A Beginners Mind for a Beautiful Future | Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, 2011-10-02 Magnolia Grove

[Music] you [Music] you good morning yes Anya today is Sunday October the second in the year 2011 on our fifth day of the retreat with the team cultivating the minor plow and we had Magnolia Grove meditation practice center this is the last day of our retreat and also the day of mindfulness for those of us who did not have do not have a cell to attend the whole retreat in a Buddhist tradition we speak of a kind of mind it's called a beginner's mind the beginner's mind is a very beautiful man a source of energy the willingness to practice to get freedom release enlightened and to serve others that is a tremendous source of energy at makers very life very dynamic and with that source of energy called the beginner's mind we are not afraid of obstacles we can be ready to zoom out to overcome all kind of obstacles in order to realize how big our intention our aspiration that is the willingness to get enlightened to get free in order to serve other living beings and siddhartha gautama when he left home at the age of 29 he had a very strong aspiration to practice and on the age of 35 we got unlucky and it was able to within serving humanity and other living beings and we were friends of the Buddha who are his disciple we want to have that kind of experience aspiration - we want to have that kind of weakness - we want to have that kind of energy - so that we are strong enough in order to continue with our practice to free ourselves and to serve other people and that is why our retreat has been named as the title conjugating the mind blow the mind of love is the beginner's mind very beautiful very strong and as a professional you have to to nourish that mind so that you know last for a long time was when you can keep it mine life will be you know we are always full of energy in order to - with the practice no matter how difficult the situation is so during this period many of us have allowed the mind of love the minor enlightened to rise in a heart and if we know how to fit how to maintain that that mindful of the mind of enlightenment bodhichitta a life and then we all have enough energy to continue without of this to serve other people we know that there's a lot a lot of suffering in the world and sometimes we feel helpless but with bodhichitta in the mind of love in mind of enlightenment we are not discouraged we'll be able to continue so that we can relieve the salinas and help relieve suffering in society and in the world today's tomahawk will be a little bit difficult for those who come for the first time but if you have attended the first day the second third for the retreat it it will be an easy the matter it's Emily a continuation of the articles and maybe if you if we have the city of the other tops they go help us to understand deeply the top today which is very much experience and the teaching of the Buddha made into a short presentation in Buddhism we speak of two kinds of proof the conventional truth and the ultimate truth both kind of proof useful and in science and so there's two kind of truth there is a classic classical science represented by Newton it's equivalent to the convention of truth in Buddhism and there is the modern physics with quantum physics quantum mechanics it has a very different way of looking at reality understanding gravity and it also helped us to understand the true nature of reality and in order to go to the second truth you have to be able to release what you have learned from the conventional to what you have learned from Newton you have to release in order to truly understand quantum mechanics and so on this is the same that the Buddhist diction there is the conventional truth where I respect of birth and death Buddha living beings enlightenment and the illusion the suffering and happiness but we when we come to the outward truth these ideas about birth and death beginning and ending inside outside suffering and happiness we have to overcome in order to leave it behind before we can understand the absolute ultimate truth and that kind of insight is the highest when you are able to touch the ultimate reality you may call it God but in Buddhism you do not use the word God we live through it suchness the ultimate reality when we touch the ultimate reality we are free from all notions including the notion of being and non-being inside outside subject and object in neuroscience in modern science people still struggle a little bit about consciousness and the world of reality consciousness is something subjective in here and reality outside the reality is something outside so how can consciousness inside reach out in order to understand the reality outside and science has begun to discover the truth that you cannot be an observer standing outside of the object we observed in order to understand youth should stop being an observer from the outside you should try to become a participant participant and Sundays have began already to speak about it so in order for to understand them to be possible you had to remove the frontier between participant between observer and object being observed whether that is an electron ion or anything but if you think that you are an observer completely outside of the object to observe please know hope that you can truly understand the object of your observation you should try to be a participant and not merely from outside and modern science have has begin to see that the inside-outside absence of object and subject the insight that the buddha got at the foot of the body tree is the kind of insight that helped him to liberate to be liberated from all fear and despair and that insight you have to be at it directly and not true explanation because when you explain you you offer notions and concepts but notions and concepts can never be the reality suppose there is someone who has not never eaten a fruit called kiwi and you try to kill him how is the paste of the kiwi fruit no matter how many notions and concept you have is impossible for him to get the toothpaste of kiwi so two insight is like that Ratna inside lifetime you can speak about inside but we are using notions and concepts we can make good use of notions and concepts in order to practice deep looking the protein is meditation and we can get the insight by ourselves inside cannot begin cannot be given us by another person if you don't hit the TV yeah as you cannot understand you cannot experience the toothpaste keeping you only have a notion that kind of insight from time to time is called a right view in Buddhism and right we'll make up one of the eight elements