Buddhism bears the mark of Zen Master Tang Hoi, the first patriarch of the Zen tradition who combined the essence of the Southern and Northern traditions in the third century. Restoring the name Bụt instead of Phật helps awaken the national identity and closeness in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, while emphasizing the role of Buddhist psychology in watering the seeds of love and understanding.

Through looking deeply into the nature of reality, we can transcend the pairs of opposite notions to touch the nature of nirvana:

1. Birth
2. Death
3. Going
4. Coming
5. Same
6. Different
7. Being
8. Non-being

This contemplation helps us recognize the no-birth and no-death nature of all things, seeing the continuation of our parents and ancestors right in every cell of our body. When attaining this insight, we can transcend all anxiety and fear, and build a solid spiritual foundation to preserve the precious heritage of our ancestors.

Master Khương Tăng Hội, the first meditation teacher of Vietnam, began his practice as an eleven-year-old boy eight hundred years after the first lotus flower bloomed on Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain. Eighteen centuries later, his light continues to shine through the practice of mindful breathing and the six pāramitās. In seeking relief from suffering, there are two distinct paths:

1. Minor relief, which provides enough balance to survive and continue life.
2. Greatest relief, which is obtained through prajñāpāramitā and leads to total liberation from fear, craving, and worries.
   This insight allows one to go deeper into the nature of being and ill-being, recognizing that suffering requires food to survive. We often feed our own despair and anxiety through our daily way of living, creating a dualistic struggle where we try to run from the very things we are inviting in.

To obtain the greatest relief, one must stop running and return to the kingdom of the five skandhas:

1. Body
2. Feelings
3. Perceptions
4. Mental formations
5. Consciousness
   Our consciousness can be intoxicated by various poisons that act as cancers within us, such as craving, anger, doubt, fear, and jealousy. The root of these toxins is avidyā, or ignorance, which leads to grasping at objects of love, hate, and fear. By practicing deep looking, we see that these elements have no self-nature (svabhāva-śūnyatā), much like the layers of a banana tree or an onion.

The Buddha acts as a physician and friend, encouraging us to identify our suffering by its true name and discover its roots. This requires the energy of mindfulness and concentration to embrace our internal pain rather than seeking quick, often toxic, external fixes. Through the study of the Heart Sutra and the practice of looking deeply into the five skandhas, emptiness becomes a practical medicine rather than a philosophical concept. By identifying the toxic nutrients we consume—whether through food, conversations, books, or films—we can stop feeding our suffering and achieve true transformation.

Awareness of the origins of merchandise and the reality of child labor reveals a global tragedy where children work in factories or scavenge in garbage heaps. Getting in touch with this suffering is the practice of the First Noble Truth. By recognizing the real suffering in the world, one can stop suffering over the small things created for oneself and find liberation from personal traps. Social injustice is present everywhere, and the Sangha remains in touch with this reality through humanitarian programs for refugees, the elderly, and orphans.

During the war in Vietnam, the effort to sponsor ten thousand orphans demonstrated how looking deeply at a child in need dissolves discrimination between the helper and the helped. When one becomes the child through mindful breathing, compassion is born, watering the whole being and providing the nourishment necessary for true happiness. This work for social justice is guided by intelligence and the desire to relieve suffering. Institutional violence occurs when society is organized to maintain a status quo that denies others a chance to escape chronic poverty.

To break this cycle, the door of awareness must be opened within the family and school. Practicing being in touch with reality—such as ensuring an undernourished child has a glass of milk—transforms meaningless suffering into a life of meaning. Even those with wealth, fame, and power suffer deeply; they are encouraged to practice like Anāthapiṇḍika to transform their resources into instruments of compassion. This practice of non-violence is a core element of the Second Mindfulness Training.

Lễ truyền đăng cho sáu hay bảy vị giáo thọ mới, chọn lọc từ chín vị giáo thọ tập sự, là một dịp thực tập vô ngã nơi các đương sự có thể tự đề cử mình với con mắt khách quan của tăng thân. Trở thành giáo thọ không phải là đạt được một chức vị mà là bắt đầu một quá trình thực tập lâu dài, bởi một vị giáo thọ giỏi phải dạy bằng thân giáo, tức là dạy bằng chính đời sống, cách ăn, mặc, đi, đứng và tiếp xử. Pháp mà người ta có thể thấy được quan trọng hơn cái pháp chỉ để nghe.

Trong giáo lý Nhiếp Đại Thừa Luận, sự hiện hữu của thức A-lại-da là điều kiện tất yếu để thiết lập ý niệm về sinh tạp nhiễm và quá trình kết sinh tương tục. Thế giới được chia thành ba cõi:

1. Dục giới: cõi không có định, còn gọi là phi đẳng dẫn địa.
2. Sắc giới: cõi có định, gồm bốn tầng thiền là sơ thiền, nhị thiền, tam thiền và tứ thiền.
3. Vô sắc giới: cõi có định, gồm bốn định không là không vô biên xứ, thức vô biên xứ, vô sở hữu xứ và phi tưởng phi phi tưởng xứ.
   Tầng thiền đầu tiên bao gồm năm yếu tố:
4. Tầm: sự hướng tâm ban đầu.
5. Từ: sự duy trì tư duy sâu.
6. Hỷ: niềm vui do buông bỏ (ly sinh hỷ).
7. Lạc: hạnh phúc do định sinh ra (định sinh lạc).
8. Tâm nhất cảnh: sự chuyên chú vào một đối tượng.

Ý thức không thể đóng vai trò kết sinh tương tục hay nắm giữ sắc căn vì nó có tính gián đoạn và cần đối tượng trần cảnh. Chỉ có thức A-lại-da, hay còn gọi là thức dị thục và thức nhất thiết chủng, mới có khả năng duy trì sự sống, chất chứa các hạt giống và làm nền tảng cho các thức khác phát khởi. Sáu thức bao gồm nhãn thức, nhĩ thức, tị thức, thiệt thức, thân thức và ý thức đều có căn sở y riêng và không có tính kiên trú. Mối quan hệ giữa thức và danh sắc là sự nương tựa lẫn nhau như hai bó lau đứng vững, nếu thiếu một trong hai thì cái kia cũng không thể tồn tại.

Building a Pure Land is the natural desire of a practitioner who has tasted the joy of the practice and wishes to share it. Like Amitābha Buddha, we create a practice center—a mini Pure Land—where a Sangha can enjoy the practice and welcome others. Entry into such a place does not require getting rid of all suffering first; one can bring their luggage of pain, provided the Sangha has the capacity to embrace and heal it. Even in the time of the Buddha, some struggled with jealousy and unhappiness, highlighting that the purpose of being in the Pure Land is to have the opportunity to practice and transform habit energies.

In the land of Sukhāvatī, the environment itself provides the teaching. The wind through the trees and the songs of birds offer the basic teachings of root Buddhism:

1. The four foundations of mindfulness
2. The four right efforts
3. The five faculties
4. The five powers or energies
5. The seven factors of enlightenment
6. The Noble Eightfold Path

Through these sounds, practitioners are reminded of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In the morning, residents collect celestial flowers, visit other Buddha lands, and return in time for lunch and walking meditation, or phạn thực kinh hành. In Plum Village, this is mirrored by the sounds of the bell, the clock, and the telephone, which serve as calls to return to the true self and touch the wonders of life.

Amitābha means limitless light, an energy of mindfulness and compassion that radiates constantly and transforms those it touches. Every practitioner has the capacity to emit this light. By walking, sitting, and eating mindfully, we become children of the Buddha, contributing to Sangha building through our very presence. True Sangha building is not merely organizational work but the act of living mindfully so that our peace and freedom can strike others like a beam of light. A Buddha requires a strong Sangha of bodhisattvas to support the many who seek transformation and healing.

