Young novices who are ordained between the ages of 8 and 12 have a precious opportunity, because their minds have not yet been sown with many negative seeds from society, and the peaceful environment of the monastery helps to nourish wholesome seeds, while the current school environment is often filled with violence. Education by permeation is illustrated by the example of a child learning French: not through formal study, but by absorbing the language through the living environment. Similarly, practicing from a young age helps children develop deep peace and happiness, which is more profound than the temporary joys found at school. The history of Vietnamese Buddhism has witnessed many great monks who began their practice at a very young age, and I have also established schools such as Tuệ Quang, Bồ Đề, and Vạn Hạnh University to create a safe and high-quality Buddhist educational environment.

The novice training program is suggested to be built over four years with the following priorities:

• Practicing meditation (sitting, walking, standing, lying down) and “writing meditation” through poetry and letters
• Studying sutras, precepts, commentaries, and history as supporting materials for the practice
• Serving as attendants, practicing “meditation songs,” and striking the bell to cultivate mindfulness and community spirit
• Encouraging engaged Buddhism through training in psychology, sociology, the history of civilization, and the practice of “Buddhism entering life”

The upcoming 21-day retreat will focus on the Six Paramitas—the door of action of the Buddha—based on the text “Old Path White Clouds” to deeply understand the historical deeds of the Buddha. Practitioners are encouraged to review the Six Paramitas and the essence of “Diligent Practice Opens the Lotus of a Thousand Petals,” along with the Satipatthana Sutta, Amitayus Sutra, Amitabha Sutra, and others, in order to practice mindfulness, transform suffering, and build a strong Sangha.

This is the first Dharma talk in the series on basic Buddhism (also known as the heart of the Buddha) by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. This series was delivered by the master during the years 1993-1994 to provide practitioners with fundamental knowledge of the teachings and practical methods for daily life. Due to the outdated recording technology of that time, the audio and video quality are quite limited.

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

Anger is addressed with nine practices and five purposes. Meditation reveals interconnectedness, showing that distinctions between self and other, animate and inanimate, are illusions. Humans, like flowers, impact the whole organism of Earth. The Avatamsaka Sutra teaches unity and compassion, guiding monks and nuns to protect life and the environment. Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes enlightenment potential in all beings. Bodhisattvas practice for the welfare of all, transcending societal roles. The Lotus Sutra teaches unity of all paths to enlightenment, revealing inherent Buddha nature. Avalokiteshvara symbolizes compassion, guiding us to transform suffering through love and presence.

The practical question of Subhuti is: upon what should a good man or good woman who wishes to accomplish the highest aspiration rely, and how should they regulate their mind? Before this, Subhuti observed that the World-Honored One is truly rare, for he always protects, remembers, and entrusts the great work to the Bodhisattvas. A true Bodhisattva needs two essential elements:

• Bodhicitta—the great aspiration to help all beings cross over to the shore of liberation
• Non-discriminative wisdom or the wisdom of equality—the wisdom that pierces through individualism, seeing oneself in the other and the other in oneself, making no distinction between person and person, person and animal, person and plant, person and earth or stone

In the Diamond Sutra, the World-Honored One teaches that to attain non-discriminative wisdom, the Bodhisattva must transcend the four basic notions, that is, not be caught in the following four ideas:

1. the notion of self (the idea of a separate self)
2. the notion of person (the idea of a separate human being)
3. the notion of living being (the idea of a separate life form)
4. the notion of lifespan (the idea of a being’s birth and death)

When these four notions are transformed, the Bodhisattva’s practice of giving—and all the six paramitas—truly becomes action free from form, not based on form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma, thus maintaining the insight of non-discrimination in daily life.

Dear community,
“Công phu nở đoá sen ngàn cánh” (CPNĐSNC) is a Dharma talk series in which Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh gives detailed explanations of sutras, chants, and verses in the “Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn” book from 2000. The book now has newer versions with some additional chants, but all the main sutras and chants remain unchanged. Through this Dharma talk series, we gain a thorough understanding of the sutras and chants used in daily practice sessions from the book. These talks were given by the Zen Master between 1997-1999, and due to technological limitations at the time, the audio and video quality may not be very clear.

