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The 24th Mindfulness Training of Plum Village

Thich Nhat Hanh · April 6, 2006 · Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France
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We have two kinds of truth: conventional truth—the truth in daily life with pairs of opposites (father–son, above and below, beginning and end)—and ultimate truth—the true nature, seeing that father and son are not two separate realities but inter-are (the son is the future of the father, in the father there is the son and vice versa). When we understand rebirth through ultimate truth, we no longer look at reincarnation in a simple or superficial way.

The concept of body–mind and the three truths:

  1. Two dualistic views: mind as a product of the brain, or as an independent entity.
  2. Three foundational truths to transcend dualism:
    1. Impermanence
    2. Non-self
    3. Interbeing
  3. Karma consists of three parts—mental karma, verbal karma, and bodily karma—all are energies that continue the flow of samsāra in every moment. Thought and speech are manifestations, capable of bringing happiness or suffering; we use right speech and right thinking to nourish wholesome energy. When we directly experience impermanence, non-self, and interbeing, we see the stream of Samtati (the unceasing flow) of the five skandhas, and are liberated from the views of permanence, annihilation, and self.
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