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The Pure Land in the Present Moment

Thich Nhat Hanh · September 22, 2011 · Deer Park Monastery, United States · Monastic talk
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In Buddhism and in science, there are two kinds of “truth”: conventional truth (relative truth), which is applied as when Newton invented the airplane and the telephone, and ultimate truth (absolute truth), which is discovered by quantum science—where space and matter interpenetrate, the electron is both a particle and a wave, “non-local” just as the Tathagata is present simultaneously in many realms. Only when we let go of the classical way of seeing and step into quantum mechanics can we understand ultimate truth; similarly, practicing with conventional truth helps to reduce suffering, but only when we realize the “birthless and deathless” nature of ultimate truth can we truly transform the roots of affliction. The 21-day retreat “The Sciences of the Buddha” at Plum Village will be a place to compare and illuminate the wisdom of Buddhism and scientific methods.

Practicing the Dharma means skillfully using both truths to go from the relative to the absolute, transcending all dualities such as being–nonbeing, self–other. The Pure Land is not a distant realm after death but is the “Pure Land in the present moment,” accessible right here and now through mindfulness and concentration. But we must be aware of the four wrong views, called the four inversions:

  1. Permanence (believing in an enduring entity)
  2. Pure happiness (believing in absolute happiness)
  3. Self (believing in an unchanging self)
  4. Purity (believing in absolute purity)

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are the Three Jewels in one body; the true sangha is the “living Dharma,” and each member must generate fully the six qualities:

  1. Mindfulness
  2. Concentration
  3. Insight
  4. Loving kindness
  5. Joy
  6. Happiness
    just as biological cells breathe and transform food into ATP energy. When each breath, each step, and each simple action is filled with “mindfulness–concentration–insight–loving kindness–joy–happiness,” we are truly cells in the body of the Buddha and the sangha, dwelling peacefully in “This is it.”
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