[ Three sounds of the bell ...]
Dear sangha, today is the 23rd of November, 2008.
We are in the Loving Kindness Temple, New Hamlet
in the Rains Retreat.
Today in the Dharma Sharing time we can share
about our real experiences in the practice.
How we practice mindful breathing,
how we practice mindful walking,
how we practice working meditation,
and how we handle the mental formation
of irritation.
First we can share about
our practice of mindful walking, of mindful breathing.
In the Dharma sharing groups we need seasoned practitioners
so that others can learn from their experiences.
First, we can speak about our experiences of walking meditation.
Each person can share about how you walk in daily life.
Which gathas do you use?
And how are you following your breathing while you sit,
while you drive,
while you cook or do the dishes?
Because your steps and your breaths
are two very effective ways
to help you have more agency over your body and mind.
The steps and breaths are very effective ways
to help us come back to the present moment.
With your mindful breathing,
with your mindful steps
you can bring the mind home to the body.
When mind and body are one,
you can truly be there in the present moment.
And you have sovereignty
over your body and your mind.
Otherwise you are carried away by the agitations of daily life.
You drown.
And sometimes you sit there, but you are really drowning.
Sometimes you sit in the sangha, but you're really drowning.
Drowning in your worries, your grief,
your memories.
You are drowning, you are lost.
You are carried away by your thinking,
your worries, your sadness,
your habit energies.
And while you are drowning or lost like that,
you have no agency,
no sovereignty over your body or mind.
You have no freedom at all.
But in fact, you do have agency.
Only, you don't know how to use the agency you have.
It's like being a king
but not knowing how to make use of the power of a king.
You allow everyone else to take over and do whatever they want,
and so your kingdom falls in a state of disarray.
So we are the same.
We are a kind of kingdom,
and the territory of our kingdom is vast.
It consists of body,
feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.
It consists of body and mind.
But we are not in control of our territory.
We allow our body,
our feelings, our emotions, our perceptions
to be carried away
by our inclinations, by our habit energies.
And we are lost in confusion.
So we are kings without sovereignty over our lands.
When we make use of our mindful breath and mindful steps
to come home to ourselves,
to bring the mind home to the body,
to be truly there in the present moment,
we begin to have some sovereignty.
Then, we can walk because we want to walk, and not because we are being pulled.
We breath because we want to breath,
we speak because we want speak,
and not because we are possessed to talk.
We listen because we want to listen.
In this way we restore our sovereignty,
and even expand our sovereignty.
In philosophy there's the idea of free will.
In English, it's "free will."
In French, it's "le libre arbitre."
In philosophy people ask,
"Is there free will?"
Some say there is no such thing as free will,
and some say free will is possible.
In Buddhism, we know that if you are mindful,
you begin to have sovereignty,
you have
freedom.
You are free to say what you want to say.
You are free
to do the things you want to do.
But that freedom has its limits.
It has its limits because we have many
habit energies that pull us away.
So as a beginner in the practice,
even if you have freedom,
that freedom is very limited.
The more powerful your mindfulness and concentration becomes,
the greater your freedom becomes.
We may have some freedom,
but that freedom is still limited.
The "marche de manœuvre," your range of freedom is still narrow.
But you do have it.
And with practice
the scope of your freedom will become greater,
and then you can walk as a free person,
sit as a free person,
speak as a free person,
work as a free person,
eat or drink tea as a free person.
And you become happier.
So each one of us
must know how to practice
so we have more freedom day by day.
That freedom is not granted to us by Thay,
or the Buddha
or society.
We have to fight for that freedom.
We have to practice to have that kind of freedom.
The freedom not to drown,
the freedom not to be lost in confusion.
The composer Trịnh Công Sơn has a song called "Vết Lăn Trầm" — Don't let me drown.
"Trầm" means to drown and "lăn" means to be adrift.
Thay has a lot of happiness thanks to the practice
of mindful breathing and mindful walking.
Usually, Thay uses some gathas or practice poems,
and occasionally, Thay would change them out.
There was a time Thay used the gatha,
"Taking refuge in Buddha Amitabha, in the wondrous ultimate dimension."
In a retreat in the UK 6 or 7 years ago,
Thay made use of that gatha many times.
Sometimes Thay practices the gatha, "Here is the Pure Land, the Pure Land is here."
But the gatha that Thay used the most is The Island Within.
Thay has been practicing with this gatha for a few decades.
So when we walk
we harmonize our breath with our steps,
and we can walk in rhythm
with each line of the gatha.
So we have to time it in such a way that
each line of the gatha goes with our steps.
Sometimes on an in-breath
we can make three steps,
or two steps.
Sometimes on an out-breath,
we can make four or five steps.
The out-breath usually lasts longer than the in-breath.
Sometimes the out-breath and in-breath are the same length.
So for the poem "The Island Within,"
when Thay walks slowly,
on the in-breath Thay makes two steps,
with the words "Go back."
