Thay explains the healing nature of the breath, showing us how to bring ourselves back to the present moment, where we can experience freedom, happiness and joy. Using examples from the world of today, Thay explains the healing power of the Buddha’s teaching of the Ānāpānasati Sūtra (the Full Awareness of Breathing), and helps us to see how happiness and suffering inter-are.

This is the second talk in a series of five given during the Healing Oneself, Healing the World retreat in the year 2013. Thay offered this talk at the Magnolia Grove Monastery, Mississippi, United States.

Internal formations cause unhappiness and manifest in our body, psyche, family, community, and society. Healing these formations is vital for individual and societal well-being. Proper circulation of air and blood prevents internal issues, emphasizing mindfulness akin to nourishing blood. Recognize harmful formations like addiction, acknowledge emotions through mindful breathing, and cultivate mindfulness to transform internal formations. Avoid toxins mentally and physically, mindful of influences like media. Engage wisely in conversations, recognizing limits. Balance desires, avoiding unhealthy attachments. Meditation transforms formations, emphasizing interconnectedness. Practice mindfulness, compassion, and mindful breathing to heal internally and positively impact broader communities.

*The first gatha in the Dhammapada Sutra was translated from Pali in the third century by the lay friend Chi Khiem, based on two Buddhist sources: one from Sanskrit (Sarvāstivāda school) and one from Pali (Tamrasatiya school—later known as the Theravāda). After more than a hundred years of unity, the Sangha divided into two schools: the conservative minority (Sarvāstivāda, which advocated for the doctrine of real existence) and the progressive majority (Mahāsanghika). King Ashoka and his son Mahinda transmitted the Dharma of the Tamrasatiya school to Sri Lanka, leaving behind the Southern Pali scriptures with 26 corresponding chapters. The Chinese Dhammapada expanded to 39 chapters (the first 8 chapters excerpted from the Sarvāstivāda, the middle 26 corresponding to the Pali version, and the last 5 from the Tamrasatiya school).

*The Dharma talk emphasizes eight core aspects of practice:

1. Genuine faith in the Dharma (signified by “Delight”—a love for practice).
2. Not seeking unreasonable luck or following blind belief.
3. Choosing and creating a wholesome living environment (“Choosing good dwelling”).
4. Moderation, observing precepts as “the law of moderation” for true freedom.
5. Filial piety to parents, managing the family, and maintaining wholesome merit.
6. Not being arrogant, knowing contentment (Santuṣṭa), and reflecting deeply (“repeated contemplation”).
7. Listening to the Dharma and putting it into practice right away (“the mind of immediate realization”).
8. Practicing mindfulness in every moment (“This is a happy moment”).

The poem “Nhị Thập Bát Tú” consists of four lines, each with seven words, totaling twenty-eight words, and contains two special punctuation marks:

• The question mark – a symbol of inquiry into the human condition, full of wonder and uncertainty
• The exclamation mark – an expression of affirmation, a conclusion like the sound of a nail driven into a coffin, the final answer to the chain of life’s questions

Human life is always surrounded by great questions about origin, meaning, and destiny, causing “the snail to crawl, racking its brain, blood silently falling.” There are two kinds of people who do not suffer because of these questions:

1. Those who are too wealthy – busy chasing after material things, having no time for self-inquiry
2. Those who are too poor – using all their energy to make a living, lacking the conditions for contemplation

The Dharma cannot be attained by intellect alone, but requires the harmony of body and mind, consciousness and store consciousness, practicing mindfulness, concentration, and insight in every moment. For example, daily tasks are also Dharma practice:

• breathing in – breathing out
• sweeping the floor
• washing the pot
• picking vegetables
• driving the car
  when done with our whole being, each action becomes an opportunity to cultivate great understanding and great compassion, manifesting the truth that “there is no way to enlightenment – enlightenment is the way” (satori).

Sitting meditation is a simple yet profound miracle: just “truly being present in life,” not letting the mind run away. Meditation not only brings peace, but is also an opportunity to courageously face and uproot afflictions—from family and social conflicts to jealousy within the sangha. Like a rabbit in its burrow, finding temporary peace, but eventually having to go out and live; similarly, if we only “take refuge” in meditation to avoid difficulties, that is not true practice. In the sangha, it is precisely jealousy and anger, as in the case of the monk who developed a skin disease or Venerable Ananda being misunderstood, that are opportunities to practice mindfulness and to transform.

Building the sangha requires patience and a great bodhi mind, not only “enjoying” but also nurturing and raising the collective quality from 40% to higher. The Buddha trained nearly a thousand disciples in about two months, step by step from walking, standing, lying down, sitting, to speaking loving speech, overcoming clumsiness and the group of “the six troublesome monks”—the six who caused disturbances—so that eventually a strong sangha was formed. For more than twenty-five years, the path of “being master wherever you are”—remaining proactive in any circumstance, not playing the victim—and “being truly established wherever you are”—preserving the ontological ground, not wearing a mask—has been the compass for each member to contribute to making the sangha pure, beautiful, and effective in spreading the Dharma.

Practicing mindfulness is not only in sitting or walking meditation, but in every daily activity: washing vegetables, cooking rice, shopping, writing calligraphy, picking tomatoes… Peace in every action is the true reward of the practitioner. When we can maintain ease throughout the day, we become a “bell of mindfulness” for those around us, and our words and methods carry real power. Building true brotherhood through deep listening and loving speech, recognizing weaknesses, illuminating and supporting each other, is the concrete responsibility of every individual in the sangha.