(Class #37) Source Buddhism

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Dear respected Thay,
dear brother Anthony,

dear friends online.

We are in the middle of a lazy
period after one of our biggest retreats,

the Vietnamese retreat, so for those
who are on-line

it's very quiet in the monastery.

And it's also been very hot, so

we've been resting in the afternoon
in the shade and now its cooled down

in the evening.

So today we're studying the 37th Tenet.

So this Tenet is describing the

foundation of Plum Village practice.

What is it that Plum Village
is offering to the various

Buddhist traditions, to Zen,
to Pure Land,

To Mantrayana practices.

The basic practices of Source Buddhism.

The basic practice

of Source Buddhism is

the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

Sometimes we call it the Establishments
of Mindfulness.

The function of which is to
recognize and transform

the habit energies.

This is what we learned
about in the former class on [vipassana].

And fully realize

the Seven Factors of Enlightenment

and the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Mahayana practice of meditation,

including the Zen of the Patriarchs

needs from time
to time to go back,

to go back and immerse itself
in Source Buddhism - to take a bath

in Source Buddhism,

in order not to lose the
essence of the Buddha dharma.

So, Thay often referred to early
Buddhist teachings as Source Buddhism.

And so these source practices

that are foundational
to early Buddhist teachings

are the Four Foundations of Mindfulness
which includes mindfulness of breathing,

Mindfulness of Breathing Sutra.

So Plum Village is arranged in such
a way, in the schedule, in our eating

in our sitting, in our walking, we are

given good conditions to practice
the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

in every minute, in
every hour of every day.

You guys remember the Four
Establishments of Mindfulness?

What is the first one?

The body.

So we start by being
aware of the body,

and the body includes the breath.

So the practice
we have all the time,

breathing in I know I'm breathing in,
breathing out I know I'm breathing out,

just enjoying the in breath
and the out breath.

That leads us into the body.

So it helps us create a link between

the mind and the body and
see that they are not dual,

they are not separate.

In fact the mind cannot
arise without the body

just like the body cannot
arise without the mind.

So, Buddhist teachings are non-dual.

We have, in the west, this
dualistic concept of body and mind

which has come about
for various reasons

throughout the history of Western thinking
and philosophy that is absent in Buddhism.

So we are aware of the body but we are
aware that the mind is also there

in the body.

So by being aware of our body
we are already aware of our mind.

So being aware of the breath,
that awareness, that is the mind

that is

shining light on the breath
on the physical experience,

physiological event of breathing.

And we can let go of these ideas
that separate the awareness of

the event from the event itself.

And so the subject and object
that we see, arise together.

They cannot exist one
without the other.

So the moment of being
aware of the breath is also

you're creating the subject,
the awareness

and the breath which is the object.

But they are actually one,
they are not separate.

So when we go deeply
into the breathing

we experience that oneness
of the body and mind

in a very practical way.

When we are lost in our thinking
about the future or the past

and it seems like the mind is
separate from the body.

Our body is there
and our mind is not there.

In fact that's a delusion

because we are not actually in the future.

In the present moment, we are
experiencing images,

notions that we project into the future

or into the past and

that's happening in the present moment.

But, we create the illusion that we
have a mind that's separate from

the body.

And so the practice of
breathing is leading us back

to the body, leading the mind
back to the body, so that we

no longer caught in that delusion.

We're experiencing the
non-dual nature of reality.

So we have the body, and we
have the second one - feelings.

And feelings are also in the body.

Recently there was a book "The Body
Keeps the Score", I think it's called.

The idea is that the traumatic experiences
that we have are there in the body.

That teaching is already
there in Buddhism.

We can see the effect on our body
of strong feelings and emotions,

by what we do, how we act.

So, by talking about Four Foundations
of Mindfulness it seems like we divide

up these
experiences of reality.

But it's just for the purpose of

overcoming our delusion of
the body and the feelings.

So when we study this teaching
on the Foundations Of Mindfulness,

for example,

the phrasing is "experiencing the
body in the body" or "as a body".

So that we don't experience
notions or ideas of the body.

For example when I was in High School,

I was on the cross country
team and before a meet

we would do a visualization
together with my coach.

He would have us
close our eyes and

we would, in our minds, create
the image of the course that

we would run tomorrow.

And we'd actually go through the
experience of running it in our mind.

And so, some call this the
homuncular nature of the mind.

That we have in our motor system
we can actually act out things

and that is happening in the brain but
we are not yet moving our arms.

And so we can use that nature.

It comes from homunculus,

this idea that there is a
little person inside the brain.

Certain western philosophy
had that idea.

And so actually our motor
actions are being enacted within,

are being kind of tried
out in our brain and

so once an athlete, for example

if you're a pitcher and you're thinking
what pitch you're gonna make you're

actually working that out in
the mind before the body acts on it.

So, we used to do these
visualizations and that would

help us to prepare ourselves
for the actual experience of running,

so that we would know for example,
when our body feels a lack of oxygen.

