Chapters

Freeing Ourselves from Notions-Touching Nirvana

Thich Nhat Hanh · August 22, 2011 · YMCA, Denver, United States Reviewed

Thay begins with a guided meditation on touching our freshness, solidity, stillness and freedom. He then speaks to the children about maintaining joy and happiness while playing, emphasizing that playing with anger leads to loss. He teaches that the highest way of playing is to ensure neither the winner nor the loser suffers. He also introduces the third mantra about love, “Darling, I know you suffer and I am here for you,” and discusses the wisdom of non-discrimination and the three complexes: superiority, inferiority and equality.

Thay shares the fourth mantra, “Darling, I suffer and I want you to know. I’m doing the best I can. Please help,” and explains how pride and anger can prevent us from seeking help. He advises practitioners to take care of their anger with mindful breathing to understand the wrong perceptions behind it.

Thay elaborates on the eleventh and twelfth exercises of mindful breathing—concentrating and liberating the mind. He discusses the three doors of liberation: emptiness (śūnyatā), signlessness (animitta), and aimlessness (apranihita), as well as four other objects of concentration: impermanence, non-craving, cessation, and letting go. These practices help free us from notions of being and non-being, birth and death, coming and going, sameness and otherness, and the four notions of self, man/human, living beings, and lifespan, allowing us to touch reality, nirvana, and realize our true nature of no-birth and no-death.

This is the fourth talk in a series of five given during The Body and Mind Are One retreat in the year 2011. Thay offered this talk at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, the United States.

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Part of the following collections

A Cloud Never Dies

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Mindfulness Foundations: A Journey Home

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Previous Talk August 21, 2011

I Have Arrived, I Am Home

Next Talk August 23, 2011

Questions and Answers: Body and Mind are One Retreat

Transcript

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Guided Meditation Flower Fresh

00:00:54

Let us sit beautifully like a buddha. The Buddha is described as sitting on a lotus flower. It means that when we sit, we feel light, peaceful and beautiful. The human body can be very beautiful if we allow our body to relax. It is a real flower, so let us learn to sit relaxingly like a buddha. We sit on a lotus flower and not on a heap of burning charcoal. [Laughter.]

00:01:48

[One sound of the bell.]

00:01:57

[Thay leads a guided meditation.]

00:02:05

"Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh. Flower, Fresh."

00:02:24

[One sound of the bell.]

00:02:40

"Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain. Breathing out, I feel solid. Mountain, Solid."

00:02:59

[One sound of the bell.]

00:03:16

"Breathing in, I see myself as still water. Breathing out, I reflect things as they truly are. Water, Reflecting."

00:03:37

[One sound of the bell.]

00:03:54

"Breathing in, I see myself as space. Breathing out, I feel free. Space, Freedom."

00:04:14

[One sound of the bell.]

Unity of Body and Mind

00:04:44

Good morning my dear friends, today is August the 22nd in the year 2011. We are on our fourth day of the retreat with the theme Body

00:05:48

00:06:33

Compassion in Response to Anger

00:08:23

00:09:46

The Third Mantra: Recognizing Suffering

00:11:32

00:13:02

00:14:29

The Three Complexes

00:15:32

00:17:26

00:19:35

00:20:45

00:21:37

00:23:20

00:24:17

Practicing the Third and Fourth Mantras

00:24:34

00:26:00

00:28:48

00:30:19

00:31:35

00:33:12

Practicing with Anger

00:34:33

00:35:48

00:37:06

A Tragic Story of Non-Communication

00:38:59

00:41:30

00:42:19

00:42:51

00:44:48

00:45:57

00:48:02

00:49:12

00:49:38

The Three Doors of Liberation

00:50:18

00:52:26

Embracing Impermanence and Non-Craving

00:53:54

00:56:21

00:58:16

01:00:14

The Nature of Birth and Death

01:02:27

01:05:08

01:06:07

Transcending Notions of Birth and Death

01:08:27

01:09:51

01:11:41

01:13:54

01:15:37

01:15:39

01:17:12

01:18:56

01:20:07

The Essence of No-Coming and No-Going

01:20:21

01:22:27

01:24:04

01:25:30

01:27:09

Transcending Sameness and Otherness

01:28:30

01:30:52

01:32:49

Removing the Elements of Self

01:34:02

01:35:50

01:37:32

01:39:22

01:41:16

01:42:20

01:43:17

Our True Nature is Nirvāṇa

01:43:36

01:46:03

01:46:19