The Heart Of The Buddha's Teaching - Episode 11

This is a live recording from episode eleven of BookClub with Sarah Sati. During this session, Sarah reads and discusses chapters 27 and 28 of Thich Nhat Hanh's Heart of the Buddha's Teaching. These teachings focus on the 12 links of interdependent origination and the heart of the Buddha within. After reading and discussion, Sarah guides a contemplation exercise to help you deepen your ability to take the teachings of the Buddha to heart. This is the final session in the first edition.

Transcript

I'm Sara Satie.

This is Book Club with me,

Sara Satie.

Every week we come together.

We read from a selected book,

A text.

We read the entire text together.

And as we read the text we discuss chapter by chapter what we're reading.

At the end of each session I offer a guided practice so that we can take these teachings,

These readings,

And bring them into our hearts.

And then I offer homework for the week ahead.

This is our final session of my first edition of Book Club.

It has definitely been a learning process.

And I'm so excited to say that I made it to the end.

The book was longer than I anticipated.

So I actually didn't anticipate so many sessions.

I mean,

I knew how long the book was,

But I didn't realize it would take so long to get through.

So I'm so excited to have made it.

We made it.

I made it.

We made it.

If you stuck with me through this entire process,

Either watching the recordings or joining me live here,

Then congratulate yourself.

If you're joining for the first time and you have never joined before,

Just imagine what is possible.

This is episode 11.

You could go back and listen to all the other episodes and arrive right here at this very spot having made it.

So that's pretty exciting.

I won't be giving any more homework.

This is our last session.

So all of the homework that I've given up until now is really a way for you to be with the teachings.

And it is enough.

You can go back and pick one homework and work with that homework alone for months at a time.

And you would really benefit from it.

Hi,

Monica.

Welcome.

Hi,

Kay.

First time.

Yeah,

The book I will talk about just now.

The book we've been reading from.

Hi,

Elena.

Nice to see you again or be with you again.

The book we are reading from and have been reading from and we are finishing today is called The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching.

And it is by Thich Nhat Hanh.

So a timely choice.

It's an excellent book,

But it's a pretty deep book in that it really tries to capture as many of the Buddhist teachings as possible in a short form.

And that's challenging to do.

And there are like 84,

000 teachings of the Buddha.

So that's a pretty heavy task.

As I said,

This is our very last session.

I've done a mediocre job.

Just read the reviews,

You know,

I've,

I've read too fast often,

And sometimes I've read way too fast.

And that is just the consequence of being my own self and the kind of reader that I am.

I hope that regardless of if I read fast or slow,

You are able to take the teachings and get something out of them.

I'm sure you can get this audio book somewhere else.

But this gives you a slow way of working through it,

Especially if you have the book but haven't read it.

A slow way of working through the chapter by chapter teachings so that you can really understand them for yourself.

So thank you so much for for having faith in me and trust in me and being here with me.

I can really authentically say I've done my best and I've learned a lot.

So I'm looking forward to the next edition,

Which will be in just a few weeks.

I'll announce what book I'm going to do.

Let's not waste any time.

Yes,

Lynn,

These are the best words.

Yeah,

He was a an incredible beacon of light in the world.

He gave the world so much joy and so many ways to interpret the Buddha's words.

And we are really blessed to be here and I'll talk about this later listening to this right now.

As usual,

Please relax.

This second to last chapter is long.

It's actually in my opinion,

The most challenging chapter to get through.

I want you to let go of struggle or striving to understand anything and just have faith that the important concepts will make their way into your heart by being present in this moment.

Lie down or sit comfortably or walk in nature.

Do something that feels good to you and just allow your ears to be receptive.

It's helpful to generate a thought that you're here now for the benefit of other beings.

And if you have that thought and that power inside of you in this moment,

Please bring that to the forefront of your conscious mind.

We are here not just for ourselves,

But as we will explore in this this chapter that we're about to get started on,

We are linked to every other being on this planet.

So the work we do for ourselves is without a doubt for other beings.

So join me now relaxing in your own way for chapter 27,

The links of interdependent co arising.

Interdependent co arising,

Pratitya samutpada,

Literally independence,

Things rise up,

Is a deep and wonderful teaching.

The foundation of all of Buddhist study and practice.

Pratitya samutpada is sometimes called the teaching of cause and effect.