of the noble path presented by the Buddha plays a path lived into liberation and true happiness is called Noble a full path journey we have learned about right mindfulness which is one element right concentration which is another element of good path and when we speak of right view that is another element of the path and after that we have great thinking right speech right action right decisions we have learned and right livelihood and the five mindfulness trainings that many of us received today this morning is a very concrete expression of that path the path of right view right thinking right speech right action Right Livelihood right decisions right mindfulness and concentration and one day there is a man whose name is Katia Jana Takayama he came in last Buddha get it you have spoken many times of right view what is what does it mean exactly right here trying to get a notion in the Zen tradition every time a student come and ask a question having to do with notion but it sure used to to respond like have you eaten your breakfast yes teacher I have had my professor then go and wash your bowl that is the Zen language inside cannot transmitted to you two concepts you have to do it and if you know how to wash your bowl mindfully you might get inside so that day the Buddha said dear one right right field is the kind of view that transcend the notion of both of being and non-being people in the world are caught either either by the notion of being the notion of non-being that is why they cannot touch reality so if we qualify the cloud in the sky as a beam we are wrong and if we say that the cloud is not there the cloud belong to the realm of non-being we are also wrong the cloud cannot be described in terms of being and non-being let us meditate a little bit on that we see the cloud floating in the sky we are sure that the cloud is but yesterday we did not see the cloud and we may think that the cloud has come from the realm of non-being into the realm of being from nothing you suddenly become something before our birth we think that it did not exist before our birth we begin to exist only from the day we are born it means that we also has come from the realm of non-being to the rainbow B and later on maybe 100 years from now if you touch a point where it was stopped being and we pass into the realm of non-being from someone you suddenly become no.1 that is the way we think to be means from the realm of non-being to pass into the realm of B and to die means from the realm of being you pass into the realm of non-being and that kind of thinking the Buddha said is not writing because you are caught in the ground in an ocean of being and non-being and let us continue with the meditation on the cloud looking deeply into the cloud you can see that the cloud has not come from the realm of non-being you can see that before it it thick it took the form of a cloud it was already low the water in the ocean and the heat generated by the Sun many things like that so it has not come from the realm of non-being so the notion of birth cannot be applied to reality the cloud has not been born the cloud is the continuation of something and if you look deeply with meditation you see we can identify that something that was a former life of the cloud the water in the ocean the heat and so what a vapor so the nature the true nature of the cloud is nature of no birth because in our mind according to our wrong thinking to be born means from nothing to become something from no one you suddenly become someone and that is not true when applied to a cloud and to anything nothing has come from not be in Toby the moment recall the moment of birth is only a moment of continuation the cloud has now the form of a cloud but before getting the form of a cloud she had other form and later on the cloud might take another form like green eyes or snow so this is a new manifestation this is a form of continuation not a birth so next time when in Sicilia to celebrate your birthday instead of singing happy birthday to you we can sing happy continuation day together because that is only a continuation and if you know we know that it is impossible for a cloud to die it is impossible for something to pass from the realm of being into the realm of non-being a cloud can become snow eyes rain tea but never nothing and that is why it can confirm that the nature the true nature of the cloud is the nature of no no die no death no birth no death not only a cloud like that is like that but all of us are like that each of us has the nature of no birth and no death and the notion of birth and death created a lot of fear despair and sir so in the realm of conventional truth in my confirm the existence of birth and death where we are born we have a certificate birth certificate and when we die we have a death certificate but that's not true because our true nature is no birth and no death this subtly do not have real values suppose you give to the to your cloud and birth certificate I suppose you give her death certificate it's funny when your cloud is still there in her form and when you drink your tea you can smile your cloud in her new form hello there my beloved cloud I'm glad you are there for me so if you have lost someone dear to you don't think that she has disappeared she has passed from the realm of being into non-being she continues always and with the practice of meditation you can still recognize her in her new form the rain is falling happening down there and you are crying because you don't see your cloud you think that your cloud is dead the rain is calling you and saying darling darling I'm here don't you see be and if you can see your beloved cloud in her new form you stop crying there's no longer any grief and your own true nature is also the nature of Noble so the notion of birth and death are linked with the notion of being and non-being and all four notions constitute our wrong view round clicking suppose I draw this line represent representing time and we take B as the moment of our birth and we describe for the segment before being as non B and we take the segment B D D D means death as representing being and when it come to point D we pass from the Ramban into non-being again so to be born this is our way of thinking is to pass from the realm of non-being to the rain would be and to die means to pass from the realm of being into the realm of non-being again so the notion of birth and death had to do with the notion of being and non-being when we ask the question whether God exists or not we are caught because we still think of God in terms of being and non-being regarding is not ultimate the ultimat is free from the notion of