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

Dear community,
“Công phu nở đoá sen ngàn cánh” (CPNĐSNC) is a Dharma talk series in which Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh gives detailed explanations of sutras, chants, and verses in the “Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn” book from 2000. The book now has newer versions with some additional chants, but all the main sutras and chants remain unchanged. Through this Dharma talk series, we gain a thorough understanding of the sutras and chants used in daily practice sessions from the book. These talks were given by the Zen Master between 1997-1999, and due to technological limitations at the time, the audio and video quality may not be very clear.

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

The body form is not truly the body form, therefore it is truly the body form; if we can see the non-form nature of all forms, that is to see the Tathagata, and when we see the Tathagata, the Tathagata also sees us. This is the dialectical spirit of the Diamond Sutra, which is completely contrary to formal logic (A is only A), so that:

• A is not A, therefore it is the true A
• Seeing non-form in form is to see the Tathagata (“If you see all forms as non-form, you see the Tathagata”)

The World-Honored One affirms that even five hundred years later, there will still be those who keep the precepts, cultivate merit, and have good seeds to give rise to deep faith, even though this teaching may sound meaningless, nonsense. Those who can give rise to faith even for a single moment upon hearing the words about the four notions of self, person, living being, and lifespan (and two more: dharma – non-dharma; form – non-form) will be seen by the Tathagata and receive immeasurable merit.

“Dwell nowhere and give rise to that mind” points clearly to the path of the Bodhisattva who gives rise to the unsurpassed, perfectly enlightened mind: not clinging to form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma; not caught in pairs of opposing notions (being – non-being; birth – death; one – many; self – non-self; dharma – non-dharma; form – non-form). Even the Dharma is like a raft to be let go of, how much more so non-dharma. Practicing correctly is to walk in the light, to see clearly the dependent arising nature of all dharmas, to transcend discriminative attachment and realize perfect ultimate truth.

Dear community,
“Công phu nở đoá sen ngàn cánh” (CPNĐSNC) is a Dharma talk series in which Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh gives detailed explanations of sutras, chants, and verses in the “Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn” book from 2000. The book now has newer versions with some additional chants, but all the main sutras and chants remain unchanged. Through this Dharma talk series, we gain a thorough understanding of the sutras and chants used in daily practice sessions from the book. These talks were given by the Zen Master between 1997-1999, and due to technological limitations at the time, the audio and video quality may not be very clear.

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

The language of the Diamond Sutra often carries a mystical quality, but it can be illuminated through two principal methods: Manifestation-only and Avatamsaka. Manifestation-only presents the three natures (the nature of imagined construction, the nature of dependent arising, and the nature of consummation) along with the notion of seeds in the mind, helping us to understand “A is not A, therefore A is truly A.” Avatamsaka teaches that the one contains the all, and the all contains the one, allowing us to look into “the one” to see “the all” and vice versa, thereby recognizing the inter-being nature of all phenomena.

Seven essential steps to contemplate the Diamond Sutra and develop the wisdom of a Bodhisattva:

1. Observe and make contact with non-discriminative wisdom.
2. Do not let the mind get caught in appearances.
3. Look deeply into appearances without running away or rejecting them.
4. See the dependent arising nature of the object.
5. Attain insight into true nature (kensho): seeing the true nature of phenomena.
6. Give rise to the three virtues of non-desire, non-anger, and non-fear.
7. Thanks to these three virtues, the practitioner naturally practices generosity, mindfulness trainings, patience, diligence, and meditation as naturally as breathing.

The heroic practice of noble silence, combined with recording every urge to speak or act in a notebook, helps to recognize and gradually weaken habitual energies, so that every moment becomes an opportunity for insight into true nature. In this way, regardless of age, anyone can live deeply as a Bodhisattva in daily life.

Letting Go of Four Notions from the Diamond Sutra: Self, Person, Living Beings, and Lifespan

Thay begins with a brief introduction to the three energies of practice: Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight, and how Zen Buddhism and the practice of looking deeply (dhyāna) were first introduced to China by Master Tang Hoi from Vietnam. He then delves into the first notion to release—Self—exploring both conventional and ultimate truths, the role of the five skandhas, the twelve āyatanas, and the eighteen dhātus, as well as the concepts of emptiness and interbeing. Thay offers a meditation practice with gathas to help trust the Buddha within, emphasizing nonself. He continues with the second and third notions—Man and Living Beings—illustrating the nature of interbeing with all that exists. Thay concludes with the fourth notion, Life Span, teaching the concept of no birth and no death, and emphasizes the importance of continuing practice, as the Buddha did after his enlightenment.

This is the fifth talk in a series of thirteen given during The Science of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2012. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.