We would not be surprised and
shocked because the visualization

would help us to see that
that is part of the process

of running the race.

Or if we had some problem with

some pain in our ankle
or maybe we came to a hill,

and we get oh gosh I didn't know

that hill would be there, but
because we visualized the race,

we can see ourselves going
through every stage of the race

and so we're not shocked and surprised
and overwhelmed by an emotion

during the race. We kind of mentally
prepare ourselves to run the race,

And so we are more calm
and peaceful when we run it.

But our visualization, we know,
cannot map exactly to reality

of how we're going to experience
that race. So many things can happen.

It might be really muddy and wet.

Last time when we ran
the course it was dry and hot.

Maybe... we... we don't

drink enough water? There are
many things that can affect the

experience of the race.

So the danger is when we
live in the visualizations

the ideational aspect of our thinking
and we no longer come back to what

is actually going on.

So planning, visualizing, it's okay.

Talk about living in the present moment.
Many people come and ask questions.

So, I need to live in the present
moment. So how can I plan for the future?

And you plan very well if
you're mindful and if you learn

how to be mindful and to be
more mindful of your body then

I notice that my thinking
maps much more closely

to what actually happens.

So I don't get caught in
kind of a delusional thinking

that has not manifested
anything close to reality as much

because of that practice of
being aware of my body and my feelings.

Nowadays, we may
go surfing on the internet,

and watch some videos or
look up something good,

as they say go down
a rabbit hole to study something.

And if we're not careful
then we lose touch with

what's going on in the present moment.

We lose touch with
our breathing, with our bodies.

We also can lose touch with
the community that we live in.

The people that are close to us.

We are lost in our phone
or on the computer.

The people who are living right
with us they're our loved ones.

Maybe our children, our parents,
or our partner they're not so present

because we are caught in
our thinking about that project,

or that topic or that video.

So we have to be very careful
when we are undergoing a kind of

a kind of guided visualization.

Using the Internet is like a kind
of guided visualization.

You're - through the web pages,
through sometimes an algorithm,

a very powerful algorithm that
has experienced many other human

beings using them, watching those
video's for example on YouTube or

using social media, they are
predicting, very quickly

what you want to see next.
So that you keep looking

at the screen, and so that's a
kind of guided visualization.

And, if you

for example, you're always looking
at what your friends are doing,

and you are sitting at home
thinking, why am I?

Why is my life not so important
as all the people out there?

The things that they are doing.

Then that meditation can bring a lot of
despair, and feelings of anxiety.

What am I doing with my life?

I feel like a loser or something.

FOMO - Fear of Missing Out.

And I have experience in working
in communications in the Sangha,

sometimes using social media.

I have to shut it very quickly because I'm
aware of what the effect is on my body.

There are feelings being generated
through this visualization

that are leading to wanting
to be somebody else.

So, these same kinds of visualizations
that are happening just at the level

of our thinking, they are nourished
by what we see on the screen.

Also, advertising, or they are nourished
by everything, by the environment,

of the monastery, the plants,
the brothers, what they are doing.

We go into the room to
drink tea and then they start

talking about their family or something
that concerns them so then we start

to live that with them as well
with them, a kind of guided meditation.

So the Buddha is proposing through
all of this, really guided meditations

for us, to regularly use to nourish
the kind of understanding of

lived reality that we reduce as much
as possible our wrong perceptions.

So that is the function of
this Four Foundations of Mindfulness,

to bring our awareness, out
of our ideation or kind of

what they call in early
Buddhism Papanca.

It's kind of like proliferated thinking.

It's the bubbling up of concepts
and ideas and notions

that we experience most of
us, throughout our whole day

our waking lives.

This is like kind of
bubbles.

They come up and they burst
and then we taste the soapy flavor

of the bubbles.

And they're - you want to do this,
you want to do that -

And so the Buddha actually told his monks
when he would come on them

talking about,

for example, at that time they
would speculate about politics

or things in the market.

They would say, will the armies
of the kings go forth today

or tomorrow or next week?

And they would get into
conversations like that,

which is like us reading the news.

And we want to say, did the
climate bill pass the senate yet?

and we want to know.

But is that really helping us
to touch reality in the present moment?

So this is something that
I practice to ask myself.

Does that really help me to be more
present for myself and for my brothers?

And oftentimes I find that it doesn't.

So I try to reduce

and not use too of much
of my emotional energy

to think about things that are
happening at a world scale.

There are very important matters
like the climate crisis,

and those are going on,
they're going on last year,

they've been going on since
we were born, since before we were born.

And these are things
we need to be aware of.

But on a daily basis?

Do we really need to be
so aware of what, who is suing who?

What is happening in terms of the
government, in terms of wars,

and so forth?

We are actually very
informed as a community.

And certainly I was raised

by my High School teacher of social
studies to read the newspaper every day.

