Cultivating True Love, Right View, and the Wisdom of Non-Self

Thầy explores the four elements of true love—maitrī, karuṇā, muditā, and upekṣā—showing how mindfulness and the deep understanding of suffering generate authentic love and compassion. Speaking on September 11, Thầy highlights how wrong views and wrong perceptions lie at the root of fear, anger, and terrorism, reminding us that transformation requires compassionate listening and loving speech rather than weapons.

The talk details how the Five Mindfulness Trainings concretely manifest Right View from the Noble Eightfold Path. Referencing the Buddha’s discourse to Mahā Kātyāyana, Thầy uses the metaphors of the cloud, the flame, and organic gardening (the mud and the lotus) to show that reality transcends pairs of opposites: being and nonbeing, life and death. Reminding us that “you are your action,” Thầy shows how we continue through our karma of Right Thought, Right Speech, and Right Action. The talk closes with a guided meditation to invite the inner Buddha to sit and breathe, followed by the story of Venerable Śāriputra comforting the dying lay disciple Anāthapiṇḍika.

This is the final talk in a series of five given during the Together We Are One, Nurturing the Beloved Community retreat in the year 2011. Thầy offered this talk at Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, California, in the United States.