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Is there a difference between Engaged Buddhism and Applied Buddhism? What is your vision for the institutes of Buddhism?

Questions and Answers: Twenty-One-Day Retreat 2014, Session Number One

Thich Nhat Hanh · June 14, 2014 · Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France Reviewed

In this session of questions and answers the following questions were asked:

By the children:

How do we reduce the suffering of others without making them angry at us?

By the adults

How do you understand the process of surrendering to God’s will?
How can one help a friend in despair due to a troubled marriage?
How to transform guilt from not providing materially for a parent?
How to understand and practice to transform the equality complex?
How can we help people with cancer face deep fears of death and uncertainty?
How can I practise after the violent, sudden death of a loved one?
How can I support my grandchildren after a family suicide?]
What is your teaching on the death penalty?

Written questions:

How to understand and heal the suffering of our ancestors’ if we never knew them?

This the first of two Question and Answer sessions organised during the What Happens When We Die?, twenty-one-day retreat in the year 2014. Thay offered this session at the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.

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Part of the following collections

Everyday Family Relationships and Renewal

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Equality

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Touching and Healing Our Ancestors Within

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Responding to War with Peace

From the Living Gems Curation Team

Previous Talk June 13, 2014

InterBeing: The Nature of Birth and Death

Next Talk June 15, 2014

Mindfulness for the Military

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Is there a difference between Engaged Buddhism and Applied Buddhism? What is your vision for the institutes of Buddhism?

From "Questions and Answers: Cultivating Happiness Retreat" • April 9, 2012

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How do you understand the process of surrendering to God's will?

Sangha Member

Question

Dear Thầy, how do you understand the process of surrendering to God's will?

Sister True Dedication

Dear Thầy, dear friends, the question is, "How does Thầy understand the process of surrendering to God's will?"

Thich Nhat Hanh

Answer

God's will is that you should be your best. You should be alive. You should enjoy the wonders of life. And you should help other people to suffer less and to enjoy the wonders of life. That's the will of God. And that is also the will of nature, the will of Mother Earth because Mother Earth is doing that.

00:06:28

Mother Earth always tries to be as beautiful as she could, to be as fresh as she could, as forgiving as she should. So Mother Earth is doing God's will. And we who are children of the Earth, of Mother Earth, we can learn from her. We should be patient.

00:07:01

We should live in such a way that can preserve our freshness, our beauty, our compassion. And with that kind of intention—good intention—to transform the suffering inside, to help people around, living beings, to transform their suffering. The intention to really be there and live deeply the life that is given you to live, the intention to help people to do the same. With that intention, you surrender to the will of God, to the intention—to the desire—for Father Sun and Mother Earth. Because vitality—the will to live, the will to live peacefully, happily, with compassion—that is the will of God. And it is also our will, because we have our physical body, and we have our cosmic body, we have our God body. So the one who surrenders and the one who is surrendered to, they are not two separate entities.

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