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Question and Answer

Thich Nhat Hanh · May 11, 2000 · Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France · Audio Only

What should I do when I feel afraid everywhere I go, and even hearing noises or watching television makes me fearful and my mind cannot be at peace?
Please teach me a method to concentrate the mind during sitting meditation when my mind is often agitated and unstable.
Why is it that when I solemnly try to bring my mind into mindfulness, I am unable to bring it back?
Please explain the different states experienced during sitting meditation, such as seeing a soft light or feeling a pulling sensation at the crown of the head that makes the mind silent.
How can I transform the habit of comparing and calculating when working with others, even though I have practiced looking and smiling but have not yet succeeded?
Why do I always feel so sleepy when chanting or reading books?
Why do I feel pain during sitting meditation, which only goes away when I feel as if a small child is hugging me or lingering near my left hand?
How can I reduce my anger, practice patience, and speak gently to my three daughters instead of scolding them all day?
When I achieve a little silence during sitting meditation but then generate the thought “I am being silent,” does that cause me to lose that silence?
Is there a method to help reduce anger and jealousy toward colleagues while working?
What criteria can be used to know if someone is speaking correctly about the Buddha Dharma?
Please suggest a method to calm my mind when, while reading sutras, frightening images of the invisible world intrude and disturb me.
What conditions or principles are there to maintain harmony in a large Sangha and for a person to be accepted into that Sangha?
Please help me with a method to improve my sitting meditation; I am fine when reading sutras, but whenever I sit in meditation, I feel pushed and unsettled.
What should we do when the whole family reads sutras, but our 20-year-old child does not believe in it and feels forced?
How can I encourage my children to go to the temple to bow to the Buddha when they believe in the Buddha Dharma but refuse to go when I try to take them?
Why do I get so emotional and want to cry, unable to speak, every time I am angry and want to scold my children?
Why is it that after understanding the self and no longer arguing to win or lose, I still feel suffering in my heart due to suppressing my anger?
How should I act to guide my children when they integrate into Western life and may encounter religious differences when they start a family?
How can I find myself again when I feel dispersed between helping others and my own happiness?
How can I harmonize two lives: one being happiness with my family, and the other being work and German friends where it is difficult to introduce the Buddha Dharma?
Why do I feel very uneasy in my heart, as if everything is incomplete and language is insufficient?
How can I explain to my parents so they will stop worrying excessively about my health?

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