There are 191 days left until the year 2000. During the retreat at Bailin Temple with 182 Zen practitioners, the practice of mindfulness is expressed through the smallest actions. Sweeping the courtyard, cooking meals, or washing the dishes is as sacred as sitting meditation and chanting. Instead of using mediums like cassette tapes to take refuge or run away from reality, the practice requires investing 100% of our mind into a single object. A lack of mindfulness while working or walking on the street brings two disadvantages:

1. Not paying full attention to vehicles and potential accidents.
2. The mind is scattered, unable to invest 100% of our mind into a single object.

The secret of Zen meditation is one thing each time – doing only one thing at a time, which helps us touch deeply the wonders of life in the present moment, such as the cypress tree in the courtyard, the white clouds, or the blue sky. A koan and a hua tou are seeds that need to be sown into our store consciousness instead of just using our intellect. The process of inquiry requires uninterrupted concentration, a constant care like a gardener taking care of a seed or a mother nourishing her fetus. Many ancestral teachers have used Questions to open up insight:

1. Do you see the cypress tree in the courtyard?
2. Does a dog have Buddha nature?
3. Who are you, brother; who are you, sister?
4. What was your state before your mother gave birth to you?
5. When not thinking of good and not thinking of evil, who are you?
6. All dharmas return to the One; where does the One return to?
7. Who is the one reciting the Buddha’s name?

The tendency of living Zen emphasizes bringing Zen into daily life to transform a society that is being swept away by busyness. However, if we focus too much on mysterious literature, ancient verses, or works like the Blue Cliff Record, Zen can become a form of escaping reality. In Plum Village, a koan is unlocked using three basic Dharma keys:

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

This approach helps us face our actual suffering, anger, and entanglements directly, turning every step and every breath into a tool to achieve solidity and liberation.

Live deeply every moment of daily life so that life does not pass by like a dream. Happiness is present right in the present moment if we know how to stop and live deeply, instead of running after conditions of happiness in the future driven by our habit energies. Practice is the process of recognizing and transforming old habits to attain solidity, freedom, and peace right here and right now.

The practice includes using the precepts, fine manners, and mindfulness to protect our body and mind from:

1. The ten fetters: ten bindings that make us lose our freedom.
2. The ten underlying tendencies: ten forces that push us to speak, act, and think in forgetfulness.
   Conscious breathing is a safe home that helps us put an end to our sleepwalking and touch reality. In this practice:
3. Mindfulness is the Buddha shining light.
4. The breath is the Dharma protecting our body and mind.
5. The five skandhas are the Sangha working together diligently.

Every daily action, such as drinking tea, washing the dishes, or gardening, is an opportunity to generate the energy of love and solidity. In order to help those with suffering and pain, such as the 1,500 upcoming retreatants, we must have peace within ourselves. We need to avoid fake practice—which is merely practicing the outward form—and engage in true practice, meaning that every step and every breath contains the essence of awakening. Only when we have the substance of the Buddha within us can we manifest solidity and a compassionate smile to the world, just as an artist must nourish their own peace before sculpting a statue of the World Honored One.

There is no way to healing, healing is the way. In our daily life we may have small sufferings and as time goes by they may become blocks of suffering in us. We need to recognise this suffering in us. Every breath can bring healing, every step can bring healing. We are able to transform our suffering into peace and joy.

Stopping is very important in our practice. If we can stop, healing will take place right away. Stop doing what brings us suffering, anger and despair. The moment you decided to stop, you feel very light. And the practice of Five Mindfulness Trainings is crucial to our healing.

Can you create a moment of happiness? Through the practice of mindfulness, we are capable to create moments of joy and happiness in our daily life. Take an example, to cook soup we need water, vegetables, tofu. And most of us are capable to cook good soup. To create a moment of little happiness is like that. With some ingredients, we are capable of creating moments of happiness for us and for the others. You need to learn how to create moments of happiness, and to savour moments of little happiness in our daily life.

We practice to stop our NST Non-Stop Thinking Radio, the discourse going on inside us. Stop in order to feel what is happening in the here and now; to feel what is happening in the here and now in order to stop. To feel your body, to be aware of each feeling and to embrace them. We do not chew again and again our sorrow, fear and anger, that is not good for our health. We offer ourselves healthy nutriments. We learn how to walk, sit, eat, do things in our daily life happily and joyfully. Any moment of practice can heal and can help heal other people.

(This is the talk of Thay given on the Daffodil Festival Day of Mindfulness in the Dharma Cloud Temple of Plum Village, France)

The practice of non-violence begins in the family, the basic unit of society. Restoring the tradition of the big family helps overcome the loneliness of the nuclear family and provides a sense of being rooted. Touching our roots through an ancestral altar or a family shrine allows us to stay in touch with our ancestors and prevents alienation. This practice includes sharing meals, telling stories to the younger generation, and fostering friendships between grandparents and grandchildren, ensuring that cultural heritage is handed down.

Violence in society is a collective responsibility involving parents, schools, and governments. When looking deeply into acts of violence, we see the emptiness of transmission: all of us are the beaters and all of us are the beaten. To transform the fear, anger, and hatred that inhabit us, we must learn the art of mindful breathing and walking. Every home, school, hospital, and parliament should establish a breathing room—a territory of peace where anyone can take refuge to restore their stability and calm. When one member of the family uses the breathing room, others respect that need for quiet, turning off the television and returning to themselves.

The practice of peaceful living requires an intelligent policy of consumption to protect ourselves and our children from toxic cultural products that nurture the three poisons:

1. Confusion
2. Greed
3. Anger

Through the Fifth Mindfulness Training, we learn to consume only what is healthy and healing. This involves selecting media with mindfulness, practicing Total Relaxation as a family to overcome universal stress, and urging legislators to create laws that prohibit destructive products. Just as mindfulness led to non-smoking flights and warnings on alcohol, it must now be applied to all forms of consumption to protect our collective consciousness.

Today is a special day where the children are playing and practicing as kings and queens. A good question can profit many people and should be a real question of the heart concerning difficulties, experience, suffering, and happiness.

1. If looking deeply means living every moment mindfully, what should one be mindful of, and is psychotherapy a deeper way of looking?
2. Is there a special practice to help make the right decisions for the future, such as what to study or finding a job to serve the well-being of society?
3. How can a mother who feels she needs mothering herself provide guidance and support to her child when faced with ancestral pain and difficulty?
4. How can a person working to save abused dogs deal with the increased pain felt through meditation without turning away from helping sentient beings?
5. What can help heal the cord with ancestors and open the heart to them when feeling cut off by emotional distance from parents?
6. How can one deal with feelings of anger and despair triggered by news of social conflict and instead wake up with a smile?
7. What is helpful to do for people who are dying or for their families when they do not have their own spiritual practice?
8. How can a negative action in life, such as having an abortion, be repaired?
9. What corresponds to the idea of God within Buddhist Dharma and practice?
10. How can one break through addictions to things like cannabis, television, and music used to cover up a sense of emptiness, and how can a parent help a young adult in this situation?
11. How can the circle of compassion be widened to protect life on Earth when many people protect themselves with apathy?

With three hundred days remaining before the new century, the twenty-first century is a beautiful hill to be climbed together as a Sangha with joy, peace, and harmony. Every human being is a flower in the garden of humanity, and the practice of mindfulness is the nourishment of this flowerness. Happiness is available in the here and the now when we cherish the conditions of life and appreciate the wonders within and around us. Loneliness is a prison created by the notion of self and wrong perceptions, preventing us from touching the message of love and hope offered by life.

