Non-Duality: No Mud, No Lotus | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video)

In our mind we have
a tendency to discriminate.

We discriminate against,
we discriminate between

mind and matter.

And that is why we
ask the question

whether mind is a product of matter?

and matter is a product of mind?

Uh... materialism says that

our mind is a product of matter

and idealism says that, uh....

what you see as matter,
there is only your mind;

so they continue to
quarrel and dispute each other

just because
they use the mind of discrimination

in order to look at things.

But in the tradition of Buddhism,
mind & matter are not 2 separate entities.

Sometimes they manifest as mind...

sometimes it manifests as matter.

It's like in subatomic physics

the elementary particle sometimes
expresses itself as a particle,

sometimes as a wave.

So to say that it is a particle is wrong,

to say that it is a wave is equally wrong.

It is both.

And this sheet of paper,

which has the 'left' and the 'right'.

And we know that we cannot
take the 'left' out of the 'right',

and the 'right' out of the 'left'.

You cannot come and take the 'right'
and go to Bordeaux,

and the 'left' to go to Toulouse.

No, they are always together.
You cannot take them out of each other.

And that is the teaching of Interbeing
in Buddhism.

Interbeing means you cannot be
by yourself alone

you have to inter-be with us.

The 'left' has to inter-be
with the 'right'

The 'left' is not enemy of the 'right'.
(small laugh)

The 'left' has to lean on the 'right
in order to manifest herself.

and the 'right' has to lean on the 'left'
in order to manifest herself.

So this is the mind of non-discrimination.

But if we continue
with our mind of discrimination,

we distort everything. And we..
and we oppose matter to mind,

left and right, and so on.
(couging)

(Breathing in) And last week
we also learned that

suffering and happiness,
they are not enemies. (small laugh)

They inter-are.

Suffering is made of happiness,
and happiness is made of suffering.

If there is no suffering,
there is no happiness.

And if there is no happiness,
there is no suffering.

It's like the lotus flower and mud.

If there is no mud,
you cannot grow lotus.

And lotus stay there for sometime
and become the mud again.

So looking into the lotus you see the mud,

and looking into the mud,
you see future lotus.

So suffering is like that.

Someone who have....who has the capacity
to go back to himself,

and listen to his own suffering,

and look deeply into his suffering,

he will be able to understand
that suffering inside of him....

that carries with it
the suffering of his father, his mother,

his ancestors.

and getting in touch with suffering inside
help you to understand your own suffering.

And understanding suffering
gives rise to compassion.

And when compassion arisis,
you suffer less right away.

Because you see the past of...
of transformation and healing.

If you have understood
the nature, the roots of your suffering,

and then the path of... the path
leading to the cessation of the suffering

will appear in front of you.

And having seen the path,
you are no longer afraid.

You know how to make good use
of suffering in order to make happiness.

It is like the brothers in Plum Village,
they know how to make good use of the mud

in order to produce
beautiful lotus flowers.

There are one or two lotus flowers left
in Upper Hamlet and Lower Hamlet.

So... so... one of the things you learn
last week is that we need suffering.

Suffering can be.. can be useful,

and we can speak about
the goodness of suffering.

Because... going back and listen
and understanding....

and understand our suffering,

we give rise to the birth
of.. of.. of.. compassion and love.

And when compassion, love is born,
we suffer less right away.

Suppose you look at someone,

even that someone
has made you suffer a lot

during the past many years.

You don't want to look at him or her

Because.. because.. everytime you look
at him or her you suffer.

Possibly you believe that that person
has made you suffer so much.

But now with the practice,
you become different.

Because you have already understood
your own suffering.

That is why you are capable of
recognizing the suffering in him, in her.

And you understand why
such a person suffers so much.

And that person suffers so much,

and does not know
how to handle the suffering,

that is why his suffering is
spilling all over, around,

and you are a victim.

Maybe, he did not want
to make you suffer.

Just because he did not know how,

he does not know how
to handle the suffering,

that is why he continue to suffer.

And because he suffer,
you have to suffer.

You are the second victim.

And he is the first victim
of his suffering.

So having understood
your own suffering,

you have compassion, you have insight.
And you suffer less.

And that allows you to
look at the other person,

and when you can see the suffering
in her, in him,

and you understand why
that person suffer like that,

you are no longer angry at him anymore.

And this is the truth.

When you look at someone,

and if you can see the suffering
in that someone,

that he is not capable
of handling that suffering,

you don't blame.. blame him anymore.

You are not angry at him anymore.

Instead you want to do something,
and to say something

in order for him to suffer less.

It means that you have
compassion in your heart.

And compassion in your heart
does not make you suffer anymore.