Recognize Non-Afflictive States as Happiness, Instead of "Nothing" | Thich Nhat Hanh (EN subtitles)

In the Discourse of ...

The Four Establishments of Mindfulness,

in the contemplation of mental formations,

i.e. "contemplation of the mind in the mind,"

it goes like this,

"When anger manifests,

a practitioner knows

'There's the mental formation of anger.

The mental formation of anger is present in me.'

When the mental formation of sensual desire
manifests,

a practitioner knows

'The mental formation of sensual desire
is present in me.' "

And of course, with mental formations
like anger or craving,

when they manifest, we should recognize, for sure.

Recognize in order to transform ...
To embrace and transform, for sure.

But the sutra also said,
"When there's no mental formation of anger,"

we have to be aware that

"the mental formation of anger is not present in me."

"When there's no mental formation of craving in me,

a practitioner knows,

'the mental formation of craving
is not present in me'."

If we read the sutra,

without the eye of a practitioner,

we'll think, "Why do they have to make it so wordy?"

"When there's craving,
a practitioner knows there's craving."

"When there's no craving,
a practitioner knows there's no craving."

"When there's anger,
a practitioner knows there's anger."

"When there's no anger,
a practitioner knows there's no anger."

The sutra goes on and on like that.

And we're under the impression
the sutra is so wordy.

But in fact, it's not wordy at all !

Not a single word of the sutra is to spare.

When you don't have
the mental formation of anger in you,

that's exactly the moment
you have a lot of happiness.

But at that moment, we don't feel happy at all.

Only when the mental formation of anger manifests,

do we know, at that moment, we suffer a great deal.

But when anger's not there, we take it for granted.

We don't think it's happiness.

So happiness means, first of all,

happiness means the absence of suffering.

Peace means the absence of war.

When we have a craving, we suffer a great deal.

But when we don't have any craving in us,

it feels so free and peaceful
but we don't appreciate it.

So in the sutra, it goes, "When there's no craving,"

we "know, 'In me there is no craving'."

And we have to remember,

"Dear me, where there's craving, there's suffering.
Don't you forget that!"

Do you understand?

The line which goes "There's no craving in me,"

means "Dear me, wherever there's craving,
there's definitely suffering."

And thanks to that, we get to enjoy and feel happy

with our state of non-craving.

In Plum Village, we usually talk
about having toothache.

At midnight, at 1am or 2am,

out of the blue, our teeth hurt so bad.

And we know too well
the dentist will not work until 9am,

so we have to suffer from now until 9am or so.

Only then are we awakened to the fact that,

"Not having a toothache feels good."

"Not having a toothache is wonderful."

"Not having a toothache feels so happy."

But so many times,

when we don't have a toothache,
we don't feel happy at all.

Now, following that principle,
we should practice like this,

"My tooth hurts, and when it happens,
I know I'm having a toothache."

"And when I don't have a toothache,

I must acknowledge to myself,
'I do not have any toothache.' "

When I know I don't have a toothache,
I will feel happy right away.

And the not having a toothache
can only be recognized

against the backdrop of having a toothache.

Likewise, peace can only be recognized
against the backdrop of war.

So suffering and happiness
are inextricably linked together.

Without suffering,
happiness will never be recognized.

And we have the experience,

we have ...

memories of pain and suffering.

They're very important.

If you've ever suffered a great deal,
if you've ever gone through much suffering,

that experience is very precious.

Because thanks to that, you can recognize

the moments of happiness
that you can absolutely have.

So a practitioner is capable of cultivating happiness.

Only by remembering
the pain and suffering in the past,

can someone already touch
happiness in the present moment.

It's not too difficult.

So

every moment of our daily life
can be a moment of happiness,

if we put that moment

against the backdrops

of the suffering in the past
and the suffering in the present,

happening in us and around us.

And when we have sorrow or pain,

if we know how to handle and embrace it,

although the pain's still there, we no longer suffer.

Because it dawns on us that ...

we can do something to handle our suffering.

There are those who are in distress but ...

they can only sit there and do nothing about it.

They just allow their suffering to overwhelm them,

to take over them, and to crush them.

But as a practitioner,

we know we can do something about it.

And we can say, "This is the mud that I really need

in order to recognize and to cultivate my lotuses."

And as soon as we have this insight,

the situation changes immediately.

So a practitioner should be capable
of managing their own pain and suffering.

And once we know how
to manage our pain and suffering,

we'll know how to cultivate happiness.

They are inextricably linked together.

This Sunday we will study the ...

Dhammapada.

Dhammapada.

Chapter 39. Which is the last chapter.

This sutra also talks about happiness.

[Thay bowing out]

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