“Adorning the earth to bloom heavenly flowers” is the guidance of the practice, where the heaviness of the earth can bloom into pure heavenly flowers. In human beings, there is always a contradiction between two elements:

1. The heavy element.
2. The light element.
   Instead of turning our inner world into a battlefield between good and evil, we practice the teachings of interbeing and dependent co-arising. Like a gardener who uses garbage to make compost to nourish flowers, the practitioner recognizes the garbage of afflictions to transform it into bodhi flowers. There can be no flowers without garbage, so we practice the attitude of non-discrimination, smiling and accepting both to attain peace and joy. “Afflictions are Bodhi” is the insight that helps us see the Buddha nature contained in both human nature and animal nature.

The Three Refuges and the Five Precepts are a daily practice to find the path of protection, not a declaration of faith. The Five Precepts include:

1. Not killing.
2. Not stealing.
3. Not engaging in sexual misconduct.
4. Not lying.
5. Not consuming intoxicants.
   The Three Refuges include:
6. The Buddha is the source of the energy of mindfulness that helps us recognize what is happening in the present moment.
7. The Dharma is the method of practice, the technique to transform garbage into flowers.
8. The Sangha is taking refuge in the practicing community to have great energy and solidity.

When facing difficulties, injustice, or hatred, the practitioner needs to steer the boat in solidity by looking deeply to see whether their thoughts, speech, and actions are following the direction of compassion and understanding. If one can keep the energy of compassion in the heart instead of the desire to punish, suffering will immediately vanish. Happiness does not lie in reaching the destination or washing all the dirty dishes, but in having a clear direction. “Now that I have a path, I am no longer afraid,” we can elevate worldly heaviness into lightness and ease right in our daily lives.

The Sangha is gathered on February 20, 2000, for the final English Dharma talk concluding the winter retreat. Lay people practicing the Dharma are called upāsaka and upāsikā, meaning those who are close to the monastics, establishing a relationship where each community plays its own role based on the precepts.

1. How can one distinguish when it is a good thing to help someone and when helping might disempower them?
2. How can a monastic practice the precepts and mindful manners while remaining at one with lay people and not being separated by the robe or the role?
3. What is the proper way to ask for permission from family to become a nun, and what should be done if they do not agree?
4. How can one approach difficult brothers and sisters in the Dharma and build a Sangha from naturally available circumstances using the art of bricolage?

Nếu sinh vào cõi phi tưởng phi phi tưởng mà tâm xuất thế của cõi vô sở hữu phát hiện thì cả hai nẻo về này đáng lý bị tiêu diệt nếu không có mặt của thức A-lại-da. Tâm xuất thế không thể lấy nẻo về phi tưởng phi phi tưởng, vô sở hữu hay niết bàn làm chỗ nương tựa mà chỉ có thể nương tựa vào thức A-lại-da. Thế giới được chia thành ba cõi:

1. Cõi dục: cõi không có định.
2. Cõi sắc: cõi có định, gồm bốn tầng là sơ thiền, nhị thiền, tam thiền và tứ thiền.
3. Cõi vô sắc: gồm bốn tầng là không vô biên xứ, thức vô biên xứ, vô sở hữu xứ và phi tưởng phi phi tưởng xứ.

Sự hiện hữu của thức A-lại-da được chứng minh qua hiện tượng thân thể lạnh dần khi lâm chung. Người làm thiện thì thân thể lạnh từ trên đầu xuống, người làm ác thì lạnh từ dưới chân lên. Thức A-lại-da duy trì căn thân, đóng vai trò là chủ nhân với đặc tính “khứ hậu lai tiên, tác chủ ông”: đi sau cùng khi chết và đến trước hết khi một sinh mệnh mới tượng hình trong thai mẹ. Các thức cảm giác khác như nhãn, nhĩ, tị, thiệt, thân và ý thức đều phát hiện sau thức A-lại-da.

Thế gian thanh tịnh không thể thành lập nếu thiếu thức A-lại-da. Để rời bỏ cõi dục và tiến vào cõi sắc, hành giả sử dụng tâm gia hạnh qua bốn mức độ:

1. Noãn: hơi ấm của năng lượng tu tập.
2. Đỉnh: năng lượng đạt tới mức cao.
3. Nhẫn: khả năng chấp nhận và ôm lấy khó khăn.
4. Thế đệ nhất: vị trí cao nhất trong thế gian, không còn bị chìm đắm.
   Tâm gia hạnh chỉ đóng vai tăng thượng duyên, trong khi thức dị thục nhất thiết chủng mới là nhân duyên thực sự cung cấp hạt giống cho định tâm, vì các tâm định quá khứ đã bị gián đoạn và không còn tồn tại để làm chủng tử.

Sitting meditation outdoors in the fresh air of spring is an opportunity to get in touch with the manifestation of the wonders of the cosmos through the pâquerette, yellow pissenlit, and forget-me-not flowers. Each tiny flower with only five petals, like the hawthorn flower, fully represents the Dharmakaya, containing the entire cosmos and the Dharmadhatu. The nature of all things is not a creation but a manifestation, as the saying goes: “You are not a creation. You are a manifestation.” This meaning is conveyed through two poems:

1. The Epic of Avril
2. Butterflies Flying in the Yellow Mustard Garden

The reality of Christ, Shakyamuni Buddha, or each of us ourselves is a manifestation, transcending the concepts of birth, death, coming, going, being, and non-being. Getting in touch with this nature of no-birth and no-death helps the practitioner attain great peace and joy, removing ignorance and fear. Suffering does not need to be completely eliminated in order to have happiness, because suffering is the necessary material to nourish happiness, just like garbage is used to make compost for flowers.

Each step of walking meditation is a journey of discovery to meet the Bodhisattvas springing up from the earth right beneath our feet. To recognize the presence of these messengers of the Dharmakaya, the practitioner needs to use:

1. The two feet of the Buddha
2. The two eyes of the Buddha

The Sangha is an essential environment to embrace suffering and pain, and to protect the freedom of each individual. Sangha building is the answer to the impasses of modern society, creating a safe island for young people to find a path of freedom and love.

The Manifesto 2000, signed by millions including world leaders, and the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence (2001-2010) provide a framework for transforming suffering. A manual for the practice of nonviolence offers practical suggestions for individuals, families, schools, and society to deal with the body and mind without violence. Central to this effort is the commitment to the six points of the manifesto, which include:

1. Respect the life and dignity of every person without discrimination or prejudice.
2. Practice active non-violence, rejecting violence in all its forms.
3. Put an end to exclusion.
4. Promote consumer behavior that is responsible and respect all forms of life.

Active non-violence, or avihiṃsā, means no-harming and not creating suffering for oneself or others. Violence is often an accumulated energy absorbed during childhood, creating a vicious circle of saṃsāra where victims become perpetrators. To stop this transmission, one must recognize the amount of violence within their own consciousness and abandon violent ways of dealing with the body and mind. This includes transforming physical, sexual, psychological, economic, and social violence.

Practicing inclusiveness and equanimity, or upekṣā, is the most effective way to abolish discrimination and the notion of self that lies at the base of violent behavior. Whether dealing with institutional violence in economic systems or the fear-driven violence found in social structures, the practice begins with the individual. By embracing anger and despair rather than suppressing them, and by protecting the most vulnerable, such as children and adolescents, it is possible to modify the heritage passed to future generations.

Love is an energy to be cultivated, whose nature is maitrī, loving kindness, and whose function is to offer joy and happiness. This energy manifests through the three aspects of karma:

1. Thought, which affects oneself and the environment.
2. Speech, which can sow happiness or cause suffering.
3. Physical action.
   Jean-Paul Sartre expresses this notion by saying that “man is the sum of his actions.” The foundation of love is true presence; to love, one must be there for oneself and for the other. The quality of this presence, made of freshness, solidity, and freedom, constitutes the most precious gift.

Mindfulness and breathing allow us to establish ourselves in the present moment to practice three mantras:

1. Darling, I am truly here for you.
2. Darling, I know you are there, and I am very happy.
3. Darling, I know you are suffering. That is why I am here for you.
   True love is a process of investigation based on understanding and deep looking, vipashyana. It comprises four elements: 1. Maitrī, 2. Karuna, 3. Mudita, and 4. Upeksha.

To relieve suffering, we must cultivate the compassionate listening of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, listening without judging to allow the other person to express themselves. Maintaining a living communication with oneself is essential to establish a dialogue with others. By training ourselves to generate a mindful presence and compassion, it becomes possible to transform pain and offer well-being in every moment of daily life.

