August 10, 2011. 52-minute dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh from War Memorial Gym at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. The sangha is on the North American Tour and this talk is the second dharma talk.

Thay speaks about the nature of life and death. “We think that now is life, and death will be later. But in fact, left and right manifest together, above and below manifest at the same time… Death is happening right here in every moment. Why are we afraid of dying?” He goes on to talk about the nature of happiness: “If a father does not understand the suffering of his son, then it is impossible for that father to love and make his son happy. So understanding is very crucial to happiness. To love means to understand.”

Right view is non-discriminative thinking. “In Buddhism, thinking is already action: by your thinking you can destroy the world, by your thinking you can save the world.” Thay goes on to share about the relationship between the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths.

The talk is available below. There is a video version available too.

July 13, 2011. 74-minute Dharma Talk given in French, with English translation by Sr. Pine from Stillwater Meditation Hall in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The sangha is in the annual Summer Opening Retreat.

Thay shares about the first eight steps of the practice of mindful breathing from the Anapanasati Sutta: 1) Recognizing the in and out breath. It’s not thinking; it’s an experience. The first exercise is the identification. 2) Following the in and out breath. 3) Breathing in, I am aware of the body. We get in touch with the physical body. We bring the mind back to the body. It is an act of reconciliation. We may become aware of tension or pain in the body. 4) Breathing in, I calm my body.

The next two exercises, the Buddha wants us to focus on pleasant feelings first – 5) Aware of joy, 6) Aware of happiness. If we can take a piece of paper and write down all the conditions of happiness we may discover that two sides of a piece of paper may not be enough. There are hundreds of conditions to see happiness.

The seventh exercise is (7) aware of mental formations – this is to recognize a painful feeling. These are zones of energy that manifest from deep in out consciousness. We can use the energy Mindfulness and concentration. The eighth asks us to embrace and soothe – Calming mental formations.

Dharmakaya – the dharma body, bring wherever you go, you bring the practice with you. Like bringing your cell phone with you. We need a spiritual dimension in our daily life.

The Buddhakaya, the Buddha body. We all have a Buddha body. We all have a seed of Mindfulness. The Buddha nature. Mindfulness carries concentration.

The Sanghakaya – our sangha body. Without a sangha, the Buddha could nit accomplish his dream. Without a community, we cannot do very much. It’s a community, but it’s also a practice. How to build a Sangha near you.

The talk was given in French and the English translation is available below. There is a video version available too.

June 12, 2011. 105-minute Dharma Talk in Vietnamese, with translation provided by Sr. Chan Khong, given by Thich Nhat Hanh at New Hamlet, Plum Village, France. This is the first talk after being in Germany and Southeast Asia.

Thay reads a letter from a young monastic aspirant requesting a 5-year ordination because the parents will not give permission for a lifetime; they need the daughter to care for them as they age. She sees the freshness of a novice life. A monastic life. Each day is precious. Singing together with nature.

Our daily practice is to find happiness in all we do each day. How do we understand our parents? How are we their continuation? Do we really know our parents? I vow to live happily for you mother, for you father. We only see part of our parents, our partner, our children but we can discover more every day. The same is true with ourselves.

Sangha body and dharma body. The jewel of the sangha. The quality – brotherhood, sisterhood, joy, peace – where does it come from? The first fruit of the practice is “I have arrived, I am home.”

What is work? What is it’s relationship to the practice? Do we work to much? We need to look deeply in our sangha. What are our talents and how best to apply?

Happiness can be found in everything we do.

The talk was given in Vietnamese with English translation and is available below. There is a video version available too. Please note, we are missing just the first minute or two of the recording.

May 8, 2011. 78-minute Dharma Talk given in English by Thich Nhat Hanh at the new Lotus Pond Temple in Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

We begin with a story for the children. A Mothers Day practice, for those who’s mother is still alive and for those who’s mother has died. The Buddha’s mother had died when he was only seven days old. Her story is in the Avatamsaka Sutra. You too can meet the mother of the Buddha with good Concentration. We can learn to be a good mother or a good father. We can learn a lot from the mother of the Buddha. Today we celebrate the birthday of the Buddha. Vesak. We will have a ceremony to bathe the Buddha.