The heart may refuse to bloom even when “ninety thousand flowers are blooming in nature” due to the poisons of:

1. Anger
2. Jealousy
3. Ignorance or avidyā
   The story of Princess Huyền Trân, an instrument of peace between the two countries of Đại Việt and Champa, illustrates the capacity to open one’s heart for the sake of others. Restoring the freshness and limpidity of our flower requires the practice of mindful breathing, walking, and performing daily tasks with love. To love is to be aware that the person is there, alive, and to do something to help them be happy in the present moment. True love transcends time and space, offering joy and freedom from discrimination, attachments, and the need to possess.

Understanding the suffering, fear, and hope in ourselves and others leads to acceptance and the dissolution of loneliness. This insight applies to relationships between individuals and the two groups of people: Judaism and Muslim. Buddha and Jesus are brothers, and their followers continue their presence by being real flowers of their respective traditions. True religious dialogue is not found in reports or discussions, but in the display of one’s own fragrance, freshness, and beauty through the way one walks, breathes, and smiles.

When experiencing difficulty with a parent or partner, practice walking and sitting meditation to recognize their good qualities and restore communication through writing. In instances of witnessed aggression, such as an adult mistreating a child, there is a responsibility to intervene. If you become angry at the situation, three people are then angry:

1. The adult expressing violence.
2. The child receiving the violence.
3. You, who are angry at the injustice.
   To help effectively, personal anger must be replaced with compassion and calm, allowing for the use of upāya-kauśalya, or skillful means.

A bodhisattva uses skillful means to intervene, such as diverting an adult’s attention by asking the time or winning their heart to eventually help the child. Insight reveals that the roots of a child’s suffering often lie in the parent; therefore, changing the family environment and the parents’ behavior is the way to help the young. This same compassion applies to those who misunderstand or insult us; by recognizing them as victims of wrong perceptions or habit energy, the desire to punish is replaced by the desire to help.

Practicing with a Sangha combines individual mindfulness and concentration to produce greater insight for solving daily problems. Every day requires the application of:

1. Mindfulness.
2. Concentration.
3. Insight.
4. Skillful means.
   A specific meditation involves listing the positive qualities of one’s father and mother to overcome the blindness of anger. This practice can restore relationships even after a parent has passed away, as ancestors remain alive within us. Communicating through the Dharma removes barriers and makes dialogue possible at any time.

There is a good question on breathing.

1. When the bell is rung and we are asked to pay attention to our breathing, what does this mean, and is it enough to only be cognizant of the natural breath if controlling it creates stress?
2. While being mindful of breathing, is it possible to be engaged in other activities such as reading, thinking, or calculating numbers, and does this become easier as the practice develops?
3. In order to live mindfully and happily, is it necessary to change a living and work environment that is unmindful, such as a city filled with pollution, advertisements, exhausts, and greed?
4. Is mindfulness the only way to cut through the ring of samsara, specifically the cycle where abused children repeat the same harm to their own children?
5. How can one cope with the sense of despair and powerlessness when working for human rights and justice in the face of poverty, famine, and war, especially when few people are willing to cooperate?

The Sangha is gathered at Emei Shan in China. Practice in such a way that the Pure Land can be obtained in the here and the now. Realization of the Pure Land requires more than sitting and chanting; it requires looking deeply into the true nature of things, such as seeing a cloud in a cup of tea or the origins of food, throughout the day. Practice must have essence and substance, not just form, through the cultivation of mindfulness and concentration. Brotherhood and harmony in the Sangha are necessary daily food for a lifelong practice, maintained by sharing difficulties and successes every fortnight. Reconciliation with others should be achieved within the retreat.

1. How can one control the desire to eat too much when smelling or seeing good food?
2. Do the monastics ever experience homesickness or miss the feeling of being home?
3. Is it normal to see another image of oneself receiving light from a Buddha during meditation?
4. What is the best way to repay the teacher for his instructions, and what kind of gift would he like to receive?
5. How can one attain the pure Dhamma body?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages for Chinese people in studying the Buddha Dharma?
7. What is the daily schedule and way of life in Plum Village?

Today is the 19th of June in the year 2010, and we are on the fifth last day of the retreat for Dutch speaking friends. The theme of the retreat is living happily together. A good question can benefit many people and should be a question of the heart that has to do with our suffering, our happiness, and our practice.

1. How can I deal with being hurt by someone very close to me, such as my mother, and what can I do to develop more love for myself?
2. Can people who go hungry every day and have no work or money for school or doctors also live in mindfulness and be happy in the present moment?
3. After experiencing a shocking change in perception that led to a loss of self-trust, what can be done to regain confidence and overcome the fear of being in unknown places?
4. What advice is there for a practice to open the heart and be capable of taking the risk to love?
5. How can I deal with the confusion that arises when words, which are meant to connect us, seem to cause disconnection and deform meaning?
6. Why do human beings want to obtain power if it keeps us away from love and happiness?
7. What is the first step for current leaders caught in a win-lose mindset to become more mindful and follow a spiritual path?

A good question has to do with the practice, our suffering, and our happiness, and can profit many people.

We begin with questions from the children:

1. Why do monks dress in brown and not in brighter colors?
2. What are the moments when you feel most happy?
3. Did you like the drawing I have done for you?
4. Has there been any time in the past when you were not happy?
5. How can we be really happy and control our anger?
6. How did you become a monk?

Followed by questions from the adults:

1. How can one move from the level of love as sexuality to the level of true, universal love?
2. Is competition really an idea, or is there truly enough for everybody when facing fear and stress?
3. What is the attitude a practitioner should hold to protect and respect themselves when their trust is betrayed by the bad actions of others?
4. Is there a bridge between the inner island of self and the problems of the outside world, or is the feeling of separation a dualistic frame of mind?
5. What should be done to achieve the transformation and change felt pushing from within, moving away from anger and toward a new energy?
6. How is it possible to dwell stably in the present moment and at the same time make projects for the future?
7. Does faith and happiness come from within the self or from the Sangha, given the instruction to take refuge in oneself?
8. How can one take care of oneself and love people at the same time, especially when feeling unsafe or lacking boundaries?

During the Annual Summer Opening at Plum Village in France, Thich Nhat Hanh offers to respond to questions from participants on several occasions. The audio here is a 15-minute response to one of the questions on July 20, 2007: How did the Five Mindfulness Trainings come to be?

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This 2007 Dharma talk, recorded on May 7 during the Vietnam trip that focused on the Great Requiem Ceremonies to heal the last wounds of the war, explores how it is possible to cultivate peace as individuals, families, and nations. Peace begins with understanding and love, with our in-breath bringing mind and body together; breathing is the bridge connecting them, and we must recognize our conditions of happiness in the present moment. The wisdom of non-discrimination in Buddhism and the Four Elements of True Love—maitri, karuna, mudita, and upeksha—are presented as crucial for personal and world peace.

Thay details The Three Kinds of Powers: to cut off craving, anger, and despair by looking deeply into suffering; to generate insight through meditation; and to cultivate the power to love and forgive. Mindful breathing and mindful walking make it possible to touch the Pure Land and the wonders of life in the here and now.

A series of audience questions addresses offering love to someone who rejects it, practicing Beginning Anew in families, the nature of impermanence and nirvana, dealing with anger while teaching children, helping people in poor environments live in peace, and the difference between non-discrimination and forgiveness in upeksha.

The talk concludes with reflections on the three prayer ceremonies held in the south, central, and north of Vietnam for those who died in the war and at sea, where sitting meditation, sutra recitation, and charitable work were offered, and the merit of the practice was transferred to the dead, accompanied by an English translation of the readings used during the ceremonies.