But that can be misleading,

Because we usually think of cause and effect as separate entities,

With cause always preceding effect,

And one cause leading to one effect.

According to the teaching of interdependent co arising,

Cause and effect co arise,

And everything is a result of multiple causes and conditions.

The egg is in the chicken and the chicken is in the egg.

Chicken and egg arise in mutual dependence.

Neither is independent.

Interdependent co rising goes beyond our concepts of space and time.

The one contains the all.

The Chinese character for cause has the character great inside of a rectangle causes great yet at the same time limited.

The Buddha expressed interdependent co rising very simply.

This is because that is this is not because that is not this comes to be because that comes to be the ceases to be because that ceases to be.

These sentences occur hundreds of times in the discourses of both the northern and southern transmissions.

They are the Buddhist Genesis.

I would like to add this sentence.

This is like this because that is like that.

In the sutras this image is given three cut reads can stand only by leaning on one another.

If you take one away,

The other two will fail.

For a table to exist.

We need wood,

A carpenter,

Time,

Skillfulness and many other causes.

And each of these causes needs other causes to be the wood needs the forest,

The sunshine,

The rain and so on.

The carpenter needs his parents,

Breakfast,

Fresh air and so on.

And each of those things in turn has to be brought about by other conditions.

If we continue to look in this way,

We'll see that nothing has been left out.

Everything in the cosmos has come together to bring us this table.

Looking deeply at the sunshine,

The leaves of the tree and the clouds,

We can see the table,

The one can be seen in the all and the all can be seen in the one.

One cause is never enough to bring about an effect a cause must at the same time be an effect and every effect must also be the cause of something else.

Cause and effect inter are the idea of a first or only cause something that does not itself need a cause cannot be applied.

After the Buddha passed away,

Many schools of Buddhism began to describe interdependent co arising more analytically in the Vasudha maga path of purification of the Theravada school,

Buddha Buddha Gossa listed 24 kinds of conditions,

The necessary and sufficient conditions for something to arise.

They are root cause,

Object,

Predominance,

Priority,

Continuity,

Conascence,

Mutuality,

Support,

Decisive support,

Pre nascence,

Post nascence,

A cause can be born after the effect,

Repetition,

Karma,

Karma result,

Nutriment,

Faculty,

Dhyana,

Path,

Association,

Disassociation,

Dissociation,

Presence,

Absence,

Disappearance and non disappearance.

In the Sarva Stivada school,

Four kinds of conditions and six kinds of causes were taught.

And this later became part of the teachings of the Vishnu Vada school of Buddhist psychology.

According to this analysis,

All four kinds of conditions must be present for everything that exists.

The first of the four kinds of conditions is the cause condition,

Seed condition or root condition.

Just as the seed is the cause condition of the flower,

There are said to be six kinds of cause conditions.

One motivating or creative force.

Each condition Dharma is the general cause for all things except itself.

It is a co present cause offering no obstacles,

Because no Dharma constitutes an obstacle to the arising of Dharma's pros prone to arising.

This condition has the function of empowering and not restricting to concurrent condition.

Sometimes two root conditions need to be present at the same time.

If we draw a line AB,

A and B both have to be there.

The same is true of lamp and lamp light.

All pairs of opposites are like that one cannot be present without the other above and below come into existence at the same time,

As do the ideas being and non being.

These co existent Dharma's mutually condition one another.

Three seed condition of the same kind.

Similars cause similars.

Rice produces rice,

Wholesome causes bring about wholesome effects.

Faith and joy,

For example,

Make a stable practice possible and unwholesome causes bring about unwholesome effects for associated condition,

A wholesome and an unwholesome seeds support each other and giving rise to something.

This is called association or correspondence,

And it applies only to mental events.

Someone gives money to his church because he feels guilty about the wrong livelihood that has allowed him to make the money.

The seed of guilt due to wrong livelihood is unwholesome.

Giving is wholesome.

The result is that the elders of the church tell him that they want him to transform his livelihood more than they want his money.

This will hurt his pride,

But can lead to much happiness in the future and can help alleviate his guilt.

Five universal condition.

The causes present everywhere in every part of our body as well as throughout the universe.

The six elements of earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air,

Space and consciousness are examples of universal conditions.

Six ripening condition in our store consciousness.

Not everything ripens at the same time.

