The Third Mindfulness Training | Thich Nhat Hanh

The third mindfulness training
is about love.

True love.

Cultivating true love.

Aware of the suffering
caused by sexual misconduct,

I am committed to
cultivating responsibility

and learning ways
to protect the safety

and integrity of individuals, couples,
families, and society.

Knowing that sexual desire is not love,

and that sexual activity
motivated by craving

always harms myself as well as others,

I am determined not
to engage in sexual relations

without true love, and
a deep, long-term commitment

established in the presence
of the family and friends.

I will do everything in my power
to protect children from sexual abuse

and to prevent couples and families
from being broken by sexual misconduct.

Seeing that body and mind are one,

I am committed to
learning appropriate ways

to take care of my sexual energy
and to cultivate kindness,

compassion,

joy,

patience,

inclusiveness,

and all elements of true love

– for my greater happiness and
the greater happiness of others.

Practicing true love, we will continue
beautifully into the future.

We learn one thing
from the third mindfulness training.

Sexual desire...

and love,

they are two different things.

Because love can only
build, heal, re-build, heal.

So, for the third mindfulness training

about true love,

we have to learn how to generate

loving-kindness,

compassion,

joy,

and inclusiveness.

This is an art of loving.

And we have to learn
how to love ourselves.

We have to learn how
to take care of our body,

to release the tension in our body,

to reduce the pain in our body.

And there are very concrete ways to do it.

You know how to practice
touching the earth

by walking meditation,

by lying down,

allowing nature to heal you.

You know how to release
the tension in your body,

to reduce the pain in your body,

not to work your body too hard,...

All these things,

we can do.

But if you are...

so busy making money

in order to buy things,

do you have time to do so?

And there are those of us who know
how to organize our life in such a way

that we have enough time to...

to love.