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In this 53-minute Dharma talk from the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village on Sunday, November 12, 2006, Thay teaches a message of love. After two chants from the monastics, he explains that you are a continuation of your father: intellectually we know this, yet we feel different because we haven’t looked deeply enough. Who is the father inside of you? Can you practice for your father? Transformation of the father inside also helps transform the father on the outside.

Thay shares how to get in better touch with your father, offering his own practice as an example, and shows that conversation with your father can occur anytime, whether he is alive or not. The same applies to your mother: begin a conversation with the mother inside of you and, if she is still alive, speak with her too.

You also have a spiritual teacher inside and outside of you. How are you carrying your teacher into the future? We should not be exactly like our teacher; we should learn and transform for our own time so we can see the suffering of our time.

Thay speaks of “The Buddha of our Time” and the need for a global ethic to respond to globalization, the environment, and other present needs. When you contemplate an orange, you see everything about it—the universal aspect, harmony—and likewise we need a global ethic embodied in the Five Mindfulness Trainings. These trainings are presented in a non-sectarian, universal way: you don’t have to be a Buddhist. You can remain yourself while creating harmony, sisterhood, and brotherhood. The Five Mindfulness Trainings are the way out of difficult situations, and their essence may be found in other traditions as well.

Thay concludes with a short story of the Buddha, inviting us to see with the eyes of the Buddha and contemplate the beauty of the world.

1:45 Bell and chanting
10:30 Continuation of your father
29:15 Continuation of your teacher
36:15 The Buddha of our Time
39:20 Global Ethic: Five Mindfulness Trainings
51:30 Returning to our ancestors

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May 19, 2011. A 92-minute Dharma talk in English with consecutive German translation, given by Thich Nhat Hanh during the German Retreat at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany.

The talk explores verses of practice—Gathas—many drawn from the Avatamsaka Sutra, and introduces new Gathas for modern life such as using the telephone and riding a bicycle. Thay continues his teaching on right view through the pairs of opposites: being/non-being, birth/death, coming/going, and sameness/otherness. In the final fifteen minutes he offers guidance on education and mindfulness.

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The Sangha is gathered at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2011 US Teaching Tour, Cultivating the Mind of Love. In this 42-minute introduction Thich Nhat Hanh teaches Mindfulness, mindful breathing, sitting and walking meditation, how to arrive, and the miracle of mindfulness that lets us release past and future. We are “cells in the sangha body,” breathing together so that with just three seconds of breathing we can touch life, generate energy, listen as one body and gain insight. Walking allows us to touch the wonders of life in the here and now; sitting can be a delight supported by Sangha and breathing—“I have arrived, I am home.” During the retreat we learn to be the living Buddha, the living Dharma and the living Sangha. Sister Pine and Brother Phap Dung share ways to enjoy the practice: Noble Silence, Working Meditation, slowing down, eating salad without the dressing, cultivating our own bell of mindfulness; in this tradition practice and non-practice are interwoven—pay attention to the non-effort.

On April 17, 2011, at the start of a five-day retreat in Taipei, Taiwan, a 47-minute orientation in English with consecutive Mandarin translation is offered by Thay Phap Dung and Sister Dinh Nghiem, introducing the basic practice and continuing the guidance begun by Thay.

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Talk from the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village, Thursday, March 13, 2014. After a period of lazy days following the winter retreat, Thich Nhat Hanh offers a teaching in English that begins with chanting and hearing the bell, then a lesson on mindful breathing to release tension and painful emotions. He reads a “Letter to Death Row,” speaking about fear, anger, despair, compassion, and the possibility of freedom in prison.

The teaching continues with the Sutra of the Four Kinds of Nutriments: edible food; sensory impressions from eye, ear, nose, body, and mind; intention/volition as our deepest desire; and consciousness. Thay explains mindful consumption, preserving compassion, and helping young people to suffer less, noting that nothing can survive without food.

In the second half, a ceremony confers an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of Hong Kong upon Thich Nhat Hanh. He responds to the degree and engages in a dialogue with the Vice Chancellor on the topic of today’s youth, the need for a good environment created by teachers and parents, and how intention can guide us to work for peace, the environment, and the alleviation of suffering.

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August 24, 2010. A 100-minute dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, during the Retreat for Young People with the theme “Truly Alive.” Thay introduces a “dharma talk à la carte,” inviting about ten questions and writing them on a white board; after twenty minutes, many more than ten questions appear. All the questions are linked, and answering one can answer them all.

The remaining hour explores peace, understanding, and compassion, emphasizing that even when we get what we think we need, we can still suffer. The central inquiry is how to understand our own suffering. This requires the art of listening—training in mindful living to listen deeply to the suffering within ourselves—because intention alone is not enough.

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March 25, 2011. 111-minute dharma talk and presentation on the first day of the Understanding Our Mind retreat at Mahachulalongkornrajavidhayalaya Buddhist University (MCU) near Bangkok, Thailand, with Thich Nhat Hanh, Brother Phap Luu, and Sister Dang Nghiem, given in English with consecutive translation into Thai.

There is a period of 3:30 minutes of silence at the beginning. Thich Nhat Nhan then provides a lovely introduction to Avalokiteshva, and how we can listen to a chant to heal ourselves and others. The Sangha chants the name of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

After the chant Sister Dang Nghiem and Brother Phap Luu guide the retreatants through an orientation on breathing, walking, eating, noble silence, and the practices offered during the retreat.

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There is the habit energy of running in every one of us. We tend to run to the future in order to look for happiness, peace and fulfillment, and many of us are caught in our regrets and sorrows concerning the past. The past becomes a kind of prison; we are locked in it, and we are not capable of getting out and be in the present moment to get in touch with the sunshine, the blue sky and the wonders of life. Many of us also run to the future, caught by the energy of fear, uncertainty and worry. The future also becomes a prison. In fact, life is only available in the here and the now. The practice of mindfulness helps us not to be caught in the past or the future and live deeply in the present moment.

We need freedom from the sorrows and regrets concerning the past, and the worries and uncertainty about the future. The practice of mindful breathing and walking can help us to be free. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh talks about the practice of mindful walking that can help us to remember the appointment with life, which is happening only here and now. When we do walking meditation, we may walk not too quick and not too slow. Breathing in, you may make two steps or three steps. Every step brings us home to the here and now: I have arrived, I am home. Joy and love is possible. With every step we arrive at the Kingdom of God.

We can use words to help us practice walking meditation:
I have arrived, I am home.
In the here, in the now.
I am solid, I am free.
In the ultimate, I dwell.

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July 22, 2011, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France, during the annual Summer Opening Retreat, Thich Nhat Hanh offers an 86-minute dharma talk on the art of happiness and the art of power.

He presents three kinds of power: the power to cut off, the power to love, and the power to understand. We can cultivate the courage to cut off craving, anger, despair and other afflictions so we can be free. The power to love is the capacity to accept, forgive and embrace; when our heart is large we don’t suffer, illustrated by the story of salt and water. The power to understanding is the foundation of love; we first have to understand our own suffering before we can understand the other, and the Three Doors of Liberation support this practice.

Thay shares his wish to write a book called “The Power of Suffering.” In the Buddha’s teaching, happiness and suffering go together like the above and the below, the left and the right. When we realize that happiness is made of non-happiness elements, we can make good use of the mud of our suffering to grow a lotus flower. The Sutra of Mindful Breathing offers sixteen exercises that can help us understand our suffering.

Talk given in English.

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July 20, 2011, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The sangha is in the annual Summer Opening Retreat.

