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Ethics Without Dogma
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.