After 30-minutes for the children, Thay continues. We are a continuation of our mother and our father. There is no separate self. Simple, but we often forget. They are alive in us and we can talk to them. The Buddadharma can help us to manifest the good things from our parents and also to accept and transform the suffering.

Mindfulness is about the present moment. With mindfulness you can discover the seeds of happiness.

The talk was given in English translation and is available below. There is a video version too.

April 18, 2011. 112-minute dharma talk given in English, with simultaneous translation into Mandarin, with Thich Nhat Hanh. This is the second day of a five-day retreat in Taipei, Taiwan. Please note, the first 20-minutes of the talk has really low volume but it does improve after that.

The Four Noble Truths. Suffering and happiness are inseparable. Offering your true presence. In this talk, Thay introduces the Four Mantras in the context of the Anapanasati Sutta. Included is also an introduction to pepple meditation and some mindful movements.

The first mantra is, darling, I am here for you.

The Buddha taught exercises for mindful breathing. Recognize and follow are the first two exercises. By following, there is no interruption of mindfulness. The third exercise is being aware of your whole body. Formations. Everything is a formation. My body is a formation. And the fourth exercise is to release the tension in my body.

Producing a feeling of joy and of happiness are the fifth and sixth exercises. These are mental formations. Breathing in, I know that I am alive. Breathing out, I smile to life.

The next exercises ask you to recognize and embrace painful feelings. Today we will talk of mindfulness of anger. Recognize the anger and embrace with mindfulness.

We now return to the mantras. The third is darling, I know that you suffer and I am here for you. The forth is much more difficult. Darling, I suffer and I want you to know it. I am trying my best to practice. Please help me.

The Sutra on Mindful Breathing is a wonderful text for practice.

March 5, 2011. 96-minute dharma talk in French with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, France. This is the fifth day of the 5-day French Retreat and the translation is provided by Sr. Pine.

The fifth Mantra. This is a happy moment.

Mindfulness is the source of happiness. Smirti. We should be able to transform any moment into happiness with mindfulness. This moment is worth living. Moment after moment.

I’m here for you. This is the First Mantra. This is for generating your concentrated presence.

My dear, I know you are there and I’m so happy. This is the Second Mantra. To recognize the presence of your lived one. Your loved can be anything.

My dear, I know you suffer and I am here for you. The Third Mantra. Used when you notice something is not right. Not well.

My dear, I am suffering and I want you to know. I’m doing my best. Please help me. The Fourth Mantra. This is the most difficult because it’s when you are suffering and you think you’re loved one is the cause. We want to punish. After you have tried to cool the flames, maybe 24-hours, then you can practice this mantra. Tell him in a calm voice. If you are not able, then write it down.

–

Right thinking is thinking that goes in the direction of non-discrimination in the direction of understanding. We can always produce a thought of right thinking using mindfulness. Anger is no longer possible with this type of action. Karma (action) is our continuation. Thought is our action. If your thinking is beautiful then you action will be as well. With Right Thinking you can bring Right Speech and Right Action.

The path recommended by the Buddha begins with Right View. In addition to Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Concentration, Right Effort, and Right Livelihood. The noble eightfold path. This path leads to the end of suffering. The fourth noble truth. This is the presence of happiness.

A discussion on the Ultimate and Historical dimensions – they are not separate. Nirvana. Suchness. With the instrument of mindfulness and concentration, we can see the nature of reality. Being and non-being disappear.

The talk was given in French with English translation and is available below. There is a French recording as well as video version too.

January 16, 2011. 112-minute Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh, from Full Moon Meditation Hall, New Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The recording begins with about 10-minutes of chanting.

Editor’s Note: We are a few dharma talks behind due to one of the Plum Village servers being down for 10-days. The server has been repaired and we’re back on track again. I’ll try to listen to the talks this week and post.

If you practice correctly, you will see results right away. According to the Buddha, there are many fruits of the practice. Results.

