Thich Nhat Hanh Dharma Talks

From the Stillwater Meditation Hall at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the second question and answer session of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village on July 16, 2014. The talk is in English and both the audio and the video are available below. Children How can I feel less sad about my dog who has died? What do I do when my mom is angry with my father? How can I stay calm when I am annoyed? What does it mean "to guess"? Teens and Young Adults When talking with friends, how do I stop the conversation from going toward gossiping and judging? How do you change people's perception of you and ignore the reputation you already have? Why does Thay give these teachings and what does it bring Thay? Does Thay have some tips for me to help a lot of people in my future profession? Others A written question: How do I heal a suffering from sexual abuse when she was younger? Should I go to a therapist? In my country there is a great economic crisis. As a doctor who sees many people and I d

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the second week of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. This short 47-minute talk is in English with a focus on arriving in the present moment with walking meditation. Both the audio and the video are available below. I have arrive. I am home. We have spent so much of our time running and looking for something. We can learn to stop and see the wonders of life in the present moment.  We may miss our appointment with life. Mindfulness helps us enjoy the present moment.  The purpose of the practice is to always go home to the here and now. If you live like that, you can have peace and joy. Teaching on the practice of the "waking up" gatha. Other verses are mentioned, including a "walking" gatha. Arriving in your true home. With each step we have solidity and freedom. http://youtu.be/F7sntErVuQ4

From the Stillwater Meditation Hall at Upper Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the first question and answer session of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. The talk is in English and both the audio and the video are available below. The questions are a little difficult to hear but they are included below for you to read. Is it okay not to speak and still be understood? What is happiness? When we die, where does our spirit go? A question about suffering, particularly those of animals and the environment. What is the most effective way to reduce this suffering? Thay, do you feel old? How can we practice with the escalating violence in the world and particularly in Israel and Palestinians? How can I be in touch with the conditions of happiness and live with constant pain too? At times when I feel truly mindful, I feel a special force or intuition. What is this - a coincidence? http://youtu.be/qT6dnG10d5Q

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is the first dharma talk of the annual Summer Opening retreat at Plum Village. This short 37-minute talk is in English with a focus on the three energies of practice - mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Both the audio and the video are available below. Mindfulness is a kind of energy that we can generate. Everyone has the capacity to generate the energy of mindfulness and allows us to be aware of what is going on in our body, in our feelings, in our perceptions, and in the world around us. What is happening in the here and the now. The world around us the object of our mind. If we are not in the here and the now then we cannot know what is happening in the present moment. We have an appointment with life. We may have been running and looking for something elsewhere and we will miss our appointment with life. Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. For example, drinking our tea. When you are very aware of something,

From the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. This is a day of mindfulness between the close of the 21-Day Retreat and the Summer Opening. The sangha is preparing for an ordination ceremony for monastic novices on July 2 followed by summer opening on July 4. This 80-minute dharma talk is dated June 29, 2014. The focus of the talk is on the monastic life. Both the audio and the video are available below. Where can we focus our attention when starting to breath mindfully? The tip of the nose versus the abdomen. We stop our thinking and are fully aware. No thinking is a secret of success. We can enjoy being alive in the here and now. What is the object of our mindfulness when we walk? How can we touch reality? Thay tells the story of a 13th century king in Vietnam who practiced very well as a lay person. How can we practice everyday? Touching the ground of reality with every step and not lose ourselves by daily life.This kind of walking can be very healing. The triple training is m

From the Rising Tide Meditation Hall at a retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour. This is a session of questions and responses from those at the 6-day retreat with the theme Healing Ourselves, Healing the World. The date is September 28, 2013. Try the BetterListen Version of this entire retreat - click the image below How do you deal with depression? How is it possible for humankind to achieve world peace? How do I help a friend who is depressed? How can I help a friend who has a problem with his parents and has suicidal thoughts? How can I help a friend who speaks in anger to his mother and to be less angry? What do you do when you are stuck between two paths in your life? What is the Buddhist perspective on mental disorders, particularly personality disorder, and how a family can heal with this ongoing challenge? How can I practice with my fear of dying? What is the essence of true love? Should we act as a hum