And so I often look to see what
is in the news but I'm very careful

in the way that I consume it because
I want to remain here with my community

and not get carried away by these things

that are related to the
community and my life.

But what's beautiful about these practices

of the foundations of mindfulness
is they help us to give priority.

Actually our body and the mind,
this experience of the present moment

when we are in tune with it,
we have a natural sense of priority.

For example, like right now,
Br Minh Anh and Anthony,

you are the most important thing for me.

But if I'm thinking about my relationship
to another brother or sister and

I'm losing my awareness of both of you
then that's not the right priority.

So what has benefited me immensely
with this practice is really getting

more in touch with our
natural intuition as human beings,

which is to know a sense of priority

of what is most important, which is
what is going on right now.

And not getting emotional
caught in the drama

of matters that we can affect
but very slightly, and certainly our

strong emotions won't necessarily
be the things that will help us effect

those things.

Or rather of being truly present.

here and now.

So that is the beauty of this practice.

So the Buddha taught many ways
for us to not get caught in this

conceptual thinking, Papanca or
proliferated thinking.

Sometimes it's called inner stream

thoughts, concepts,
worries, fears anxieties

and concretely we

are aware of our body
and then aware of feelings

so rather than getting.

One practice that I found
myself constantly teaching

people who come and are having
a lot of suffering in their emotions

is how to bring their attention down
from the level of their thinking

kind of ideational thinking,
down to the level of their feelings.

What does it feel like. Just
be aware of the feelings.

Don't think more about it.

Just be aware of the feeling.

Because when you're really aware
of your feelings you know how to,

you find you know how to go into

the method to deal with those
feelings. But it's because we don't

see this bubbling up of thinking is
actually a source of food for the feelings

that we experience.

Because we're not aware of that

we experience the feelings
as being quite random

and seeming to come
for no reason at all.

So we have to be honest with
ourselves and really see how

we're giving our attention
in our daily life

leads to this kind
of Papanca.

This kind of thinking, just like
the Buddha when he came to the monks

who were talking about the
armies going forth and so forth.

He said, this is not
appropriate discussion,

conversation for dharma discussions.

And Plum Village, the
practice of dharma discussion

in Plum Village is

exactly to help us to
come back to the body,

come back to our feelings.

So when we learn how to
practice dharma discussion

we learn not to share about
books, or ideas or concepts that

we've learned about or
we're enthusiastic about,

but rather to share about
our lived experience

of the practice in the retreat.

So we come down from
the level of theory

and bring our awareness to our
experience in our body,

our experience in our feelings.

And that way we have
less delusional thinking,

less infatuation

towards ideas and theories.

Our practice of Buddhism
becomes very pragmatic.

And we are not perfect, we don't
get caught in ideas about perfect

or being a perfect mindfulness
practitioner, but we just seeing

that every moment is a chance
to change our habits, to bring

good habits in and to let go
of habits that are not so helpful,

that bring about a
strong emotional feeling

an imbalance in our body.

So Thay said by taking a bath in
these Source Buddhism teachings

we can,

in that way we can practice
as solidly in the present moment

as the Sangha of the Buddha.

So we live in Solidity Hamlet, that's
a quality that Thay really teaches

even to children to cultivate the
quality of solidity. And here he says

to practice as solidly as the Sangha
of the Buddha we need to take a bath

in these Source Buddhist
teachings. We cannot just

concern ourselves with the later
teachings only of Buddhism.

There are many insights and
helpful things that come out of

the Buddhist tradition as it has
developed over many generations.

So this is not a call to fundamentalism
Buddhism. That is one thing that I love

about the way Thay presents this Tenet
is exactly this image of immersion, of

taking a bath in the
Source Buddhist teachings.

Just like when we take a bath in
the river, we don't consider the river

to be some kind of dogmatic authority.

We just are refreshed by
the coolness of the river.

So it's very - this is something that I

love about this Tenet and the way
that Thay teaches the Buddha's teachings.

Because it could be so easy for us to say
well Mahayana, Pure land, Maitreyana

these things did not exist at the
time of the Buddha, those are much

later teachings, 1,000 years after the
Buddha, 1,500 years after the Buddha

so we need to abandon all that, it's a
waste of our time, we need to go back

and practice just the
Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

That could be a very kind of
dogmatic approach to the sentiment.

And what

is so beautiful about Thay's
presentation is that we need

from time to time to go back
and immerse ourselves

in Source Buddhism.

Just like we want to go -
maybe if it's very hot here,

yesterday some of the brothers
went down to the beach.

And right when we
got to the beach we

put on our

clothes for swimming and we go
straight into the ocean and it feels

so fresh and cool, salty but cool.

And we take a bath in the ocean.

So that's the spirit of the way that
we practice the Four Foundations

of Mindfulness and
Mindfulness of Breathing.

It's like we do it because it feels
good, it feels right, it feels

like the appropriate thing to do when
we are overwhelmed with the heat

of our afflictions. We just want to
go and take a bath, immerse ourselves

in these teachings, because when we
do so, our body cools down becomes

more solid, more stable, more free.