being and non-being you cannot discard in terms of being on and normal in fact you cannot describe your cloud in terms of being a number but under how can you describe God in terms of being an ugly there is a fusion who say that God is the ground of being according to this teaching that is not right because if God is the ground of being who will be the ground of not being so loud ultimate should transcend both concepts of being and non-being to say that God does not exist that is wrong but to say that God exists is equally from because God the ultimate trends and both notion being and non-being and right view is first of all the kind of insight it is free from the notion of being and non-being birth and death and when we get rid of these four notions we are right view is a kind of view deterrence and all pairs of opposite not only being a number birth and death but left and right above and below inside and outside subject and object when Godse said let the light be the light to say I had to wait I got asked why did you wait you'd have to wait I I wait for darkness and we will manifest together the same time because light and darkness they are a pair of opposite one cannot be without the other it's the left and right but he God said well that mess is already there and I said in that case I am already there you cannot expect to have the left without right you can hope to element right and keep only the left it's very nice if politically you are on the left don't try to remove the right every day it the right disappear you disappear suppose you tried with a knife to cut off the right and no matter how how much you want to cut off this place where you cut off become the right so laughs and right is a pair of opposite birth and death is another pair and being and non-being is another pair and then now we speak of subject of cognition and object of cognition of perception many scientists are still caught in the in the idea that consciousness the subject of cognition is something of subjective trying to reach out the objective world so there is a division between subject and object but many scientists have began to realize that you cannot be an outside observer you are the thing that you are observed you have to learn to be a participant in order to truly understand what you want to understand there's a beautiful example in the Buddhist literature as a grain of salt who wants to know how certain is the seawater and the gain of thought is not in water and the ocean said cow if you want to understand jump into the ocean and become one with us and that's right if you stay outside as a separating you cannot hope to understand if you become one with the object that you understand you have a deep and complete understanding you know how salty it is the water in the ocean in the French language there is a verb compound means to understand compound it there is this prefix comp and brown don't mean to take to pick up to take to text something and to become one with it if you want to understand her you should meet her well if you want to understand him you should be in his skin you should be him if you if you stay outside and look at the other option like something existing outside of you there will be no hope that you will understand so to understand is to be one with it it's like when you eat the Kiwi you are one with the Kiwi [Music] [Laughter] [Music] this is a box of a match much as I brought all the way from France and let us try to talk to to the flame the flame is somewhere there and we cannot say that she belong now to the gram of non-being yes she is somewhere there I be hidden in the box and outside of the boss there is oxygen outside the box an oxygen is an essential element for the manifestation of the flame so we can talk to the flame like this my dad at the plane I know you are there somehow we don't believe that you belong to the realm of non-being why don't you manifest yourself for us and this is a meditation and if you have we have enough mindfulness and concentration we can hear the answer the flame deity dear Sangha I am ready to manifest all conditions are sufficient except one a movement of your fingers it's true that the flame is already in there the conditions for the flame to manifest sufficient except one so we will provide her with the last collision so that she can manifest for all of us thank you my dear little flame for having manifested for us you are beautiful they stay a little bit longer now we should ask the flame My dear little flame where have you come from when you when we fall in love with someone we might like to ask him or her that question you are so wonderful so beautiful the flame to say yet Hades Sangha I have come from nowhere I have not come from the north I have not come from the south I have not come from the west from the east when conditions are sufficient I manifest my nature is that of no coming my nature is non-local and we know that the flame is telling the truth she has not come from the north she has not come from the West either her nature is non-local when conditions are sufficient she just manifest so your beloved one may say the same the one I have come from nowhere when conditions are sufficient I manifest be careful if you are not careful I will disappear someday the conditions are not yellow I would disappear something be aware that's true so if you are not attentive if you are not mindful if you do not know how to cherish his her presence she will end her manifestation and manifest otherwise and now we ask the second question my dear little flame I know that you have not passed from the realm of being and to not be tell us please where have you gone we miss you and if you listen you can hear dear thay dear Sangha I have not gone anywhere when conditions are no longer sufficient I just pop manifest my manifestation my nature is non-local I have not gone anywhere and we know that this is the truth the nature of the flame is no birth no death no being no not being no coming no going coming and going also a pair of opposite that we have to to remove inside outside is a pair opposite subject of cognition and object collisions and so if they are opposite if scientists continue to believe that consciousness is something outside of the reality observe the still cut in a pair of opposites that has invited a flame to manifest again and let us produce and unafraid now it looks like we have two flames two different flames now we can ask my dear flame are you the same flame with the flame I saw before or are you a totally different one [Music] and this is the meditation you asked the right question and you use concentration in order to focus on it and make a