~*~Fwd: Dharma Talk Given By Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

[Guest guest]

RamakrishnaVedantaSannyasini, "mysticambrosia333"

<mysticambrosia333> wrote:

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~*~ Forwarded By: Shivani Sannyasini & Cozmic Neon Flower Of Mystic

Ambrosia & Tobie Elias "The Radical Woodstock Mystic" ~*~

 

 

 

Dharma Talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh on December 19, 1999 in Plum

Village,

France.

 

 

Go as a Sangha

 

© Thich Nhat Hanh

_____

 

 

Today is December 19, 1999 and we are in the Upper Hamlet for our

Dharma

talk. I always think of the year 2000 as a bell of mindfulness, I

have been

using it as a bell of mindfulness to become aware that time passes

very

quickly. And we should be there in such a way that can make a future

possible for our children and their children, because during the

twentieth

century we have made a mess and individualism has prevailed. The

insight of

interbeing, the insight of interconnectedness is so important for us.

We

have to learn that happiness cannot be possible as an individual

matter. So

seeking for happiness for your individual self is something

impossible, and

that is why we have to learn to live as Sangha. Not only humans have

to live

as a Sangha, but they have to learn to live with other species as a

Sangha.

We have to accept animals, vegetables and minerals as partners, as

members

of our Sangha and this way of life, this insight is very clear in the

Buddhist teaching. So the most meaningful thing for us to do today,

tomorrow

and after tomorrow is to prepare ourselves to live as a Sangha.

It means we have to get out of the prison of our self and this is a

practice. How to get out of the prison of self. We have been so long

in that

prison of self, we have suffered so much, we have caused a lot of

suffering

to other people and other species, and that is why to get out of that

kind

of prison is our practice.

For many years I have been saying that the next Buddha that will come

to us

will take the form of a Sangha and not an individual. That is not a

fantasy

on my part, but the insight I have got through my life, through my

experience. The next Buddha may take the form of a Sangha and

everyone else

will be a cell of the Buddhakaya, the Buddha body, and it is possible

for us

to prepare ourselves to be that cell in the body of the Buddha.

I always think of the twenty first century as a beautiful hill. It

may be a

great joy to climb the hill together as a Sangha and with the Sangha

we can

go very far. No matter how old you are, how young you are, you are

climbing

with the Sangha. The Buddhist sangha has been here two thousand five

hundred

years and they will continue. Let us be part of that Sangha. Let us

use that

Sangha in order to form a larger Sangha.

The 21st century may be a very pleasant century for us. You may enjoy

deeply

the coming century if you know how to embark upon it with faith, with

joy,

and with insight. I am convinced that with the insight of interbeing,

with

the capacity of living as a Sangha, the climb will be very beautiful,

very

pleasant.

You are now at the foot of the hill and in just eleven days we will

begin

the climb. And we shall be climbing the hill of the century with our

ancestors who are in us and with our children: blood ancestors and

spiritual

ancestors, blood children and spiritual children, hand in hand we

will climb

the century hill with joy. The only thing to remember is to do it as a

Sangha, not as individuals any more. Climbing like that we need some

freedom, some liberation: freedom of the self, liberation of the

self, and

the joy will be collective joy, it will be nourishing us.

Looking into the individual you see the collective and looking into

the

collective you see the individual and we know that with that insight

we will

be free. Happiness will not be possible without the happiness of those

around us, including animals, vegetables and minerals. On the last

day of

the year, on the last day of the century we will be celebrating our

togetherness according to a schedule offered to us by the brothers of

the

Upper Hamlet. We will have in the morning two hours of solitary

meditation.

In the morning we will gather and receive instructions as to how to

practice

two hours of solitary meditation.

Each of us can go somewhere and really work on it. With our

suffering, our

despair we can open up a new door for the future. We are determined

to begin

anew and we make a commitment with ourselves and with our ancestors

and our

children that we will do it differently next year, next century. We

will not

allow individualism to prevail and to destroy. We will learn how to

see the

happiness of the Sangha as our own happiness and we will learn how to

live

as a cell in a body, as a bee in a beehive. Responsible, open,

because when

we are open we receive the information from other members of the

Sangha, and

we know what to do and what not to do in order for the Sangha to be

happy.

The Sangha's will is the Buddha's will. The Sangha's will is God's

will, and

that is why we have to be open and to receive information. Sometime

they

don't use words but the way they think, the way they feel, the way

they

look, the way they act is very clear, and gives very clear messages.