From the Rising Tide Meditation Hall at a retreat at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour. This is the third dharma talk for the 6-day retreat with the theme Healing Ourselves, Healing the World. The date is September 27, 2013. We begin with seven minutes of chanting from the monastic brothers and sisters. Try the BetterListen Version of this entire retreat - click the image below Thay introduces and explains the process for the Novices and Aspirants along with the 5-year program of training as a monastic. It can bring you a lot of joy. They practice the Ten Precepts of a novice. The third source of nutriment is volition - deepest desire of your life. What you want to do with your life? Knowing what you want to do can give you energy. Brotherhood and sisterhood creates a very deep love. What is life as a monastic like, how are decisions made, how do you practice? Why did Thay begin to take students after living in exile in the wes

We have enjoyed some time to rest and have not so many dharma talks in the recent weeks. The monastics at Plum Village are currently participating in the bi-annual 21-Day Retreat and those talks will not be made available immediately. In the meantime, we return to the talks given at Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour that haven’t been made available until now. This is the second dharma talk for the 6-day retreat with the theme Healing Ourselves, Healing the World. The date is September 26, 2013. Try the BetterListen Version of this entire retreat - click the image below When I was a young monk, I believed he did not suffer but I know now that is not true. How can you not suffer when a dear friend dies? He was not a stone, he was a human being. But he suffered much less because of his wisdom and compassion. This is a very important thing to learn. The other question that had as a young monk is why did the Buddha keep practicing af

This is the third day of the Educators Retreat at the University of Barcelona. Thich Nhat Hanh, along with the monks and nuns of Plum Village, are on their first tour of Spain this month. In this session, Thay responds to questions from those attending the retreat. The date of the recording is May 11, 2014. The audio and video links are available below. The timestamps included here are for the AUDIO recording only. How do we bring this practice into our daily life? (2:32) How can mindfulness help transform the toxic seeds in our subconscious? (9:45) How can we find a new path for young people in society today? (17:20) Could you explain a little more about mindfulness of suffering. (26:53) How do I forgive myself for pain that I have caused and how do I forgive others? (40:30) How do I plant the seed of mindfulness in my 34 year old? Is this to young? (54:18) How can we help children to look deeply at the root cause of their suffering? Anger. Anguish. Fear. (1:07:02) How can men today become softer? (

This is the second day of the Educators Retreat at the University of Barcelona. Thich Nhat Hanh, along with the monks and nuns of Plum Village, are on their first tour of Spain this month. In this talk, Thay teaches the Five Mindfulness Trainings. The date of the recording is May 10, 2014. The audio and video links are available below. The timestamps included here are for the AUDIO recording only. 0:00 Verses of Practice 15:16 Protecting Life 27:26 True Happiness 34:10 True Love 49:35 True Communication 1:10:55 Consumption When Thay became a monk at the age of sixteen, he was given a book of verses to memorize. One of those verses is for waking up in the morning. Waking up this morning, I smile. I have 24 brand new hours to live. I vow to live these 24-hours deeply. I vow to look at those around me with eyes of compassion. We learn these verses to practice mindfulness. Thay shares a few other examples to help to stop our thinking. There are about fifty of these verses for a novice to memorize. We have writ

Thich Nhat Hanh along with the monks and nuns of Plum Village are on their first tour of Spain this month. An Educators Retreat at the University of Barcelona and this is the first talk providing an orientation to the practice taught by Thay. The date of the recording is May 9, 2014. The audio and the video are both available below. We begin with an introduction to the practice of breathing and the role it plays in mindfulness practice.There is an energy of mindfulness that is born during the time we are breathing. Life is available in the present moment because the past is already gone the future has not yet come. To go home to the present moment is easy…breath in mindfully. We can get in touch with our body when we are breathing mindfully. Our body is the first wonder of life. Maybe when we get in touch with our body, we may notice tension in our body. If we notice this tension while breathing, we can release this tension while breathing out. If we learn to do this well, then we can learn to transmit this