When we bring home bananas,

Some ripen before the others.

When we hear a Dharma talk,

Some of the seeds sown ripen right away,

While others might take many years.

A seed of one kind can also transform and ripen into something different.

At first an orange blossom,

An orange is a blossom,

Then it is something green and sour,

And later it ripens into a sweet fruit.

A seed of love can ripen as a seed of anger.

When we begin our sitting meditation,

We may feel confined and agitated.

After a while,

Our meditation may ripen into something quite relaxing and enjoyable.

The second kind of condition according to the Sarvastava,

The deans is called condition for development.

This can help certain seeds develop or can obstruct their development.

Everyone has a seed of faith or confidence.

For example,

If you have friends who water this seed in you,

It will grow strong.

But if you meet only favorable conditions,

You will not realize how precious the seed is.

Obstacles along the path can help our determination and compassion grow.

Obstacles teach us about our strengths and weaknesses,

So that we can know ourselves better and see in which direction we truly wish to go.

One could say that the Buddhist practice of austerity was unfavorable to the development of his path.

But if he had not undertaken those practices and failed in them,

He would not have learned and later taught the middle way.

When your intention is strong,

Unfavorable conditions will not dishearten you.

In difficult moments,

You will stick to your friends,

Fortify your convictions and not give up.

The third kind of condition is the condition of continuity.

For something to exist,

There needs to be a continuous succession moment after moment.

For our practice to develop,

We need to practice every day,

Walking meditation,

Listening to Dharma teachings,

Practicing mindfulness of the four foundations in all of our activities,

Staying with the same Sangha and practicing the same teachings.

If we put a frog on a plate,

It will jump right off.

If you do not practice steadily,

You'll be like a frog on a plate.

But when you decide to stay in one place until your practice fully develops,

We can say that you have reached the state of froglessness and have begun to practice continuity.

The fourth kind of condition is object as condition.

If there is no object,

There cannot be a subject.

For us to have confidence,

There has to be an object of our confidence.

When we feel despair,

We feel despair about something,

Our idea of the future,

Our idea of happiness or our idea of life.

When we are angry,

We have to be angry at someone or something.

According to the Buddha,

All phenomena are objects of mind.

When we perceive the image or sign of any phenomenon,

We know that the object of our perception resides within our own consciousness.

Can we live in a way that helps us see the causes that are present in the effects and the effects that are present in the causes?

When we see this way,

We begin to have insight into interdependent co arising and this is right view.

In early Buddhism,

We speak of interdependent co arising.

In later Buddhism,

We use the words interbeing and interpenetration.

The terminology is different,

But the meaning is the same.

After hearing the Buddha teach about interdependent co arising,

Ananda said,

Venerable Lord,

The teaching of interdependent co arising appears to be deep and subtle,

But I find it quite simple.

The Buddha replied,

Do not say that Ananda,

The teaching of interdependent co arising is indeed deep and subtle.

Anyone who is able to see the nature of interdependent co arising is able to see the Buddha.

Once you can see into the nature of interdependent co arising,

You will be guided by your insight and you will not lose your practice.

The teaching of impermanence is implicit in the teaching of interdependent co arising.

How could we live if we were not nourished by multiple causes and conditions?

The conditions that make it possible for us to exist and to change come from what is not us.

When we understand impermanence and non self,

We understand interdependent co arising.

In this Gata,

Nargarjuna explains interdependent co arising,

Linking it with emptiness.

All phenomena that arise interdependently,

I say that they are empty.

Words come to an end because their message is false.

Words come to an end because there is a middle way.

All teachings of Buddhism are based on interdependent co arising.

If a teaching is not in accord with interdependent co arising,

It is not a teaching of the Buddha.

When you have grasped interdependent co arising,

You bring that insight to shine on the three baskets of the teachings.

Interdependent co arising allows you to see the Buddha and the two truths allow you to hear the Buddha.

When you are able to see and hear the Buddha,

You will not lose your way as you traverse the ocean of his teachings.

Interdependent co arising.

This is because that is and this is not because that is not is one of the most important of all Buddhist teachings.

The insight into interdependent co arising can enable the practitioner to understand inter being the middle way and non duality.

The Buddha presented the teachings on interdependent co arising in many different ways and using a number of striking images,

Like the image of two bundles of reeds leaning on each other to support each other.

