This Body Is Not Me | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

This is something we can remember,
we can practice:

if we sit close to a person who is dying,

you should talk to him,

you should talk to her,

and touch the seed of happiness,
in him or in her.

You should be able
to recognise these seeds

in the agonizing person

and even if that person is in a coma,

you should also talk to him or to her,

because there is a way
by which that person can

communicate with us.

There was a student in Bordeaux, France,
who learned that his mother is dying

and he came to Plum Village
to get some teachings,

some instructions,
in order to help his mother,

and Sister Chân Không told him to do that,

means to talk to his mother,

and talk to her only about the beautiful,

the happy things in her life,

and when he arrived
in California, where his mother was dying,

his mother was in a coma.

Doctors had tried to revive her,
to bring her back to consciousness,

but they failed,

and the young student just practised
according to the instructions.

He sat and he just talked to his mother.

About forty-five minutes later
she came back, she woke up.

Very amazing.

The doctors could not believe it.

You know the Fellowship of Reconciliation,

when I first came to America,

and the chancellor

who was the general secretary
of the Fellowship of Reconciliation,

Peace and Reconciliation in New York,

and he helped me to tour America
in order to speak

about the situation in Vietnam.

That was in 1966,

and with the help of Alfred
and the Fellowship of Reconciliation

we have organised peace activities

a little bit in Europe,
everywhere in Europe,

and in Asia and so on.

And we have shared a lot of time together
working for peace in Vietnam,

and there were very joyful moments
when we worked together

to end the war in Vietnam.

One day Sister Chân Không, myself,
and a number of friends

were driving to,
I think,

Omega Institute in Upper New York City
to give a retreat.

We learned that Alfred was agonizing
in a Catholic hospital

not very far from there,

so we decided to go there and to see him.

When we arrived,

Dorothy, his wife,
and Laura, his daughter, were there,

and Alfred was being fed
with glucose serums

but he also was in a coma,

and Laura, his daughter,

who had volunteered to work
in our Peace Office in Paris,

she was so glad to see
myself and Sister Chân Không

coming to visit her father.

She tried her best to wake up Alfred:

"Alfred, Alfred, Daddy,

You know that Thay is here,
Sister Chân Không is here,"

but Alfred did not wake up.

And then I told Sư Cô (Sister) Chân Không
to sing for Alfred.

The song I wrote,

using the words of the Buddha
in the Pali Cannon,

also in the Chinese Cannon,
the same text,

"This body is not me.

I'm not caught in this body,

I'm life without boundaries.

My nature is no birth and no death.

It went -- it goes on like that.

And when Sư Cô (Sister) Chân Không
sang it for the third time,

Alfred woke up.

You see,
there is a communication possible.

We were very happy to see Alfred awake,

and I was massaging his feet
to give him the feeling that he is there.

He was there.

And Laura said "Alfred, you know that
Thay is here? Sister Chân Không is here?

Alfred was not able to speak,

but his eyes showed that he was aware,

that I was there,
that Sister Chân Không was there.

And then Sister Chân Không
began to talk to him.

We have learned what to talk about.

"Alfred, do you remember
the time we were in Rome."

At that time 300 Buddhist monks
were in the prison of Vietnam

because they refused to be drafted
in to the army

and in Rome we had been able to invite
300 Catholic priests

to come for a vigil
— a demonstration —

and each Catholic priest wore the name
of a Buddhist monk in Vietnam.

"Do you remember that, Alfred?"

And she continued to talk to him
about happy souvenir

during the time
working together for peace.

And you know what happened?

After about 10 minutes,
Alfred opened his mouth

and said:
"Wonderful, Wonderful" (two times).

And after that, he sunk back
in to the coma again.

It was late
and we had to give an orientation talk

at the Omega Institute
in Upper New York.

That is why we had to leave.

But we told Dorothy,
and Laura, to continue the practice.

And the next morning,
very early,

I got a telephone call from Laura

and she reported that her father died
very peacefully without any pain.

Śāriputra did the same thing
while being with Anathapindika.

He tried to water the good seeds,
the seeds of happiness, in Anathapindika

by practising the four recollections.

And after that,
Anathapindika was able to smile.

They continued the guided meditation.

"Let us practice together,
the three of us" he said.

"Breathing in,

I know that my eyes are not me,

my ears are not me.