This 38-minute excerpt, recorded in Plum Village, France on April 13, 2000, is Thich Nhat Hanh’s Dharma talk “How to Practice When Feeling Down or Anxious.” Thay offers two mindfulness approaches for moments of sadness or anxiety.

1. “Changing the peg”: using the tenth exercise of mindful breathing to gladden the mind.
2. Letting the mental “channel” stay as it is: allowing difficult feelings to be, because the urgent wish to replace them may cause more harm than good.

Thay repeatedly employs the Vietnamese word “tâm,” meaning both heart and mind—the Buddhist citta.

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky.
Conscious breathing is my anchor.”

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

The human mind has moments when it is as clear as a cloudless blue sky, but also times when it is gloomy, filled with anxiety and sorrow. When facing an unpleasant mental formation, we can practice the method of changing the peg by bringing up another, positive mental formation to replace it, similar to a carpenter replacing a rotten wooden peg or a television viewer using a remote control to change the channel. In our consciousness, there are up to 51 different channels, and this switching can be done by ourselves through the breath, sutras, poems, or with the help and watering from fellow practitioners in the Sangha.

Instead of hastily chasing away or exiling feelings of sadness, the practitioner should choose to embrace and make friends with them based on the insight of non-duality. A good gardener always knows how to keep the garbage to make compost to nourish flowers and fruits, because if there are flowers, there must be garbage. Happiness is not the complete absence of suffering; on the contrary, suffering and pain are the very materials needed for us to experience the value of peace and liberation.

The attitude of not running away helps the mind become at ease even during the stormy days of our emotions. As taught by Bhikkhuni Dieu Nhan, hastily seeking liberation from the natural course of things only makes us more bound:

1. Birth.
2. Old age.
3. Sickness.
4. Death.

When we know how to accept and smile at all mental states as a natural occurrence, we can find happiness right in the heart of our gloomy feelings without having to destroy or run away from them.

Wrong perception, also known as delusion, is an upside-down perception, inverted from the truth. Through the image of the four straight lines on the board, we see that our eyes can be deceived by optical illusions, making parallel lines look slanted or of different lengths. Never be too sure of what you see or hear, because even when your eyes are still good, you can still be wrong. The World Honored One taught that we need to allow a question mark regarding the accuracy of our perceptions to avoid actions and speech that cause suffering to ourselves and others.

The story of the woman of Nam Xuong illustrates the consequences of wrong perception, when the husband believed the naive words of his young child and doubted his wife’s fidelity. The lack of communication and pride led to a heartbreaking tragedy, while the truth about the father was just a shadow on the wall. Science also shows that human perception is very superficial through these examples:

1. The sun we see is an image from eight minutes ago.
2. The twinkling stars may have burned out thousands of years ago.
3. Matter that seems motionless is actually made up of atoms with continuously moving electrons.

To protect our happiness, we need to practice letting go of pride and learn to share our pain with our loved one through sincere words asking for help. At the same time, maintaining an altar in the family helps each person not to lose their roots and to always feel supported by two streams of ancestors:

1. Spiritual ancestors are the Buddha, the ancestral teachers, and the bodhisattvas.
2. Blood ancestors are our grandparents and parents.
   This practice helps us to be firmly rooted, feel less lost, and avoid psychological illnesses in modern life.

Time is made for living and for loving. Learning how to use our time is an art that allows us to establish ourselves in the present moment, far from worries about the future and regrets about the past. The practice of love begins with maitrī, the energy that allows us to generate our own happiness and the happiness of others. Walking gently on the Earth, each step has the power to nourish, to heal, and to generate an energy of freedom, solidity, and peace. Offering freedom and space is essential, because happiness cannot exist without a certain freedom.

True love manifests through four elements of an interdependent nature:

1. Maitrī: the offering of joy and happiness.
2. Karuṇā: the capacity to transform and remove suffering.
3. Muditā: altruistic joy and the absence of jealousy.
4. Upekṣā: equanimity and nondiscrimination.
   Happiness is not a goal but the path itself, available in the here and the now. It requires deep looking to recognize whether our consumption and the objects of our joy are sources of true well-being or of destruction. By identifying the source of nourishment that has brought about suffering or depression, ill-being can dissolve.

When love is inhabited by mahā-maitrī and mahā-karuṇā, it becomes necessary to build a Sangha. This sangha-kāya offers thousands of eyes and arms to act and to listen. Bodhisattvas are living realities who use this energy to save and protect. Even in situations of incarceration, giving rise to compassion in one’s heart allows one to stop suffering. The practice of mindful breathing and smiling, touching the wonders of life such as the blue sky, transforms pain into peace.

Happiness is available right in the present moment when we are still breathing, still alive, and capable of getting in touch with the wonders of life such as the blue sky, the forest trees, or the song of the birds. Instead of running after the objects of our craving or being pulled away by the past and the future, practicing Happiness in the Present Moment helps us to stop, recognize our habit energy of running, and smile at it. Life is like a hundred-year-long picnic, where we need to find safety and protection right in every moment of daily life through the energy of mindfulness. Mindfulness is like an illuminating energy that helps us embrace our suffering and pain and to transform our mental formations, even if we may not fully understand its nature just as we do not fully understand the nature of electricity.

When eating a meal, we practice dwelling in peace to nourish both body and mind, while at the same time nourishing our ancestors and opening the way for the future generations within us. Instead of merely performing formal rituals like the first three spoons in the tradition:

1. I vow to practice all good.
2. I vow to put an end to all evil.
3. I vow to save all beings.

We can practice the first four spoons of rice corresponding to the Four Immeasurable Minds:

1. Loving-kindness: contemplating how to bring joy and happiness to the sangha.
2. Compassion: contemplating how to alleviate and to transform the suffering of oneself and others.
3. Joy: practicing joy and sympathetic joy with the achievements and happiness of oneself and others.
4. Equanimity: practicing non-discrimination, treating everyone equally, and embracing everyone.

Every step taken also needs to carry the substance of freedom, solidity, and ease. We invest our entire body and mind into each step, without thinking, so that every step has the capacity to nourish us and the sangha. Living in a sangha requires absolute integration, like a drop of water merging into the river or a bird flying with the flock to be transported and to conserve energy. Sangha building is the most sacred work, where we contribute our solidity to increase the quality of the community, turning all activities from working meditation, sitting meditation, to chanting into opportunities to have true happiness.

Awareness of physical movements, steps, and breath allows for the recognition and transformation of feelings and emotions. Daily tasks like cooking, gardening, or washing dishes are transformed into holy acts of meditation when performed with a focused mind and body. Working out of love for the Sangha, rather than for a salary, brings deep happiness and high-quality results.

Specific responsibilities offer unique opportunities for practice. The triphone, or telephone person, practices deep, compassionate listening to embody the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, using the first mantra I am here for you and waiting for three rings to breathe before responding. Those responsible for mail distribution treat correspondence as a sacred continuation of the teacher’s work, ensuring every letter is handled with care.

Sangha governance combines democracy with the spirit of seniorship, involving bhikshus, bhikshunis, novices, and lay people. The abbot or abbess facilitates this by:

1. Ensuring everyone has the opportunity to express their views and proposals.
2. Discovering and encouraging hidden talents within the community.
3. Supervising the execution of decisions to ensure quality and support.

This process is supported by a mentorship system where every member is assigned a mentor to provide guidance. Students and mentors work together to reach a consensus on views, particularly during the first two years after ordination. Mentors are responsible for the progress of their students and report to the Dharma Teachers’ Council at least once a month.

The Three Refuges and the Five Mindfulness Trainings are not simple, easy-to-understand things, but a deep practice that brings peace and happiness. The solidity of body and mind is the foundation of true security and happiness. Instead of seeking refuge in money or external realities that easily collapse, we return to take refuge in the Three Jewels present right in every cell of our body.