" [ Breathing in I ] go back. "
Breathing out,
Thay says, "take refuge."
"Go back / take refuge."
"In the island / within myself."
Sometimes we make three steps on an in-breath, and three steps on an out-breath,
so Thay changes the words to, "I go back / and take refuge."
So "go back / take refuge" becomes "I go back / and take refuge."
It's the same meaning, only with more words.
So Thay has one version with two words and one with three words.
The one with three words is,
[ Con quay về / và nương tựa ] "I go back / and take refuge"
[ Nơi hải đảo / của tự thân ] "In the island / within myself"
[ Chánh niệm ấy / chính là Bụt ] "Buddha is my mindfulness"
[ Đang soi sáng / khắp xa gần ] "Shining near, shining far"
[ Hơi thở này / là chánh pháp ] "Dharma is my breathing"
[ Đang bảo hộ / thân và tâm ] "Guarding body and mind"
[ Năm uẩn nọ / là tăng thân ] "Sangha is my five skandhas"
[ Đang phối hợp / rất tinh cần ] "Working in harmony"
[ Con thở vào / con thở ra ] "Breathing in, breathing out"
[ Là bông hoa / con tươi mát ] "I am fresh as a flower"
[ Là đỉnh núi / con vững vàng ] "I am solid as a mountain"
[ Là nước tĩnh / con lặng chiếu ] "I am water reflecting"
[ Là không gian / con thênh thang ] "I am space, I feel free."
So there is a four word version and a six word version
that Thay came up with so that it can go with the steps and breath.
We can adjust any practice poem in this way,
including the practice poem, "Taking refuge in Buddha Amitabha."
"In the wondrous ultimate dimension"
And when we do running meditation,
on the in-breath we can make four steps and say,
"I go back and take refuge,"
and on the out-breath, "in the island within."
We can always apply
or harmonize the breath, the steps and the practice poem.
The practice poem helps us
to prolong and keep our concentration alive.
So we stick to the practice poem, the breathing, and the steps.
Running like that, we cultivate concentration.
So while running or walking
we do it in such a way that happiness is possible.
Like when we practice mindful movements or qigong,
it's wonderful if while doing it we really enjoy it.
There was one sister who was arrested and put in prison,
so she had to do walking meditation in a very small cell.
Right now, none of us are in prison.
We have plenty of space,
so doing walking or jogging meditation is a great joy.
The practice poem, "Let the Buddha breathe, let the Buddha walk" is really wonderful.
And Thay often makes very good use of this poem.
[ The sound of the bell ...]
Thay also really likes the practice poem
"The Buddha is walking,"
"The Buddha is enjoying,
the Buddha is happy,
the Buddha is at peace."
The Buddha is us.
So you let the Buddha walk,
and you see that Buddha is walking,
the Buddha is enjoying, the Buddha is happy,
the Buddha is at peace.
After a while you can change it to, "I am walking, I am enjoying"
I am no less than the Buddha. "I am happy, I am at peace."
And then, you can walk for your mother.
Your two feet are also your mother's.
"Mother is walking, Mother is enjoying."
"Mother is happy, Mother is at peace."
And walking for your father, "Father is walking, father is enjoying"
"Father is happy, father is at peace."
You see clearly that your father is walking and that he's happy.
You walk for your father, and your father is walking for you.
You can walk for your teacher.
"My teacher is walking, my teacher is enjoying."
"My teacher is happy, my teacher is at peace."
And you can walk for your students.
"My student is walking, my student is enjoying"
"My student is happy, my student is at peace."
You can see that they are all you,
they are all in you, and they are practicing with you.
It's an easy and wonderful practice to do.
While in India, Thay practiced this a lot.
"The Buddha is lying in a hammock, the Buddha is at peace."
"The Buddha is happy, the Buddha is enjoying."
"I am lying in a hammock, I am enjoying."
"I am happy, I am at peace."
Practicing like that,
you bring the mind home to the body
and completely dwell in the present moment.
and you can see the wonders of life,
you can see the Pure Land is here,
you can see that happiness
is possible in the present moment.
You don't need to look for happiness in a distant future.
So in your Dharma sharing group,
allow each person to share what they have practiced.
How they have practiced mindful walking, how they have practiced mindful breathing.
Some may share at length and others just briefly,
but in listening to everyone,
you can reflect
to see how your own practice of mindful breathing or sitting is.
Is it bringing you much happiness?
So we must know how to make use of
our mindful breath and mindful steps
in order to have some agency over our body and mind.
Don't allow ourselves to be lost.
So our Winter retreat is a great chance
for us to do that.
Because surrounded by a big sangha
where everyone is practicing like that,
of course you can do it too.
Very easily.
With everyone walking mindfully, dwelling peacefully in the present moment,
could you possibly wander off on your own?
Be lost on your own?
You would feel embarrassed.
It's so unsightly.
And
you have to be determined to touch your happiness
right in the present moment..