Thay begins with a story of creation: God said, “Let there be light,” and the light said, “Wait.” “What are you waiting for?” “I’m waiting for the shadow and darkness in order to manifest together.” Light and darkness manifest together. There is no subject without object; the two have to manifest together, and object and subject are the same thing.

Buddha’s first teaching was on the Four Noble Truths: suffering, the creation of suffering, happiness, and the path to happiness. If we confirm the existence of ill-being, then we also confirm the opposite. This is Interbeing. The Eightfold Noble Path is presented, beginning with Right View. Thay elaborates on Right Thought, Right Speech and Right Action as the development of skillful means with regard to the three kinds of karma: mind, speech, and bodily action, and concludes with Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

What we call death is not really death. Our karma (our actions) continue after we are no longer here in this bodily form. We continue right now in the present moment through our actions. There are two kinds of retribution for our actions: ourselves (our five skandhas) and our environment. Our view on a global ethic is based on these teachings; we have a path and we don’t have to worry.

In a special session for children, Thay teaches the practice of relaxing the body, smiling to life, and seeing our parents inside. Using the image of a seed of corn, he shows how our parents are present in every cell of our body: we cannot separate the father from the son. The Buddha is also in us, and we can breathe with him when we breathe.

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From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, on June 29 , 2014, during a day of mindfulness between the 21-Day Retreat and the Summer Opening, Thich Nhat Hanh offers an 80-minute Dharma talk on monastic life.

He begins with mindful breathing—whether to place attention at the tip of the nose or the abdomen—emphasizing stopping all thinking, being fully aware, and enjoying the here and now. He then guides mindful walking, showing how each step can touch the ground of reality, illustrated by a story of a 13th-century Vietnamese king who practiced deeply as a lay person.

The talk explores the triple training of mindfulness, concentration, and insight, elements of the Noble Eightfold Path and the Five Powers, and shows how mindfulness is embodied in the precepts: five for lay practitioners, fourteen for Order members, ten for novice monastics, 250 for monks, and 380 for nuns. Each precept “guarantees a zone of freedom.”

Drawing on the novice manual “Stepping into Freedom,” Thay explains its four parts—daily vinaya verses, the ten novice precepts, mindful manners, and a reminder of why one becomes a monastic—shares mindful manners for monastics, and speaks of the joy of reciting the precepts. He likens the commitment of ordination to a marriage, highlighting the sangha’s support that makes the monastic path a happy and beautiful way to realize the dream of helping others.

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July 19, 2011. 120-minute Dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh from Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France, during the annual Summer Opening Retreat. This is the question-and-answer session.

Before we begin, Thay offers a teaching on ancestors because today is Ancestors Day. Every home in Vietnam, no matter how poor, keeps an altar for the ancestors. We have two kinds of ancestors: blood and spiritual.

Here are the questions:

1. If we are living in the here and the now, how can we make plans?
2. Why do I have nightmares?
3. How can I help my younger brother to be happy if he annoys me?
4. How to become enlightened?
5. What is freedom, and can you be free even if someone tells you what to do?
6. How can I be kind to myself when I lack confidence?
7. What to do when daughters are treated less equally than sons?
8. We are taught not to judge people and things, but how can we love them without judging?
9. I feel that I attract people who have difficulties. Where is the boundary between being selfish and protecting yourself?
10. I am very confused. I feel caught by impermanence. So when you become a full-time Buddha, you have a state of mind with ultimate freedom and true happiness. But doesn’t that state go against impermanence? When you become a full-time Buddha does the law of impermanence no longer apply to you?
11. I am 50 years old, and I have a 15-year-old son. I would like to become a nun. Can I leave him to take care of himself and come to live peacefully in the temple?

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The Winter Retreat offers an opportunity to deepen practice through mindful breathing, walking, and sitting. The cultivation of peace begins with making the breath deeper and more harmonious, which helps release tension and pain in the body. This practice leads to the development of four essential qualities:

1. Peace: Cultivated through mindful breathing to calm the body and feelings.
2. Clarity: The removal of wrong perceptions to see things as they are.
3. Compassion: Born from understanding, allowing for the acceptance of oneself and others.
4. Courage: The energy needed to make decisions and cut through afflictions like craving and anger.

True happiness is found not in fame or wealth, but in the presence of these four virtues and the cultivation of brotherhood and sisterhood. Within a true Sangha, individuals find the freedom to express themselves and trust one another, creating a nourishing environment for transformation and healing. Happiness is also found in having a clear path—the eight right practices of mindfulness, concentration, and insight—which leads to the relief of suffering for oneself and others.

The practice of Touching the Earth recognizes the planet as a bodhisattva and the mother of all Buddhas. By touching the ground during walking meditation, the duality of matter and spirit is transcended, recognizing that every speck of dust contains the cosmos. During the retreat, the Sangha will study two specific texts:

1. The Paramārthagāthā, or verses on the Absolute Truth.
2. Quán sở duyên duyên luận, a study on the objects of consciousness.
   These teachings support the realization that the nature of all things is interbeing, where the one contains the all.

Thich Nhat Hanh begins with a recollection of a retreat for children: during walking meditation we proposed they use “yes, yes” and “thanks, thanks” for each of their steps. We can say yes and feel thankful. There are so many things we can say yes to. We can appreciate these things—our body, our eyes, etc. With our eyes we can see the blue sky and the mountains. The practice is, breathing in, I am aware of my eyes and am grateful they are in good condition. We do the same with other parts of our body, like our heart. With this awareness, we can take better care of our body and allow it to be restored. In the “Sutra on the Contemplations of the Body” the Buddha taught us how to look at all the parts of the body. We use mindfulness to project light onto every part of our body. This can bring us happiness, love, and compassion.

If you are a leader of a corporation, you may wish to incorporate and offer a session of total relaxation. The same can be done by a school teacher for the students. Parents too, if they know the practice, can offer a session for the family. We can also create a tiny meditation hall in the home; a space where the bell can be located and we can practice in a safe space. Every time you feel restless or confused or irritated, we can walk to that place—the breathing room—and stop all the thinking and calm our body and mind. Thay recalls a story of how to open/close the door when he was a young novice that he then relayed to Thomas Merton.

In our small breathing room, we should also have a bell. This is a territory of mindfulness. There are four lines to learn when inviting the bell after we breathe in and out three times. Thay teaches us how to invite the bell and why mindful breathing is so important.

There are many conditions of happiness. In Buddhism, we have many verses to help us practice mindfulness, for example for when turning on the water faucet. Are you aware of your conditions of happiness? This is the art of happiness.

This is part of the 7th & 8th mindfulness exercises in the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Mindful Breathing. We should not run away from our suffering. We can learn from our suffering. This ties right into the Four Noble Truths. We can learn to listen to our suffering without fear, without running away through consumption. With mindfulness we have the energy to take care of our suffering. The practice of looking and listening deeply—meditation is the time to look and listen to understand our suffering. This brings about understanding and compassion. If you know how to suffer, you suffer much less. You cannot take happiness out of suffering and cannot take suffering out of happiness.

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September 25, 2011, from the Ocean of Peace Meditation Hall at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, CA, Thich Nhat Hanh offers a 100-minute Dharma talk on right view. The practice of mindfulness based in right view can heal ourselves and heal the world. The tea is the continuation of the cloud, and this is the practice of no-birth and no-death; your own nature is the nature of no-birth and no-death.

In The Diamond Sutra we are asked to let go of the idea of self so we can be free from any discrimination. The second notion to let go of is the notion of man: we are made of animals, vegetables, and minerals; if we see this, we can see our Interbeing with the planet. The third notion is the notion of living beings, and the final notion is the notion of a life span.