The Three Refuges include:

1. Buddha is the Great Awakened One, of Great Wisdom, Great Compassion, and Great Loving-kindness, representing the seed of great awakening, understanding, and love in each person.
2. Dharma is the path and method of practice transmitting the capacity to transform and heal the blockages in body and mind.
3. Sangha is the community of people practicing together to manifest the Buddha and the Dharma in daily life.

Spiritual life does not necessarily have to rely on material foundations or money. When the heart is whole and full of the energy of compassion, we can live with ease, non-fear, and overcome all feelings of uncertainty. Taking care of each other is taking care of the Tathagata. When encountering difficulties or despair, we need to entrust our body and life to the Three Jewels, opening our hearts to share our suffering and pain with the Sangha to be embraced and illuminated. The act of touching the earth with open hands is a symbol of absolute trust, helping the energy to transform and be realized quickly and easily.

This talk was part of the 1992 to tour in eastern Europe and Russia.

Thây and a few Poles walking around Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 during the Second World War:

Eyes in good condition and a heart that functions normally are fundamental elements of peace and happiness. By touching the heart with mindfulness and gratitude, one recognizes its tireless work and resolves to protect it through proper nutrition, rest, and emotional care. This practice of loving kindness toward oneself is the foundation for loving others, as love is born from understanding the suffering, difficulties, and aspirations of another.

Within our consciousness are bija, or seeds of happiness and unhappiness, transmitted by ancestors and parents. To live mindfully is to touch these seeds of happiness and remain truly present. Life can only be met in the present moment; by not clinging to the past or getting lost in the future, one finds peace and joy. The best way to take care of the future is to take care of the present, as the future is made of the present.

Mindfulness is a substance containing light, understanding, and love, and is the essential element that makes a Buddha. It can be practiced through:

1. Hugging meditation, which makes both people real and present.
2. The bell of mindfulness, stopping all thinking and talking to return to the breath.
3. Telephone meditation, breathing mindfully three times when the phone rings.
4. Walking meditation, touching the earth with peace and joy without rushing.
5. Embracing pain, where mindfulness acts like a mother holding a crying baby or sunshine opening a tulip, transforming suffering through tender recognition.

“The Daily Practice of Blooming the Thousand-Petaled Lotus” (CPNĐSNC) is a series of Dharma talks in which Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh explains in detail the sutras, chants, repentance texts… from the 2000 edition of the Plum Village Chanting and Recitation Book. Currently, the book has a few new chants added, but all the essential sutras and chants remain unchanged. Through this series of Dharma talks, listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the sutras and chants practiced in the daily chanting sessions. The teachings were recorded between 1997 and 1999; due to the technological limitations of that time, the audio and video are not very clear, and we ask for the Sangha’s joyful understanding.

Note: This description is automatically fetched from existing YouTube descriptions and other sources. Please ‘Suggest a change’ if it is inaccurate.

Tình thương và sự hiểu biết mang lại sức sống, giúp con người vượt qua những vướng mắc và đau khổ của lối sống thường nhật để tìm về sự vững chãi. Sau ba tháng thực tập, an lạc có thể tìm thấy trong từng giây phút tiếp xúc với thiên nhiên như khi nhìn lá rụng hay ngồi bên dòng suối. Hạnh phúc chân thật nằm ở equanimity, compassion và vision sâu sắc để soi sáng con đường, đưa tâm trở về với hơi thở và sự hiện diện ngay trong hiện tại.

Niềm vui có thể tìm thấy trong những công việc lao tác hằng ngày sau ba mươi năm trở lại như nấu ăn, hái mận, quét nhà hay tưới bông, giúp dẹp bớt cái ta để hòa đồng cùng tăng thân. Thay vì để cái đầu lôi kéo vào những lo lắng, việc thực tập suy nghĩ không thông qua trí năng được thực hiện qua bốn phương diện:

1. Suy nghĩ bằng đôi chân để tiếp xúc với mặt đất vững chãi.
2. Suy nghĩ bằng đôi mắt để thấy từng đóa hoa.
3. Suy nghĩ bằng đôi tai để nghe tiếng chim hót.
4. Suy nghĩ bằng nụ cười để thấy niềm vui khắp chốn.
   Hạnh phúc còn được nhận diện qua bốn biểu hiện bao gồm một con bướm nhỏ mang lại sự nhẹ nhàng, một đóa hồng nở rộ, sự bình an khi biết hơi thở là người bạn và tiếng chuông đưa ta trở về ngôi nhà đích thực.

Sống trong tỉnh thức giúp tiếp nhận nguồn vui và trân quý mọi sự mầu nhiệm, từ ánh mắt thương yêu đến nụ cười ý thức. Đời sống trong chánh niệm được thể hiện qua sáu hành động cụ thể: thở vào thở ra, đi thật chậm, nhai từng miếng một, đi nắm tay nhau, ngồi yên quan sát và sống trong sự hòa hợp. Một cõi bình yên chính là sự lắng đọng của thân và tâm vào lúc bốn giờ sáng, nơi không còn lo âu hay tham dục, giúp con người tự tại trước những biến động và tiếp xúc với di sản chân thật trong mỗi hơi thở nhẹ như lời thơ trong “Viên Ngọc Kính Tặng Hoa”.

Khóa tu nước trong rửa ruột thực chất là làm sạch toàn bộ cơ thể, chuyển hóa các nội kết trong bắp thịt và máu huyết. Bộ máy tiêu hóa của một người trưởng thành dài khoảng chín thước, bao gồm mười hai bộ phận:

1. Miệng
2. Lưỡi
3. Các hạch nước bọt
4. Bao tử
5. Cuống bao tử
6. Ruột non
7. Ruột già
8. Gan
9. Mật
10. Màng ruột
11. Màng bao tử
12. Lá lách

Với diện tích bề mặt lên tới 200 thước vuông, ruột đóng vai trò tiếp nhận chất bổ dưỡng và loại trừ cặn bã. Nếu không được tống ra kịp thời, chất thải sẽ lên men, sình thối và tạo ra độc tố làm nhiễm độc cơ thể. Để thanh lọc, cần sự phối hợp của bốn cơ quan:

1. Phổi: loại bỏ thán tố qua hơi thở sâu và chậm trong không khí trong lành.
2. Thận: lọc máu qua đường tiểu, cần uống ít nhất 3 lít nước ấm mỗi ngày.
3. Da: bài tiết độc tố qua mồ hôi và việc tắm gội, lau sạch các lỗ chân lông.
4. Ruột: tống khứ cặn bã tích tụ lâu ngày bằng cách cho hệ tiêu hóa nghỉ ngơi.

Phương pháp thực tập bao gồm việc nhai một miếng bánh mì khô ít nhất 50 lần cho đến khi tan thành nước để tiêu hóa ngay trong miệng. Buổi sáng, việc uống nước muối magnesium sulfate giúp làm rã các khối nội kết bám vào thành ruột. Khi độc tố đi vào máu, cơ thể có thể cảm thấy mệt mỏi, nhức đầu hoặc tê liệt; lúc này cần uống nước liên tục và sử dụng dụng cụ trái ổi để bơm nước ấm vào ruột, giúp tống độc tố ra nhanh hơn. Sự thực tập còn kết hợp với:

1. Đi thiền hành và thực hiện 10 động tác chánh niệm để máu lưu thông.
2. Xoa bóp cơ thể và vùng bụng theo chiều kim đồng hồ.
3. Sử dụng túi nước nóng để hỗ trợ lưu thông máu vùng bụng và bao tử.
4. Uống bột Basenpulver để trung hòa acid và dùng thảo dược hỗ trợ tim, gan, thận.

Việc thanh lọc trong 10 ngày giúp màng ruột được làm mới, khiến thân thể nhẹ nhàng, da dẻ mịn màng và chuyển hóa các tâm hành tiêu cực như buồn chán, lo lắng, mang lại sự lạc quan và yêu đời.