I am more than my eyes,
my ears, my nose, my tongue.

Breathing in, I know this body is not me.

I am not caught in this body.

I am life without boundaries.

The disintegration of this body
is not my disintegration.

My true nature is the nature of
no birth and no death.

Breathing in,

I'm aware of the element of heat in me:
fire.

The heat in me, the element of fire in me,
is not me.

I am more than the element 'fire'.

Breathing in,
I'm aware of the element 'water' in me.

I am not the water,

I'm more than the water.

I'm not caught
in the element 'water' in me.

You know the four great elements,
Mahābhūta.

Fire, earth, air, and water.
Yes, four.

Breathing in,

I know,
the form that I see with eyes is not me.

The sounds that I hear with my ears,
are not me."

So the guided meditation
helps the dying person

not to identify with his sense events.

It's very important.

This body hasn't come from nowhere.

When conditions are sufficient,
this body manifests.

It has not come from the north, the south,
the east, the west.

Before the manifestation,
you cannot say "it did not exist."

After the manifestation,
you cannot say that it exists.

You know exactly
what we just heard in the dharma talk.

And by that time,
Ānanda, the Venerable Ānanda,

saw that tears began to roll down
the eyes of Anathapindika.

He felt sorry
for Anathapindika.

He asked:
"My dear friend, why are you crying?!

Do you regret anything?"

Anathapindika said "No, Venerable Ānanda,
I don't regret anything."

"Or maybe you
didn't succeed in your meditation?"

"No, Venerable Ānanda,
I succeeded very well in my meditation."

"Why are you crying then?"

"Venerable Ānanda,
I cry because I am so moved."

"I have served the Buddha, The Sangha,
The Dharma, more than 30 years

and I have never received
and put into practice

such a wonderful teaching,
like the one given to me today

by the Venerable Śāriputra."

"The teaching of no-birth, no-death,
no-coming, no-going,"

"no-being, no-non-being."

Ānanda was still young.

He said, "Dear friend, you don't know
but this kind of teaching

we monks, monastics,
receive almost every day."

(Laughter)

Anathapindika looked at the Venerables
and said,

"Dear Venerable Ānanda,
please, when you go home,

please tell the Lord, that we lay people,
even if many of us are busy,

not capable of receiving
such wonderful teaching."

"But there are those of us, as lay people,
who are free enough, who have enough time,

to receive this teaching
and to put in to our practice."

"So please tell the Buddha
-- request him --

to dispense this kind of teaching
to us lay people as well."

And that was the last request
made by Anathapindika.

Ānanda accepted to do the condition,

and after that,
Anathapindika died peacefully.

If you would like to read the story again,
it is in the Plum Village Chanting Book,

and if you are assisting...

if you are social workers,
or doctors, or psychotherapists,

who have the duty
to accompany the dying people,

I think it's very rare,
helpful, and wonderful

to study and to practice this teaching.

If you have non-fear,

if you have touched the nature of
no-birth and no-death in you

you'll be a very precious element,

conditioned for that person
to die in peace.

You will be inspiring,
very inspiring, to him or to her.

Your presence,
like the presence of Śāriputra,

who helped the dying person
to die peacefully, without fear.

I like to ask Sister Chân Không
to come and sing the song:

"This Body is Not Me".

I don't know whether
she still remembers the song.

(Laughter)

(Singing)

This body is not me

I am not caught in this body

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,

and I will never die.

Look at the ocean, and the sky,
filled with stars,

manifestations of my wondrous mind.

Since immemorial time,
I have been dreaming.

Birth and death are only doors,
by which I pass by,

sacred treasure on my journey.

Birth and death:
a hide-and-seeking game.

So smile to me,
take my hand,

let us say goodbye,

say goodbye 'till we meet again.

We meet today.

We shall meet tomorrow.

We are meeting in all walks of life.

This body is not me.

I am not caught in this body.

I am life without boundary.

I have never been born,
and I will never die.

Birth and death are only doors,
by which I pass by,

sacred treasure on my journey.

Birth and death,
a hide-and-seeking game.

So smile to me, hold my hand,
let us say goodbye.

Say goodbye, 'till we meet again.

We meet today.

We shall meet tomorrow.

We are meeting in all walks of life.

This body is not me.

I am not caught in this body.

I am life without boundaries.

I have never been born,
and I will never die.