So we can enjoy our breathing now
as we listen to the sound of the bell.

[BELL]

So the Third Foundation or
Establishment Of Mindfulness is

the mind, right

mental formations.

And this Papanca is happening
at the level of our mind.

So, the mind is there
in the body already,

the mind is also there in the feelings.
Feelings are in the mind.

These things are not
ultimately separate.

Sometimes this practice is,
some teachers call it

instead of Foundations of Mindfulness
like frames of reference.

Satipatthana

is the

Pali word for these,

what we translate as
Foundations of Mindfulness

So Sati is mindfulness and upatthana is
like you set up a stand, its stable

so like the tripod there that the
camera is on - it has three legs

you set it up and it
becomes established, stable.

So the concern of this
foundational practice is

to establish a solid
foundation for mindfulness.

So our mindfulness becomes very
stable. It's not easily

removed or

obscured or repressed
or something like that.

The more we practice

these Four Foundations of Mindfulness
the easier it is to bring

mindfulness up in any situation.

And especially when
we have a strong emotion

we can bring up mindfulness, we can see
this is not, this is tiring for the body,

this is tiring for the mind,
tiring for the feelings.

The Buddha used that phrase often.

He saw that many things we do in every
day life are just exhausting and ..

I remember when I had my only car.

I inherited the car from my grandmother.

It was a Plymouth Reliant.
This kind of grey box.

It was about the most unsexy car
a teenager could have.

And not that I was concerned
about having a really cool car,

but I was very happy because
I didn't have to buy the car.

Because my grandmother
could not drive any more

and she had the car already
and it was in good condition.

And so I drove that car
through my last years of high school.

And I remember having
to work to pay for gas.

Now gas prices are coming back
down, from 6 dollars recently.

I remember most of my jobs in High School
were just to pay for the gas for the car

so that I could drive it around
and go see my friends,

which was kind of non-negotiable
at that time.

Now, I would probably ride one
of the electric bikes or something.

Because when I came to see how
complicated and difficult it is

to take care of a car.

And how much I spent my
time and energy to work

to pay for the gas to fill up
that car, I started to just ask myself,

this is exhausting, taking
care of this car.

Do I really need to have a car?

And I kept asking
myself that question.

So when I went to college I decided
not to bring the car up because I

knew I didn't want to spend my time
working to pay for the gas to put in the

car so I that could drive it, and I would
rather just not go anywhere, or

if someone invites me to go and
they have a car then that's great

but otherwise I would have
my bike and that would be enough.

And when I came home for Christmas,
I remember that I was planning one day

to go out with my girlfriend
who is from my hometown.

So we planned to go
out this one night

and that night there was snow

and because I had practiced visualizing

because I had been away
for the whole term at college

and then I wanted to spend as
much time with my girlfriend

as possible and that we, and I was
also working during Christmas

I want to go out anyway,
that was my delusional mind.

I was infatuated with the idea and
so I went to pick her up.

And I can't believe that
her parents let me take her out,

with it snowing as heavily as it was,

And we drove only a few miles
and hit a patch of black ice,

going very slowly, about
ten miles an hour,

I ran into the back of a pickup truck.

Mind it's the only accident
I've ever had, till now, in a car.

And, the pickup truck was barely touched,

but the front fender of my
grandmother's car was pretty bent in

and one of the lights got taken out

And I spent the rest of my Christmas
break fixing this car.

I had to order a new fender,
paint it, order the headlights.

I fixed it all myself and I'm so glad that

I did that because that's what brought
the resolution to me that it's really,

really, a pain in the neck to have a car.

Its really exhausting.

My time, my energy, my work, my attention!

And so somehow deep inside of me
I decided that I did not want to have

a car in my life.

Which is quite normal in Europe, somebody
might decide I don't want to have a car.

But in the United States,
It's like irreligious.

You could be an atheist easier
than not have a car

in the United States of America,
in some ways.

So, I ended up, I didn't have the
practice of mindfulness yet, but the

lived experience of the exhaustion of
having a car and then this

experience of having one small accident,

helped to cultivate in me,
the practice of letting go.

I don't want to take care of a car
It's just too difficult!

And so this is the spirit of the practice
of the Satipatthana, is that we

see that so many of the things
that we subject our body to,

so many of the things we subject
our feelings to, our mind to,

are just tiresome and
exhausting, for the body.

So we need to ask ourselves all
the time, is this really

bringing me peace and freedom
and joy and if not, just let go of it.

And we have projects and
things we do in the Sangha,

so

that's a very interesting aspect
of Plum Village practice.

Thay was always giving us things
to do, but at the same time

we practiced nowhere to go
nothing to do, and actually when

you go deeply into that there's
no conflict, I found.

Actually you can have somewhere
to go, something to do,

but we can do it in peace and freedom.