If you have not seen the non-Buddha elements then you have not seen the Buddha. The safest method to see the Buddha is to look inside yourself.

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First talk of the Summer Opening Retreat, July 8 2011, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks on free will as something available to us in every moment, and on the Pure Land and the Kingdom of God.

When mindfulness is there, forgetfulness is no longer there; mindfulness is the light that allows us to be there, to be fully present in the here and the now, to be fully alive.

Thay shares about arriving at every moment and every step, printing your seal of arrival on the Earth; how the Buddha is not a God but a human being like us; how there is no happiness without freedom, and no lotus without mud; how we can generate a collective energy of mindfulness by practicing together as brothers and sisters in the practice; how everyone is a Sangha-builder in his or her way of breathing and walking; how to exercise our sovereignty; how if you feel comfortable in the here and the now you are already home; and how to become solidly established in the here and the now.

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September 24, 2013. 120-minute Dharma talk by Thich Nhat Hanh from Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 “Nourishing Great Togetherness” teaching tour. Orientation for the 6-day retreat “Healing Ourselves, Healing the World.”

Creating a healing environment in our physical and spiritual spaces; producing thoughts filled with understanding and compassion. Building a sangha or a practice center begins with looking at our own suffering, recognizing the suffering in others—the first and second Noble Truths—so the energy of compassion can arise.

The monks and nuns chant the name of Avalokitesvara to touch suffering and help relieve the pain of others; as we listen, we stop thinking and stay with our breathing (chant begins at 19:44). Talk resumes at 48:30 with practice orientation by Brother Phap Dung and Sister Dang Nghiem.

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July 15, 2011, Still Water Meditation Hall, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France, during the second week of the annual Summer Opening Retreat. Thich Nhat Hanh continues the teaching on mindfulness of breathing, summarizing the first eight steps of the Sutra on Mindful Breathing: the first four help us take care of our body, and with the fifth we touch the realm of feelings. He teaches on dealing with difficult emotions, including how we can help those loved ones who feel they need to commit suicide because of an emotion. Belly breathing—focus on your in-breath and out-breath, following the rise of the abdomen—helps us remember that emotions are impermanent; we can have peace, solidity, and freedom.

From the realm of body and feelings, we come to the ninth exercise, the realm of the mental formations. In the Buddhist tradition there are 51 mental formations. Thay explains the relationship between mind consciousness and store consciousness, the concept of seeds (bija), and the practice of selective watering. He tells the story of a couple whose love is revitalized by watering good seeds; the ninth exercise is about gladdening the mind. He concludes with the four practices of Right Diligence: do not allow negative seeds to become a mental formation; if they do, do not let them stay too long, yet do not suppress them; recognize and touch good seeds to bring them up, and keep the good seeds present as long as you can.

Before the talk, Thay offers a 30-minute introduction to chanting Namo’valokiteshvaraya, sharing the three steps of contemplation while listening to the bodhisattva’s name: 1) touching compassion in oneself, 2) touching compassion in those around us, 3) touching compassion in all beings. The introduction is followed by chanting by the Plum Village Monastics.

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July 29, 2011. 32-minute dharma talk and chanting with Thich Nhat Hanh from the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France, during the annual Summer Opening Retreat. This is the chant before the first talk offered by Thay in the fourth week of the Retreat. Thay describes, before the chant, how to put our attention while listening to the chant. The talk and chant are available below; there is a video version available too.

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July 26, 2011 – 122-minute Question and Answer dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh during the Summer Opening Retreat in the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Questions asked:

1. Why are my parents separated?
2. How do I recognize the Buddha in myself and in others?
3. How did Thay practice so that he could be so wise and smart?
4. Why do we have homework?
5. How can I regain trust in someone who has hurt me, especially when that person is someone I love a lot?
6. How can we Norwegians respond to the recent killings in our country?
7. What is the best way to regain a sense of mindfulness after years of conditioning with cell phones, internet, and other things that destroy our humanity? How does a technologically trained person get back to finding the True Way? And is there a place for all of this digital noise in that quest?
8. Is it true that hate is not possible, due to the interbeing of all things in the universe?
9. How can we support human rights in our countries, when many governments seem to act against them?
10. How can I deal with sudden hostility after a divorce, now that communication is blocked?
11. Please help in the case of addiction: what to do when strong craving comes?

The talk is in English and available in video form.

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Questions and Answers with Thich Nhat Hanh on 12 July 2011. A 111-minute Dharma Talk in English given at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France, this is the first Question and Answer Session of the Summer Opening Retreat. Thay takes questions from the children, the young adults, and from other retreatants.

Questions explored include: What is the difference between freedom and lack of self discipline? Is there interbeing between Catholicism and Buddhism? Why do I sometimes feel a heavy weight on my heart? Why do I sometimes cry for no reason? How are you? Why is everyone against me? Why do people lie? Why does anger come with sadness? Why do we so easily mix up sexual desire and love? How can we reconcile with someone we’ve hurt? How practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings in the corporate world? Why would someone want to be born into a world of suffering? How do we practice when we still are caught in the idea of having a separate personality? Is Thay a realized Buddha? How do we practice to forgive ourselves? How can we maintain our practice when we live in a place lacking compassion, without a Sangha? How can we make sense of the death of a child before they are born? How can we find happiness again?

Topics: Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh, mindfulness, zen, buddhism, christianity, catholicism, pluralism, inclusivism, interreligious, interbeing, present moment, children, feelings, sorrow, acceptance, transform, cause of suffering, like, dislike, love yourself, accept yourself, inferior, buddha nature.

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Public talk by Thich Nhat Hanh at the World Forum Theatre, The Hague, The Netherlands, August 28 2012, sponsored by the Mindful Living Foundation. After a guided sitting meditation and chanting “Namo Avalokiteshvara,” Thay introduces mindfulness and inner peace: inner peace is possible and mindfulness helps us take care of our body, feelings and perceptions. Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something; there is a practice called mindfulness of suffering. Our suffering has often been ignored and the energy of mindfulness can help touch our suffering.

Thay presents exercises of mindful breathing from the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing—“I have arrived, I am home,” listening to the bell, coming back to our body—and reminds us that we don’t need to be Buddhist in order to breathe in and breathe out. He shows how to handle joy, happiness and suffering, likening the practitioner to an organic gardener. Understanding and love are a lotus that grows from the mud of suffering; understanding is the foundation of love. Because suffering and happiness are no longer an individual matter, inner peace will arise by taking care of our body and perception; “a flower cannot be by itself.”

The talk includes a short teaching on the Four Noble Truths and Right View, and concludes with a song offered by Sr. Chan Khong.

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August 26, 2012. 137-minute Dharma talk given in English, with consecutive German translation, during a Day of Mindfulness at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany. A day of mindfulness is a day of practice so that we can live each moment of our life very deeply. Anyone can generate the energy of mindfulness, bringing our mind home to our body. There are many wonders of life, and mindfulness is always mindfulness of something—drinking your tea. This can bring freedom, joy, and happiness.

A couple of sweet moments occur when a local church bell is ringing and then a rain downpour. Every moment can be a pleasant moment; a miracle happens when you breathe in mindfully. We can stop our thinking every time we hear the sound of the bell. Enjoying the here and the now is the address for the Pure Land of the Buddha.

The talk offers instruction on listening to the bell, walking meditation and the country of the present moment, true communion and eating meditation. It explores mindful listening and mindfulness of suffering: many of the things we do in life are to cover up our suffering; how do we help each other to suffer less? The chant of Avalokiteshvara can help touch suffering with mindfulness. When we listen to the chant, we should sit, listen, and try to stop our thinking, allowing our body to relax.