Công việc quan trọng nhất của người tu là sống với tăng thân. Chính nhờ sống với tăng thân mà ta tìm ra được hạnh phúc, đánh tan những sầu khổ và cô đơn. Để tiếp xúc được với Bụt, ta cần đi qua hai bình diện:

1. The vertical dimension, chiều thẳng đứng để đi tìm Thượng đế hay Bụt.
2. The horizontal dimension, chiều ngang để tiếp xúc với những buồn vui và trăn trở của tăng thân.
   Nếu không đi vào chiều ngang thì không có cách nào tiếp xúc được với chiều dọc. Tăng thân chính là mảnh đất chứa đựng châu báu, và ta phải dùng cái cuốc chánh niệm và từ bi để khai thác mảnh đất đó hằng ngày. Hạnh phúc đích thực nằm ở đời sống bình thường như cơm ngày ba bữa, công phu sớm tối, quét nhà hay cưa củi. Mọi việc làm, từ đánh máy đến lao động tay chân, đều có giá trị ngang nhau nếu đem lại niềm vui cho mình và cho người.

Sự thực tập hằng ngày về hơi thở và thiền định giúp tâm hồn lắng xuống như một dòng sông ngưng chảy, giúp ta nhìn rõ những nguyên nhân đưa đến đau khổ. Nếu không thực tập vững chãi, khi gặp biến cố hay cơn giận, ta sẽ hành động giống như người ăn phải trái ớt quá cay mà không biết cách xử lý. Để chuyển hóa những nội kết và nỗi đau từ quá khứ, cần thực tập ba lời nguyện nương tựa:

1. Nương tựa nơi Bụt.
2. Nương tựa vào Pháp, là tình thương và sự hiểu biết.
3. Nương tựa vào Tăng, nơi nuôi dưỡng môi trường tu tập và chuyển hóa.
   Khi lòng không còn giận hờn hay mặc cảm, ta sẽ nhận ra mình không phải là một thực thể riêng biệt. Sự tỉnh thức trong hiện tại giúp ta nhận diện và chuyển hóa năm hạt giống tiêu cực gồm ích kỷ, giận hờn, ghen ghét, tham đắm và si mê. Khi thân an và tâm không còn chạy theo những điều thị phi, sen hồng nở rực ánh trinh nguyên.

Hoa thủy tiên là một sứ giả mang tới thông điệp về mùa xuân, tương tự như tiếng sấm xuân làm nhựa sống chuyển động và cây cối nảy mầm xanh. Trong thời đại phương tiện thông tin giàu có, con người thường sống trong cảm giác thiếu an ninh và sợ hãi những hung tin về bệnh tật hay cái chết. Để không thấy cuộc đời trôi qua như một giấc mơ uổng phí, chúng ta cần nhận diện những sứ giả mà Diêm Vương đã gửi đến để báo động và nhắc nhở về sự tu tập, đó là:

1. sanh
2. lão
3. bệnh
4. tử

Thực tập chánh niệm giúp chúng ta nhìn sự vật bằng con mắt sơ kỳ như lần đầu thấy và con mắt mạt kỳ như lần cuối cùng nhìn để trân quý sự sống sâu sắc. Mỗi bước chân dẫm trên đất thực tại, mỗi hơi thở và mỗi bữa ăn im lặng đều là phương tiện để tiếp xúc với những sứ giả mầu nhiệm của mùa xuân đang tiềm ẩn ngay trong lòng mùa đông khổ đau. Sự tu học đúng pháp phải mang lại sự nuôi dưỡng và chuyển hóa thực tế, giúp phá vỡ ngục tù của sầu hận và nghi ngờ để tiếp nhận những thông điệp của hòa bình và niềm tin.

Năm phép chạm sát đất là phương pháp hữu hiệu để kết nối với các nguồn năng lượng và hóa giải những bế tắc trong tâm hồn thông qua việc quán chiếu:

1. gia đình huyết thống để tiếp nhận những gì hoàn thiện nhất và chuyển hóa tập khí xấu của cha mẹ.
2. gia đình tâm linh để nương tựa vào tuệ giác của các bậc thầy và thánh nhân.
3. gia đình đất đai nơi cư ngụ để tri ân công đức của những người đã xây dựng và bảo vệ xứ sở.
4. thế hệ trẻ để truyền gửi năng lượng hỗ trợ và cùng tìm ra con đường thương yêu.
5. những người đã làm mình đau khổ để xả bỏ tự ngã, thấu hiểu nỗi khổ của họ và hóa giải hận thù.

The story of mathematics professor Henry Nguyen Van Ky Cuong in Canada demonstrates the miraculous transformation through the practice of mindfulness. From a hot-tempered person who easily got angry and often scolded his students, he learned to walk leisurely, to do everything unhurriedly, and to bring the bell of mindfulness into his classroom by clapping his hands. This change not only helped him master his anger and give up his habit of fishing, but it also brought happiness to his students, helping him become a Dharma teacher who shares the practice with many people.

To master our mind, we must first take hold of our body, which is like a wild horse, through the practice of the four main postures known as the four dignities:

1. walking
2. standing
3. lying down
4. sitting
   With mindfulness, these postures become more solid and beautiful. In addition, recognizing bodily movements such as putting on clothes, washing the dishes, driving, or climbing the stairs helps us maintain our awareness in every moment. Signing a treaty with the stairs to take each step in peace is an effective method to cultivate self-mastery and concentration, because only when we take hold of our body can we take hold of our mind.

Looking deeply into the body also involves recognizing the six elements that make up a human being, known as the six elements:

1. earth
2. water
3. fire
4. air
5. space
6. consciousness
   The practice of recognizing these elements helps us see the interconnectedness between the inside and the outside of the body, and to see the sun and the Earth right within ourselves. Understanding our body and consciousness is a solid step that allows each of us to truly care for and love ourselves, as well as those around us.

Through mindfulness and meditation, a path opens to embrace the universality of love, transcending duality and internal conflicts to reveal profound understanding and compassion. To meditate is to recognize pain, to welcome our negative emotions as fields of learning, and to transform our mental disturbances into peace. By practicing mindfulness, we can heal our heart and mind, recognize suffering from a perspective of non-duality, and respond to it with deep love. The awareness of our common suffering, cultivated through solitary or collective practices, enlightens us about our divine connection, allowing us to explore and heal the layers of our being with compassion. This approach also embraces the care of our physical well-being, reminding us of the importance of gratitude towards the often-neglected elements of our existence. Mindfulness thus unfolds as a light illuminating our inner landscape, inviting us to take care of ourselves with love, at every moment, transforming each step into an opportunity to reconnect with the joy and peace that reside at the heart of our being.

Consciousness always implies a subject of cognition and an object of cognition; to perceive is always to perceive something. These two parts coexist like left and right, and without an object, there can be no subject. Consciousness is categorized by its functions, often described as:

1. Citta (mind): the storehouse or alayavijnana that maintains and preserves all seeds and experiences.
2. Manas (mentation): the function that attaches to the storehouse, mistakenly recognizing it as a self.
3. Vijnana (discrimination): the sixth consciousness and the five sense consciousnesses that perceive the world.

Every mental formation contains both subject and object, including the five universal mental formations: sparśa (touching), manaskāra (attention), vedanā (feeling), saṃjñā (perception), and cetanā (volition). The storehouse consciousness functions as the earth, preserving seeds of birth and death, nirvana, delusion, enlightenment, suffering, joy, names, and images. These seeds manifest as the five rivers of our person: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. By using mindfulness and the three keys of impermanence, non-self, and nirvana, we can unlock the reality of these phenomena and touch their ultimate dimension.

Reality is a construction of individual and collective consciousness. Objects we perceive are not independent entities but objects of our own consciousness, often influenced by distorted perceptions and mental constructions. This manifestation includes the three realms—the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm of no form—and the two worlds: tình thế gian (the world of sentient beings) and khí thế gian (the environment). Master Xuanzang describes the work of the eighth consciousness as “Thọ huân, trì chủng, căn, thân, khí”, meaning it receives and maintains seeds, the six sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), the body, and the environment. Through practice, we move through the ten stages of the Bodhisattva, such as hoan hỷ địa (the stage of joy), transforming suffering into the insight of “phiền não tức bồ đề”.