That's the spirit of doing things
in the foundation of mindfulness.

And I still continue to do
even though I'm a monk

for you know 19 years.

I still continue to
practice that every day,

nowhere to go, nothing to do,
no longer in a hurry,

doing things in the Sangha

and doing them without
rushing, anxiety or hurry.

Because I still see, sometimes it comes
up and I have anxiety and worry and fear.

Say I need to come back and
take a bath in the practices

of Source Buddhism.

I've got too caught up in my Mahayana
Bodhisattva aspiration

to help all living beings.

So I need to go back and take
a bath in basic mindfulness practice.

And I think many brothers
and sisters who get lost in that,

their desire to help, is so great
that they lose their mindfulness

and then slowly, they start to
lose their aspiration.

So it's really important, every
day from the moment we wake up

to the evening, and even while
we're sleeping to take a bath

in this basic practices
of mindfulness.

So, as Anthony said, everything
is a formation including the mind.

In our tradition we
have 51 mental formations.

There are mental formations
like anger, hatred.

There are mental formations
like compassion and understanding.

And as a practitioner
we need to get to know

all of these mental formations.

They are what populate our mind.

And they have each their
own qualities and we learn to

nourish mental formations like
compassion and understanding

bring them up and have them
stay around for a long time.

So by living in the monastery

being around compassionate
and understanding people,

having people point out
our own delusions,

our own wrong perceptions

and then practicing
to let go of them,

to go with the Sangha River,
is the most fundamental practice

of living in community.

To let go of our idea.

We don't get caught that
one idea is the right idea

or rather we see when
we're living in community

that there are many ways of
looking at living in the community.

And we want to try
to harmonize our ideas.

and views,

So that can take completely
letting go of our idea

or usually, more often finding
out how we can go together

and integrate our ideas to come
together as one in the community.

And that way the eye of the Sangha is
always deeper than the individual view.

And then the fourth foundation -
objects of mindfulness or phenomena.

So, the mind as a sense organ
as we see it, in the Buddhist tradition

has objects just like the eye sees
forms and the ear hears sounds

and taste, tastes, sorry the tongue
tastes tastes and so forth.

The nose smells.

So in the same way the mind has
objects and in the sense,

in Pali and Sanskrit is called dharma,

Dharma in the sense of phenomena.

They are fundamental aspects of reality.

Things like mental formations, feelings,
bodies these are all objects of mind

and they are also the teachings.

So, the seven factors of
enlightenment are objects of mind,

the Noble Eight-Fold Path
are objects of mind;.

the Four Noble Truths
are objects of mind;

Impermanence, Non Self
are objects of mind.

Everything can be objects of mind.

So we can see that in this way that these

four foundations of
mindfulness interare.

We cannot completely divide
one from the other, because

the body can be an object of the mind.
Feelings can be an object of our mind.

Even the mind can be an object of
the mind, the mind seeing the mind.

So everything can be put in
this realm of phenomena.

And the important thing is that
we, for example, just as we do with

the body and with the
feelings and with the mind,

and with the phenomena
in the phenomena themselves.

So we have to call it by its true name.

For example when anger manifests,
we call it by its true name.

This is anger.

We don't try to delude ourself
and when we're angry

say we're acting with compassion.

We have to recognize that
anger is there

and help to embrace that anger,

otherwise we can cause
a lot of damage.

And most of my suffering, I feel
that I create for myself and for others,

is by not calling my mental
formations by their true name.

Not recognizing them
for what they are.

So we have this list of 51 mental
formations that can help us to

look and see that everyone has
compassion, understanding.

But everyone also has anger, fear,
anxiety, worry and so forth.

And if your experience of anxiety and
fear might be slightly different from mine

then we try to recognize that
anxiety and fear in ourselves

and also in others, so there is
this refrain in the foundations

of mindfulness which is, be aware of
the body in one's own body

and we're also aware of the body of
another, outside of our body.

We're aware within and without
so, this is a very scientific

approach that is crucial to
establishing mindfulness.

So we're aware that we
can have wrong perceptions

but this practice of seeing
for example anger in ourselves,

and also being able to see
anger in another person

helps us to understand that
anger is just a basic aspect of

the mind.

And some of us may
have the seed of anger

very strong, in our individual
consciousness, and others

may be not so strong, but we
can recognize anger and call

it by its true name. So that is
the practice of seeing phenomena

in the phenomena,
the objects of mind,

And so this is also like being a
scientist, who is studying some

phenomena in nature, or phenomenon.
We have to be ready to let go of what

we think is anger or what is the qualities
of our anger, for example

we might think no I am not a very
angry person, I have anger

but actually others may experience
us as having a lot of anger.

So that is a mindfulness bell when
we have shining light and somebody

shares about something we said or did
that had a strong effect on them.

I see that as a mindfulness
bell, to came back

and see, maybe I'm not
really fully seeing the

scope of how anger is affecting my
thinking and my speech and actions.

