We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track. If this problem persists help us by reporting it so we can investigate it.
Watch this talk
Login or create a free account to watch this talk and discover other teachings from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Log in or create an account
Embrace Our Inner Child and Letting Go of Our Suffering
In Buddhism, every saṃskāra or formation—whether a flower (physical), the heart (physiological), or worries (mental)—is impermanent. In Plum Village training you learn to recognize all 51 mental formations the moment they arise—good, negative, or indefinite—by calling each to mind by name. The practice is simple recognition (mere attention) while breathing in and out, smiling to each formation without clinging or aversion.
Among these formations are prajñā (insight, understanding, wisdom) and its counterpart avidyā (ignorance, delusion). Insight begins with seeing duḥkha (ill-being) in ourselves and others. Guided exercises—“Breathing in, I see myself as a five-year-old child; breathing out, I hold that child tenderly”—help us cultivate prajñā and compassion, first for our own wounded child and then, by seeing the same image in our father, heal intergenerational suffering.
Under the sway of passion we may reject insight, so we invoke right mindfulness (sammā-sati) to call prajñā in. Supported by the formation called concentration and the formation called willingness (yuk), mindfulness and insight unite to redirect us away from anger and despair toward forgiveness, compassion, and love.
