May 20, 2012. 73-minute recording given at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village by Thich Nhat Hanh. This is a Day of Mindfulness and the monastics begin with two chants.
The Buddha taught loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Thay thinks we can add two new elements to True Love: Trust. Confidence. Thay teaches on all these elements in addition to a brief examination of the Diamond Sutra as it relates to Interbeing.
October 8, 2011. 109-minute dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh from Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, NY. The sangha is on the North American Tour and this is the third dharma talk for the Stepping Into Freedom, Savoring Life Retreat.
The Buddha is a teacher of love. At the time of the Buddha, the people of India were followers of Brahma and Brahma was love. So the Buddha taught about love and gave us the Four Elements of True Love – the Four Brahmaviharas.
The first element is maitri, It’s a difficult word to translate, but many people translate into lovingkindness. Loving oneself is the foundation of loving someone else. The Buddha made himself happy and then he helped other people be happy. When you have freedom and calmness, then it is easy to help other people be happy. The second element of true love is karuna. This is usually translated as compassion. This is one is to remove suffering, to transform suffering. The third element is mudita – this is joy. This is the sign of true love. And most of the truth lies in the fourth element – upeksa. Scholars have usually translated this as equanimity but Thay shares the real meaning is non-discrimination. In true love there is no place for discrimination.
The wisdom of non-discrimination. In the teaching of the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha speaks of Right View. Right View is the type of insight that is free from discrimination. Right View is usually mentioned as the first element of the Noble Eightfold Path, but it also comes from Right Concentration and Right Mindfulness. Coming from Right View, we can produce Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, and Right Diligence. Today we will focus more on the practice of Right View and Right Concentration, but these are the eight elements of the path proposed by the Buddha. It is the Path of True Love. When we take the Five Mindfulness Trainings, they represent this path.
The teaching of no-birth and no-death, being and non-being. This has to do with the practice of emptiness, one of the three doors of liberation. There is a word, Sahabhu, it means co-being. We cannot exist by ourselves. Thay also speaks of our ideas and notions, including the notion of impermanence. Do we have insight?
Action has three aspects. Thinking. Speaking. Body. This is our product. Our continuation. Anything you produce will bear your signature. This is karma. We are our action.
With this path we can create happiness. True understanding and compassion.
You may listen or download the audio from this site or watch the video.
August 22, 2011. 107-minute dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh from YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado. The sangha is on the North American Tour and this is the Question and Answer session of the Body and Mind Are One retreat.
Thay answers question first from the children, from young adults, and older practitioners:
The talk is available below. A video version is available: questions and answers.
August 12, 2011. 85-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 a question and answer session.
Children
Teens
Adults
The talk is available below. There is a video version available too.
July 22, 2011. 86-minute dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh from Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The sangha is in the annual Summer Opening Retreat.
The art of happiness. We have to practice in order to be happy. There is also the art of power. Some believe if we have power then we will be happy.
There are three kinds of power: the power to cut off, the power to love, and the power to understand.
We have no courage to cut off, and that is a power we can cultivate. If do not cut off our craving, our angry, our despair, and other cravings then we suffer. This is a spiritual power. if we can do this, we can be a free.
The power to love, to accept, to forgive, to embrace. We suffer because we cannot accept, because our love is not large enough. Thay shares the story of salt and water. When our heart is large then we don’t suffer. We can cultivate this power of love.
The third is power to understanding. This is the foundation of love. The second noble truth speaks of understanding out suffering. We have to understand our own suffering first before we can understand the other. The Three Doors of Liberation can help us with this power.
Thay would like to write another book call The Power of Suffering. There are ways to suffer. In the teaching if the Buddha, happiness and suffering go together. It is like the above and the below; like the left and right. When we realize that happiness is made up of non-happiness elements, we are able to make good use of the mud of our suffering to grow a lotus flower. If you know how to suffer then you know how to create happiness.
In the Sutra of Mindful Breathing, there are sixteen exercises that can help us understand our suffering.
The talk was given in English and is available below. There is a video version available too.
July 15, 2011. 86-minute dharma talk from Stillwater Meditation Hall in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France with Thich Nhat Hanh. The sangha is in the annual Summer Opening Retreat and it is the second week.
Thay continues the teaching on mindfulness of breathing, summarizing the first eight steps of the Sutra on Mindful Breathing (he spoke of it during the July 13 dharma talk). The first four help us take care of our body. With the fifth, we touch the realm of feelings.
He teaches on dealing with difficult emotions, including how we can help those loved ones who feel they need to commit suicide because of an emotion. Belly breathing. Focus on your in breath and out breath, following the rise of abdomen. We should remember that emotions are impermanent. We have can peace, solidity, and freedom.