"If during these three months,
in my daily life,
if I'm not able to touch happiness,
to find my happiness,
then when can I be happy?"
"With Thay, with the sangha,
with the collective energy of practice supporting me,
offering me guidance,
and if I'm unable to be happy right now,
then when will I be happy?"
You have to challenge yourself
to find happiness right in the present moment.
So the teachings and practices of Plum Village
is present-centered.
If you want to find the Buddha,
or to find God,
if you want to find the Kindgom of God
or Nirvana or the Pure Land,
you have to find it right in the present moment.
If you want peace and happiness
you also have to find it right in the present moment.
If you are looking for good health,
you have to find it in the now,
even if you are not well.
When you are able to stop in the present moment,
when you know how to breathe, how to walk, you feel some relief,
and that is already an improvement on your health.
But if you were to feel anxious,
your health will get worse.
And if you know how to come back to the present
and get in touch with the wonders in the present moment,
your body and mind can benefit from the refreshing,
wholesome and nourishing elements in the sangha and in the present,
and your health can improve.
That's why you have to look for good health right in the present moment.
Don't hang your hopes on something in the future.
If you want to find happiness,
you have to look for it right in the present moment.
If you can't be happy now,
what are the chances of you being happy in the future?
That's what I call, "Happiness is now or never."
If a sister can't be happy now,
even if she receives the lamp she wouldn't be happy.
Even if she were a dharma teacher she wouldn't be happy.
But if you were already happy, you wouldn't need the lamp from Thay,
right?
Or you say, you'll be happy when you're born into the Pure Land.
So the challenge in this is,
if you can't be happy now,
how can you possibly be happy when you get there?
Once you get there, what if you want to leave?
Bye-bye Amitabha,
I'm uncomfortable here.
So we need to be capable of being happy right now.
If we are happy now, the Pure Land is there now.
We wouldn't need to go to the Pure Land.
So the practice of Plum Village is present-centered.
Present-centered.
Dwelling in the present moment.
"Hiện pháp" is the present moment
and "trú" means to stay.
Demeurer dans l'instant présent.
Dwelling in the present moment.
And if you cannot dwell in the present moment,
if you cannot touch happiness in the present moment,
you continue to be unsettled, lost.
Being unsettled is not something that happens in the future,
it is happening now.
You are with the sangha,
you hear Thay's teachings,
you are in the Rains retreat,
but that's only what's happening on the outside.
So if you don't practice, you can easily drown,
you can easily get lost.
This is something that is happening now, and not necessarily in the future.
If you want to put an end to the feeling of being unsettled,
you have to stop, and come home to the present moment.
That's why your mindful breathing and steps
are the life jacket to keep you afloat so you won't drown.
It's the anchor
keeping your boat moored in one place.
It's a life jacket, an anchor.
So knowing how to make use of mindful breathing and mindful walking
can allow us to have some agency.
If we haven't mastered the art of mindful breathing and mindful walking
we cannot go far in the practice.
So while in Plum Village, you must be able to master
each breath and each step.
Those are the essential practices.
When we walk, we know that we are the one walking,
and not because we are being carried away.
When we breath, we know that we are the one breathing,
and not because we are being carried away.
When we produce a thought that's upsetting,
we're aware, "Ah, this is an upsetting thought."
"This upsetting thought is not good for my health,
not good for my happiness."
And like that, we have agency.
Having agency doesn't mean that we don't have any disturbing thoughts.
The disturbing thought can be there,
but we know: This is a disturbing thought.
And at that moment we have agency,
because we are mindful.
So Thay would like to suggest
that in the next dharma sharing session,
we should share with one another
how we have really practiced with the breath and the steps.
And we can listen deeply to everyone's sharing.
And because Thay has been practicing with the breath and the steps,
he knows that he can be a place of refuge for the sangha in the Rains retreat.
Each one of us,
if we have been practicing with our breath and steps,
we can also be a place of refuge for the community.
And that is
the most precious gift that we can offer
to the Three Jewels,
which includes the Sangha.
We must be able to be happy when we drink our tea.
We must be able to be happy while brushing our teeth.
Brush your teeth in such a way that you can be happy during those two or three minutes.
It's a kind of challenge.
While urinating or defecating,
we also do it in a way that we feel at ease, happy,
and not be carried away by this or that.
While steaming vegetables,
while arranging the meditation hall,
do it in such a way that happiness is possible right in that moment.
Whether you are a true practitioner or not depends on that.
Because out there in the world, people do those things, too.
Only, while doing them, they get carried away.
Whereas in the monastery,
while doing those very same things,
we have agency. We are free.
The other day we spoke about ill-being [dukkha],
and in the past, our ancestors described ill-being in terms of
birth,
old age,
sickness,
death,
not getting what we want is suffering,
being separated from our loved ones is suffering,
being forced to live 24 hours a day with those we hate is suffering,
and the Five Skandhas not being in harmony is suffering.