breakthrough the flame will say dear thay dear Sangha I'm not exactly the same frame with the other flame but I am NOT a totally different flavor either my nature is no simulus no other Ness semanas and hardness also a couple a pair of opposites and reality transcend the notion of sameness and Adonis suppose you look at your family album and you see yourself as a baby you have your mother took your picture when you will find a man's role and you asked question am I the same person with that baby am i different person you are so you look so different form feelings perceptions mental formations consciousness you have very different from the five elements of the baby so the question is whether you are the same with the baby are you are a different person please remember the other day we we talked on the children about the grain of corn and a planted corn and the shootin learned that the planted corn is a continuation of the grain of corn the grain of corn has not died she continues in her new form the planted corn and even if you no longer see the grain of corn the grain of corn is still there in a new form of planted corn so compute and a baby in a picture you are not the same how can you be the same big difference but you are not a totally different person either you are the continuation of the optimum so semanas and earnest is another of opposite that should we can send it we have births and death we have being and non-being we have coming and going we have sameness and Adonis and all these pairs of opposite should we can send it in order for us to see the true face of reality I hope that this teaching Buddha can inspire scientists about her in a way to inquire about reality when we look into the son or daughter we can see the father in him and we can see the mother in him knowing her and if we try to remove the element father from him he can no longer be there we will try to remove the element mother from her the daughter cannot continue to be there so the daughter is a continuation of the mother of the father the son also the truth is that the son is a continuation of the father and is a father the truth is that the son is not exactly the same with the father but he is not a totally different person from the father either it's like the grain of corn and a planted corn the planned corn is not the grain of corn but is not a different thing from the green corn so that is reality free from notions concepts let us look at something like a flower these flowers grow by themselves from in this practice and the sisters have not blended the militias manifest like that looking deeply into this flower we see non-flower elements like the sunshine the cloud the earth and so on and we call all these elements non-flower elements and a flower is made only of non-flower elements the Sun is made of non Sun element including the element father mother grandfather grandmother and sir a flower cannot be by herself no her manifestation is based under coming together of many non-flower elements and that is why in the teaching of the Buddha we have the expression in to be intervene there's sahaba the sense that were sahaba means go being you you cannot be by yourself you have to intervene with everything else in the cosmos if I removed sunshine from me a collapse a very my removed cloud from me I collapse if I remove my father family I collapse I made only of non me elements nothing can be bicep alone everything has to intervene with everything else that's right view and that is why the notion of self should be removed no self doesn't mean that you are not there no surf means you are made only of non-jew elements there is a very well-known Sutra Holy Scripture that sir that he studied in Zen monasteries it's called an Diamond Sutra in the Diamond Sutra we are urged to remove four notions in fact there are many notion to be removed that but the Diamond Sutra only focus on four notions the first notion is notion of self we believe that we can be by ourselves alone the flower can be by yourself alone but that is not true looking deeply we see that the flower is made only of non-flower elements that is why the flower should remove the notion that she can exist all by herself into ease with the cosmos I inter M that all of you are into M with the whole cosmos I think intervene is a very important word and that should be put into the dictionary very soon it's closer to the truth than work to me so if we can remove the notion of self as a independent entity we are free from many many afflictions if I believe there is a separate self we have the tendency to compare itself with other cells and from there is born the complex of superiority that make you suffer from there is born the complex of inferiority that paquius suffer and even the complex of equality make you suffer because that is the outcome of comparison if you don't see a separate self there is no comparison anymore and you are free not only from the inferiority complex the superiority complex but the Equality complex because many was tried to be equal but you you are in him and he is in you the second notion is as a notion of man Purusha human beings according to the Tipton man is made only of non-man elements namely mineral vegetal and animals man is a very young species on earth and yet we think that we are the boss we have done a lot of damage to the kingdom of God because we do not know who we are we have human ancestors but we have also animal ancestors we have also vegetal ancestors and we have also mineral ancestors they are still in us and with every step we'll carry within us all our ancestors mineral vegetable animal and human ancestors no matter where we go we bring our understands allow and we are happy our ancestors in as I happy we suffer our ancestors immerse to suffer so the Diamond Sutra teaches that man is only made of non man element in order to protect men you have to protect the environment you had to protect the mineral the animal and a vegetal and that is why the Diamond Sutra seems to be the oldest text detection of Deep Ecology and the third notion to be removed is living beings and this word living beings here mean it means a non Buddha being a Buddha is enlightened person I call Bodhi Bodhi means enlightenment sattva such a means a being a Buddha is enlightened being able to survive the Buddha is a great bin Maha Sabha water yeah Chilton muhabba die die Hilton and as a human we may have some complex that we are not a Buddha we are not a great being and so the notion of living being as different from enlightened being a gripping that that notion that feeling of inferiority should be removed in fact if you want to find a bodhisattva if you