Our Mind, Individual & Collective | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

The fifth verse:

"Whether from our family or friends,
from our society or education,

all seeds are, by nature,
both individual and collective."

Here we have another pair of opposites:

Individual and collective.

And we should be able to transcend
that idea of collective and individual.

In the manifestation,
in the manifested world,

we discern that things that are collective,
and the things that are individual.

The sun...

the sun in the sky is thought to be
something collective.

We equally share the sun.

And the backyard of my house
is thought to be individual.

I am the only person that can enjoy
the backyard of my house.

So one is individual,
and the other is collective.

But if we look more deeply,
we see that...

what we call collective is not entirely collective.

The same sun, yes.
But we live in different countries...

We live in different states.

We got different kind of weather.

So that is individual and collective.
And there is the collective in the individual.

The constitution, the law, is
described as something collective...

Everybody can enjoy the same constitution,

the same set of law.

But there are people who know how to profit,

and there are those who don't know
how to profit and to protect themselves.

So the collective and the individual...

they inter-are.

Let us talk about a bus...

a bus, where 50 people sit.

The bus is something collective...

...to those 50 people.

And I have my own body,

which is individual.

And as I continue to look at other people,
I can see their bodies, their eyes, their faces,

their clothes, everything.

Even if a person wears a pair of glasses,
which belong to him,

I can already see that pair of glasses.

So that pair of glasses, although belonging to him,

also I can see, I can perceive it.

And that person is not me, but because of
the fact that I can see him or her,

I share, I also share...

I can also share his presence.

So what that person thinks to be
an individual thing...

...has the collective nature in it.

And there are things I don't see,

like the nerve system of the driver.

The physiological constitution of the driver,
his optic nerves...

...I cannot see it.

The driver's optic nerves seem to be
something strictly individual.

But since he's my driver, the quality of
his optic nerves can determine my safety.

So the optic nerves of the driver have
something to do with me.

Therefore it is not strictly individual.

It is also collective in some extent.

So when we look deeply at anything
around or inside us,

we can discover whether one thing
is more collective...

or more individual.

Nothing is absolutely collective, and
nothing is completely individual.

Suppose there is a candle.

And the candle, when lit,
begins to offer zones of light.

Here the light is brighter.

Here it is less bright.

And here it's even less.

And suppose here...

we have another candle.
and when we light the candle...

it will offer this light...
like this.

Of course this is brighter...
than here,

and brighter than here,
and brighter than here.

So the light emitted from this candle,
it lights this candle.

It shines on this candle.

It allows people to see the candle well.

But it also shines on the other candle.

And it helps the other candle
to be seen more clearly.

The other candle has already its own light.

But now when we analyze
this zone, for instance...

we can see the light here is a collective light

coming from this candle,
and coming from this candle.

And if we compare this zone with this zone,
there is already a difference.

So the degree of collectivity and
individuality is different

in each space.

The fact is that the collective contains the individual;
the individual contains the collective,

and if we continue to look,
there is no absolute collectivity;

there is no absolute individuality.

Our idea of collectivity and individuality
is just ideas.

Let us consider our brain inside our skull.

Is it individual or collective?

The way you think,

the way you judge,

the way you evaluate,

the way you like, the way you hate.

Look deeply into the nature
of your liking, of your hating...

of your ideas, of your appreciation,
of your anger.

You'll see that everything has
the collective nature in it,

and everything has also
the individual nature in it.

Look at the stock market...

the rise and fall of the stock market.

What are the elements that determine
the rise and the fall of these things?

The collective and the individual.

The collective is made of the individual,
and the individual is made of the collective.

The Buddha said,
"This is because that is."

So simple.
And yet, so deep.

You may like to ask this question:

Is my alaya [store consciousness]
different from yours?

Is there an alaya for everyone,
collective alayavijñana for everyone?

Or is there a separate alaya for each person?

It's very natural that you ask that question.

We have said that there are pairs of opposites.

When you see a pair of opposites manifesting,

try always to look in the nature of interbeing.

This/the other is another pair of opposite.

Self and nonself,

you and I,
father and son.

We have had an opportunity to look into
the nature of interbeing of father and son.

If the son can go back to himself,
touch himself deeply,

looking deeply into himself,

he will find that he's a continuation
of his father.

And even if he has suffered
so much because of his father...

he has hated his father...

he has made a declaration that he doesn't
want to have anything to do with his father,

he'll find out that he is the continuation
of his father.

He cannot take his father out of himself.

How could he?
He is the continuation of his father.

He is his father.

So the wish not to have anything
to do with the father

is just an illusion.

Because you are the continuation of your father.

You are your father.

There is one thing in you to be handled:

that kind of anger,
that kind of hatred,

that is born from your ignorance,
from your delusion.

Father and son is a pair of opposites.

And if you look deeply into
the nature of father and son,

you discover the nature of interbeing.

Self and nonself

is another pair of opposites.

We said that the self is made of
non-self elements.

And that statement may be very helpful

so that we could have a chance to
look deeply, touching deeply the self,

we'll find that the self is made of nothing
except non-self elements.

Another idea:

inside and outside.

You may like to ask,
where is our store consciousness?

Is it inside the body,
or outside the body?

We have seen that each cell in our body possesses
all the characteristics, all the elements,

all the experiences, all the joys, all the sufferings
of many generations of ancestors.

With one cell only
of our body,

we can make a replica of ourself.

And it is possible to say that...

alayavijñana, our store consciousness,
can be touched within each cell of our body.

All the genes...

the genes in us, we can describe them
as seeds, as bijas...

properties.

They are the properties,
that can be recognized,

can be touched.

The talents, the happiness,
the suffering...

of all our ancestors can be recognized
within each cell of our body.

So it is possible for us to say that...

store consciousness can be found
in each cell of our body.

But we know also...

that the inside is made of the outside.

When we touch our body,
we recognize the element of water,

the element of heat,
the element of air,

the element of earth in us.

And we know that these Four Elements...

they are outside of our body...

that if we continue to touch deeply,
we realize that the sun is my second heart.

My first heart seems to be inside of my body.

And I know if my first heart stops to function,

I will die right away.

But the sun is my second heart,
shining in the sky.

If the sun stops,
I will also die right away.

So "The Sun My Heart" is the title of
a book of mine.

I have a heart outside of my body.

Maybe my body is larger than this.

My body is the whole cosmos.

The other night I said,
a piece of bread we eat...

...is the body of the cosmos.
Each of us is also the body of the cosmos.

We are not limited to our body.
And when we die,

we don't die.
And we know that our body is not us.

We are more than this body.

So alaya is... where is alaya?

We can say that alaya is
in each cell of our body,

and we can say also that
alaya is outside of our body.

The idea of outside and inside is also
a pair of opposites to be transcended.

We are sitting here in a lotus position
or half lotus position.

We are confident that's the direction...

this direction is the above

and this is the direction of the below.

But other people who's practicing sitting
meditation on the other side of the planet,

they would not agree.

They wouldn't say that this is their above.

This is their below.

So either idea of below and above cannot
be applied to the cosmos.

Because below and above is also
another pair of opposites.

It would be very helpful
if we train ourselves to look in that way.

The above contains the below;

the below contains the above.

The inside can be touched in the outside;
the outside can be touched in the inside.

We are caught in ideas.

And that is why it's difficult for us
to touch the ultimate reality.