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Retreat for Young People and Buddhist Youth Association – Bang Pagoda (2)

Thich Nhat Hanh · May 1, 2008 · Vietnam · Audio Only
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In our consciousness, there are two main kinds of seeds:

  • “the seed of love, forgiveness, and acceptance,” and
  • “the seed of anger, sadness, and jealousy.”
    Each time we water a particular kind of seed, that seed is nourished and grows stronger. In order to protect each other from suffering, two people in any relationship (lovers, fiancés, spouses, parents and children) can make with each other a love contract (peace treaty, love treaty), committing not to water the seeds of suffering in one another, but to do everything possible to water each other’s wholesome seeds. For example: the wife saves, reads, and rewrites old love letters for her husband, helping to water the seeds of happiness; the husband takes the sweet words from those letters as material to come home, express his love, and transform his daily actions.

The practice of watering wholesome seeds can also be done by:

  1. Contemplating and recognizing all the “good seeds” and “unwholesome seeds” in ourselves and in the other person, and writing them down on paper
  2. Helping each other to deeply understand the suffering and difficulties, so as not to sow more seeds of suffering for one another
  3. Applying the Four Immeasurable Minds (Brahmaviharas) in true love:
    • loving-kindness (maitri) – the capacity to bring happiness to oneself and to the other
    • compassion – the capacity to relieve the suffering of the other
    • joy – the joy that is shared between both sides
    • equanimity (upeksha) – non-discrimination, non-attachment, seeing happiness and suffering as belonging to both.

Depending on the situation (spouses, family, parents and children), when this method is practiced sincerely, it only takes from fifteen minutes to one hour to see positive results right away.

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Retreat for Young People and Buddhist Youth Association – Bang Pagoda (1)

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Retreat for Young People and Buddhist Youth Association – Bang Pagoda (3)