want to see mahasabha you have to look into yourself that is the safest to find a Buddha not in the sky not in direction of the West not in the Buddha hole the Buddha is in your heart because you have the seat of enlightenment in you you have the seat of understanding and compassion in you and that is Buddhahood Buddha nature so the safest place the surest place to find Buddha is in the human being and not in a God outside above so there is a teaching in the Rings I school am Desco chinfa botany it means human beings and Buddha's they are not two different things when you look into the Buddha you see a human being and if you have not seen the Buddha the living being in the Buddha you have not seen the Buddha a living being is someone who has suffered we had live in delusion and the Buddha is someone that has suffered that has had afflictions that has from practice to transform so when you look at the Buddha you have to see non-buddhist elements like a suffering the practice answer and if you do not see the suffering in the Buddha that has been transformed you have not seen the Buddha you think that Buddha is made of only non suffering elements when you look into the flower of Lotus you have to see the mud in it because you need much in order to make lotus flower you cannot plant a lotus or marble so if you when you look at the lotus flower and you if you don't see the mud in it you have not seen the Lotus when you look at the Buddha if you don't see the suffering as one element that have made a Buddha you have not seen the Buddha so don't discriminate against with the between Buddha and non-buddhists and when you look at the human being who suffer you have to see the Buddhahood in Hema you should see the capacity to become awake to become enlightened to become compassionate and understanding in Hema that is called Buddha nature in every of us and if you look into a human being no no matter how much his or she suffer you have to see the Buddha in him otherwise you have not seen him or her when I was ordained as a novice monk at the age of sixteen my teacher gave me a verse to memorize before I am bound to the Buddha before bowing to the Buddha you have to prepare yourself otherwise by the door I will have no effect and that is a kind of meditation it begins like this the one who boughs and one who is bow to the nature of both is equally empty Buddha is made only of non-buddhist and I am made ugly of norm me elements so it is equal to say gay Buddha I am going to bother you but I know that you are empty of a self you are made of of only non Buddha elements and I can see me in you by the time you have already seen the Buddha and I who is bind to you I know that I am made of normally element and the element of enlightenment is in me - you are in me so you get the inside that you are in Buddha and the Buddha is in you and that's when you can bow and bow like that connect the two and create to communion otherwise if you think of Buddha is a separate entity there's no connection possible communication is possible communion is impossible I think the same thing must rule must be true when you bow to Jesus back to that you had to see you in God and God in you in order for - communion to be possible we learned that Jesus is the Son of God but we also learned that he is the son of man it's very significant he's both the Son of God in the Son of Man it means to not Asian man and man is in God and that is why connection is possible communion is possible and to me Jesus is made of non racist elements also suppose you remove God the Father from him he can no longer be Jesus suppose you remove the Holy Spirit from him he's no longer Jesus so the teaching of the Trinity applies into this there is the same wisdom the same insight in both traditions and if you imagine that God and Jesus are an entity that wholly outside there will be no real communication no real connection no real communion that is why the insight of interbeing is very different the inside of no self is very crucial inside of Buddha and living beings are not two separate entities is very important I think many Christians mystics have realized this [Music] and that is why that Buddha is not Britain worshipping it's a meditation before before before because before you bow you have to visualize you had to get inside that the Buddha is empty you are empty you are in the Buddha and the Buddha is in you before you bow and your bow to have an effect of transformation and healing we have among us in monk an African monk who had been a Catholic priests before he became a Buddhist monk it was a theologian he still loved Jesus and Christianity but he find that in Buddhism he has the tools the Testaments in order to practice the teaching of Christianity so learning about Buddhism can help you to be a better kitchen and vice versa so the notion of a living being has completely separated from Buddha from Bodhisattva from Jesus from God that notion should be removed because it can create division discrimination and suffering and the fourth notion that the Diamond Sutra advised us to remove is the notion of lifespan remember the line representing time we believe that they begin with point B and will end at Wendy and B they represent the realm of Bill and they represent the realm of non-being so the notion that we only exist from point B and we'll stop the gist from Wendy that notion paralyzed man should remove you are free from time you are liberated from the notion of time your nature true nature is nature of no birth no death no being known on being and to be caught in the idea that I will die someday I could become nothing someday that should be removed if a cloud cannot die how can we continue always in different forms more or less beautiful according to our practice [Laughter] so speaking of the noble fo path we had to mention the eight elements of the path and the first element we have spoken of this morning is right view right view is the kind of view that is free from all from use wrong views born from notions like beings not be birth death coming going sameness when other Ness and so on and right view is a kind of insight that that that has to be liberated from all kind of discrimination dualism you are no longer caught between left and right above and below white and black inside and outside created in future and so on remove all pairs of opposite and this the ultimate truth and sometimes it's called Nirvana sometimes called Maharaja Bharata the great insight that has the power to trans to transport us to the others the show the show of freedom and if basing great view non-discrimination non-separation non-dualistic non-dualism and then we can practice