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Vietnamese Retreat - Neither Perpetual Nor Annihilated

Thich Nhat Hanh · April 20, 2003 · Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France
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The First Mantra

  • “My dear, I am here for you, I am truly here for you, fresh and sweet.”
    The Second Mantra
  • “My dear, I know you are there, and I am so happy.”
    Practicing these two mantras at least once a day helps to generate mindfulness—the energy that brings us back to true presence. Mindfulness is like the light of a flashlight illuminating the five skandhas of a human being:
  1. form (the body)
  2. feelings (sensations)
  3. perceptions
  4. mental formations
  5. consciousness
    In our daily life, we often live in a state of dimness—looking without seeing, listening without hearing, eating without tasting. Thanks to mindfulness, each breath, each step, each movement is simply recognized and accompanied by a gentle smile, creating non-dual awareness—the mind is always present, clear, and at peace.

The practice of the Bodhisattva is also based on mindfulness as one of the 51 mental formations, helping the seed of that light grow strong to illuminate the five vast domains of body and mind. All phenomena manifest thanks to four types of conditions:

  • primary condition (the seed)
  • supporting condition (auxiliary factors)
  • object condition (the object)
  • immediate condition (uninterrupted continuity)
    It is like a flame: it does not arise from nothing, but manifests when conditions are sufficient, and continues seamlessly without interruption. Understanding “neither one nor different”—not truly arising or ceasing, not permanent and not annihilated—is to see clearly the nature of impermanence, non-self, and the unborn, undying nature of all phenomena, so that we may live peacefully and offer ourselves fully in the present moment.
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