If a relationship has become difficult, there is always a way to transform it. In order to heal a relationship, you must heal yourself. The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing can help us heal ourselves.

10:00 Mindfulness of breathing
24:00 Alive in the Kingdom of God
29:30 Listen to the sound of the bell
30:00 Mindfulness of listening
36:00 The here and the now is the address of our true home
39:00 I listen, I listen
47:00 Sound of the bell
54:00 Walking meditation
01:01:00 To be alive is the greatest miracle
01:07:00 Eating meditation
01:15:10 Explanation of the Chanting of Namo Avalokiteshvara
01:20:00 Chanting
01:57:34 The end of chanting
02:01:00 Guided sitting meditation
02:09:00 Mindfulness movement
02:15:00 Our relationship
02:20:00 Relax our body and handling our emotion
02:29:00 Loving speech and deep listening

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Can the body be without the mind? Can the mind be without the body? By looking deeply, we see this is not possible. Without the body, we cannot take care of the mind, and vice versa.

This fifth Dharma talk on the theme Body and Mind Are One explores the sixteen exercises on the full awareness of mindful breathing, teachings on impermanence and nirvana through the story of the wave, and the three doors of liberation.

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Any authentic teaching of the Buddha must carry the three Dharma seals:

1. Impermanence
2. Non-self
3. Nirvāṇa
   Impermanence is an instrument for emancipation, transformation, and healing. It reveals that nothing remains the same in two consecutive moments, yet things are neither same nor different. Viewed in the light of non-self and emptiness, it shows that a flower is made of non-flower elements like sunshine, clouds, and earth. To be is to interbe, meaning everything is empty of a separate existence. This is a positive reality: thanks to impermanence, a grain of corn can become a plant, a child can grow, and a dictatorial regime can end. As Nāgārjuna said: “Thanks to emptiness, everything is possible.”

Reality is experienced through the historical dimension and the ultimate dimension. In the historical dimension, we are concerned with birth, death, being, and non-being, much like waves on the surface of the ocean. In the ultimate dimension, we touch our true nature as water, which is free from these notions. Nirvāṇa is the extinction of all concepts, including coming and going or same and different. The teachings of impermanence and emptiness are like a finger pointing to the moon or a match that produces a flame; they are instruments to be used and then transcended to reach direct experience. This is illustrated by the interbeing nature of the three dimensions of a coin:

1. Head
2. Tail
3. Metal

The practice of meditating on birth and death helps us touch our ultimate dimension, known as Buddha nature. When accompanying a dying person, we help them realize they are not caught in their body or mental consciousness but are life without boundaries. This involves letting go of the four elements:

1. Earth
2. Fire
3. Water
4. Air
   By watering seeds of happiness through the four recollections—the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, and the mindfulness trainings—one can die peacefully. As shown in the teaching given to Anāthapiṇḍika, the insight of no coming and no going allows us to transcend the cycle of birth and death. The sutra reminds us: “This body is not me. I am not caught in this body. I am life without boundaries. I have never been born, and I will never die.” Every act and word in daily life should be an act of love, bringing relief to those who suffer.

A childhood encounter with a drawing of a relaxed, smiling Buddha inspires a desire to find peace amidst a world of worry and anger. At age eleven, a search for a mountain hermit leads instead to a natural well of limpid, refreshing water. Drinking this water brings a state of total satisfaction and the realization that the hermit can manifest in many forms, such as a well, a tree, or a sunrise. To recognize the hermit in one’s own life, one must be alert, attentive, and rooted in one’s own spiritual tradition.

The practice of mindfulness involves returning to the body and recognizing it as a flowing river rather than a static entity. This contemplation extends to three specific rivers:

1. The river of the body, where birth and death happen in every second.
2. The river of feelings, including pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and mixed sensations, which should be met with mere recognition rather than suppression or clinging.
3. The river of perceptions, consisting of notions and ideas that are often wrong and serve as the ground for suffering, anger, and despair.

Strong emotions are like storms that shake the branches of a tree. During such times, it is dangerous to stay at the level of the brain with thinking and imagination. Instead, one should move to the trunk of the tree by focusing on the đan điền, the area below the navel. By practicing mindful deep breathing and observing the rise and fall of the abdomen, the energy of mindfulness embraces the emotion with tenderness. This practice of reconciliation and resting allows one to handle the storm without becoming its victim.

Non-action (vô vi) is a positive quality of being characterized by solidity, freedom, clarity, and compassion. The value of a person is judged not by action alone, but by their quality of being; an authentic presence can serve the world and even save others in times of crisis, much like a calm person on a storm-tossed boat. This quality is cultivated through the energy of mindfulness, which makes us awake to the miracle of being alive in the here and now.

The five miracles of mindfulness are:

1. Being present in the here and now.
2. Recognizing the other, whether it is a loved one, the moon, or your own body.
3. Receiving nourishment and healing from the wonders of life.
4. Embracing pain, sorrow, and afflictions with nonviolence and nonduality.
5. Inquiring and looking deeply into the nature of ill-being to identify its source of nutriment.

Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something, such as drinking water, eating an orange, or walking. In true meditation, the distinction between the observer and the observed vanishes; to understand (comprendre) is to become one with the object. Nothing can survive without food, and by identifying the nutriments of our suffering, we find the path to emancipation. This transformation is supported by the Sangha, whose collective energy helps us embrace and penetrate our afflictions to discover the truth of our ill-being. “What has come to be, if you can look deeply into its nature and identify its source of nutriment, you are already on the path of emancipation.”

One thousand five hundred and thirty-three people, including about a hundred children, gathered to practice joy, harmony, calm, solidity, and love. Looking deeply into the nature of life and death allows us to understand that the flame, like all things, comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. It manifests when conditions — the fuel, the oxygen, and the wick — are sufficient. Reality transcends the concepts of same and different; like a torch spinning in the night creating the illusion of a circle of fire, a permanent identity is an optical illusion. Everything changes in every moment, and our physical body, composed of billions of combusting cells, has no absolute identity.

Birth and death are absurd notions because nothing can be created from nothing, and nothing can be reduced to nothingness. A burned sheet of paper does not die; it transforms into smoke, a cloud, and heat. As Lavoisier said: “Nothing is created, nothing is lost.” This nature of no-birth and no-death is shared by all, including the Buddha and Jesus. The term Tathagata designates the one who comes from suchness, an ultimate reality free from coming, going, being, non-being, same, different, birth, and death. The practice consists of passing from the notion of creation to that of manifestation.

True happiness is established when we free ourselves from ideas and notions, because our concepts of happiness are often our greatest obstacles. Nirvana is the extinction of these notions that generate fear and suffering. To attain non-fear (abhaya), we must touch the ultimate reality through the Three Dharma Seals:

1. Impermanence: a working tool showing that all physical, physiological, and mental formations are constantly changing.

If a handful of salt is thrown into a bowl of water, it becomes too salty to drink, but if thrown into a river, the water remains drinkable because the river is immense. When the heart is unlimited and boundless, small things do not cause suffering. The practice is to enlarge the heart through the four apramāṇāni, or boundless states:

1. Maitrī: loving-kindness, the capacity to offer well-being and happiness.
2. Karuṇā: compassion.
3. Muditā: joy, altruistic joy, or rejoicing in the joy of others.
4. Upekṣā: equanimity.