right thinking right thinking is that kind of thinking that go along the line up right view no discrimination no separation you are in me and you there's no discussion whatsoever and all of us know a lot of suffering has been created on the basis of discrimination produce discrimination racial discrimination all kind of discrimination we had to practice enough to have a remove designation in the mind of people try thinking is thinking the kind of thinking that produce understanding and compassion and we can at any time produce a thought in the line of right thinking a thought that is free from discrimination a thought that is full of understanding and compassion and as a professional we can produce the thought like that several times and as soon as you are able to create to produce a thought of of reconciliation of compassion of understanding that thought begins to heal us and heal the world right thinking can heal the world can save the world and wrong thinking can can destroy it wrong thinking can lead to suicide can look little terrorism and so on so if we cultivate the right view and then our thinking will be rightly suppose we produce a thought of anger of fear of hate of despair that's not good for our health if we keep producing thoughts of hate fear and despair you'll destroy destroy our body our mind and destroyed world that is why as good practitioner we have to cultivate the practice of right thinking our thoughts should be characterized by non-discrimination mutual understanding and compassion we understand the suffering inside we understand the suffering of the other person of the world and from the compassion arise and thinking like that is very healing and we need a teacher indeed fellow practitioners in order to support us to guide us in a practice of right thinking right thinking can change the world can save the world and then with the foundation of Brightview we can proceed sorry speech anything we say has a power to inspire people to restore faith to rest our communication to reconcile to have people feel better to to show the way that is the right the kind of speech that we practice dry speech loving speech rose along with compassionate listening that is the object of the fourth mindfulness training many of us have received the 5:10 in this morning and the fourth is about the practice of Christ's speech and deep listening the practice of right speech and deep listening help us restore communication and reconcile a few days of practice can already help we are able to see the suffering in the other person when we have the intention to help him or her suffer less and then we are already ready to practice deep listening and loving speech in order to restore communication and reconcile the miracle of reconciliation always take place in our retreat where if when we write a letter when a science and an email when we use our mobile phone we can very well speak but this price bish it can create it can restore communication it can inspire people they can make a person happy right away darling I'm here for you darling I know you are there big be very happy darling I know that you are difficulties I'm here for you all this kind of practice can happen relief and healing so as a good practitioner we are able to to practice loving speech several times a day and does not cost anything it can it can restore communication it can make a person happy right away be generous because the other person has good sits in him or her and if you recognize the good sits in him or her they will become a happy person and you will profit from his or her happiness effect come very quickly and then with right view we can brought this right action action RIA is physical bodily action anything we do with our body that can support that can protect they can sell is right action because you are motivated by non-discrimination by understanding and compassion everything we do will be right action and a good professional can perform many right action during the day even saving and and prevailing from using the kind of product that is polluting it's all good action and these three protests one about mine one about speech mouth and learn about body three forms of actions to think is only to act when you produce a thought of compassion a thought of understanding reconciliation they begin to heal you and help you to work and if you keep producing cut like that you send your lies you sent were in a good direction but if by mistake you have produced a lot of hate and anger mindfulness will help you to recognize that support yesterday I produce a thought of disconnection anger and today during meditation sitting meditation I recognized at least not a good action so I sit down and I concentrate produce another thought a thought in the opposite direction I said sorry I did not mean to produce that thought yesterday but because I am NOT very mindful so today I produced this thought full of non-discrimination compassion and as soon as you produce the new thought it will erase delete the other thought that the transformation you can change the past you can change even the past you can prepare for the future yesterday we we told a story of a war veteran who kill children in Vietnam and he suffered but later on he was told that he can use his life in order to save many children in the future so he was able by this kind of practice remove the complex of guilt and come back no joy of living because actually you can help save many children from dying so thinking is already action speaking is already action speaking well can promote peace reconciliation and three kinds of actions mine my speech and body is what we produce every day suppose we look at the orange tree in the backyard the orange tree produce what beautiful orange leaves she produced beautiful orange blossom she produced with four oranges here we do the same as a good petitioner we can produce beautiful thought beautiful speech and beautiful action and that is our continuation action our action we are our action like blowing is the action of the wind and falling is the action of the rain and it is very clear that we are our action there is a French philosopher his name is jean-paul Satre and he said something like man is the sum of his action definition of men men is what what is meant men is the totality of his action an action has three aspects what you think what you say in what you do and sense it word for action is karma when you produce an action that is your continuation and when this body disintegrates you continues on well yeah with your action nothing is lost we have learned about the law of conservation of matter we know that matter you cannot create new matter