We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track. If this problem persists help us by reporting it so we can investigate it.
Watch this talk
Login or create a free account to watch this talk and discover other teachings from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Log in or create an account
The kingdom is now or never
When the Buddha was eighty, during his last retreat near Vaishali, he became very sick, healed himself through concentration, and gave short Dharma talks preparing his disciples for his passing by urging them to take refuge in the island within (attadīpa saraṇa)—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha inside. Using the “eye of an elephant queen” as a metaphor, he showed that mindfulness lets us see life’s wonders deeply—moon, stars, trees, mountains—and live each moment fully, so that when the body disintegrates, there is no regret.
Karma is action (karma-hetu) and its fruit (karma-phala), or retribution, which has two aspects:
- The manifesting of our five skandhas—form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, consciousness
-
The environment (y-báo) we create, both individual and collective.
With mindfulness we monitor our thinking, speaking, and doing so that our actions yield beauty rather than suffering. Universal mental formations—touch (sparśa) and attention (manaskāra)—operate always; through yonisomanaskāra (appropriate attention) we water the seeds (bīja) of peace, joy, concentration, and insight, using bells, telephones, clocks, or computer reminders to return to the breath and the island within.
Three concentrations (the three doors of liberation) for avoiding wrong perceptions and despair:
• Emptiness (śūnyatā): things are empty of a separate self, full of non-self elements (no birth, no death)
• Signlessness (animitta): freedom from attachment to form or appearance, touching true nature beyond birth and death
• Aimlessness (apranihita): peace and enlightenment are here and now, not destinations—living as the “busynessless person” (vô sự nhân), fully awake in each breath and step