From the realm of body and feelings, we come to the ninth exercise which is the realm of the mental formations. Formation – samskara – is a technical term. The flower is a formation because it is made of non-flower elements. In the Buddhist tradition, there are 51 mental formations. We learn the relationship between mind consciousness and store consciousness and the concept of seeds (bija). We can practice selective watering. In a relationship, we can use a Peace Treaty. He tells the story of a couple whose love is revitalized by the practice of watering good seeds. The ninth exercise is about gladdening the mind.
At the end of the talk Thay shares about the four practices of Right Diligence. It means we should continue our practice. Don’t allow the negative seeds to become a mental formation. If a negative seed becomes a mental formation, we shouldn’t allow it to stay too long, but not by way of suppressing. When you recognize a good seed, try to touch it and bring up. Finally, try to keep the good seeds present as long as you can.
The talk was given in English and is available below. There is a video version available too.
March 13, 2011. 63-minute Dharma Talk in French given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Assembly of Stars, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France.
In Buddhism we speak of Four Elements: water, earth, fire, and air. With water we can practice purification. With air we breathe. Breathe out the toxic gases in the body. Fire is also a method purification. With heat we can heal. The earth can purify as well. In Plum Village we have a practice called Touching the Earth. The earth is our Mother. We are children of the earth. we can return to the earth to renew ourself. Intimate conversations with the earth. We hear of Ksitigarbha (Earth Store), a great bodhisattva.
With these elements we can nourish and cultivate love, understanding, compassion, and reduce our suffering.
We briefly review the steps of mindful breathing to bring joy and calm to our minds and bodies.
The talk was given in French with English translation and is available below. There is a French recording as well as video version too.
March 2, 2011. 100-minute Dharma Talk in French given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Assembly of Stars, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village, France. This is the second day of the 5-day French Retreat and the translation is provided by Sr. Pine.
Let’s love each other. In order to be there for each other, there is a practice. We have to stop all the inner talking. Practice breathing in with Mindfulness to bring our mind back the the body. To love is offering your presence.
The second mantra of Plum Village. I know you are there, and I am very happy. When I walk with the sangha, it is exactly the same because the sangha is my love.
Walking meditation together on the hill of the 21st century. Our collective energy can heal and transform us. To walk is to love. The same can be said about sitting meditation. Peace. Concentration. Happiness.
Thay discusses a story from the Little Prince followed by a review of Pebble Meditation that is taught to children. Four pepples: Flower. Mountain. Still water. Space.
In true love, we should enjoy each other. It has been said, to love is not to look at each other, but to look in the same direction.
Elements of True Love. Maitri. Lovingkindness. Love is first friendship. To produce happiness. Karuna. Compassion. To transform suffering. Mudita. Joy. We offer joy to ourself and the. Upeksha. Equanimity. Absence of boundary. Non- discrimination. Your joy is my joy. These four elements are the Four Immeasurable Minds.
Love begins with myself.
The talk was given in French with English translation and is available below. There is a French recording as well as video version too.
March 1, 2011. 60-minute Dharma Talk in French given by Thich Nhat Hanh at New Hamlet, Plum Village, France. This is the first day of the 5-day French Retreat and the translation is provided by Sr. Pine. We are testing a new platform with this retreat so the audio recording carries both languages – the French on the left and English on the right. Enjoy.
Suffering can be neutralized. And love is what can do this transformation. Understanding can generate love. To live, we must love.
The teaching on true love by the Buddha is clear. How do we taste this happiness? To love is to offer your presence. Meditation cam make us fresh. One in-breath is enough to bring you present.
Darling, I am here for you.This is the first mantra of Plum Village. When you are in touch with yourself, then you can be present.
The beauty of the earth. We should love her. If you love her, you will do anything to preserve it. One in-breath. One step in mindfulness.
Darling, I know you are there and I am happy. This is the second mantra of Plum Village. If you are present then you can so this. Precious presence of the other.
Provides some waking meditation guidance. The ability to stop and share something beautiful.
Shares story of meeting Martin Luther King and about community. The beloved community. The importance of building sangha. There are so many people in our society who are lost. They need a sangha. This is why you build a sangha in your area. It takes a lot of love and a lot of patience to build a sangha. Loving speech and compassionate listening are the instruments we use to build sangha.
Today the topic has been on suffering. We use consumption to try and forget out suffering. The teaching is we must come back to ourselves and get in touch with the suffering. It will help us to transform it. Then we can understand the suffering of the other person.
Deep compassionate listening.
The talk was given in French (left channel) with English translation (right channel) and is available below (French and English are on the same recording) as well as video version.
February 2, 2011, on the Eve of the Lunar New Year of the Cat, in the New Hamlet of Plum Village. He reads poetry of Xuân Diu and talks of the beauty of fidelity in a relationship.
Self-love is the foundational of love for another.
We should see something very simple and basic: understanding is the basis of love. The understanding of our suffering we can accept and understand the others. We have communication. The practice helps us to a develop our love and understanding to remove the feeling of loneliness inside.
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).