you cannot destroy matter and also the love conversation a conservation of energy you cannot create new energy you cannot destroy energy you can transfer energy so nothing is lost and in the French scientist Lavoie sees that nothing is born nothing dies Rihanna Sucre in a spell very close to the Heart Sutra they did not he was not a Buddhist but he did practice looking deeply into relative and he found the same thing nothing is created nothing is less Florida a very close to total to the removal the notion of birth and death being and not-being it's possible that scientists and Buddhist practitioners working together they were support each other's so everything we produce in terms of part speech and action will continue on us don't imagine that that they will disappear know every thought that you produce has your signature you cannot say it's not matter every can you say carries your signature you are the author and that is your continuation so when you see this body of mine disintegrate don't think that they is no longer there they still there in his new forms and look at his actions his action continues him so all of us should see that that we do not end at all with the disintegration of this body we continues always more or less beautifully depends on how we practice so to produce is karma hey to gamma hated the cause can backhoes cut my calls and to ripe the fruit is called a karma fruit and sometimes we don't need to wait very long the course bring the effect right away as soon as you say something nice kind forgiving you feel wonderful and the other person feel wonderful also so that cause and effect can go together very quickly to believe that a cloud can die a cloud can pass from being into non-being it's not the truth it's not scientific either so to believe that we will die and become no one is also wrong thinking wrong view we continues always and it is with the practice it is possible to continue beautifully and if you can my friends if you can keep your body Tita a beginner's mind alive surely you will make your future much more beautiful for you and for others and then we have a right livelihood select a kind of livelihood that goes along with the inside of non-discrimination understanding and compassion and then II have the element of right religions we already learned about this the practice of selective watering off of seeds and got killed you have offer you have water the good the seed of love in me in your attitude I will water the seed of love understanding and happiness from someone to support each other in our relationship and we refrain from watering the negatives it's very member to water our flowers every day and only two more left at the right mindfulness and right concentration and we know that mindfulness is the energy that have asked to home to the here and now and live deeply our life cultivating her past concentrate and to make a breakthrough and to get the right deal that is the foundation of right thinking right speech and right action and this is the path proposed by the Buddha not only for monks and nuns but for every one of us and the five mindfulness trainings they reflect the Tischendorf or Noble Truths and also the teaching of the noble a full path the other day we spoke about the three thoughts of liberation and the first door is Sundiata it means emptiness and we have learned that emptiness doesn't mean none not being to be empty it means to be empty of a separate existence the flower is there but she is empty of a separate existence she's made out only of non-flower elements and we had to see the nature of emptiness in us in a flower in a cloud in our love in us in order not to be victims of despair and discrimination ii concentration is the concentration and signlessness it means that we should not count on the appearance when our beloved clown is no longer no longer in the sky we should not think that our club has died you should know that it is impossible for our crowd to death and we should look for our cloud in her new manifestation so when we drink our tea we can say hello to our club nothing is lost and therefore what we do not see with our eyes does not mean that they do they are not there the there are a lot of cloud in this and it's a llama hole you don't see it but all of us know that what a vapor is there when we breathe out is a lot of water you don't see it but the water vapor is the cloud non visible it needs to touch something core in order to be apparent to be seen suppose there is a mountain and a row in this direction in the air you don't see climb it but there is a there is a water vapor in it and when the air encounter the mountain it cannot continue it has to go up anybody go high like this meet with the coal and suddenly it becomes visible the water vapor become visible as a cloud so when you don't see it don't say that it is not there it is there it's like in this hole many television signal radio signal are crossing but we don't see it you cannot say that they do not exist so we should not realize so much appearance outside and that is the practice of signlessness and when a person who is close to us he is no longer in her usual form we should not be despair she continues always and you have to find her in her new manifestation maybe more beautiful than before and maybe she is in you therefore that allow us not to become a victim of despair anger and so on so that is the practice of concentration called signlessness and the third is the concentration called aimlessness the other day we spoke about a wave in search of water as a grave she's scared she suffered from the notion of beginning ending going up going down more or less beautiful than the other waves but once she realized that she is water she'd lose all her afflictions she has a good time growing up a good time going down she's free from the notion of birth and death beginning and ending and she doesn't have to go and look for water elsewhere she is water right in the here and the now our nature of no coming novo in no birth no death no being and non-being we don't have to look for anyway yes where we are in it that's called Nirvana nirvana is not someplace outside Nirvana means the realm of no birth no death no being no non-being no coming no boy and that is the true nature of all that means and if the wave does not have to go and search for water we don't have to go and look for new mana we are in it it had been open eyes for a long time and if I practice neat-looking meditation with touch we touch our true nature of no birth and no death no coming and going and we are free from all kind of fear including the fear of non-being in Buddhism we learned to kind of proof the