These four elements are the brahma-vihāras, the divine or sublime abodes where Buddhas and bodhisattvas dwell. Cultivating them makes one’s presence refreshing and healing, like a linden tree. Many people attempt to cover their blocks of suffering, fear, and despair through unmindful consumption—such as drugs, alcohol, or violent media—but this only makes suffering grow. A meaningful life is found by developing understanding and compassion, which transform suffering and offer a wholesome path. Dialogue with oneself and loved ones helps identify this path, providing the strength to overcome obstacles through the power of love.

True love is impossible without understanding. To understand oneself or another, one must practice deep looking through mindfulness in every moment of daily life, whether driving, watering vegetables, or drinking tea. This practice is rooted in the Eightfold Path, expressed concretely in the Five Mindfulness Trainings:

1. Right understanding
2. Right thinking
3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood
6. Right concentration
7. Right mindfulness

Mindfulness, concentration, and insight together generate the energy of maitrī, karuṇā, and muditā. Loving with spiritual eyes brings the divine heart, as understanding is the ground and foundation for true love.

The question Who are you? is a profound meditation practiced in Zen and Pure Land schools to realize the ultimate reality. Looking deeply into a leaf reveals the presence of clouds, sunshine, and the whole cosmos; similarly, looking into a person reveals their parents, ancestors, and the entire universe. Loving is a process of exploring and understanding, as love and understanding are two aspects of the same thing. Offering the question Who are you? to a loved one provides an opportunity to practice looking into true nature and recognizing that we are in each other.

War often forces people who are not enemies by nature to behave as such, making them victims of ignorance and policy. In situations of intense suffering, there is a tremendous chance for spiritual growth and the development of compassion. The greatest suffering is not bearing difficulties or hunger, but having a life without meaning or a path. Finding a path of compassion and mindfulness allows one to confront obstacles and find joy even in hard conditions, as being an instrument of compassion provides relief from the suffering of a meaningless life.

The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is depicted with one thousand arms and one thousand eyes, symbolizing that love must be translated into action guided by understanding. True love is made of four unlimited elements:

1. Maitrī
2. Karuṇā
3. Muditā
4. Upekṣā

Without the eye of understanding in the hand of action, we may inadvertently cause suffering to those we love. True love requires a permanent dialogue and the practice of looking deeply to ensure our actions bring happiness and freedom. By practicing together and consuming mindfully, we stay on the path of liberation and make love manifest through deep vision.

The sangha is gathered at the New Hamlet on July 27, 2000, for a Question and Answer session.

We begin with a few questions from the children:

1. Why did you become a monk?
2. How can I help people who have forgotten the little child in themselves?
3. What should I do if I have a nightmare and am afraid to sleep, or have problems getting to sleep?
4. Should I call you Thich Nhat Hanh, Thay Nhat Hanh, or just Thay?
5. How can I wake up in the morning in a good way?

Followed by questions from teenagers, young adults, and adults:

1. What should be done when difficult feelings like anxiety and pain arise during meditation, and how do I hold these feelings like a mother holding a baby?
2. How can I help a partner who knows the practice but cannot do it because the world brings up their negative habit energy and depression?
3. What can I do when I get angry and cannot control myself, causing suffering to myself and others?
4. What does it mean to say we suffer because we don’t love enough, and how does a bodhisattva’s aspiration transform suffering?
5. Could you elaborate on the concept of presence in form of thought, words, and action?
6. How can I forgive and accept my father who committed suicide when I was an infant?
7. How can I manifest non-acceptance when a partner pursues a joy that is destructive or unhealthy?
8. What can students do to protect themselves when forced to watch films that water seeds of violence and anger?
9. Should I finish my program of study in Chinese medicine or follow my heart to become a monk?
10. How can I help someone with depression by identifying the source of nutrition that brought it in?
11. How do I deal with doubt when facing a choice, especially when inheriting contradictory qualities from parents?
12. How can communication be improved between parents and children when there is a cultural and generation gap?
13. What is the vision for building a wholesome lay community or Sangha in the lay world?

The name Śākyamuni signifies one who is capable of compassion (Năng Nhân) and the silent one (Tịch Mặc). True silence is not merely the absence of speech, but an internal stillness free from the noise of worries, anger, and unnecessary thinking. While the Buddha gave many discourses, such as the Dīgha Nikāya and Majjhima Nikāya, he remained the silent one because of the peace and space within his mind. This silence is a state of being solid and free from the disturbance of wrong perceptions.

Reality cannot be grasped through the four philosophical categories or boxes:

1. Being
2. Non-being
3. Neither being nor non-being
4. Both being and non-being.
   The body is not a solitary self but a colony shared by billions of living beings, such as Helicobacter pylori and Escherichia coli. In the story of the monk Anuruddha, the Buddha clarifies that he cannot be identified solely within or outside the five elements. Instead of engaging in speculation, the practice focuses on the nature of suffering and the path leading out of it.

The practice is defined by three characteristics:

1. Miên mật: Unbroken, continued practice in every activity, from cooking to brushing teeth.
2. Hiện pháp: Present-centeredness, where touching the present moment allows for the healing of the past and the shaping of the future.
3. Lạc: Joyful and pleasant dwelling in the here and now (dṛṣṭaDharma-sukha-vihārī).
   By recognizing that ancestors and parents are alive within us, we can restore communication and achieve reconciliation, even across cultural gaps between Eastern and Western traditions. This practice of looking deeply allows us to transform guilt and suffering into understanding and love.

The collective energy of mindfulness brings the Sangha together as a single organism, flowing as a river to transcend the boundaries of an illusory self and to be free from the complexes of superiority, inferiority, and equality. A spiritual dimension is necessary in daily life to overcome difficulties and handle suffering. This spirituality, which can exist outside of religion, is based on the deep insight of interbeing: just as a flower is made of non-flower elements such as clouds, sunshine, and the gardener, a human being does not have a separate identity and inter-is with the whole cosmos.

Understanding suffering is the key to happiness, because there is no lotus without mud. By looking deeply into the nature and roots of our ill-being, we identify the sources of nutriments that feed it and discover the path of its transformation. The practice relies on the first eight exercises of the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing:

1. Recognizing the in-breath and the out-breath.
2. Following the breath all the way through.
3. Being aware of the body by bringing the mind back to it.
4. Releasing tension in the body.
5. Generating a feeling of joy.
6. Generating a feeling of happiness by recognizing the conditions already present.
7. Recognizing a painful feeling or a strong emotion.
8. Using mindfulness to embrace and calm suffering.

This insight of interbeing and non-discrimination forms the foundation of a global ethic and of the Five Mindfulness Trainings: the protection of life, true happiness born from compassion, true love based on understanding, loving speech and deep listening to restore communication, and transformation through mindful consumption. The latter involves being mindful of the four kinds of nutriments: edible food, sense impressions, volition or deep desire, and collective consciousness. Introducing these practices in schools, in the form of an education in happiness, allows teachers and parents to transform violence and create a healthy environment for future generations.

Questions from the audience:

• How to integrate mindfulness into family and domestic life when one is not a monk or a nun?
• How to technically install a bell of mindfulness on a computer to release tension at work?
• What is the connection between culture and education in happiness to foster listening and communication?
• Are there specific teachings for doctors to help them handle imbalance and illness?
• How to transform suffering and confinement when facing intense painful crises in a sick loved one?
• What actions are planned in France to train teachers in the practice of mindfulness?

1. What do you believe in, how do you describe it, and is there a discrepancy between your belief and the belief a Christian has?
2. Is there a discrepancy between being in the moment and living for a point after this life where, if you have been a good human being and loved others, you are allowed to go into paradise?
3. How do you get the power to be in the present moment?
4. What is the destiny and the future of human beings?