Biểu biệt A-lại-da hay tàng thức biểu hiện qua hai phần là chủ thể nhận thức và đối tượng nhận thức. Đứng về phương diện đối tượng, thức biểu hiện ra ba loại cảnh:

1. Tánh cảnh là thực tại trong tự thân của nó, hay vật tự thân.
2. Đới chất cảnh là những hình ảnh nương vào tánh cảnh nhưng mang theo sự biến chế, tưởng tượng sai lầm của tâm thức.
3. Độc ảnh cảnh là những hình ảnh thuần túy do tâm tạo tác, không có chất liệu thực tại như trong giấc mơ hay ký ức.
   Sự biểu hiện này hình thành nên 18 giới, bao gồm: sáu căn là mắt, tai, mũi, lưỡi, thân, ý; sáu trần là sắc, thanh, hương, vị, xúc, pháp; và sáu thức là nhãn thức, nhĩ thức, tị thức, thiệt thức, thân thức, ý thức.

Mọi hiện tượng vật lý, sinh lý và tâm lý khi biểu hiện từ hạt giống thành hiện hành đều mang tính chất tự biểu và cộng biểu. Không có hiện tượng nào hoàn toàn riêng biệt hay hoàn toàn chung, bởi trong cái chung luôn có cái riêng và trong cái riêng luôn chứa đựng cái chung. Thức A-lại-da còn được gọi là thức dị thục, mang ba ý nghĩa:

1. Dị thời nhi thục là chín vào những thời điểm khác nhau.
2. Dị loại nhi thục là các loại hạt giống khác nhau cho ra quả khác nhau.
3. Biến dị nhi thục là khi chín có tính chất khác với khi còn là hạt giống.

Sự tham dự của thức vào các cõi và các địa cũng dựa trên nguyên lý này. Ba cõi gồm cõi dục, cõi sắc, cõi vô sắc và các địa là những thế giới do tâm thức cộng đồng cùng sáng tạo và biểu hiện. Con người là tổng thể của những hành động như câu “L’homme est la somme de ses actes”, nơi các nghiệp nhân phối hợp lại để tạo thành quả dị thục trong hiện tại. Việc quán chiếu hoa trái trong giây phút hiện tại giúp nhận diện các hạt giống đã gieo trong quá khứ và hiểu được sức mạnh của nghiệp lực dẫn dắt sự tham dự vào các môi trường sống khác nhau.

March 29, 2012. 73-minute talk from the Royal Festival Hall in London, England. The sangha is on a tour of the United Kingdom and this is the first public event. Thay speaks live, introducing the chanting, followed by Namo’valokiteshvaraya chanting by the monks and nuns of Plum Village, then the main talk, and Sister Chan Khong offers “I Smile to the World.”

We focus our attention on our breath; one in-breath is enough to bring enlightenment. The teaching is from the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing, looking at the first eight exercises.

Near the end, a few questions are taken from the audience: (1) When you live in the here and now, do you actually forget the past? (2) How do you resolve someone pushing in front of you on the Tube? (3) How can I practice with pain I have caused someone in the past? (4) How do you practice with forgiveness?

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

April 2, 2012. 115-minute dharma talk given at The American School in London by Thich Nhat Hanh. The sangha is on the UK and Ireland Tour and this is part four (and final part) of the Educators’ Retreat: An Exploration of Mindful Education.

Memorizing gathas to help us establish mindfulness. There are four domains of mindfulness: body, feelings, mental formations, and objects of mind. Mindfulness can help us be together in these four realms. Once we have established mindfulness, we can have concentration. The final kind of energy is insight - this can liberate you from your fear. This is not the product of your thinking, it is the insight of Interbeing. True education should be based in this insight of Interbeing.

In order to see things, we need an organ (for example, the nose to receive odor). The organ of thinking is called manas, and there is a lot of mis-perception in this organ. For example, the view of a separate self - this is at the base of all our complexes (inferiority, superiority, and equality). We can use mindfulness to gain the insight of non-discrimination. In the field of education, it is the same thing. The happiness of the students is the happiness of the teacher. We need non-discrimination to enjoy the teaching and the learning.

In the teaching of the four noble truths, the first truth is there is suffering. In education, the first thing we should do is identify the suffering and acknowledge it to each other. We have to see the truth so that real change can happen through a collective awakening. Thay continues with the application of the second, third, and fourth noble truth in our lives.

We learn about what is meant by sangha and how it can be applied to the community of teachers. What is suffering and why is it important? The last part of the talk looks closely at the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

Happy teachers will know how to generate understanding and love that will help the younger generation change the world.

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

The collective energy of the Sangha provides a powerful source for transformation and healing. By surrendering to this collective mindfulness, even a smile becomes a co-product of the community rather than an individual effort. The first two exercises of mindful breathing involve identifying the in-breath and out-breath without interference, like sunshine embracing vegetation, and becoming aware of the entire length of the breath body. These exercises demonstrate the nature of interbeing, where the first exercise is made of the second, and following the breath all the way through ensures mindfulness is always present.

The third and fourth exercises focus on reconciling with the body, which may have been treated as a stranger or neglected. By embracing the whole body and its specific parts—such as the eyes, heart, and liver—with tenderness and a smile, the practice of love and healing begins. This includes contemplating the four basic elements:

1. Earth, the element of solidity.
2. Fire, the heat and burning that makes life possible.
3. Water.
4. Air.
   Looking deeply into these elements reveals that life and death, or left and right, are pairs of opposites that inter-are. Recognizing that life carries death within it dissipates fear and anguish, allowing for a non-dualistic vision of reality.

Mindfulness is applied to the four positions of the body—sitting, standing, walking, and lying down—and every movement, such as opening a door or making coffee. This practice is rooted in three key discourses: the Discourse on the Full Awareness of Breathing, the Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and the Discourse on Living Happily in the Present Moment. These teachings explore the five skandhas:

1. Rupa (form).
2. Feelings.
3. Perceptions.
4. Mental formations.
5. Consciousness.
   These elements function like a namarupa, where mind and matter are two aspects of the same reality. The four foundations of mindfulness—body, feelings, mind, and dharmas—require contemplating the object from within, removing the frontier between the knower and the known. This leads to the realization that everything is a manifestation of collective and individual consciousness, touching the realm of no-birth and no-death.

The pāramitās are practices that allow us to cross the river of suffering to reach the shore of well-being, joy, and peace. Our mind has two layers: store consciousness, where seeds are buried like compact discs, and mind consciousness, where these seeds manifest. Progress in the practice, called vīrya or diligence, consists of four exercises:

1. Not watering the negative seeds in us and signing a peace treaty with our loved ones so as not to activate anger or despair.
2. Changing the CD if a negative seed manifests, using the intelligence and art of the practice to invite peace.
3. Helping positive seeds to manifest every day, such as joy and compassion, especially by listening to the Dharma.
4. Convincing the good CD to continue, by keeping the positive seeds in mind consciousness for as long as possible.

The practice is comparable to a six-petaled flower representing the six pāramitās:

1. Dāna: giving, of which the most precious gift is our true presence offered through mindfulness.
2. Śīla: the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
3. Kṣānti: the capacity to embrace suffering with an immense heart, including the four elements of love which are loving kindness, compassion, joy, and non-discrimination.
4. Vīrya: zeal, diligence, and daily progress.
5. Dhyāna: meditation, composed of stopping and looking deeply, which allows for the relaxation and healing of body and mind.
6. Prajñā: insight and understanding, which constitute the indispensable foundation of all the other practices.

Prajñā is the liberating factor that heals ignorance, the root of fear and anger. In the light of insight, love is a living, organic thing subject to impermanence. A person is neither the same nor different over time; thus, to safeguard love, we must maintain our own freshness and inner beauty. By understanding that the other person is our own continuation, we practice organic gardening of the mind, capable of transforming the garbage of suffering into flowers of understanding and happiness.

Deep listening and compassionate listening are essential for transforming suffering. Invoking Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, consists of recognizing this capacity for listening in oneself and in others. This practice relies on the sound of the bell, the voice of the Buddha, which calls us to:

1. Stop thinking, acting, and speaking.
2. Listen with one hundred percent of our body and mind.
3. Practice mindful breathing to return to our true home.