And so the practice of bringing
up the seed of mindfulness

and then shining it on mental
formations, and that is the practice

of the fourth foundation of
mindfulness, of seeing the

phenomena in the phenomena,
of seeing the anger in the anger itself.

Being ready to change and adapt
not being caught in our idea

of what is anger.

And, we are in neuroscience,
now learning that it's not so simple

to

kind of reductionist way to describe
our emotions, because our

emotions are very connected to the
lived experience of that emotion,

so we cannot just say anger

and remove it from any
kind of experience of anger.

And one time of experiencing anger

may be quite different from another,
depending on the situation

in which that anger manifested.

So that it's another way of saying
that our emotions are deeply

embedded in our lived
experience of them.

And they change and grow and
manifest for some in different ways.

So we have to be ready

to change and adopt
and recognize when,

when an emotion
manifests that we �

What I love about our community
is that we can embrace the collective

vision of our own mental formations.

That's not only our own
anger alone in isolation

but rather, we get the insight

of our fellow practitioners and they
share with us and then we like oh

expand our notions. If we are able to
overcome our pride, then we can

expand our notion of what that
mental formation is,

to include as well, the insights of
our fellow practitioners.

So this Plum Village practice of four
foundations of mindfulness is non

isolationist.

It's not about an individual
going off and deciding for themselves

what their mental
formations are,

but rather coming together

and being able to listen
and get feedback

and knowing that we
are only partially right.

Even when it comes to
recognizing our emotions.

We get better and better at it,
the more we practice, but we

have to be ready to receive
input as well from others.

So this is the way of
cultivating Right View,

one of the elements of the noble
Eightfold path.

So letting go of this attachment
to our conceptual thinking,

coming back to the body,
seeing the body in the body,

the feelings in the feelings, the
mind in the mind, phenomena

in the phenomena. Those are all
ways of cultivating Right View.

Which is the ultimately abandoning
all views and notions in order to see

the inherent goodness and kindness,
that is there in our very make up.

And the more that we let go of our

desire for sense pleasures and
for our ambitions for ourselves,

our career, the car we want
to buy, the house all those things,

the more that our inherent
nature manifests.

The whole form of a
monk is to help that.

That is why we

let go of our personal possessions,
why we live simply in the

sangha, why we have precepts.
Those are all there to help us let go of

attachments that keep us from
realizing our right view or our true

nature.

That's why when the Buddhas
talked about abandoning all views,

its Right View, it can be difficult.

for us to take that practice.
He proposed for us to develop

understanding and compassion.

So, we learn to, for example, in
dharma sharing, to understand

ourselves better by listening to
the suffering of others experience

of suffering, that waters the seed
of compassion and understanding

in our heart. So that's cultivating right
View, so we're cultivating a good habit.

Because if we just say Right View
is abandoning all views, we can,

if we're not careful, if we have deeply
embedded views, about ourselves

and others that are
still hiding under there

that are informing the
way that we are living

and we go around saying we are
living in the ultimate dimension.

We have abandoned all views, but in fact
we have loads and loads of prejudice

and bias that are hiding in the
wings, in an unconscious way.

So as we start out on the path, we
cultivate compassion and understanding

to come to right view of the situation.

A view that then leads to right thinking.

For example when somebody shares their
suffering we can just say,

well, you just need to let go of all of
your views and you will be free.

And that can be not very helpful.

Some people will even experience that
as being aggressive, and violent.

So with understanding
and compassion we can be kind,

just do kind things to that person.

Recognize their good qualities, water
the good seeds, within them, every day.

Really good what you did there.
I really appreciate how you did that.

Change the narrative. Help that person
to change their own narrative.

What may be going in their mind is
full of anxiety, fear and self-doubt.

Point out those real things, don't
make up imaginary things, but

those real things that people have
done that are beneficial, that helped

build the community, helped bring about
compassion. point it out.

First we can think that thought,
and then we can speak it out,

Right Speech.

Right View becomes the
basis for Right Thinking.

And then Right Thinking
becomes the basis for Right Speech.

And then our speech becomes
more gentle and kind, and people

enjoy being around us. They feel
inspired by what we say.

If we are caught in an idea about truth
and we say harsh things, we justify it.

We say I am just speaking the truth.
I've seen that happen in myself and

in others in the community.
And you think there are many

ways to express the truth. There
is not only one way.

So we may see something to
be true, but how can we

that's difficult to see,

that involves maybe wrong
perceptions on someone else's part.

But how can we help them
to shift their own story,

their own narrative of
themself, so that they can

find their own way out of that
situation, of the wrong view.

That's very interesting. That's acting
with kindness. That's the kind of

Bodhisattva action that we learn
about in the Mahayana already.

So that's using skillful means to
transform the situation,

change the narrative.

Or usually what Thay
would say, change the peg.

We have a rotten peg, its holding two ...

fundamental ... wood frame that's
holding up a house.

