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I Have Arrived, I Am Home: Walking into the Kingdom of God
This title has been reviewed for accuracy.
The Continuation in Us of Thầy’s Teachings
Thầy intertwines two levels of teaching throughout this family-retreat talk: the practical level of everyday mindfulness practice and the perhaps more theoretical level of advanced Buddhist thought. He opens the talk by showing the latter to be as accessible as the former, using the example of the presence of the cornstalk in the single kernel as an illustration of the concept of “signlessness”: unrecognized does not mean nonexistent. Thầy bridges from there to our ancestors, who also are in the here and now, if unseen, “still alive in every cell of our body,” pointing to the teachings of no-birth-no-death, continuation in us of our ancestors and of the entire cosmos, and no separate self.
It is practice upon which the center of the talk focuses, because that is the path to insight. Thầy provides instruction for every-moment practices like deep listening to the bell, mindful cooking, even mindfulness in using the toilet, but the primary focus is on mindful walking. Thầy organizes the talk around his well-known walking gāthā “I have arrived, I am home.” The talk leads us through the meanings and use of the gāthā, the synchronization of our breathing with our steps, and adjustment of breathing and steps for “slow walking” or when walking uphill. When each of our steps arrives in its present moment, we can abide with our ancestors, are free from the worries of the past and the hurries of the future, experience the true wonders of this life, and find the Kingdom of God available right “here on earth,” right now in the present moment. “The problem that remains,” Thầy asks us, “is whether you are available to the Kingdom.” Thus, the practice of mindful walking is the path to “the ultimate,” nirvana, God.
Thầy utilizes the presence of the children at the retreat—we periodically hear them in the background—to underscore the accessibility of both practice and advanced concepts. While “they don’t understand it theoretically,” Thầy notes, “they feel it,” and the Dharma talk is “a good food for children, the collective energy of mindfulness, peace, and joy.” It is one sign of Thầys mastery that he allows us—adults as well as children—to experience that practice and theory are one.
The talk concludes with recollection of a retreat in Hong Kong of twelve hundred attendees who agreed to stay, after the retreat, in contact with their teacher, not by using electronic devices but as and by their practice of mindful breathing and mindful walking. Thầy knew that he would continue as his disciples’ spiritual ancestor.
This is the eleventh of thirteen talks given during the Summer Opening in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.