Mindfulness (smṛti) and concentration (samādhi) allow us to step out of distraction to live each moment deeply. Whether it is eating an ice cream, drinking apple juice, or walking, the energy of mindfulness makes us present to what we are doing. Walking meditation is a miracle that consists of kissing the Earth with our feet, with gentleness and love, to help our Mother Earth heal. While walking, we can use the words I am home, I have arrived, because the here and the now is the only address of life.

Happiness is possible immediately because the necessary conditions are already sufficient, such as eyes in good condition or a heart that functions normally. To love is to offer our true presence to the other, a presence cultivated through the four postures of the body: sitting, standing, lying down, and walking. Meditation is thus practiced in every daily gesture, such as peeling vegetables or washing the dishes, to generate joy, solidity, and peace from the very beginning of the practice.

April 5, 2012, at The University of Nottingham, during the UK and Ireland Tour, Thich Nhat Hanh offered a 125-minute dharma talk as the orientation for the Cultivating Happiness Family Retreat (Nottingham Retreat), joined by Brother Phap Ung and Brother Phap Lai.

The session opens with an introduction to chanting; by recognizing the suffering in ourselves and the world, we can gain understanding and compassion. The Avalokiteshvara chant begins about 23 minutes into the recording.

Around the 46-minute mark Thay gives a short dharma talk: a cultivated mind can bring a lot of happiness, transforming suffering. Awareness of breathing is presented as a form of enlightenment, a practice of returning to the here and now.

Afterward, Brothers Phap Ung and Phap Lai guide basic practices such as listening to the sound of the bell, mindful eating, noble silence, and attentive listening to dharma talks.

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

Buddhism and the Buddha are made of non-Buddhist and non-Buddha elements, just as a flower is made of non-flower elements. The nature of the individual is no-birth and no-death, allowing one to be free from fear. Peace, joy, and the kingdom of God are found in the present moment through the practice of stopping. Mindfulness and the Holy Spirit are energies of life, understanding, and compassion that allow for true communication. Love meditation begins with recognizing and taking care of each part of one’s own body. The prayer of the heart, practiced in the present moment, allows us to get in touch with our deep nature and to transform suffering.

This Questions/Answers session takes place in the form of an interfaith dialogue between Thich Nhat Hanh, Professor Keller, and Pastor Schwab:

1. In Buddhism, is there an interaction or an organic connection between nirvana, the unborn, and our physical and temporary existence?
2. Is it possible to imagine a “Christic Buddha”, and what is the difference between everyone’s capacity to be a Buddha and the distance maintained with the figure of Christ?
3. Who or what causes the waves of existence?
4. How can the message of mindfulness help the Western world break free from its constraints?
5. Does the Buddha bear, like the resurrected Christ, the stigmata or the wounds of suffering for the world?
6. What is freedom, and is it solely a liberation from emotions and fear?
7. What are the best and worst qualities of traditional psychiatry?
8. What is the difference between reality, the real, and the truth?

A childhood encounter with a drawing of a calm, refreshing Buddha at age nine planted a seed of peace in the store consciousness. At age twelve, a search for a hermit on a mountain led to the discovery of a natural well with water more refreshing than any other. This well became an internal source of purity carried for over fifty years, illustrating how touching beauty in childhood provides a lifelong spiritual root. Remaining rooted in one’s own culture and tradition is essential to responding to the soul of the world; without these roots, it is difficult to touch the most beautiful things in life.

Understanding, or prajñā, is the foundation of love and the tool for liberation from ignorance, fear, and anger. Love is a matter of practice, described by two specific terms:

1. Maitrī: the capacity to bring joy to oneself and others.
2. Karuṇā: the capacity to remove and transform pain.
   These capacities require the art of deep listening, exemplified by the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, and the art of looking deeply, exemplified by the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī. To love another, one must first understand their suffering, as love is the fruit of understanding.

Transformation and healing are possible through the practice of mindfulness in daily actions such as breathing, walking, and sitting. To find happiness, one must learn to release their cows—the projects, ideas, or possessions mistakenly thought to be essential for well-being. The practice includes:

• Deep Listening: listening with the sole purpose of relieving the suffering of the other person, without judging or arguing.
• Loving Speech: using a calm voice to express one’s own pain and responsibility without aiming to hurt.
• Mouth Yoga: the practice of smiling to relax hundreds of muscles on the face, which in turn relaxes the spirit.
• Stillness: calming the mind like still water so that reality can reveal itself clearly.

A poem describes two images of this state: the moon traveling in the sky of utmost emptiness, and the full moon reflecting beautifully in the calm water of living beings. By creating space within ourselves and practicing with a Sangha, we can water the seeds of insight and maintain the stillness necessary for true compassion.

Looking deeply changes our way of thinking, which otherwise brings sorrow, pain, and fear. The notion of zero, often seen as negative, can represent the greatest happiness of freedom from possessions and worry. True liberty is found in having nothing to lose, moving from a life of protection and fear to the peace of sitting at the foot of a tree. One cause is never enough to bring about an effect; the whole cosmos comes together to help a flower or a sheet of paper manifest. Because nothing comes from nothing, birth is actually a moment of continuation, a continuation day.

By looking deeply into the heart of reality, we touch our true nature, which is characterized by:

1. No birth
2. No death
3. No being
4. No non-being
5. No coming
6. No going
7. No same
8. No difference
   Touching this ultimate dimension, or suchness, brings the greatest relief and the ultimate joy of non-fear. Reality is not subjected to birth and death; when conditions are sufficient, something manifests, and when conditions are no longer sufficient, the manifestation ceases. This is expressed in the teaching: “This is because that is.”

The Discourse Given to the Dying Person illustrates how to water seeds of happiness through guided meditation on the four recollections: the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, and the mindfulness trainings. This practice involves recognizing that we are not caught in the six sense organs—eyes, nose, tongue, body, and mind—nor are we the four elements: water, fire, air, and earth. We are life without boundaries, and death is merely a threshold for continuation. Understanding that we are not the same as, yet not different from, our ancestors allows us to transcend grief and see our loved ones in their new manifestations, just as a cloud continues as rain or snow.

Guided sitting meditation in Three languages.

Whenever four people or more come together to practice mindfulness, concentration, and insight, the Buddha is present. The Sangha body is the true body, and the presence of the Buddha is felt in every moment of daily life through the eyes of signlessness.

La méditation du téléphone transforme une source d’irritation en une cloche de pleine conscience. Au lieu de courir, demeurez sur place, inspirez pour vous calmer et expirez avec un sourire, en attendant la troisième sonnerie avant de répondre. Si vous appelez, un poème peut être récité : Le son peut voyager des centaines de kilomètres, et la parole peut apporter la compréhension mutuelle et l’acceptation mutuelle. Chaque chiffre composé correspond à une respiration, car le temps est la vie, non de l’argent. Cette pratique installe le calme et améliore la qualité de la conversation et des affaires.

La méditation de la conduite utilise les feux rouges comme des amis qui disent « Stop » à la dispersion, et la plaque d’immatriculation « Je me souviens » pour rappeler de respirer. Un poème accompagne le démarrage de la voiture :

1. Avant de démarrer ma voiture, je sais où je vais ;
2. La voiture et moi, nous ne sommes qu’une chose ;
3. Si la voiture va vite, je vais vite.
   Nous ne devons pas devenir esclaves de nos instruments ou détruire notre milieu écologique, car en nous, il y a les arbres et les nuages ; détruire l’arbre, c’est se détruire soi-même.

La méditation nous ramène à la réalité plutôt que d’être une fuite, et il faut inventer des occasions de pratiquer même dans des conditions difficiles, comme les prisonniers politiques coupant des bambous. Il est essentiel de connaître ses limites et d’apprendre à dire non, car pour rendre les gens heureux, il faut d’abord établir le calme et le bonheur en soi. Face à l’insécurité et au malheur, la seule réponse est de vivre chaque minute dans la pleine conscience, en traitant la personne présente comme la plus importante.

Communication. We trust to much in our instruments of communication – mobile phone, email Skype, etc. Behind the instruments is our mind, and the question to ask is whether you can communicate with yourself. Many of us are angry or don’t respect ourselves. It is a mess inside. In that situation, how can we communicate with another person?

