In June, 2009, a 21-day retreat was offered at Plum Village on the theme “The Path of the Buddha” and this recording is the first talk of the retreat (June 2, 2009). Thay teaches about the sangha as it relates to the president. We begin with a story of meeting MLK to build the idea of the beloved community and sangha building. What is the sangha and why do we need one? Thay teaches that even President Obama needs a sangha in a very compassionate and loving way. The 21-Day Retreat is an opportunity to perceive the sangha visibly. We should build and preserve the sangha. We have been planting seeds of brotherhood, sisterhood, peace, nonviolence.

We have produced our politicians. Our politicians need a strong sangha, even though it is not a Buddhist one. And we have a role in that sangha too. Obama is not an individual, he is a part of the sangha. Without the sangha, we cannot go far. The 21-day retreat is a time to strengthen our sangha and open the way for the world. The sangha includes the Buddha and the dharma. It contains the path of understanding and love.

The 21st century is like a hill and we are climbing this hill together as a sangha. Can we climb beautifully? Each step should be love, healing, forgiveness. With a sangha, this becomes easy. What are we looking for? Our joy. Our success. Our transformation. Our happiness. Our emancipation. Our freedom. Whatever we are looking for, we have to look for it in the present moment. How do we go home to the present moment to discover the power to nourish and to heal?

What is the path of the Buddha? We are going to explore a global spiritual ethic. The five mindfulness trainings represent this ethic. All the other precepts - 10 novice precepts, 14 mindfulness trainings - also represent this ethic. We will explore this during our retreat together.

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Thay details the importance of being present, focusing on mindfulness and concentration through practices like inviting the bell, listening to the bell, mindful breathing, and walking meditation. The bell serves as a reminder to pause, breathe, and return to the present moment, inviting ancestors and cultivating mindfulness, concentration, and peace. Mindfulness, concentration, and insight are foundational energies for being alive in the present moment. Through mindful breathing, walking meditation, and recognizing habitual energies, practitioners embrace the present moment deeply, experiencing life’s wonders and cultivating compassion and love. The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path guide practitioners in addressing suffering and developing virtues like forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, brotherhood, and sisterhood.

This is the second talk of a series of thirteen giving during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay discusses the Four Noble Truths and shares the transformation and relief of suffering. The Four Noble Truths are: suffering is a reality, understanding its causes, realizing the possibility of transforming suffering, and following the path to end suffering. Happiness and suffering are interconnected, and understanding suffering is crucial for happiness; there can be no lotus without the mud. Thay introduces the Sutra on Mindful Breathing as a tool for the transformation of suffering and comments on the teachings pragmatic and methodological approach, and how it connects to the teachings of the Four Noble Truths.

This is the third talk of a series of thirteen giving during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay explores the interconnectedness of life through the Buddha’s teaching on dukkha (ill-being) and sukha (happiness). Birth, death, old age, and sickness are natural cycles which can be embraced as part of life, rather than suffering. Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional, depending on one’s perspective. The Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are a guide to ethical conduct, which is the path leading to the cessation of ill-being. A true system of ethics is free from dogma, free from all notions. Thay discusses the Heart Sutra to recognize that interconnectedness prevents harm and nurtures compassion, aligning actions with right view, right understanding, bringing us to the shore of enlightenment.

This is the fourth talk in a series of thirteen given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay highlights right view as the foundation for the practice of the Noble Eight Fold Path. Thay shares how right view can help us overcome grief, heal past trauma and lay a foundation for a beautiful continuation for ourselves and the world. When we have right view the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings is a joy for us.

This is the fifth talk in a series of thirteen, given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay shares about the roots of the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing, in the sutras and the suffering during the Vietnam war. Thay elaborates on the Mindfulness Trainings in the light of the Noble Eightfold Path. Thay highlights Right View as the foundation of all precepts, and attachment to views as the ground of a lot of suffering. The Dharma should be received as a skillful means and we should not to get caught in it as a view. Thay comments on a talk by president Obama and encourages us to support him by practicing peace and reconciliation in our every day lives.
Thay teaches how we can practice to heal past suffering of the inner child with Right Mindfulness, establishing ourselves in the here and now. Everything we are looking for is here, in the present moment. If we don´t have a problem now, we don´t have a problem at all.

This is the sixth talk of a series of thirteen giving during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay elaborates the Buddha’s teachings on how to practice the elements of true love: Loving Kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness. With mindfulness, concentration and insight we can realize the teachings. Thay highlights that to be able to truly love another, we first have to know how to love ourselves, handle our own suffering and bring joy to ourselves. Then our love will naturally shine on everyone and every species. We don’t need another person in order to practice true love. Sexual attraction is a natural phenomenon, but we should not confuse it with love.

This is the seventh talk of a series of thirteen given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

Thay elaborates on True/Right Diligence within the framework of the Four Noble Truths. He distinguishes diligence—emphasizing regularity—from mere effort or intensity, explaining how Right Diligence leads to well-being while Wrong Diligence creates suffering.

Thay connects True Diligence to the Second Mindfulness Training on True Generosity and references the Sutra of the White-clad Disciple, exploring themes of happiness, desire, and practicing generosity. Thay also reviews other elements of the Noble Eightfold Path (Right View, Thinking, Speech, Action, and Livelihood) in relation to well-being and suffering.

This is the eighth talk in a series of thirteen given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

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The Ethics of Actions and Their Consequence: An Exploration

Thay discusses the Four Noble Truths and how Buddhist teachings differ from several other philosophies in regards to defining right actions, right thoughts, and right speech. Some of the other philosophies Thay uses as comparisons include the divine command theory, consequentialism (a term coined by Elizabeth Anscombe), and utilitarianism as written by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Thay also discusses how suffering and happiness inter-are and the importance of promoting correction over punishment, especially when working with inmates in the United States. He ends with sharing the practice of oil pulling for detoxification in order to increase well-being.

This is the ninth talk of a series of thirteen given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in June of 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

This talk details the importance of living happily in the present moment, recognizing and releasing habits that pull us into the past or future, and practicing mindfulness to experience the wonders of life. The teachings emphasize that happiness and the Kingdom of God are found in the now, not in worldly desires or future pursuits. Mindfulness practices, mindful consumption, and understanding interconnectedness are key to liberation and healing. The Buddha’s teachings on suffering, happiness, and the Noble Eightfold Path guide us to wisdom and enlightenment. The Sutra on Mindful Breathing aligns with this path, involving recognizing the breath, cultivating joy, calming painful feelings, focusing the mind, and freeing it from negativity. Collaboration between Buddhism and modern science is beneficial, fostering mutual growth and understanding.

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Thay explains the meaning of Engaged and Applied Buddhism and the range of courses offered in the newly opened European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB), with the benefits of staying in this residential community that embodies the practice. Thay encourages us to support the Institute and to put Applied Buddhism in the forefront of our practice, reducing suffering in ourselves and in the world.

In the second part of the talk, Thay elucidates the Buddhist teaching of right view of the nature of consciousness, its cinematographic nature and its relationship to impermanence and non-self. Thay explores the concepts of rebirth and reincarnation and teaches us not to fall into the traps of eternalism or annihilationism. Individual and collective Karma (our thoughts, speech and actions) is the dynamic force that underlies everything. Thay shares how our actions can transform the world, and that they are our continuation. Thay also teaches that subject and object inter-are as they arise from consciousness at the same time—the nature of reality is interbeing. This means that we are within all things and all things are within us, and so to preserve other species is to preserve ourselves.

This is the last talk in a series of thirteen given during The Path of the Buddha, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2009. Thay offered this talk at the Lower Hamlet in Plum Village, France.