You have a rotten peg there, the way
to get it out, is to have a new

good peg, and you have a hammer,
and you put the new peg and

you hit out the old peg.
And as you hit out the old peg

you put in a new one.

So that's the practice of
Right Speech, Right Thinking.

You change the peg. So you don't
just kick out the rotten peg and then

have the house collapse. As you kick
out the old one, you put in a new one.

That's skillful means. Right Thinking
Right Speech and Right Action.

Sometimes our bodily actions are kind.
One thing we do often in the monastery

is somebody offers to wash
somebody else's dishes.

So lovely. It take almost
no more energy.

You have to go and
wash your dishes anyway

and then you bring them to the
washing up bins,

and you wash the other person's as well.

The kindness that you project
as you do that act is immeasurable.

So small things, small actions can,

with very little effort
bring great benefit.

But if we don't have this foundation
of Right View and Right Speech,

its very difficult to
reach that point,

where we can actually go up and say
can I wash your dishes for you.

Which is not to say, other things
that are more complex and difficult.

Like when someone is going
through a mental crisis, to

spend your time day in and
day out to be with that person.

Help them to overcome it.
That's quite a bit more effort

than offering to wash somebody's
dishes. But if you don't start with

just daily acts of kindness, its hard
to get to that place where you can

help somebody in their most
difficult moments.

So, Right Action is founded on these
one's that come before, Right Speech,

Right Thinking, Right View.

So these are four of the aspects
of the Noble Eight-fold Path.

We also have, as we've learned before,
we have Right Livelihood, Right Diligence,

and then Right Mindfulness, which
is involved with all aspects of the path.

Right Concentration keeping it steady.

Keeping our mindfulness steady over
time, not losing our way

or getting distracted.

Right Insight or Right View.

So these are all the noble Eightfold path

and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment
which are taught about in other places.

I don't think I'll go over it today.

They are basically the practices
of cultivating an awakened

experience of the present
moment in every moment,

cultivating mindfulness,

investigation, energy or diligence,

joy, peace, concentration and equanimity.

And they are wonderful practices to
cultivate in everyday life.

And of course we see that mindfulness
is here, Satipatthana, mindfulness is

also part of the Noble Eightfold Path
and mindfulness is also the first of

the Seven Factors of Enlightenment.

Very interesting.

This is why we focus so much on
mindfulness in the Plum Village tradition.

All of the juiciest and most delicious
practices of Buddhism involve mindfulness.

And like Thay would say, you can
never have too much mindfulness.

So we can always
cultivate more mindfulness.

Always have more awareness of
what is going on within us

and around us in the present moment.

So, this is how we take
a bath in Source Buddhism.

Practicing the Four
Foundations of Mindfulness.

We are also a Mahayana
tradition so we practice

as students in the lineage
of Zen Master Linji specifically.

And of course Zen has many
developed practices as well

in addition to those of
Source Buddhism like Koan practice,

or Gong-an in Chinese.

Then there is also shorter
phrases within the koans,

just stand alones
called [koan fragments]

which help us to

overcome some of our mental
afflictions and obstacles.

So we hold onto that phrase or case,
a koan is often translated as a case-

stories of things that happened.

We hold on to it in order to
overcome our delusional thinking.

But if we're not careful,
that practice of koan,

and I've done it before, in different
traditions before I came to Plum Village,

if we are not careful it can become
just an intellectual pursuit.

If there's a good teacher, my
experience is, koan can be

very helpful to overcome some
blocks we have mentally,

especially in cultivating the
capacity to let go.

Let go of our conceptual thinking.

But if we're not careful it can
lead to more conceptual thinking.

And if we look in the
Zen tradition,

the commentaries on the koans and
the [koan fragments] fill many volumes.

And,

what Thay realized as he became
more aware and more immersed in

the Buddhist traditions,

he saw that Zen had for a long time

not gone back to take
a bath in Source Buddhism.

Part of that is for geographical reasons,

but also there are some
dogmatic and ideological reasons.

And since he had this deep
experience of overcoming

his depression around the
situation of the war, the war

in Vietnam, as well
as his mother's death,

by practicing these
foundational practices,

the Foundations of Mindfulness,
Mindfulness of Breathing,

So Thay said, the Buddhist tradition
as a whole has to also do this

and go back and take a bath
in these early teachings

in order to refresh and renew.

So we don't abandon the Zen of the
Patriarch and the Mahayana teachings

which can help us to live
also in an enlightened way

to help ourselves and to
help others to wake up.

But we, just like the,

someone on a very hot day wants to go and
jump into the cool river and bathe itself.

They don't have to give a
big reason why to do it.

You just do it because
it feels refreshing.

And that's the spirit with which
we can practice Mahayana

and every day continue to bathe
in these fresh waters of the

Source Buddhist teachings.

Plum Village also inherits its
lineage from the Pure Land tradition.