In Plum Village, we try to teach you how to come back to yourself. We learn to breath in mindfulness. We learn to eat in mindfulness. We learn to walk in mindfulness. We connect with our body and our mind. We need to let go our thinking – the practice of non-thinking.

Related to our suffering and being connected to our body is our consumption. We read a book, listen to music, drive the car, etc. We look to consumption to help us forget the pain their ourselves. Again, learning mindful breathing and walking we can gain the energy of mindfulness and be able to look at the pain and the sorrow. If you have mindfulness, you are no longer afraid.

Mindfulness is generated from your practice. And when we are together, we can generate collective mindfulness.

This talk was given in English, with a second part in Vietnamese (linked below). Includes 10 minutes of silent sitting & chanting before the talk.

Buddha, Sangha, Dharma Are Your True Home

Thầy invites us to return to the simple miracle of mindful breathing and the supportive presence of community. When we breathe, walk, and sit together, we touch the wonders of life available in each moment. From this ground of mindfulness, he reflects on time, impermanence, and how our practice shapes the quality of our days. A year becomes truly new only when we renew ourselves—learning to generate joy, care for suffering, and transform anger into understanding.

Nothing truly disappears—not a year, not our childhood, not our ancestors. Like clouds becoming rain, everything continues in new forms. Through this insight of interbeing, Thầy encourages us to touch the Earth, recognize our shared destiny, and look deeply into the suffering of those who hurt us. This is the heart of mindful living: returning home to our body, feelings, and mind, and taking gentle care of what we find there.

Our true home is an inner refuge built through mindfulness and compassion. When each of us cultivates this home, we help create a collective home, a Sangha where peace and understanding are generated together. Such a community becomes a refuge not only for its members but for all who come near it. In this way, the living Dharma is found in the way we breathe, speak, listen, and walk alongside one another.

This talk was offered during the Christmas and New Year Retreat in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Đại chúng tập hợp để thực hiện yết ma tự tứ cho khóa an cư kiết thu năm 2004 tại đạo tràng Mai Thôn. Việc tự tứ được thực hiện trong tinh thần hòa hợp để làm lễ đóng khóa tu ba tháng. Bốn vị trú trì của bốn chùa được đề cử làm người nhận tự tứ bao gồm:

1. Thầy Thích Chân Nguyện Hải
2. Thầy Thích Chân Pháp Sơn
3. Sư cô Thích Nữ Chân Diệu Nghiêm
4. Sư cô Thích Nữ Chân Định Nghiêm

Trong ngày tự tứ, các vị đại diện cầu xin sự từ bi soi sáng và chỉ dạy để nương vào đó thực tập, chuyển hóa những khó khăn và tập khí. Qua các lá thư soi sáng, tăng thân ghi nhận sự tiến bộ của các vị trong việc chăm sóc sa di, hướng dẫn các buổi họp và làm phận sự giáo thọ. Tuy nhiên, đại chúng cũng đóng góp ý kiến về việc cần nhẹ nhàng hơn khi chỉ dạy các em, dành nhiều thời giờ hơn cho các anh em gốc Tây phương, và cần có mặt thường xuyên hơn với tăng thân thay vì đi tổ chức các khóa tu bên ngoài.

Toàn thể đại chúng gồm các tỳ kheo, tỳ kheo ni, thức xoa ma na, sa di, sa di ni, cận sự nam và cận sự nữ cũng thực hiện phép tự tứ, cầu xin các vị trú trì soi sáng những điều chưa đúng trong sự thực tập. Những lá thư soi sáng được trao đi như một món quà quý báu của tình thương. Người nhận nguyện sẽ quán chiếu sâu sắc và thực tập tinh chuyên những điều được chỉ dẫn để không phụ lòng tin cậy của tăng thân trên con đường chuyển hóa và giải thoát.

Thầy shares the practice of going home in the Buddhist tradition: “The most wonderful Dharma talk that has ever been offered in Plum Village is, ‘I have arrived, I am home.’” Every mindful step and breath brings you home. Walking meditation and mindfulness has the power to heal and to nourish and helps us get in touch with everything: Mother Earth, Father Sun, our body, feelings, consciousness, our ancestors and the wonders of life. We are not lonely or separate. We are a river, a continuation. Loneliness is an illusion, a wrong perception. You have all your ancestors with you, and all of life.

Thầy reflects on the insights of no-birth, no-death; no being no non-being, and interbeing as our true nature. He speaks of the living Jesus and the living Buddha as having this nature of no-birth and no-death. Jesus and the Buddha continue and manifest in different forms. Our Sangha is a continuation of the Buddha. The way we walk and the way we breathe with the energy of mindfulness, concentration, peace and joy shows that the Buddha is here.

This talk was offered on Christmas Eve during the Christmas and New Year Retreat in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

“There is No Way to Nirvāṇa—Nirvāṇa is the Way”_

Thầy teaches that nirvāṇa means cooling down in order to find peace, joy, and healing; it means extinguishing the fires within—the fire of anger, the fire of fear, the fire of afflictions and wrong perceptions.

The talk explores how to take refuge in the island within—the true home in the here and now that is within ourselves where we can find healing and nourishment. Here, the power of mindfulness helps us get in touch with the wonders of life. We are invited to practice mindfulness in order to be fully alive in moments like brushing our teeth, taking a shower, and doing the dishes. Our teacher adds that when you walk mindfully, “You might be aware that Mother Earth is not only beneath, but inside you.” Living in mindfulness, he says, is the art of living.

A detailed explanation follows of each element of the Noble Eightfold Path, showing how they are interrelated and interconnected—how they inter-are. To conclude, Thầy explains how we can better understand the teachings of Buddhism—and Christianity—by letting go of our dualistic thinking.

So what kind of resolution would Thầy make before the coming of the year?
I am determined not to waste my life, not to waste my time. I dare to live the life that I want to live. And I want every step I make on this planet bring joy, happiness to me and to the people. I want every step I make on this planet is a step I made in the Kingdom of God, in touching nirvāṇa because it’s my conviction—the path and nirvāṇa, the path and the Kingdom are the same. You cannot remove the Kingdom from the path. You cannot remove nirvāṇa from the path. You cannot remove the path from the Kingdom or nirvāṇa.
“There is no way to nirvāṇa—nirvāṇa is the way.”

This talk was offered on New Years Eve during the Christmas and New Year Retreat in the year 2012. Thầy offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

In Plum Village, our practice is to always go back to the present moment. We do this in many ways, like mindful breathing and mindful walking. Simple, but very important practices. We have the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing is one of the most important sutras. In this talk we review the first six exercises.

When going through a difficult situation can be supported with these practices. It can be your second body. That is the Buddha.

Thay briefly discusses the Abidhamma literature – super dharma. Stick to the sutras and what they stay and don’t venture into metaphysical speculation.

Though past, present, and future look different, they are actually the same.
They are ideas. Notions. This is Interbeing.

Nothing is born. From nothing you cannot create something. This removes the notion of creation. This is something stated by science. This is the product of the intellect and is equivant to our idea of no birth and no death. Nothing has a separate existence.

“Breathing In” is not just for beginners. It is the most wonderful thing to do.

This is a Day of Mindfulness. We begin with chanting.

When you set up a practice center, you have to think of the sangha. A sangha is a group of people who practice together and the environment is good, nourishing, and healthy. When people arrive at a practice center, she should feel the energy right away.

We practice mindfulness as manifested from the Five Mindfulness Trainings. These generate a healthy environment. This is what the Buddha did right away and we too can create such a practice center.

Suffering is part of life and with mindfulness we can make good use of our suffering. We can produce joy, happiness, and compassion. The law of Interbeing is suffering and happiness. The mud and the lotus.

The holy is made of non-holy elements. We can generate holiness if we understand suffering and allow compassion to arise in us and we don’t suffer anymore. The Five Mindfulness Trainings can help cultivate this holiness.

Being a monastic. We have 10-precepts. It is a holy life. Training as a monastic, you also need a sangha. You cultivate the mind of love. Boddhichita.