So this is how they described ill-being in the old days.
So it's just a conventional way of seeing ill-being,
to illustrate ill-being.
In the past, to explain why Siddhartha left his kingdom to become a monk,
they say it's because he went through the four gates of the kingdom
and encountered scenes of birth, old age, sickness and death,
and he was so disturbed that he became a monk.
A 25, 27-year-old who doesn't know anything about birth, old age, sickness and death?
That's absurd.
Meanwhile, we hear that Siddhartha was very intelligent
and understood different philosophies deeply.
So to say that he became a monk after having encountered birth, old age, sickness and death
and seen the suffering of the world,
that may be partially true, but it's too naive.
Too representational.
In the book, Old Path White Clouds, Thay said that
Siddhartha chose the monastic path because
he saw that not only the people in the kingdom suffered, but the ruling class also suffered.
Not only the king suffered, but his officials also suffered.
Even though they all held a lot of power
and prestige, they also suffered.
And because they themselves suffered, they weren't able
to help their subjects
with poverty, hunger, diseases,
division.
And
the struggles for power, the jealousy happening in the courts,
even the king himself was unable to resolve these issues.
Even the king was at a loss for what to do.
So Siddhartha saw clearly that political resolutions
wouldn't bring about peace and happiness,
to himself or to the country.
And so he set out in search for another way out.
That's what the author said in the book, Old Path White Clouds.
It's closer to the truth than saying
Siddhartha went out of the palace gates and saw someone
old, sick, and dying and then made the decision to become a monk.
In our time, the way we describe ill-being
must be more practical.
In a retreat on Engaged Buddhism
in Hanoi during the Vesak celebrations,
Thay suggested that we must first
speak about the real ill-being that is there
in our body and mind.
For example, in speaking of ill-being
we can mention
tension.
Tension.
Tensions in the body
We know that tensions in the body lead to stress,
which leads to a number of illnesses.
This is a real suffering.
Aches and pain.
They are real.
Also in Hanoi, Thay mentioned a few other things.
Anxiety.
We have a lot of anxiety.
Anxiety.
You don't know what you're so worried about,
but you keep worrying
about one thing to the next.
You are Ms. Anxiety.
Mr. Anxious.
This kind of ill-being is really there in us
and in the collective.
Each one of us is a Ms. Worry, a Mr. Anxious.
Violence.
Violence is the energy of anger
that wants to inflict pain, destroy, and
punish the other person.
That wants to inflict pain because the other person has dared to hurt you.
Violence.
In us there is the energy of violence.
The irritation,
the anger,
the wish to retaliate,
to destroy,
to inflict pain,
to punish.
That violence in us,
and it's rampant in our society.
There's also
terrorism
and anti-terrorism.
Terrorism contains violence,
but anti-terrorism also contains violence.
When Thay was
visiting
South Korea on a teaching tour,
Thay participated in a peace gathering
organized by an inter-faith group.
At the time, Iraq hadn't been invaded.
But the US had already begun to send their warships
to the surrounding area,
and everyone knew that an invasion could
happen at any time.
And Baghdad was under threat of a bombing campaign
and could be surrounded at any time.
So in that talk
at the peace gathering, Thay said,
"Suppose you were a civilian living Baghdad,
an adult or a child,
and you knew that in a matter of hours
bombs will drop on your city.
Everyone in the city would be afraid.
You would be living in constant fear
not knowing when your city would be attacked,
or when the bombs would fall on you.
Because the US was threatening to invade Iraq.
So deploying your troops
and threatening a bombing campaign to invade
is an act of terrorism.
That is an act of terrorism.
And if you live just 24 hours in constant fear like that,
your health deteriorates,
let alone living night after night, month after month like that.
So even though the bombs haven't fallen,
the city hasn't been surrounded or seized
but the people have already began to suffer, out of anxiety, fear.
That is a kind of terrorism.
Terrorism is not coming from only one side.
Both sides have committed acts of terrorism.
Violence is not coming from one side, it's coming from both sides.
And it's the people who have to pay the very high price.
And there's a rise in mental illness
because of the anxiety and fear.
So violence is one kind of ill-being.
Then there's broken families.
The broken family
is a kind of ill-being.
Now, there are so many broken families,
many families where
the couple,
the parents are hostile toward one another
and the children suffer.
There are so many broken families like that
all over the world.
That is a kind of ill-being.
Divorce.
In some countries
the divorce rate
is over 50%.
Like in the Netherlands.
These are the real ill-being of our time.
As a result of broken families, the children suffer.
They may be affected and growing up
they lose faith in married life.
Suicide.
In Vietnam, every twenty-four hours one person commits suicide.
In France
many young people commit suicide.
Every year around 12,000 people commit suicide.
12,000 young French people.
Around 33 people per day.
That is real suffering happening in our society
and in the people.
War.
Terrorism.
The destruction of ecosystems.
Global warming.