The first is “Entering Into the Stream” – the first step of your practice. Only you can judge if you are here. It’s like getting onto the train. Do you have one foot in, and one foot out or are you on the train and in your seat? Or, are you “moving in the direction of the stream” – on the way to the train station. If you arrive, you know you have arrived. The second is two more coming back and third is one more coming back. The fourth is “The Fruit of No Return” – no coming back. You do not go back to the the life of agitation; for a monastic aspirant it is someone who has let go of everything. The fifth is “Extinction of all the Suffering” – arhat. That person is totally free.

In Plum Village we have fruits of the practice, but they are rooted in the traditional teaching. You have arrived, you are home. You are relaxed, you are peaceful. You can arrive in any moment. As soon as you move in that direction, you are happy. The degree of your practice, is the degree of your happiness. How wonderful to be alive! So many conditions of happiness.

The Four Attainments of Plum Village:

1. “I have arrived, I am home” or “froglessness”
2. “Dwelling happily”
3. “Interbeing”
4. “No-birth, no-death”

Thay invites the brothers up to chant The Four Recollections. (1:08)

We continue the sutra (1:15) we have been studying on the safest place. It’s about nirvana. Nirvana is a place when you arrive to a place of no affliction. A place of no birth and no death. No coming and no going. In this talk, we learn verses 20-23.

The talk was given in Vietnamese with English translation and is available below (French and original Vietnamese audio are also available, as well as video version).

January 9, 2011. 84-minute Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh, from Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The recording begins with about 8-minutes of chanting.

If you are a good practitioner you can easily handle your difficulties; the transformation is quicker. There are many kinds of feelings: painful feelings, pleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. In the process of practicing we discover that the neutral feelings are very interesting. As when we sit, there is a sensation that is neutral. When we bring mindfulness to the neutral feeling, you find that it is quite nice. You see that you already have enough conditions for happiness with a neutral feeling. If you look deeply at the neutral feeling you see that it is wonderful. When you see your feelings passing by like a river, you see that 80% of your neutral feelings are quite pleasant. With mindfulness, our neutral feeling is transformed into happiness.

At the first teaching of the Buddha in the Deer Park, he spoke of the Four Noble Truths and the the eight correct practices. Never declare that you know already because you can always deepen your understanding and practice. The First Noble Truth is suffering. The Third Noble Truth talks of the cessation of suffering. This is the presence of happiness. Learn how to produce happiness. A good practitioner knows how to do this. Transform your difficulty and produce happiness. In Buddhism we recognize painful feelings, pleasant feelings, and neutral feelings. With mindfulness, you can transform a neutral feelings too. We should look deeply into our neutral feelings. We have many occasions to be happy. Thay encourages us to write a report on how you create happiness and send it to him.

After about 45-minutes, the talk transitions into a sutra commentary, continuing on the theme of nirvana. I believe we’re still on the sutra from the Dhammapada called Place of Peace and Wonder.

The talk was given in Vietnamese with English translation and is available below (French and original Vietnamese audio are also available, as well as video version).

UPDATE: The audio file has been fixed; thank you for the patience.

September 11, 2010. 112-minute dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh in Singapore during the Peaceful Mind, Open Heart Retreat at the Kong Meng San Pu Jue Zen Monastery. The talk is given in English and then translated into Chinese. The theme of the talk is the art of living here and now.

Thay reminds us there are many sutras on this topic of living happily in the present moment. We have the ability to live in Amit?bha’s Pure Land. He shares the story of a businessman who brings 500 other businessmen to hear the Buddha talk. In the discourse given, the Buddha mentions happiness five times because he knew this was what the businessmen needed to hear.

It is possible to live happily in the present moment and mindful breathing and mindful walking can bring us to the present moment. Discussion of dharmakaya, the dharma body. Dharma body is the same as practice. We need a good practice and this produces living dharma; mindfulness of the dharma. To nourish the dharma body, we need the sangha body. If we cultivate a living sangha, then you can find the Buddha.

Thay spends a few minutes presenting the true love mantra. This is our ability to be present. We are reminded that breathing and walking are the key to you free. And to love someone is to offer our true presence to him. To her.

The last third of the talk focuses on the Five Mindfulness Trainings. We need to see the suffering of society and this global spiritual ethic manifested in the Five Mindfulness Trainings has been offered to the world.