Today is Easter Sunday and it is a regular day of mindfulness in Plum Village. This talk is from the Lower Hamlet and is dated Sunday, April 20, 2014. The talk is in English. We begin with two chants from the monastics. Mindfulness practice of the sequoia tree, the sky. Thay talks about Albert Camus' book called The Stranger. Here too the prisoner talks about truly seeing the sky. This is awakening. Camus called this a moment of consciousness. Many people are living as if we are dead. The blue sky is a wonder of life. Awakening. Can we wake up? Mindful breathing. Resurrection. From forgetfulness to mindfulness. The miracle of the resurrection. This is not dogma. When we wake up then we can get in touch with the wonders of life. Joy and happiness are possible. How? Waking up to our suffering. Jesus was aware of his suffering and the role of suffering. In Plum Village, we say this bread is the body of the cosmos. Similar to the breaking bread by Jesus. To wake up is to see no birth and no death. It is not bec

The sangha has just completed the French Retreat and we return here to a regular day of mindfulness in Plum Village. This talk is from the New Hamlet and is dated Thursday, April 17, 2014. The talk is in English. 0:00 Chanting 9:22 Hearing the Call of Mother Earth 23:25 The Sound of Silence 35:48 Types of Sound in Lotus Sutra 50:00 Impermanence of Sound 1:02:56 Establishing Silence 1:15:43 Consumption of Sound The beauty of Mother Earth is a bell of mindfulness. It's spring now and we can easily see how beautiful the earth is. If we can see this then happiness will available right away. Is anything blocking you from seeing this? Is your mind full of things? Can you hear the call of Mother Earth? Are you being pulled away by the past or anxious, fearful about the future? Even in the present moment we can be distracted. But if we look, we can see that life is full of wonders. We can pay attention to our breathing to help stop the thinking of the past, the future, and the projects of the present. I am here. I

This talk from the Lower Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Sunday, March 30, 2014. The talk on this day is in English. 0:00 Present Moment 14:05 The Feelings 29:04 The Body 37:20 Mindfulness of Compassion (Listening) 1:12:45 Story of Suicide and Transformation When you breath in, you bring your mind home to your body. A lot of time, your mind is not with your body. But when they are together, you are truly in the here and the now for your transformation and healing. It is wonderful be present and your breath becomes the object of your mind and you can become a free person. You can cultivate freedom. You don't need to be influenced by your fear and anger. We can make good decisions. The bell of mindfulness can call you back to the present moment. Walking can also bring us to the present moment. Every step. This is the basic practice to touch the wonders of life. At Plum Village, we should learn to breathe and to walk in the present moment. In the last talk, we learned the 7th and 8th exercises of mindful brea

This talk from the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Thursday, March 27, 2014. The talk on this day is in English. 14:44 The Breathing Room 22:54 Inviting the Bell 33:10 Conditions of Happiness 43:30 Mindfulness of Suffering Thich Nhat Hanh begins with a recollection of a retreat for children. During walking meditation, we proposed they use "yes, yes" and "thanks, thanks" for each of their steps. We can say yes and feel thankful. There are so many things we can say yes to. We can appreciate these things - our body, our eyes, etc. With our eyes we can see the blue sky and the mountains. The practice is breathing in, I am aware of my eyes and am grateful they are in good condition. We do the same with other parts of our body. Like our heart. With this awareness, we can take better care of our body and allow it to be restored. In the "Sutra on the Contemplations of the Body" the Buddha taught us how to look at all the parts of the body. We use mindfulness to project light onto every part of our body. This

This talk from the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Sunday, March 23, 2014. The talk on this day is in English. We begin with two chants from the monastics followed by a dharma talk on the wonders of life. Both the audio download and the video stream are available below. It is spring and many flowers are blooming. Don't be afraid to love and open your heart. A flower is a true wonder of life. When we walk, we encounter so many wonders of life. Where does it come from? Your body too is a wonder of life. Do we have time to be with a wonder? In the Buddhist tradition, we don't speak of creation. We have another answer. With meditation, we look at the true nature of things and see their nature is no birth and no death. Teaching on the cloud to illustrate this teaching. The scientists also see this teaching of no birth and no death. Getting in touch with the wonders of life. We can go outside and step away from our computer, our business, our worries. A day without a computer. How happy I am! We can using o