These
are the kinds of ill-being in our time,
and we have to call them by their true names.
As practitioners, we must know how to identify
and name the real suffering that is there.
So that is the truth about dukkha, ill-being.
The real ill-being that is present,
the real ill-being that is there.
So you misunderstand the Buddha when you say,
"The Buddha said suffering is a truth, so that means everything is suffering."
The two are very different.
To say that ill-being is real and that we must find ways to deal with it is one thing.
But to say that everything is suffering,
that nothing is without suffering, is an entirely different thing.
This table here,
to say that it's impermanent is true.
Because just like our body, it is impermanent.
To say that it doesn't have a separate self is also correct.
Because without the wood, without the carpenter,
how can the table be?
So no-self.
But to say that the table is suffering? That doesn't sound right.
"The table is suffering." Hmm.
We suffer because we believe things are permanent when in fact they are impermanent.
We suffer because we believe there's a separate self when in fact there's no self.
Suffering is an attitude,
our response to things,
it's the nature of things.
Suffering is not the nature of things.
The people who claim that everything is suffering,
they look for suffering as if it's the nature of things.
It's not like that.
To say that form is suffering,
or that disintegration is suffering,
is to look for the nature of things.
So we should not be
brainwashed by those teachings.
They are trying to prove that what the Buddha says is true,
but that's not what the Buddha wanted to say.
He merely wanted to say that ill-being exists,
and that we shouldn't run away from it,
that we should find ways to recognize it
in order to find ways to handle it.
That's all.
That's why after having spoken about the first noble truth of ill-being,
the Buddha spoke about the second noble truth,
which is the making of ill-being.
The making of ill-being.
Looking deeply into ill-being in order to find its cause.
For example, tension.
Tension in the body.
Why is there tension?
Because our lives are too busy.
We want to do too many things.
We don't know how to live
in the present moment.
We're always being pulled toward the future.
We're not truly there in the present moment in order to take good care of ourselves.
In order to relax.
In order to remove the tensions.
At the end of a working day,
we may have accumulated a certain amount of tension,
but we don't know how to relax to remove the tension,
and we just go to bed.
We go to bed and the next day we work
and we accumulate more tension.
Over time this tension gets accumulated.
Then we go to the doctor,
we take medicines in order to relieve the tension.
That tension ends up giving rise to many diseases.
Most diseases are born from tension and stress.
So looking into tension, into ill-being,
you see the making of ill-being.
So we have to reorganize our daily lives in such a way
that when we walk, we can relax;
when we breath, we can relax;
when we work, we can relax.
We have time to do sitting meditation, walking meditation.
This way we don't accumulate tension.
So every night if we practice relaxation
we can sleep better.
And if there's any tension from the day, we can release it.
And the next day, should there be a bit of tension,
we can release it again.
So
the tension doesn't get accumulated day after day.
In our society now
people are so stressed.
This is seeing the truth,
the second noble truth,a
and that is our way of living.
How are we organizing our lives
that we are becoming more and more stressed?
These are the facts.
In terms of ethics,
these are the moral facts.
They are not hypothetical.
The moral facts.
If there's ill-being, there must be the making of ill-being.
Everything has its cause. It's called
the law of cause and effect.
We must identify the causes that have led to tension
in the body and in the mind.
Then we'll know how to remove that tension in the body and mind.
We have to reorganize our lives in an intelligent way.
And we know clearly that the practices of mindful breathing and walking
helps us to come home to the present, to live in the present moment,
not worrying about the past,
not always running towards the future,
and we can release a lot of tension.
Moreover, we have time for sitting meditation,
for relaxing,
for walking meditation,
so we can handle the tension and stress that's there in us.
And when we've
and when we've found a practicing sangha
we have a chance to do these things.
[ The sound of the bell ...]
The ill-being that we recognize, that we've named,
they don't exist by themselves alone.
The one is related to the other.
For example
the issues of
violence or broken families,
they're related to tension and stress.
If we're not stressed,
we can solve the problem in a gentle way.
We can remain calm.
We're not hot-tempered.
We can resolve the issue.
So all of these kinds of ill-being,
they inter-are.
And when we've been able to identify the cause of one thing,
we may be able to find the cause of all things.
And usually, there's not just one cause,
there are many causes.
Here's a new proposal that perhaps
no one has ever mentioned.
The making of ill-being is our way of living.
Our way of living.
The way we live
has led to ill-being.
The way of living that leads to ill-being.
So it's parallel to the fourth noble truth: the path leading to the cessation of ill-being.
"Đạo Đế" means the path.
The fourth noble truth is the path leading to the cessation of ill-being
so that peace and happiness is possible
And the second noble truth is the path leading to ill-being.
So the making of ill-being is seen as a path.
A way of living.
A way of living that doesn't have right view.
That's based on wrong view.
A way of living
based on wrong view.
For instance, the view that you and your child
are entirely two separate entities.
