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Perfect Understanding - Right View

Thich Nhat Hanh · April 11, 2010 · Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France · Audio Only
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Thay invites us to recognize two energies within ourselves:

  1. the destructive energy of anger, despair, and suffering,
  2. the energy of mindfulness and concentration generated by walking, breathing, and daily activities (cooking, washing, etc.), which allows us to bring the mind back to the body, to recognize and “embrace” this suffering “like a mother tenderly holding her baby in her arms.”

To strengthen this energy, we can draw upon the “collective energy of the Sangha”:

  1. taking refuge in the Sangha,
  2. building a Sangha in our neighborhood,
  3. visualizing the Sangha within ourselves, and
  4. practicing together to generate a “tremendous energy of mindfulness.”

The Bodhisattva Avalokita, practicing perfect understanding, turned his enlightened gaze upon the five skandhas and saw that they were equally empty:

  1. form (rūpa)
  2. feelings (vedanā)
  3. perceptions (saññā)
  4. mental formations (saṃskāra)
  5. consciousness (vijñāna)
    After this realization, he transcended all suffering.
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Previous Talk April 10, 2010
1h 14m

Mindfulness Is the Key to Life

Next Talk April 13, 2010
1h 58m

The Wisdom of Emptiness