So, if

we just keep open and then we receive the information. And we know

perfectly

what to do and what not to do in order to be a good member of the

Sangha.

You know that the bees communicate, they communicate with their

dance. The

termites also, they use chemicals in order to communicate. Our

thoughts, our

words and our acts are made of energy that is a kind of chemicals.

The way

we are in a community is the way we communicate and if you are mindful

enough, if you are open enough you receive the communication from the

other

members of the Sangha.

We know that in our brain the neurons they always fire their

electrical

impulses in order to keep the communication alive and continuous

between

themselves, they don't need a boss to tell them what to do. The

neurons are

capable of being there, open and in permanent communication. That is

why

they respond to other neurons, they collaborate with other neurons in

such a

wonderful way! We should learn from them.

When we play music we notice that the music and the rhythm create a

kind of

reaction in our brain. We know that oscillation patterns take place in

various areas of the brain and there is a symphony taking place, a

kind of

orchestra coming together musically, without any director. If you

remember

the text, you see that the first moment of consciousness takes place

in a

fraction of a second ksana (Sanskrit) is the shortest unit of time.

It is a

moment of consciousness and that moment of consciousness is not the

product

of one neuron, it is a product of all the neurons together. It is

like the

flame, one ksana (Sanskrit), and if the second moment of

consciousness takes

place, it is thanks to the presence of the moment of consciousness

that has

just died. And the two moments of consciousness succeeding each other

have a

base, because without that base it cannot happen.

Look at the candle. We see the flame, we see the wax, we see the

conditions

like the oxygen and the flame cannot be there without a base. Because

the

base is always there that is why the flame can continue. Looking

deeply into

the flame you can see the base. The base is alaya vijnana, the root

consciousness. But the root consciousness, alaya vijnana is not

something

that is apart from a moment of consciousness because looking deeply

into the

moment of consciousness which lasts only a fraction of a second we

can see

alaya vijnana, we can see the base. It is like looking at the flame

we can

see everything else, like the wax and so on.

Living in the community we are aware that every one of us has a base,

the

notion of base in Buddhism is very important. Ashraya (Sanskrit)

means the

base. Touching ourselves deeply, looking deeply into ourselves we can

touch

the base. And being able to touch our base we are able to realize the

nature

of interconnectedness within us and (with) the rest. It means our

brothers

and sisters, our brother tree, our sister rock, all our brothers and

sisters. Looking into a rock we see the base, looking into a tree we

see the

base, looking into our brother we see the base. It is like looking

into

every Dharma we can see alaya vijnana, it is the same. And with that

insight

in us there is no longer any separation if we know how to respond and

to

react in a way that harmony will be possible in the Sangha, and in the

larger Sangha because our Sangha has humans, animals, minerals and

vegetables.

So the insight of no self, the insight of interbeing, the insight of

interconnectedness if we can keep them alive, if we know how to

cultivate

that insight and keep it alive daily we will be free from the prison

of

self. We will be able to see the happiness of the Sangha as our own,

this is

very important. And that is why in two hours of solitary meditation we

should do our best in order to work it out, to make that

determination not

to continue the ancient of way of life. We have to make a solemn

promise to

us and to our base and to everyone that we will be different, we will

learn

to live as a Sangha. The family is a Sangha. The society is a Sangha.

The

Earth is a Sangha.

Two hours of solitary retreat on the 31st is a gift, whether you are

here or

you are in another place you are welcome to take at least two hours

for your

meditation. Look back at yourself, look back at the world and see how

much

suffering we have created. And we see the roots of the suffering, of

isolation, of sorrow, of fear. We see our wrong perceptions, we know

that in

the past we were victims of our wrong perceptions. We believed so

much in

our perceptions. And practicing looking deeply we see how wrong we

were in

our perceptions. And we promise that we will not do like that again,

we rely

on the Sangha to have a better perception of reality because the

Sangha eyes

are always brighter, clearer than the eyes of an individual. This is

exactly

what we say when we declare, I take refuge in the Sangha. I take

refuge in

the Sangha, means I don't rely on my perceptions alone. I don't want

to rely

on my individual perceptions alone. I want to be ready to see, to

look at

things with the Sangha eyes. Using the Sangha eyes is a wonderful

practice

and that is our practice.

So during the two solitary hours we should take up that kind of

resolution.

We will promise that we will see with the Sangha eyes, look with the

Sangha

eyes, and feel with the Sangha heart. That will bring a lot of

happiness and

harmony into the Sangha, the small Sangha and the larger Sangha. In

fact,

the five skandhas, the five elements within us are also a Sangha.

