Dharma Body, Sangha Body | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

If you have a Christian background,

you can say that this flower...

belongs to the Kingdom of God.

In the Buddhist tradition

we say this flower...

is a manifestation
from the Dharmakaya.

dharmakaya
法身

The word "dharma" means
"things,"

"phenomena"
like a flower, a cloud.

And "Dharma"...

written in capital letter,

it means "teaching,"
the teaching of the Buddha.

So dharma with "d"...

with ordinary "d" like this

means a phenomenon,

like a marker,

like a house, like a tree:
all dharmas.

And when Dharma is
written with a capital "D,"

it means the teaching of the Buddha.

And there is the word,
dharma...

"dharmadhatu (法界),"
realm of the dharma.

The realm of all phenomena...

...all the dharmas.

The cosmos.
Dharmadhatu is the cosmos.

It comprises of all phenomena.

And sometimes...

it is considered to be a "body."

"Dharmakaya" means
the body of the Dharma.

It's interesting to compare
the notion of "Dharmakaya"...

with the notion of
"Kingdom of God"

because many of us here are
from a Christian background.

During the time of the Buddha,

people practiced taking refuge

in the Buddha, the Dharma,
and the Sangha.

The Buddha is the teacher,
the Dharma is the teaching...

and the Sangha is the community
that carries the teaching.

Sangha is the community
that applies the teaching...

in the daily life.

A practitioner has three bodies.

He has his physical body,

but he has also his Dharma body

because his Dharma body
is his practice.

When you learn...

the practice of breathing, walking,
sitting, meditating,

you begin to have a Dharma body.

That is our spiritual dimension.

If you have a practice,

if you have a spiritual practice,

then you can encounter
the difficulties of life;

you know how to handle
a feeling of fear, anger, distress;

you know how to
overcome obstacles...

difficulties in your daily life.

You need a practice,
a spiritual practice.

And that is the Dharmakaya.

And every one of us
has our physical body,

but every one of us has
a Dharma body

because you have
a spiritual practice.

And then in order to practice well
we need another body, which is...

"Sangha body."

We need a community.

We need friends on the path
to support one another.

So you take refuge
in the Dharma,

you take refuge also in the Sangha:
Sangha body.

Here in Plum Village...

monks, nuns, lay practitioners,
they...

take refuge in each other:
they take refuge in the Sangha.

And they keep their practice alive,

they deepen their practice everyday
thanks to the collective practice,

through the collective energy
of the practice.

If you don't have a Sangha body,

you will abandon your practice...

after a few months
when you go home.

So you are encouraged that...

if you have a Dharma body,
your spiritual practice,

and if you want to to nourish...

to preserve that Dharma body,

then when you go home to your city
you have to...

build a Sangha:

to find friends in order to
set up a community of practice.

and you meet every week to do
walking meditation, sitting meditation...

and by doing so
you...

you nourish, you maintain
your practice.

And you nourish your Dharma body.

So you you need a Sangha body

to nourish your Dharma body,
your practice.

And that is the meaning
of the word "Dharma body"...

in the time of the Buddha.

One day a monk was dying.

His name was Vakkali.

And the Buddha went to see him.

And the Buddha asked him,
"Dear friend Vakkali,

How do you feel in your body?"

And Vakali said, "Well, there is
a lot of pain in my body."

And the Buddha reminded him
to practice...

mindful breathing, and focus
his attention on the Three Jewels:

the Buddha, the Dharma,
and the Sangha.

And finally the Buddha said,
"Dear friend, do you still regret anything?"

And he said, "Dear Teacher,
I have no regrets...

except one.

That is I'm too weak
these days, and...

I regret that I cannot go
to the mountain to see you."

Vakkali, in the past, had been
an attendant of the Buddha.

And because he was a little bit
too attached to the Buddha...

he wasn't allowed to be
an attendant of the Buddha.

Some attachment!

And then Buddha said,
"Dear friend Vakkali,

this is only my physical body.

This physical body of mine
will disintegrate in a number of years.

You already have my Dharma body.

My Dharma body is always with you.

It's important.

This physical body is not important.

So at the time of the Buddha
there is already...

the distinction between
the physical body and the Dharma body.

The essential is that you get
the Dharma body of the Buddha

and his physical body
is impermanent.

You should not be attached
to a physical body.

If you have already
the Dharma body,

you can continue
to nourish your Dharma body.

So that is the meaning of the word
"Dharma body" in the time of the Buddha,

but later on...

the word "Dharma body"
has another meaning...

especially in Mahayana Buddhism.

Dharma body means
the body of the dharmas.

There are Mahayana sutras
where you read that...

that the Buddha never died.

The Buddha continues, always

in many forms,
including this flower.

This is a continuation of the Buddha.

And if you know how to
contemplate the flower,

if you know how to listen,

this flower is teaching you...

mindfulness, concentration, insight,

the Noble Eightfold Path,
the Four Noble Truths...

It's teaching!

It's teaching you
impermanence, no self, interbeing.

you need a kind of ear that can...

that can hear
the teachings of the Buddha

through his new manifestation
as a flower.

So in Mahayana Buddhism
the Buddha continues to be there.

The Buddha has never died,

and he's teaching
always the Dharma.

A tree standing in the front yard
is teaching the Dharma.

A river, a cloud, everything
is teaching you the Dharma.

And the Dharmakaya is equivalent
to the Kingdom of God.

It is available
in the here and the now.

The Buddha is available.

And this flower is...

one form of manifestation
of the Buddha's.

And if you listen to it,
if you contemplate it,

you can touch the nature of
no birth and no death in it.

It's teaching you
the Noble Eightfold Path...

It's teaching you
impermanence, no-self.

A pebble...

a butterfly, a river also is...

giving a Dharma talk.

And the problem is
whether you are capable of listening...

to the Dharma talk
given by...

the tree, the creek,
the cloud, the river.

They are all
talking about impermanence,

no-self, interbeing,
no birth no death.

And that is the teaching of
Mahayana Buddhism.

So you can say that
this flower is the manifestation...

of the Dharmakaya,
the Dharma Body.

And your body also is
teaching you impermanence,

no-self, interbeing,
no birth and no death.

If you listen to your body,

you listen to the Dharma also.

You no longer have a complex.

Your body is a wonder of life.

observing your body,
you can find out impermanence,

no-self, interbeing,
no birth and no death.

So if...

if you have
a Christian background,

you can see
that this flower...

belongs the Kingdom of God.

If you are a Buddhist practitioner,
you say this flower...

is the manifestation
of the Dharmakaya.

So the Dharmakaya is equivalent
to the Kingdom of God.

And according to our practice,
the Kingdom of God is available...

in the here and the now.

The Kingdom of God
is on Earth

in the here and the now.

And when you practice
walking meditation,

you touch the Kingdom of God
with every step, every breath.

You don't have to die
to go to the Kingdom of God.

It may be too late.

You don't have to go anywhere...

to go up
to touch the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is on Earth.

And you can touch the Kingdom of God
through a flower, a pebble, a creek.

You can touch the Kingdom of God
through your body

because your body also
belongs to the Kingdom of God.

That is the insight you need...

when you practice
walking meditation.

You are walking
in the Kingdom of God.

And if you do well, every step can
bring joy, happiness and freedom.

Every breath can bring
joy, happiness and freedom.

And you get the healing, the transformation,
the nourishment with every step

and with every breath.

Walking meditation
is not a hard labor.

This is enjoyment.

And according to this practice,
the Kingdom is now or never.