Thich Nhat Hanh Dharma Talks – Details, episodes & analysis

This 59-minute talk was given on May 13, 2004 in New Hamlet, Plum Village, France. The talk was given between retreats to the monastic community and a small number of lay residents and guests. Thank you to Chân Phúc H?i for writing the summary and providing a time-stamped transcript. Thay begins this talk with a description of the concept of Apranihita or aimlessness.  Our tendency is to be constantly running, constantly searching.  We need to stop and reestablish ourselves in the here and now.Walking meditation is a wonderful way to learn how to stop. Can we walk with freedom and happiness?The Buddha said it was possible to live happily in the here and now.  In the sutra given to the White Clad People (Upasaka Sutra) “live happily in the here and now” occurs five times.The first time our planet was seen from space we were made aware of what a beautiful and precious place the Earth is.  The Earth is the bastion of life. It is a real paradise.  The pure land is right here. What are you searching for? Are you looking for love, for freedom, for understanding?  We need to get in touch with the wonders of life.  Our practice is to get in touch. Mindfulness is a very concrete way to go home to the here and now.Having a sangha is of great benefit.  In a sangha we remind each other that it is fortunate to be alive.  If we know how to stop running, how to take care of ourselves, how to water seeds of happiness every day, we can transform our suffering.  Doing this together is wonderful.Thay tells a story about visiting a prison.  Even in prison a person can be free.  And even outside of prison a person can be a prisoner of anger, despair, and hate.  Freedom is freedom from fear, from anger, from forgetfulness.  And our practice is the practice of freedom.  Our practice is the practice of awakening.The twenty-four brand new hours given to us every morning are a precious gift.  The day when we lay down to die we cannot bargain for another day.  Today is available, and if we are lucky, tomorrow will also be available.

2000-06-03 (77-minutes) – It's been a long while since posting a dharma talk for you all, and for that I apologize. Today for our Day of Mindfulness at Deer Park Monastery, we heard this talk from June 3, 2000 at New Hamlet, Plum Village. The talk is part of the 21-Day Retreat that year with the theme of Eyes of the Buddha. For this talk, we take a deep dive into what it means to be sangha. Some of what Thay shares is for the monastic sangha, but can be equally applied to a lay community. Right out front, Thay says the very minimum number for a sangha is four people. He then proceeds to outline the steps for the Sanghakarman Procedure. From this presentation, the rest of the talk focuses on the Six Togethernesses. A real sangha must practice all six. Body. Being physically present in one place.Mindfulness TrainingsSharing. Dharma discussion. Nonverbal action. Presence. (View, insight, understanding, wisdom)Speech. Loving speech. Calm and gentle.Material resources are shared equallyHappy and joyful. Synthesis of all ideas. Toward the end, Thay explains the difference between the core sangha and the extended sangha. I hope you enjoy the talk.

We continue our series of posts with questions and answers. In this eighth post, we hear one question. Many of us experience chronic depression. Earlier in the retreat you talked about what is feeding that depression. For me, there is also an underlying biochemical component. Do you think I should not need medication and heal from the practice only?  The session takes place on August 16, 2007 during the Stonehill College retreat during the U.S. Tour. The retreat theme is Mindfulness, Fearlessness, and Togetherness.

From the Stillwater Meditation Hall at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the second question and answer session of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village on July 16, 2014. The talk is in English and both the audio and the video are available below. Children How can I feel less sad about my dog who has died? What do I do when my mom is angry with my father? How can I stay calm when I am annoyed? What does it mean "to guess"? Teens and Young Adults When talking with friends, how do I stop the conversation from going toward gossiping and judging? How do you change people's perception of you and ignore the reputation you already have? Why does Thay give these teachings and what does it bring Thay? Does Thay have some tips for me to help a lot of people in my future profession? Others A written question: How do I heal a suffering from sexual abuse when she was younger? Should I go to a therapist? In my country there is a great economic crisis. As a doctor who sees many people and I don't know if I can say happiness is here and now. How do I practice with self love and also being open to receiving love? I struggle with deserving love. How can I better take refuge in the sangha because I feel more comfortable alone? How can I be there for someone who tends to lose herself in the presence of others? http://youtu.be/Wp9Yc_ZXwN8