conventional truth where people still talk about birth and death good and evil suffering and happiness but when you touch the ultimate all these opposite notions disappear and you are free so with the practice of the conventional growth we can get some relief but the greatest relief you can get only when you touch Nirvana you touch the ultimate your true nature of no coming no going Noble no death no being and non-being there was a layperson in the time of the Buddha his name is another pinnacle he has served the Sangha and the Buddha more than thirty years and got a lot of happiness during that time and I would hear that he was dying so he came to whisk him and after that he reappointed shariputra he one of his senior disciples to look after an italic to help him to dine peacefully with no fear it is a not terribly pinnacle who invited the Buddha to the country of shrawasti and offer him a practice center a part hole under that in Villa Park and when Sharapova came with his younger brother in the Dhamma and under anathapindika could not stand sit up because he was so weak he was in the Hana shariputra said dear friend don't make any effort to bring Russia as close to you and we'll talk with you I went amongst sedan shariputra ask dear friend how do you feel in your body is the pain in your subside is increasing and not abietic acid dear venerable does not seem that the the pain in my body has decreased it is increasing all the time and for the Buddha said in that case let us meditate together I will offer a guided meditation let us practice the for collections dresses focus of intention attention on the Buddha Dhamma and the Sangha shariputra was a very intelligent monk he said that if he can draw the attention of anathapindika on the three jewels he will suffer less because he loved the three jewels so much they had a great deal of pleasure serving the Buddha the Dharma and Sangha in fact three minutes of recollection help another pinnacle to smile they got a balance within joy and if you are to a common I'd a dying person remembered in her in him there is a sitz of happiness if you care to talk about that you have diminished the pain and have the set of happiness to manifest and that person will suffer less and when the monks are under topic smiley said now let us continue with our guided meditation Brittany and I see the element in me I am made of normally element but it allowed I see the eleven water in me Brittany and I see the money element hittin me it is now I see the element in me and out of me I am made of normal element breathing in I'm aware of this body this body is not me and more than this body I am my action I have done so many good things for the Buddha Dharma and Sangha that is my continuation Britannian and now this body has come from nowhere it has not come from the north north south when conditions sufficient my body manifest breathing out I know my body will grow in will not go anywhere when conditions are no longer sufficient my body visit great and I continue with my action and free from this body it's very important to have the person know to identify himself with the body she is more than her money and you who sit close to her you should use your wisdom in order to help her not to be attached to this body this body is not her and suddenly I thought the pinnacle began to cry the venerable Ananda who is younger than joy which I was very surprised he said different why don't you cry did you still regret something and a lot abietic acid no venerable and I don't regret anything oh you you might not succeed in your meditation no I do I succeed very well in my meditation but why are you crying I'm not tapping it I said dear venerable I cry because I am so moved I have served the Buddha and the Sangha more than thirty years but I have never hear such a wonderful picture and put into the practice I'm free now I'm so happy I'm released another I said dear friend you don't know we monks and nuns we received this teaching almost every day and not America's try to say the venerable Ananda there are those of us who lay practitioners who are so busy in our daily life we are caught up with so many things but there are still many of us who have enough time to receive and practice this wonderful teaching so please go home and tell the Buddha outage that many lay practitioners are capable of receiving this practice so please come the law to dispense also description to learn people and that is the last word spoken by another Anika another said well I will do that I will tell a lot about your elastic and after that another paddock a smile and pass away very peacefully and this is a text recorded in in the Tripitaka in the Holy Scripture available both in cents in Pali and in Chinese and iris have have translated that that discourse into English my friend Vietnamese and it is available in the plum village shanty book you may like to to study that text and continue with this teaching of today dear brothers and sisters in Adama it has been wonderful to be practicing with you in five days and we have water many good sits in us finish the chicken looks very happy also we hope that everyone can continue the practice bring about this home and we know that we need a Sangha to continue hopefully our monastic brothers and sisters we organised a retreat like this next year here even if they cannot have the teachers they can come only twice every two years many countries in Europe and Asia he has to go so so dear Sangha you are my continuation here you know the book you organized the retreat you allow friends to come and profit from this teaching and practice you are a continuation of the Buddha you are a continuation of time please do your best to maintain the mind of love alive they will furnish you with enough energy to continue with the practice no coming no go no after no before I close to me I release you don't be so free because I am in you and you are in me because I am in you and you are in me no call me no going no after no before you close to me I release you do me so free because I am in you and you are in me because I am in you and you are in me holy no go go in cold Dooku comes out combine yo man y'all vadia play with your time time come by v2 bah dah ganya alright the low come by v dupe a share gone yo why my show [Music] you

Channel: Plum Village

Views: 75,702

Rating: 4.8486123 out of 5

Keywords: Thich Nhat Hanh, mindfulness, zen, Magnolia Grove Monastery, dualism, Right View, Right Action, Right Speech, Right Thinking, Interbeing, US Tour, A Beginners Mind, Beautiful Future

Id: g_F_cxM9d5Q

Length: 127min 18sec (7638 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 22 2018