And you cannot see that you are your child,
and your child is your continuation.
That is a wrong view.
" Tà kiến. "
You cannot see the truth of interbeing.
You have a view that
differentiates,
that's dualistic,
that discriminates.
"Their happiness
is not my happiness."
"Their suffering is not my suffering."
Meanwhile,
the truth is that when they suffer
it's impossible for you to be happy.
Wrong view is the inability to see
the interdependent co-arising of all that is.
The inability to see the nature of impermanence, non-self and inter-being of all that is.
Because within the Noble Eightfold Path,
the path leading to the cessation of ill-being,
there is right view.
Right view.
So if we consider the making of ill-being as a path,
then [one part of the path], one cause of ill-being is
wrong view.
One of the causes of ill-being is wrong view.
The root cause.
Palestinians must be able to see
the pain and suffering of Israelis
is their own pain and suffering.
And Israelis must also be able to see that for Palestinians.
And then,
with that insight
both sides will be able to collaborate.
Both sides would want the other to be happy.
It's the same with father and son,
with Americans and Iraqis,
with Muslims and Hindus.
To see that both sides inter-are.
That the suffering of the other person is our own suffering.
That is right view.
But here there is no right view, that's why
there is fear and violence
war and terrorism.
And when there is wrong view, there is wrong thinking.
Wrong thinking [ Tà tư duy ]
Because what is ethics?
Ethics is
the ability to discern what is right and what is wrong.
Right and wrong.
In Vietnamese, right [ chánh ] means to be upright, like so.
Right.
As in upright.
And when it's wrong,
it leans.
[ Tà ] means to lean.
Like light from the setting sun.
It bends like this.
[ Chánh ]
[ Tà ]
Right.
Wrong.
It could be a little wrong or a lot wrong.
Or really wrong.
And in the end it's upside down.
So ethics.
In order to have ethics we must be able to discern right from wrong.
And wrong view is an incorrect understanding.
It's the main culprit of ill-being.
So the patriarch,
Master Lin Chi said,
as a practitioner we must have right view.
We need true understanding.
We'll have a chance to go deeper
into what it means to have true understanding.
If our view is wrong,
our thinking will also be wrong.
Wrong thinking
Wrong thinking leads to anxiety,
worries, fear,
and violence.
For instance, you say, "If I don't kill them first they'll kill me.
That's why I have to kill them first."
That is called wrong thinking
Meanwhile, the other person doesn't want to kill you at all.
So that kind of wrong thinking leads to fear, to anxiety,
and to actions that are very wrong.
Wrong speech.
Wrong
speech.
Wrong speech, or speech that is not right.
Wrong action.
In the old days, wrong action was often described as
killing, stealing and sexual misconduct.
Wrong speech was lying.
What else? Remind Thay again?
Wrong livelihood.
Doing something wrong for a living.
"Moyens d'existence injuste."
Engaging in businesses that destroy ecosystems,
that deprive others of a chance to live, that is dishonest,
that manufacture products
that are harmful to consumers.
To make a living from those things is wrong livelihood.
Wrong livelihood.
What else? Can you remind Thay?
Wrong what?
Wrong diligence?
So diligent.
But diligent in chasing after fame and fortune.
Extremely diligent.
You watch the news everyday
to see whether
your shares,
your stocks have gone up or down.
Whether the value has gone up or down.
You worry.
You work so hard
that your body accumulates so much tension and pain,
and yet you continue to work.
You forget your body,
you forget your family,
you're not capable of being happy in the present moment.
You're extremely busy.
You have no time to breathe, to relax.
That is wrong diligence.
Next is wrong mindfulness and wrong concentration, correct?
Wrong mindfulness is constantly thinking about
"that".
That thing.
You're always thinking about "that,"
thinking about how to succeed
in the pursuit of wealth,
power,
fame,
prestige,
and sex.
Four things.
How to get those four things.
And day and night you keep thinking about it.
Wealth, fame, power and sex.
Four things.
That's wrong mindfulness.
You're not aware of the blue sky,
the white clouds,
the wonders of life that are available now.
The Pure Land is available.
Happiness is available in the present moment.
You don't have right mindfulness,
only wrong mindfulness.
You're never there in the present moment.
You only run after and get pulled by the objects of your craving.
That's wrong mindfulness.
You're always thinking about "that."
Meanwhile, mindfulness is different.
Mindfulness is to be present in the here and now
so that the Pure Land, happiness, love can also be there.
Wrong concentration.
You're concentrated on "that."
The object of your concentration
is not on impermanence, non-self, and inter being.
Instead the object of your concentration is "that" and not yourself.
"That" is very dangerous
and we have to get rid of it.
You see yourself and others as permanent and unchanging.
So,
you are concentrated on what is untrue.
You are concentrated on what is wrong.
When mindfulness
is powerful,
it leads to concentration.
And if the object of your mindfulness is
the four kinds of craving [ money, fame, power, sex ]
the object of your concentration will also be the four kinds of craving.
