We have learned that birth and death are nirvana. There is nothing separate. The river of life can either be nourishing or less nourishing depending on the inputs. We also have outputs. A river will also continue. It cannot die, so we need be in a way to make life more beautiful. We don’t have to aim at anything – aimlessness. This is the first door of liberation. We are already what we are searching for. With that deep vision, the river can run peacefully.

Today we begin a new text, Praising the Buddha of Light. Amit?bha Buddha. With each renewal of a text, what we’re doing here, we have to reflect back to the original. There are also texts in the Mahayana tradition that were written hundreds of years after the Buddha. Sometimes of these later texts are even more profound (such as the Avata?saka sutra). Thay talks about how Buddhism is different depending on the country and the time. Pure land is in your heart. You are of the nature of Amitabha. Every living being has a Buddhanature.

Breathing in, I smile to life. We are present to life. And closely related: I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death. Many people also fear growing old. I am of the nature of growing old. I cannot escape old age. I am of the nature to be sick. I cannot escape sickness. We can look deeply at sickness, old age, and death. We should also let go of all our titles, money, degrees, family, etc. Then when it’s time to die, you can go easily. The fruit of my thinking, speaking, and action is what will continue. Birth and death. Past. Present. Future. Nirvana is in life. In affliction.

We complete the sutra study (@ 52-minutes) with the last few gathas.

Happiness is something that we need to produce. Suffering is part of this producing. Suffering and happiness are one. We can discover happiness every day by being in touch. See the moon. See the flowers. We can use the second mantra. I know you are there and it makes me happy. We also learn the other four mantras of Plum Village. In this section of the talk, we also learn about the three different kinds of feelings.

We continue the sutra study (@ 72-minutes) with gatha 34-36. We are studying the Paramartha Gathas, from the Yogacarabhumi Sastra of Asanga. This is the eleventh talk on this sutra.

After a teaching on the nature of suffering, Thay continues the sutra study begins (at 34-minutes) with gatha 29-33. We are studying the Paramartha Gathas, from the Yogacarabhumi Sastra of Asanga. This is the tenth talk on this sutra, the last one being on December 21, 2011.

We begin with a teaching on the first eight steps of the Sutra on Mindful Breathing. Belly breathing. Rising and falling of the abdomen. We are much more than one emotion and with this practice we can realize this.

Thay continues (at 1:03) to share about the practices of loving speech and deep listening. Many of us suffer from our family relationships. If we can master these practices, we can transmit to our students and help them.
He also shares (at 1:25) the practice of how to die happily and peacefully.

Let’s visualize the new year coming as a giant bird; coming from the far east and traveling west. We are going somewhere; where are we going? When mindfulness and concentration are present, then we can gain insight to not be carried away by afflictions. The practice of mindfulness can help us enjoy life deeply and also help us to handle difficult emotions and feelings.

The Four Noble Truths and Right View for the transformation of suffering. The science of no birth and no death. The energy of thought and action.

The earth as bodhisattva. Freshness. This year we have an opportunity to continue our experiments, experiments with our insight, particularly as it relates to science. In 2012, we can lay the foundation for a cosmic religion (Einstein reference). The scientists and us can do this together.

There is no soul. No self. There are only the five Skandhas (aggregates) – body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, conciousness. But these do continue in other forms.

Editors Note: some periods of silence exist in audio, but the listener is not missing any part of the talk.

Thay teaches on the Noble Eightfold Path, and how concrete practices can help us to cultivate this path. “Thought can make us suffer; we need to be able to stop our thinking in order to be capable of happiness. If we look at the sun but cannot get deeply in touch with it in the present moment, we only see suffering, we cannot see all the conditions of happiness that are already present. If you can see all thoughts just as notions, you can penetrate the reality of no-birth and no-death.”

Right View And it’s relationship to Concentration and the practice of Mindfulness. Right Thinking is characterized by non-discrimination. We also learn of the three practices of concentration (Three Doors of Liberation) present in all Buddhist traditions: emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness. He also teaches on the nature of karma (body, speech, and mind) – Right Action and Right Livelihood. Finally, the four practices of Right Diligence.

We learn of a new prayer that Thay has been working on for the past several months. It is called Prayer for the Pure Mother Earth but the full text is not available yet. We also learn a new chant. A teaching on happiness and joy is illustrated through several stories on bread making, soybean collecting, walking under the moon, getting teeth removed, washing clothes, sewing.