They find

themselves in conflict very often.

So, the two hours of solitary retreat in Plum Village on the 31st is

a gift.

We will receive some instructions in how to do it and then we will

spend two

hours alone. Whether we go to the garden, we sit in the meditation

hall,

work it out and make a promise to yourself. You may like to have it

written

down in a piece of paper, a promise to yourself, a promise to your

ancestors, a promise to your teacher, your promise to your brothers

and

sisters, your children. That is the most meaningful thing to do on

the last

day of the century, the last day of the year.

When the new century comes, when the New Year comes we will have

finished

our walking meditation and we'll come to this hall and we offer our

prayer

and our promises to our ancestors and our children. We have a special

prayer

for the new century, the New Year. In English, in German, in French

and in

Vietnamese and each of us will have a copy of that prayer, of that

promise

but you have your own promise you will make as an outcome of your two

hours

of solitary retreat. You may like to bring it along and after the

collective

prayers and promises you may like to read it for yourself, to your

ancestors

and to your children. The promise is made to our ancestors, to our

brothers

and sisters and also to our children, whether they are blood children

or

spiritual children, we have to make that promise. That promise will

be made

after those two hours of solitary meditation.

At some time we have lunch, a simple lunch, because the two hours of

solitary retreat may happen during that time also, before lunch, after

lunch, at least two hours. And then in the afternoon you may like to

continue until the bell calls you for collective mindful work to

prepare for

the ceremony. At five o'clock in the afternoon will be the last

Dharma talk

of the year, last Dharma talk of the last century of the 21st

century. And

that Dharma talk will be relayed simultaneously to Germany and North

America. We have the Dharma talk right here and our brothers and

sisters in

Germany and in America will have it through the telephone.

The Dharma talk will begin at 5pm and end at about 6:30pm and after

that we

may prepare ourselves for the practice of Touching the Earth.

Touching the

Earth is a further practice in order to connect with our ancestors, to

connect with the land, to connect with other species and to connect

with our

children and their children, because our children and their children

are

already there in us. We have to be responsible to our children and

their

children. After the Dharma talk we'll take some time before we have

dinner,

and then instead of Dharma discussion we will do a Touching the Earth.

Because I think Touching the Earth will be a deeper practice,

Touching the

Earth is to connect with our ancestors, with our brothers and sisters

in the

blood family, in the spiritual family, and also to connect with our

children

and their children who are already there within us. Touching the

Earth we

should finish before 10:30pm because at 11pm sharp there will be a

bell to

gather around the linden tree to receive instructions as to how to do

the

walking meditation, because we will be climbing the new century

together as

a Sangha. This is a very special walking meditation. You really want

to walk

as a Sangha and not as individuals any more.

Have a seen a centipede? A little creature that has lots of.... Yeah!

we

walk like that! Thousands of feet! There will be a lot of us on that

day! To

walk in such a way that you can go as a Sangha. If it does not rain

the walk

will be very pleasant, if it rains we will walk anyway, we have to be

equipped with an umbrella. On our path there will be kerosene lamps

so that

we can walk with ease. It must be a very deep kind of walking,

walking as a

Sangha. We have to walk in such a way that individuals will dissolve,

for

the Sangha to walk.

What is the English word for a centipede? Centipede? And we begin to

walk at

11:30 or so, or earlier. We'll start from the linden tree and we

really

begin. The new century has not come yet at that time but we have half

an

hour in order to reach the other end of the road. When the New Year

comes

there will be bells, a little bit from everywhere, also from this

meditation

hall and you will know that the new century has arrived. We'll pause

for one

minute, to breathe, to be aware that the new century, the new

millennium has

arrived. Smile to it, and we begin to climb the new century together,

with

peace, with joy, as a Sangha. This is a very deep practice and joyful

practice also. When you come up to the hill there will be a chariot

with

candles or lamps, and our children will come together and push the

chariot

which has the number 2000 on it. We will go directly from there to the

meditation hall and our path will be lit with kerosene lamps, the

brothers

don't trust the electricity very much so they want to equip the path

with

kerosene lamps, hundreds of them.