Meaning
you're only concentrated on those four things:
How to get that title,
that position, that power?
Like the French socialist party electing a party leader.
The candidates only think of that,
getting elected as party leader.
So you only put your mind on that,
you only concentrate on that and nothing else.
So how can you take care of yourself or your loved ones?
But when the object of your concentration
is craving,
for wealth,
power,
fame
and sex,
your mind is only focused on that,
and it is a kind of concentration,
but it's wrong concentration.
And mindfulness and concentration are wrong,
it leads to wrong view.
And because of wrong view,
you have wrong mindfulness and wrong concentration.
They feed each other. Wrong view feeds wrong mindfulness,
And wrong mindfulness feeds wrong concentration.
Wrong concentration, wrong mindfulness feeds wrong view.
They go in circles.
So, this is not the Noble Eightfold Path,
but the Ignoble Eightfold Path.
The Ignoble Path.
The reasons we have these kinds of ill-being
is because we have gone on the Ignoble Path.
The wrong path,
the path of wrong view, wrong thinking,
wrong speech, wrong action, etc.
So you've gone more on the wrong path than the right.
And perhaps this is the first time the second noble truth is defined
as being parallel to the fourth noble truth.
The fourth noble truth is the Noble Eightfold Path leading to happiness.
So the second noble truth is the Ignoble Eightfold Path leading to ill-being.
So when we look for the causes of ill-being
when they are named,
we can see that those causes can be found
in our way of living now
that's based on wrong view, wrong thinking, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood,
wrong diligence, wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration.
The Ignoble Path.
So we're just talking about principles,
but we need these principles first and
then we can apply them.
The third noble truth is the cessation of ill-being.
The transformation, the cessation of
the causes leading to suffering.
Ill-being is the first noble truth,
the making of ill-being is the second noble truth,
the cessation of ill-being is the third noble truth.
Cessation here means the absence of,
the transformation of.
The absence of what?
The absence of a way of living based on the wrong path.
The absence of wrong view, wrong thinking, wrong speech, etc.
Originally, it is the making of ill-being.
But the absence of the making of ill-being
is at the same time the absence of ill-being.
As long as the root is cut off,
the tree can no longer survive.
So absence here, cessation here,
is the cessation of the making,
the roots of ill-being.
And when the roots are gone, the leaves and branches are also gone.
The cessation of ill-being means
the transformation, the cessation of the roots of ill-being.
Ill-being, the making of ill-being, the cessation of ill-being.
The third truth is
the acknowledgement that we can transform
this way of living.
This is proof that we do have free will.
With mindfulness,
we
we can remove wrong mindfulness.
With right mindfulness,
we come to right concentration.
And with right mindfulness and right concentration, we have right view.
In this way, the third truth
is proof that humans do have free will.
According to Buddha Shakyamuni, our teacher,
free will is possible,
and it begins with mindfulness.
In the beginning,
the space you have to exercise that freedom may be a bit small, a bit narrow,
nonetheless, it's there.
Because we are all capable of drinking tea mindfully,
of walking mindfully, of breathing mindfully.
And when that mindfulness is strong enough, it leads to concentration.
When right mindfulness and concentration are powerful enough,
it breaks free from wrong views and leads to right view.
So in Buddhism, it's very clear that we humans do have free will.
Free will begins with mindfulness.
And it's very concrete how to be mindful.
In principle, all you need is right mindfulness and concentration,
but in practical terms,
our mindful breathing and mindful steps
are very concrete practices that
can help us establish our freedom and make it greater
so that we can stop being lost.
Otherwise, you continue to be lost in confusion for a long time.
And maybe this is the first time
anyone has said that the third truth in the Four Noble Truths
is the recognition that humans have free will.
This is a very positive note.
You cannot say that Buddhism is cynical, that Buddhism renounces or gives up on life.
Because humans having free will is very positive.
There's ill-being, that is one truth, but
that humans can eliminate and transform ill-being, that is another truth.
The third truth.
The third truth
is made concrete
with the fourth truth.
With the fourth truth, we can see that the third truth
has some standing.
The fourth truth is the path leading to the end of ill-being.
There's no hyphen between these words [ in Vietnamese ].
It's one term, the path leading to the end of ill-being.
Ill-being [ khổ ] is one term,
the making of ill-being [ khổ tập ] is another term,
and the cessation of ill-being [ khổ tập diệt ] is a third term.
The path leading to the cessation of ill-being [ khổ tập diệt đạo ]
is a path that leads to the transformation
of the causes of ill-being.
The first truth is ill-being.
The second truth is the making of ill-being.
The third truth is the cessation of ill-being.
And the fourth truth is the path leading to the end of ill-being.
This grammar
is from the Chinese language.
Sometimes we abbreviate it by saying ill-being, the causes, the end, and the path.
But the full expressions would be: ill-being,
the causes of ill-being,
the end of the causes of ill-being,
the path leading to the end of the causes of ill-being.