At 49:45 minutes, we resume Paramarthah Gathas of Asanga’s Yogacarabhumi sutra study at Gatha 22-25.

22. The present disintegrates immediately. The past does not remain anywhere. The unborn depends on conditions to be born. The mind evolves in accordance with the three times.

23. In absolute terms there is association or disassociation. Whether mind is associated or not associated with all formations, it is said to evolve accordingly.

24. in this stream there is no ending, no same and no different. Everything is in accord with the view of a separate self resulting from the relative truth and it is not inexistent.

25. If our physical form is subject to destruction, then our psychological form is also subject to destruction; still it is said that in this life we lay down the cause and in the next life we enjoy the fruit.

Insight from touching the earth. Truth is a kind of insight and the object of our religion is truth, goodness, and beauty. We pay respect to Buddha, to God, to Allah in order to gain this insight. When we bow down, we don’t need to personalize the statue but rather something concrete. Understanding. Compassion. Wisdom. Everyone can keep their own religion; touching the earth is not something inanimate. Mother Earth is a great Boddhisatva.

With medicine and health, we can’t just rely on one thing. The same is true in regards to religion. We have to pay attention to our body. Bring out mind back to our body. You have time for your computer, but not time for your body? We are organizing a Health Retreat to restore the well being in your body and your mind (April 2012). If we can breath in, and bring our mind back to our body, then we can stop the alienation created by external forces such as computers, tv, cell phones, etc. Stopping. Calming. Concentration. The breath can be the object of your mind and stop the situation from being dispersed.

About an hour into talk, we resume the Paramarthah Gathas of Asanga’s Yogacarabhumi sutra study with Gatha 17-21, particularly focusing on the verses dealing with the ephemeral nature of all things we think of as ourselves.

17-18. The physical body is like foam. Feelings are like bubbles on the surface of the water. The perceptions are like a magic city. The mental formations are like the stem of a banana tree. The consciousness is like a magic show. That is what the Buddha has taught.

19. Ignorance does not make ignorance ignorant, nor does it make others ignorant. Another does not make ignorance ignorant. Nevertheless ignorance is not non-existent.

20. Ignorance is born from inappropriate attention. Inappropriate attention arises in the ignorant person.

21. Merit, lack of merit and immovability; these formations are imagined in a threefold way. All things have three kinds of karma and these karma’s are not compatible with each other.

We learn of mother. The buddha is the son of his mother, his foster mother, the mother earth. We learn of the story Suddana in Avatamsaka Sutra where each of us can birth a Buddha. We can meet the mother of the Buddha. She is the mother of all the Buddhas in the present and in the past. She is one with the planet earth. Mother earth is so large and can accept everything without discrimination.

The autumn leaves are still on the ground here at Plum Village. They are in transformation, but some still remain on the tree. The leaves live a short life, but they enjoy being whereas humans have lot of worries, anxiety, etc. it is the price of being human. To be a pine tree is beautiful. Maybe next life we can be a tree or a bird.

We always have a need for a place to return. Every part of us will return to the earth. As Buddhists we need to see things in a non-duality way and that we are one with the planet earth. The planet is the mother of every being. The nature of reality is no coming, no going; no birth, no death. If we look deeply, we can see everything continues. The earth is alive.

At 49-minutes into the talk, we continue learning the sutra beginning with Gatha 14. Sub-atomic science still cannot grasp the nature reality. In Buddhism, we have the concept of non-attainment. You cannot grasp the true nature. We cannot grasp in time and space. In quantum science, they try to grasp the nature of every particle. They see forces/fields such as gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear. But science rarely speak of our mind and the force of karma. For example, the destruction of the Twin Towers was a force of the mind – hatred. The mind can also be positive with just as much power. In this Gatha, there are these fields we cannot grasp even if they have manifested.

14. It is not inside, nor is it outside. It is not something between inside and outside. Before (samskaras) conditioned things have arisen it is not possible to grasp them (in terms of time and space).

15. Moreover after conditioned things have arisen it is not possible to grasp them. The future does not have any sign (by which we can grasp it). The past can be an object of our discriminating mind (imagined).

16. We are able to discriminate the things we have been in touch with, we can also discriminate the things we have not yet been in touch with. Although there is no beginning of samskaras, the discriminating mind can still use the concept of beginning.

17-18. The physical body is like foam. Feelings are like bubbles on the surface of the water. The perceptions are like a magic city. The mental formations are like the stem of a banana tree. The consciousness is like a magic show. That is what the Buddha has taught.