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Spring - The Recorded Sayings of Linji
The details of this talk focus on the spring retreat at Phap Van Temple in Upper Hamlet on April 18, 2004, where people explore the love of the six senses. In the previous winter retreat, people had begun to understand the essential nature of the six senses, reading two passages related to the goals of breaking through, healing, and untying. Thich Nhat Hanh explained that the goal is not to get stuck in abstract thoughts but to dismantle ancient teachings that have become traps. He emphasized that everything reflects our mind, from the three bodies to the flower garland world, and seeking externally leads to loss. He explained that the self contains all that we seek, not the five impermanent aggregates but non-self. He spoke about three concepts: the body is the self, the body is not the self but belongs to the self, and the body is not the self but the self is in the body. He explained that consciousness continues after death and enters a new body, reflecting Buddhist knowledge that all phenomena depend on other factors to exist. He said that consciousness manifests as neither birth nor death, and the six consciousnesses liberated become supernatural powers. He explained that thoughts are just thoughts, not requiring a thinker, and mental formations contain both the manifested and the unmanifested parts. He said that the World-Honored One is non-self, and so are we, living wondrously in the present, guiding others to live in that way. He said that the truth of non-self is essential for society because all worries stem from the notion of self. He concluded that living non-self every day is the path to liberation, transformation, and nurturing happiness in the present moment.