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the second week of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. This short 47-minute talk is in English with a focus on arriving in the present moment with walking meditation. Both the audio and the video are available below. I have arrive. I am home. We have spent so much of our time running and looking for something. We can learn to stop and see the wonders of life in the present moment.  We may miss our appointment with life. Mindfulness helps us enjoy the present moment.  The purpose of the practice is to always go home to the here and now. If you live like that, you can have peace and joy. Teaching on the practice of the "waking up" gatha. Other verses are mentioned, including a "walking" gatha. Arriving in your true home. With each step we have solidity and freedom. http://youtu.be/F7sntErVuQ4

From the Stillwater Meditation Hall at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the first question and answer session of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. The talk is in English and both the audio and the video are available below. The questions are a little difficult to hear but they are included below for you to read. Is it okay not to speak and still be understood? What is happiness? When we die, where does our spirit go? A question about suffering, particularly those of animals and the environment. What is the most effective way to reduce this suffering? Thay, do you feel old? How can we practice with the escalating violence in the world and particularly in Israel and Palestinians? How can I be in touch with the conditions of happiness and live with constant pain too? At times when I feel truly mindful, I feel a special force or intuition. What is this - a coincidence? http://youtu.be/qT6dnG10d5Q

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the first dharma talk of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. This short 37-minute talk is in English with a focus on the three energies of practice - mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Both the audio and the video are available below. Mindfulness is a kind of energy that we can generate. Everyone has the capacity to generate the energy of mindfulness and allows us to be aware of what is going on in our body, in our feelings, in our perceptions, and in the world around us. What is happening in the here and the now. The world around us the object of our mind. If we are not in the here and the now then we cannot know what is happening in the present moment. We have an appointment with life. We may have been running and looking for something elsewhere and we will miss our appointment with life. Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. For example, drinking our tea. When you are very aware of something, you are concentrated on something and you begin to see something deeply. Therefore, mindfulness contains concentration. Can we see the nature of no birth and no death in our tea? Mindfulness also carries the energy of insight. What are the three energies? Mindfulness. Concentration. Insight. We can all generate these energies, right from the beginning of our practice. With these three kinds of energies, we can do many things. For example, we can generate a feeling of joy and a feeling of happiness. How do we live deeply every moment of our daily life? How do we see our conditions of happiness? How do we make use of our suffering? http://youtu.be/6V2lEtKy7rY

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is a day of mindfulness between the close of the 21-Day Retreat and the Summer Opening. The sangha is preparing for an ordination ceremony for monastic novices on July 2 followed by summer opening on July 4. This 80-minute dharma talk is dated June 29, 2014. The focus of the talk is on the monastic life. Both the audio and the video are available below. Where can we focus our attention when starting to breath mindfully? The tip of the nose versus the abdomen. We stop our thinking and are fully aware. No thinking is a secret of success. We can enjoy being alive in the here and now. What is the object of our mindfulness when we walk? How can we touch reality? Thay tells the story of a 13th century king in Vietnam who practiced very well as a lay person. How can we practice everyday? Touching the ground of reality with every step and not lose ourselves by daily life.This kind of walking can be very healing. The triple training is mindfulness, concentration, and insight. These three work together. These are three of the eight elements of the noble path - the Noble Eightfold Path. They also exist in the Five Powers (the other two are faith and diligence). This is the heart of Buddhist practice. The practice of mindfulness can also be seen concretely in the practice of the precepts and that is why we usually use the words “mindfulness” trainings. The precepts are the 5 trainings for the lay students (and the 14 for the Order members), the 10 precepts for novice monastics, 250 precepts for monks, and 380 for nuns (Some may ask why the nuns practice more? Is that not discrimination? The nuns created their own precepts). Each precept guarantees a zone of freedom. The precepts are seeking freedom. But we need to live mindfully. Thay recently wrote a new calligraphy. “Each Precept Guarantees a Zone of Freedom”. There is joy in practicing and reciting the precepts. The manual we use for training the novices is called “Stepping into Freedom” (and is available from Parallax Press). The practice of the precepts is also the practice of mindfulness and is connected with mindful manners (outlined in the manual). "Be beautiful. Practice the Precepts.” Thay discusses some of the mindful manners for monastics. The manual has four parts. The first part is a set of verses - the essential of the daily vinaya practice. The second part is the ten novice precepts. The third section is mindful manners - many chapters on this. The fourth part is a beautiful text to remind monastics why they are a monk or a nun. The book was originally in Chinese from more than 400 years ago. It has been updated by Plum Village. In the Christian monastic tradition, they have some of the same precepts. Thay shares further of the big commitment to become a monastic. It is like a marriage. You are part of a sangha and you can realize your dream of helping people. To practice as a monk or nun is easier than a lay student because you have the support of the sangha. This is a happy and beautiful moment. http://youtu.be/EfPJ6T-5Z9w