This talk from the New Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Thursday, March 20, 2014. The talk on this day is in English. In this talk we learn about taking refuge and exercises 5-8 from the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. Thay also teaches on inviting the bell (18-min) and the four qualities of happiness (13-min) - these two topics could be listened to independently from the other parts of the talk. Both the audio download and the video stream are available below. The time stamps listed here are for audio download. 0:00 Chanting 9:30 Inviting the Bell 27:02 Taking Refuge 37:27 Four Qualities of Happiness using Pebble Meditation 50:46 Practical Refuge 1:04:15 Mindful Breathing Exercises 5-8 When we hear the bell, we practice together listening to the bell. We invite the bell to sound. Before we invite, we breathe in and out to prepare three times. There is a verse to learn to be qualified as a bell master. We calm our body and calm our feelings. The sound of the bell is the voice of the Buddha inside c

This talk from the Lower Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Sunday, March 16, 2014. The talk on this day is in English and begins with Thay reflecting on the statement "How do you do?" followed by a teaching on the first four exercises of mindful breathing and the practices of total relaxation and walking meditation. 0:00 How do you do? 10:15 Restlessness 17:08 Third Exercise of Mindful Breathing 23:10 Fourth Exercise of Mindful Breathing 27:40 First Exercise of Mindful Breathing 35:15 Second Exercise of Mindful Breathing 37:00 Total Relaxation 47:10 Walking Mediation How do you do? What does this mean? How do you feel in your body, your feelings, and your perceptions. The human is made of five elements. The body. Are you tired? Are you stressed? The feelings. Do you have pleasant or unpleasant feelings? The perceptions. How do you see the world? Most of our perceptions are incorrect. Then we have mental formations. Anger, fear, despair, jealously, hope, etc. The final element is consciousness. Your mind. Are

This talk from the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Thursday, March 13, 2014 and the sangha has just finished a couple weeks of lazy days following the winter retreat. The talk on this day is in English and begins with a lesson on mindful breathing to release tension and painful emotions followed by a teaching on the Four Kinds of Nutriments. The second half of the talk includes a special ceremony and discussion with the vice chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. 1:08 Chanting 8:00 Hearing the Bell 14:26 Mindful Breathing to Relieve Tension and Painful Emotions 21:54 Letter to Death Row 30:00 The Four Kinds of Nutriments 57:29 Ceremony to Confer Honorary Doctorate Degree to Thich Nhat Hanh from the University of Hong Kong 1:17:40 Thay Responds to Degree 1:30:40 Dialogue between Thay and Vice Chancellor on Topic of Today’s Youth When you hear the bell, you may want to stop you're thinking. Use your breathing to be aware that you have a body and smile to your body. It is a wonder. Practice mindful b

Originally given in Vietnamese, available from Lang Mai, the talk from the Lower Hamlet of Plum Village is dated Sunday, February 9, 2014 and is the twenty fourth (and final) talk of the 2013-2014 Winter Retreat. This is an English translation, available below, by Sr. Tue Nghiem.  Following this talk the monastery will have lazy days followed by a monastic retreat. We will not have new talks again until early March. 0:00 Guided Meditation by Thay 10:58 Remembering Thay Phap Y 18:45 Exercises of Mindful Breathing 1:05:50 Study on 30-Verses A story of our older monastic Brother Phap Y who has recently died. Though he had been sick a long time, he died very quickly on February 6 and we are very happy. He came to Plum Village as a novice from the Tibetan tradition and has since been a trusted and loved dharma teacher. We are reminded that this body is not me and I am not limited by this body. I am life without boundaries. And I continue in the river. In Plum Village we see Thay Phap Y as an older brother who ha