Intelligence and wisdom must be brought together to discuss issues like cloning for medical purposes, as saying yes or no is too simple; scientists and politicians should consult spiritual and humanist circles rather than making decisions alone.

1. Is the establishment of Plum Village too much of a burden?
2. What is the reason for the phenomenon of high interest in the book Anger in Korea?
3. Is there a special meaning behind the name Plum Village?
4. What is the perspective on the act of Vietnamese monks who burned themselves to protest the war in the 1960s?
5. Can the end justify the means?
6. What did the families of the victims of September 11th say during meetings in New York?
7. What is the meaning of the calligraphy sentence and the stamp?
8. What were the impressions of a past visit to Korea and what are the distinctions between Vietnamese and Korean Buddhism?
9. Are there plans to visit Korea again in the near future?
10. Is it possible to cut the chain of saṃsāra, birth and death, through mindfulness practice as compared to the use of koans?
11. What is the response to being regarded as one of four alive Buddhas in the world?
12. Are young Vietnamese Buddhist monks able to write Chinese characters?
13. Is there a complete Buddhist canon available in the Vietnamese language?

To love someone is to ask how to best love and protect them. Protection is found in cultivating energies that neutralize fear and insecurity, ensuring the seed of fear within ourselves and others is not watered. In Buddhism, consciousness consists of various seeds, including:

1. Peace
2. Compassion
3. Non-fear
4. Understanding
5. Fear
6. Discrimination
7. Hatred
8. Anger

Practicing mindfulness in daily activities—walking, drinking, eating, speaking, and listening—protects the self and others from the toxins of despair and anger.

True happiness requires freedom from fear, anger, and discrimination. This is achieved through four specific energies:

1. Mindfulness
2. Concentration
3. Insight
4. Compassion

Fear is a product of ignorance and wrong perceptions. When we stay with something deeply through concentration, we gain the insight necessary to remove these perceptions. Understanding the suffering of others naturally brings compassion, which is the most powerful source of protection. This approach transforms conflict by replacing violence with deep listening and loving speech, recognizing that the safety of one side depends entirely on the safety of the other.

In social and political life, deep listening allows us to understand our own suffering and the suffering of those we perceive as enemies. By using loving speech and removing wrong perceptions, the cycle of violence can be ended. On a deeper level, meditation allows us to touch the two dimensions of reality:

1. Historical dimension
2. Ultimate dimension

Touching the ultimate dimension, or nirvāṇa, allows us to transcend the fear of birth and death. Like a wave realizing it is water, a practitioner finds non-fear by touching their true nature, which is beyond beginning and end. True love preserves freedom for both the lover and the beloved, offering protection and joy without attachment.

The precious censer burns fine incense, with aloeswood smoke swirling and spreading throughout the ten directions. The bodhi mind is extraordinarily courageous, radiating light wherever it touches, and everywhere is clearly peaceful and settled to respectfully offer to the Compassionate One. We respectfully make an Incense Offering to the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas.

The sacred moment when the wind calms, the birds stop, and the earth trembles seven times as the deathless crosses the stream of birth and death. The hand turning the Dharma wheel in the pure night fragrance, the auspicious mudra blooms white like a flower while the three thousand worlds sing in unison to praise Shakyamuni Buddha. The deathless flower blooms right in the garden of birth and death, and the bud of enlightenment opens into myriad skillful means when He comes here to learn the human language.

Looking from the Tushita heaven, the earth is brighter than a bright star, and stars from all directions gather until the eastern sun shines forth. Lumbini Garden transforms into a soft cradle welcoming the newborn Buddha. The music of this piece is drawn from the traditional ceremonial music of Buddhism, unlike secular music, and is related to the praise chant.

October 25, 2012. A 105-minute Dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, during the Autumn Retreat on a Day of Mindfulness.

The teaching revisits the Four Kinds of Nutriments and their relationship to the Fifth Mindfulness Training. It explores power, the mind of love, enlightenment, and bodhicitta—energy arising from mindfulness and concentration. Understanding your own suffering helps you understand the suffering of others in the family and in the nation; understanding is the foundation of love. When the mind is left uncultivated it brings suffering, so a spiritual dimension in daily life is essential.

Thay looks into mental formations that make us suffer and how they can be transformed, the role of samadhi in maintaining awareness, and meditation on impermanence to treasure the moments we have. He presents the Three Doors of Liberation—emptiness, signlessness, aimlessness—offering an exploration of birth and death, being and non-being, impermanence, non-craving, and nirvana.

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1. When someone we love is dying, what can be done to help them in their transition to pass on?
2. How can teaching relationships with children support their development and intelligence in relation to finding one’s true home and presence?
3. What is the meaning of right effort and how can one find an appropriate approach to it in mature practice?
4. How can we respond to terrorism with understanding and compassion when many in America believe a show of strength, bombs, and punishment are necessary for protection?
5. How can one protect themselves and remain emotionally healthy while seeking closeness with parents and navigating a materialistic society without absorbing the stress and issues of others?
6. What is the definition and practice of mindful consumption?

Understanding rebirth requires a deep look into the teaching of no-self. Using the analogy of a flame, it is seen that manifestation occurs when conditions are sufficient and ceases when they are not; the flame is neither the same nor different from moment to moment. Continuation is both vertical and horizontal. A tea leaf continues vertically as soil and flowers, but also horizontally as the person who drinks it, the poem it inspires, the Dharma talk it supports, and the calligraphy it thins. Like water transforming into clouds, snow, or ice cream, everything possesses many transformation bodies.

Rebirth and continuation happen in every moment through the three karmas of thought, speech, and action. These actions radiate energy like the light and heat of a candle, affecting both the environment and the self. The six destinies are available in the present moment, chosen like television channels: hell, the animal realm, the realm of hungry ghosts, asuras, and heaven. The Pure Land is also available now. When the mind is free from the three poisons of desire, anger, and ignorance, the land becomes pure. In the Pure Land, there are nine qualities of lotus flowers, and the purity of one’s mind determines which lotus one sits upon.

Practical mindfulness maintains this presence in a busy world through simple exercises:

• Practicing three mindful breaths before making a telephone call.
• Using mindful walking when moving between buildings.
• Smiling and breathing at red lights while driving.
• Simplifying life to allow more time for the wonders of the present.

Zen and Pure Land practices are not contradictory; both aim for mindfulness, concentration, and insight into the five skandhas. The Diamond Sutra teaches that the mind of the past, present, and future cannot be grasped, yet by touching the present deeply, one heals the past and creates the future. This involves letting go of the four notions of self, human being, living being, and lifespan.

The sangha is gathered at the New Hamlet on July 20, 2000. Thay begins by answering questions from the children:

1. What should I do when someone kicks or punches me at school?
2. When someone dies, do they go directly to paradise or are they reborn in another body?

Followed by questions from the adults:

1. How can one practice when being judgmental or self-conscious about oneself, especially when others do not seem mindful?
2. Is it necessary to connect back with one’s family and roots when a history of unrecognized sexual abuse has led to being excluded from the family?
3. How can we accompany the dying and what are the funeral rites in Buddhism?
4. How can we deal with the guilt of suffering we have caused to ourselves or others, particularly when we failed to understand a suffering that led to suicide?
5. How can we help someone with AIDS who has no knowledge of mindful breathing or the power of healing?
6. How can one balance compassionate listening with self-care to avoid being overwhelmed by another person’s negative perceptions and suffering?
7. In order to understand the teacher, does one have to become one with the teacher?
8. How can we show understanding and help a person who suffers but denies their own suffering and refuses to open up?
9. Should one spend time studying and discussing the Five Mindfulness Trainings before committing to them in public, or commit immediately with the intention of following through?