From the Rising Tide Meditation Hall at a retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour. This is a session of questions and responses from those at the 6-day retreat with the theme Healing Ourselves, Healing the World. The date is September 28, 2013. Try the BetterListen Version of this entire retreat - click the image below How do you deal with depression? How is it possible for humankind to achieve world peace? How do I help a friend who is depressed? How can I help a friend who has a problem with his parents and has suicidal thoughts? How can I help a friend who speaks in anger to his mother and to be less angry? What do you do when you are stuck between two paths in your life? What is the Buddhist perspective on mental disorders, particularly personality disorder, and how a family can heal with this ongoing challenge? How can I practice with my fear of dying? What is the essence of true love? Should we act as a human shield to raise awareness and to stop war and violence in the world? Concerns about consumption of products with less integrity. How can I work with the historical suffering of the Jewish community? I would like to offer walking meditation and do you feel that I am qualified? How does this sangha influence the other sanghas we have created, such as government?

From the Rising Tide Meditation Hall at a retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour. This is the third dharma talk for the 6-day retreat with the theme Healing Ourselves, Healing the World. The date is September 27, 2013. We begin with seven minutes of chanting from the monastic brothers and sisters. Try the BetterListen Version of this entire retreat - click the image below Thay introduces and explains the process for the Novices and Aspirants along with the 5-year program of training as a monastic. It can bring you a lot of joy. They practice the Ten Precepts of a novice. The third source of nutriment is volition - deepest desire of your life. What you want to do with your life? Knowing what you want to do can give you energy. Brotherhood and sisterhood creates a very deep love. What is life as a monastic like, how are decisions made, how do you practice? Why did Thay begin to take students after living in exile in the west? The need for dharma teachers across the world is great. Thay invites you to join the five year program. At approximately 38-minutes into the recording, we turn to a new topic. We have talked about the art of suffering - if we know how to suffer, we will suffer much less. The art of suffering is linked to the art of happiness. Skillfully we can create joy for ourselves and others. There are many ways to create joy and happiness. The first method is to let go, to leave behind. Letting go will give birth to joy and happiness. If you let go, happiness can come right away. What are holding onto that we think is crucial for our happiness? The practice of releasing our cows. We can practice using sitting meditation and learn to release our cows. A whole country can even be caught my a cow - our ideology. The teaching of the monk Badhya who exclaimed "Oh my happiness!" during his meditation. He was able to let go. The second way to joy and happiness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is a source of joy and a source of happiness. This is our practice. Then we have concentration - if you are very mindful, then concentration can be born. From concentration we then have insight - it can liberate us. Joy and happiness can arrive. in the teachings of the Buddha, there are five types of energies that you can generate. They can help generate joy and happiness. The first three were covered earlier - mindfulness, concentration, and insight. The other two are faith and diligence. Faith here means confidence. The other teaching on power is cutting through / letting go. The power to cut by brought requires courage and courage requires us to have insight. The second power is wisdom. The third power is the power to love, to forgive. How do we listen to a dharma talk? What is the zen way? We continue with a brief review from the exercises of mindful breathing. At 86-minutes into the recording, we turn to a teaching on the three doors of liberation - emptiness, signlessness, and aimlesslessness. We hear an explanation and teaching on each of these doors. No video is available for this talk.