So, the walk should be very joyful, silent, but powerful and joyful

with the

children leading. And when we come to the meditation hall we will

arrive

before the altar of our ancestors, blood and spiritual ancestors, we

will

light some incense and offer our prayers. Our prayer is to be

connected with

our ancestors, Sangha, children, and grandchildren. We should select

members

of the Sangha who can read the promises/prayers out loud in several

languages. And each of us will receive a copy of that promise because

we vow

to live in such a way that the Sangha's happiness becomes our

happiness.

That is the only way to dissolve suffering and loneliness and to

build a

happy life for us and for our children in the next century.

After offering incense and flowers and fresh water to our ancestors

and to

the earth and to our children, then we practice touching the earth

four

times and it will be time for hugging meditation. And you may have

your

promise written on a piece of paper and you may like to come forth to

the

altar and you read it silently. You don't need to go to the altar in

order

to read it, you can do it anywhere, in the open air and you just read

it to

the sky and earth, and the ancestors will hear it. Your brothers and

sisters

and your children will hear it, and that is how we will live the

moments of

transition between the old year and the New Year.

Bell

At the beginning of this winter retreat I offered the Sangha a kind of

homework, remember? And that is very much in line with these

instructions,

because the homework is the practice of looking deeply in order to

see how

we acted and reacted when a difficult situation came. The practice,

the

homework is to see clearly all these elements of that period in order

for us

to see another way, a better way, of acting and reacting so suffering

will

not be created for ourselves and for the people around us.

It is very important because if you have suffered during that period

you

have an opportunity to learn from that period of suffering, you make

the vow

not to be caught in these kind of perceptions any more. You make a

vow to be

more open in order to understand better and to respond better, with

non

violence, with love, with understanding. Then it is us who has the

power to

transform a situation. We are no longer victims of the situation.

We have the habit of thinking that our happiness depends so much on

the

situation around us. We have the habit of thinking that our happiness

depends on the other person. We don't know that conditions for our

happiness

are plenty, more than enough for us to be happy. However, we get

caught, we

are not able of recognizing theses elements of happiness, they are

there

already and we deprive ourselves of that happiness and also we

deprive the

loved ones of their happiness because we are not capable of being

happy.

The capacity to be happy should be the object of our practice and we

know

the Buddha always repeated it. The present moment presents so many

wonders

of life, and there are so many positive ingredients, so many positive

conditions for our happiness. But because we get caught in one idea we

cannot make use of these conditions and to be happy in the here and

the now.

We always blame the situation, we always blame the other person or

persons,

so the practice is to liberate ourselves from that kind of habit

knowing

that happiness depends on us, not on the situation or on the other

person.

The other person will have to practice very much in the same way. If

we can

change the way of looking we will dissolve unhappiness and then

happiness

will just come naturally. We don't have to change the situation, we

don't

have to change the other person. We accept the situation as it is, we

accept

the other person as he/she is, and suddenly we become very happy

because we

are free. We are not caught in our idea of happiness.

In each hamlet there is a wall gazette with the title Climbing the New

Century together. I don't know if the brothers and the sisters have

created

enough space, it should be very large.

And here, 'Climbing Together The Hill', Thay has written in

calligraphy

these words in English, in French, and in Vietnamese. So, you are

welcome to

contribute an article for this gazette, you just come and stick that

article

on the board. Each person will have a space like this, enough for one

sheet

of paper. If your article is more than one page, you put the first

page on

the top and after having read the first page they will read the

second page.

And you may like to use the computer for your article, you may like

to use

handwriting. You make like to write a poem, a short story, you may

draw

something. But everything we do for that magazine, for that gazette

is in

order to think of climbing together the hill of the 21st century.

Climbing

the hill as a Sangha and not as individuals anymore.

And you may like to write in German, in English, in French, in

Vietnamese

and so on. We have ten days to enjoy doing that. You are too busy to

do it?

Shame! You are too busy? So we wish you all a very joyful Christmas

and New

Year, there will be a lot of people coming, especially for the New

Year, and

we should help them. How to help them? By practicing deeply.

Practicing

deeply because you have had the opportunity to receive the

instructions

during many weeks. We do it deeply and when they come you share with

them

the way to practice. It is very important. The Dharma teachers, the

apprentice Dharma teachers, everyone has to help so that we will have

a

wonderful celebration of the New Year, of the New Century together.

So it

depends on how you help our friends when they come to understand the

meaning

of the practice.

Bell

_____

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

These dharma talk transcriptions are of teachings given by the

Venerable

Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village or in various retreats around the

world. The

teachings traverse all areas of concern to practitioners, from

dealing with

difficult emotions, to realizing the interbeing nature of ourselves

and all

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