That's how they say it.
So "khổ, tập, diệt, đạo" is only an abbreviation.
We see that the Noble Eightfold Path is very clear,
very concrete.
Practicing the Noble Eightfold Path
we can have free will,
and we can also
remove the roots of ill-being.
And so
the fourth truth, the Noble Eightfold Path,
is the foundation for the third truth.
It is proof of the third truth
that humans have free will.
In the beginning, our freedom may be small,
but with practice it will grow.
There's an example Thay often likes to use
to help us understand this.
There's a young man who has certain habits,
familiar patterns,
ways of behaving
that's very familiar.
Every time he hears something upsetting,
that waters his seeds of irritation,
he gets angry.
Like when you strike a match, there's a fire.
So in a meeting if someone were to utter a particular sentence,
he would react like that.
He reacts exactly like that a hundred times over.
And every time he reacts like that,
everyone can see that he has no control over himself.
But after, he regrets, he gets angry. at himself. "Why?"
"I know that it's not good when I react like that."
He's told himself many times not to react like that,
but when it comes down to it, when those seeds were watered he reacts in the same way.
That's due to habit energy.
The horse knows how to find its way home.
The same with a buffalo.
You just need to lie on the buffalo's back and it'll take you home,
you don't need to guide it.
It knows the way, it's familiar.
So our habit energies are the same.
Should someone touch off a certain seed in you,
you automatically react like that,
so you are a victim of your habit energy.
Now, mindfulness can interfere.
A friend tells him, "Today, I'll go to the meeting with you."
"And I'll hold your hand for the whole the meeting,"
"and should someone say that sentence that waters your seeds, I'll squeeze your hand."
"If I squeeze your hand, you'll have to come back to your breathing."
"You take a deep breath, you become aware of your breathing,
and you're determined not to explode like that."
"Breathe in and breathe out. I'm here for you."
"Your mindfulness may still be weak, but I can help you with mine."
"So I'll squeeze your hand tightly, meanwhile you just breathe in and out."
"Just smile. Let them say whatever they want."
So this is mindfulness intervening.
And that day, that brother didn't explode like he did in other times.
It's very strange and wonderful.
That is thanks to the intervention of mindfulness.
His energy of mindfulness was still weak because he hadn't practiced for long,
so he needed someone to help him be mindful.
He borrowed someone else's mindfulness.
After practicing like that a few times,
he was mindful enough to be able to do it on his own.
And then in one meeting, he said, "I got this."
"You don't need to come with me, you don't need to squeeze my hand."
"I'll use my left hand to squeeze my right hand."
And in the end he didn't explode.
Moving forward, he had a greater degree of freedom.
This is proof that there is free will.
And where does free will come from?
The answer is mindfulness.
That is the beginning.
Sticking to mindfulness, slowly,
we have free will.
The Four Noble Truths
and the Noble Eightfold Path
is born from lived experience,
it's not something that's granted by a god.
It's not something that congress,
whether it's the house or the senate, has legislated.
It comes from one person's lived experience.
One person who made use of the energy of mindfulness to get to concentration
and finally right view.
And he found a path for himself,
and he shared his understanding with others.
That is the case of Gautama Shakya.
The Four Noble Truths as well as the Noble Eightfold Path (the fourth truth)
are moral facts
that anyone can agree with.
Whether you are Buddhist or non-Buddhist,
these remain the moral facts.
Whether you believe in God or not, these are still the moral facts.
In his very first Dharma talk,
the Buddha laid the foundation for an ethics,
an ethical path.
And
it's very pragmatic.
Pragmatic because it takes us back to reality now.
And in this reality, there is ill-being
Looking deeply into ill-being,
into the nature of ill-being,
we find a way out.
Based on our understanding of cause and effect,
we find a path.
And that path has the capacity to transform ill-being.
So these ethics are pragmatic.
Practical.
In the US there's a philosophy
called Pragmatism.
Pragmatism.
They advocate that truth is something useful, practical for life.
It's beneficial for us.
So truth is not something we just think about,
it must be put into practice.
And when you put it into practice you see the results right away.
La vérité est quelque chose qui payer. Truth is something that pays.
Meaning it pays money. It's useful.
Truth is something useful and has practical consequences.
So the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path is that kind of truth,
and if you apply it you see it's effective.
If it's not effective,
it's not the truth.
And so Buddhist ethics is not metaphysical, it is practical.
And these are not things to just talk about, they are to be applied in daily life.
For instance, when we speak of mindfulness, what kind of mindfulness are we talking about?
In concrete terms,
are you breathing
mindfully?
If you know how to breath mindfully,
you can to calm your body and mind.
You can touch the wonders of life.
Have you tried walking mindfully?
If you do, you can be in touch with the wonders of life.
So we can say that Buddhism is very close to the philosophy of Pragmatism of William James.
[ The sound of the bell ... ]