Chapters

New Year Talk

Thich Nhat Hanh · December 31, 2006 · Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France Partly reviewed

This talk details the interconnectedness of time and space, conventional designation in Buddhism, and meditation practices for mindfulness and renewal. It emphasizes setting intentions before the new year, committing to mindful resolutions, and practices like touching the earth and sitting meditation. Sitting becomes an act of love, spreading peace, and connecting with healing energies. Reflecting on suffering reveals happiness, akin to lotus flowers needing mud. Through mindfulness and concentration, we access peace and enlightenment, staying connected to inner wisdom. The Dharma is effective in the present moment, guiding mindful walking and sitting for peace and compassion. Buddha nature within us awakens through mindfulness, transcending time and space, touching nirvana, and connecting with the eternal essence beyond conventional labels.

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Part of the following collections

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The Ground of Reality

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Previous Talk December 24, 2006

Christmas Talk - True Home

Next Talk January 4, 2007

Coming Home to Bathe in the Original River

Transcript

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The Interconnectedness of Time and Space

00:01:21

Now it's 3.30 in the afternoon of the 31st of December, 2006. You can imagine the New Year as something moving from the direction of the East to the direction of the West. You know that in just two hours and a half, the New Year will arrive in the Far East. And then seven hours later, it will arrive here in France.

00:02:07

So you can imagine the New Year is traveling. and the New Year in terms of time and traveling in space. That's the way we think of the New Year. But if we practice looking deeply, we see how wrong our thinking is concerning the New Year. We have learned that time and space are intertwined. We cannot take space out of time and time out of space. And to imagine that the new year is time traveling through space is not the right thing to do.

00:03:04

But that is how we arrange things. In Buddhism we call it Conventional designation is a very important word in Buddhism. Conventional designation is not a thing. It is only a conventional designation. Conventional.

00:03:55

We want it to be like that. We agree with each other that it should be like that. Conventional designation. Prajnapti. That is the word in Sanskrit.

00:04:28

If we think in terms of the space-time continuum, then we know that it's not possible to take three dimensions of space out of the dimension of time. And they inter-are. Time and space inter-are.

00:05:54

00:06:18

00:06:46

00:07:22

00:07:42

Setting Intentions and Mindful Resolutions

00:08:15

00:08:34

00:09:05

00:09:38

00:10:23

00:10:39

00:10:58

00:11:24

The Practice of Sitting Meditation

00:11:35

00:11:55

00:12:23

00:13:05

00:13:37

00:14:41

00:16:02

00:16:23

The Power of Sitting in Stillness

00:17:09

00:17:38

00:17:58

00:18:16

00:18:36

Mindfulness in Leadership and Daily Life

00:19:53

00:20:13

00:20:30

00:21:13

00:21:41

00:21:59

00:22:59

00:23:31

00:24:17

00:25:12

The Healing Power of Mindfulness

00:27:10

00:28:00

00:28:30

00:29:25

00:30:41

00:31:13

00:31:41

The Nature of God and the Middle Path

00:32:19

00:33:47

00:34:33

00:35:25

The Pure Land and the Kingdom of God

00:36:00

00:36:50

00:38:00

00:38:53

00:39:18

00:40:08

00:40:49

Embracing Suffering to Cultivate Happiness

00:41:27

00:42:18

00:43:36

00:44:13

Practicing Mindfulness to Stay in the Sacred Realm

00:45:35

00:46:16

00:46:45

00:47:23

00:47:38

00:47:59

00:48:22

00:50:11

00:51:11

Awakening Buddha Nature Within Us

00:52:03

00:53:27

00:54:31

00:55:05

Connecting with the Timeless Essence

00:56:24

00:56:54

00:57:12

00:58:29

00:59:29

00:59:54