So as a young monk, and in
many places in East Asia where the

Pure Land traditions is taught, young
monks and nuns need to learn and memorize

the [Shirmagadi] Sutra for example

as well as the Sukhavati Sutra,

and in Plum Village
we don't memorize the sutras.

Sometimes we read from them, but
if you are raised in the Pure Land

tradition you have to, as
an aspirant and young novice,

you have to memorize
these sutras in classical Chinese.

So you can chant them
from memory, and the

teaching of Pure Land in the Plum
Village tradition is that

the Pure Land is here and now.

So we don't need to wait until we
die and then recite the name of the Buddha

in order to be reborn in
the land of Amitabha Buddha.

But we can experience the Pure Land of
Amitabha Buddha, right here right now.

So the deep teaching of
Pure Land which is that

the Pure Land is there
in our own consciousness.

It is the way that we
look at the world and

experience it that creates the Pure Land
or creates the hell zone, so when we sing

the song "Here is the Pure Land, the Pure
is here" and I like very much to

sing that song because its
a very deep teaching.

Its transforming, going
deeper into the transformation

of the entire Pure Land tradition

which is to see the deep
Pure Land is here and now, and

it depends on how we see things. We see
the Buddha, in an autumn leaf

and we see Amitabha is already
there in the autumn leaf.

Dharma is a floating cloud.
We see the impermanence, the

non-self nature of the cloud.

We look, we get the dharma,
the teaching, in itself.

And we see the sangha body is everywhere.

So our true home is right here,

we don't need to find it
somewhere else, so

Pure Land tradition, so that is how
Thay helped to take the Pure Land

tradition, take a bath in the
Source Buddhist traditions, and

the same is true of the Mantrayana
tradition. In Vietnam there is also

a practice of chanting mantras,

When Thay went back to Vietnam in 2007,

three mass requiem ceremonies
were organized to honor

and also transform the suffering of
those who had been killed in the war,

in the North, in the South and also
the Americans. And this was very

Controversial in Vietnam. And many
people asked Thay in Vietnam,

Thay, you are organizing these ceremonies
three days of chanting mantras

and complex ceremonies,

are you abandoning the Plum
Village teachings?

We thought you were just about
mindfulness, concentration and

insight, why are you chanting
these mantras? And Thay responded

when we chant a mantra with
mindfulness, we can bring about

transformation and healing. It's not

the mantra in itself, it's how we chant it.

And in order to touch the
collective consciousness of Vietnam,

in order to bring about the kind
of healing that needs to happen in

order to overcome the suffering of all

these missing friends who
died, soldiers, families

and their graves were never marked,

their deaths were never
really honored in a proper way,

Thay had to use the
collective energy of this

Mantrayana practice of these three days,

the most elaborate
ceremony in East Asia

Badrayana, in order to

put mindfulness of chanting the
mantras and participating

in the ceremonies, to bring
about a collective transformation.

So that is Thay's practice of taking
also the Mantrayana practice of

Badarayana practice and having it
take a bath in Source Buddhism.

Bringing mindfulness to the
chanting. Mindfulness to the

ceremony so that is what brings
the effectiveness and the transformation.

So, the main point of this Tenet,
so that we can understand the

basis of Plum Village practice is that
we don't reject anything.

Buddhism doesn't have
a Protestant movement.

We are very, we have

taken care through the centuries
not to get caught in dogma.

Of course it does happen

but fortunately built
into Buddhism is the release

from ideology, getting
caught in ideology or dogma.

And so

we don't get violent about
ideologies or dogmas.

We honor the traditions. So we
learn to draw on practice, to bring about

collective transformation and
healing. When we notice that the tradition

has got a little bit stuck, there's a
renewing energy that comes in

and so we use our own insight
that's why we cannot get caught just

in practicing in the form, because
then we just get caught and

attached to the form.

So by going into the
tradition deeply we can bring

about transformation. That is
the spirit of Plum Village practice.

And Thay says, he told one of my
older brothers, if we are still

practicing the same exact way in
50 years, then Thay has not

taught us very well. We're not
honoring Thay's path.

So we also have to use our own insight
to be able to bring about new

transformation in the tradition. And
it's not easy, because Thay, I feel

has done such an amazing job in
so many ways renewing the

Buddhist traditions, but we really need

to put those into practice
in our life, and see

are they adequate? Because Thay wants
us to continue and deepen our insights,

bringing new insights even into
what Thay has already seen

in his own practice

and in the life of the community.
So that is the main point.

We don't reject anything.

I really love this Tenet and Thay's
approach to Buddhism. We are

not cutting off any part of the
Buddhist teachings, we are just

joyfully going back and taking
a bath in the early teachings

so that we can renew the original
intention and purpose as well

as the Mahayana, Zen, the Pure
Land and the Mantrayana teachings.

Okay. I'm a little bit over time.
Thank you brothers.

Very joyful.

So enjoy three sounds of
the bell.

[Bell]

[Bell]

[Bell]