The image of Indra's net is also very beautiful.

The teaching of the 12 links of conditioned Genesis is designed to explain karma and samsara.

The 12 links,

Which we see repeated 100 or more times in the sutras are one way to explain interdependent co arising,

But not necessarily the best.

Most students of Buddhism think that the Buddha taught there are 12 links in the chain of interdependent co arising.

Looking into the explanations of the 12 links,

We shall see that the way that they have been explained by many ancestral teachers has not helped us to go from the historical into the ultimate dimension.

The secret of skillful adaptation lies in looking deeply in order to gradually be able to let go of ideas of being and non being birth and death.

Teachings that do not help us let go of these notions cannot help us to enter the space that lies outside of the conceptual realm.

In the katyayana gautrasutra,

The sentence,

This is because that is,

Is able to help us skillfully to be in contact with emptiness.

Even though this sentence uses words like is,

Is not,

This that,

Still it helps us to let go of these notions,

While the 12 links cling to the notions of being and non being.

The 12 links are ignorance,

Formations,

Consciousness,

Mind body,

Six senses and sense objects,

Contact,

Feeling,

Craving,

Grasping,

Being birth and old age and death.

The way the 12 links have been explained does not belong to the deep teachings of the Buddha and cannot help us to be in contact with emptiness.

Here we have to use the methodology of the reliance that says,

Rely on the deep meaning sutras and not on the superficial meaning sutras.

The superficial meaning is not necessarily wrong,

But its function and role are other.

The 12 links are used in the sutra to explain karma and samsara and are not to put us in contact with emptiness and the space of the ultimate dimension.

Cause and result in the three times and on two levels.

The ancestral teachers have divided the 12 links into the three times,

Past,

Present and future.

Ignorance and formations belong to the past.

Consciousness,

Mind body,

The six sense fields,

Contact,

Feelings,

Craving,

Grasping and being belong to the present and birth old age and death belong to the future.

It is said that because in our former lives we were ignorant and have made formations in this life we have consequences.

This is explained as karma,

Psychosoma,

Six sense fields,

Contact,

Feelings,

Craving,

Grasping and being.

Because there is being in this life,

In the next life we shall have to be born,

Grow old and die and we shall have to continue in samsara.

Ignorance and karmic formations are the cause in the past.

Consciousness,

Psychosoma,

Six sense fields,

Contact,

Feelings,

Craving,

Grasping and becoming are the result in the present.

Feelings,

Craving,

Grasping and being in the present will be the cause of birth,

Old age and death in the future.

These are the two levels of cause and result.

This is the way the teachers of the past and many teachers today explain the 12 links.

It is said that dependent on ignorance there is consciousness.

Dependent on consciousness there is the mind body.

Dependent on the mind body are the sense organs and objects.

Dependent on the sense organs and objects is contact.

Dependent on contact is feeling.

Dependent on feeling is craving.

Dependent on craving is grasping.

Dependent on grasping is being.

Dependent on being we have to be born again and die and continue in the cycle of samsara.

This is the understanding of most Vietnamese and Chinese Buddhists concerning the 12 links but it leads to a serious misunderstanding because there is craving and grasping there is being.

Because there is being we have to be born and die again and again.

Bhava is being and the opposite is non-being,

Abhava.

We make being the culprit and think that the path to liberation is non-being and that we must practice in order to realize non-being.

However the Buddha taught clearly that both being and non-being are wrong views.

People say if you want to avoid the cycle of birth and death you have to come to non-being and therefore the aim of a Buddhist practitioner is annihilation or eternal death.

Sometimes the Buddha talks of only four,

Five,

Six or seven links and there seems to be no need for 12 links.

In the Maha-Vibha-Shastra volume 24 it says because the Buddha deeply understood the different capacities of living beings he taught interdependent co-rising in many ways.

Sometimes he taught one link,

Sometimes two,

Three,

Four,

Up to 12.

The four links are ignorance,

Formations,

Being which goes with non-being and birth which goes with death.

The 12 links have been described and commented on in a linear way as a vertical chain so that one link gives rise to the next link which makes the interdependent character of all the links difficult to see.

The second link of the 12 has been explained as volitional actions.

Samskara in Buddhism does not mean action but formations.

Physical,

Physiological and psychological phenomena.

In the 12 links people have been forced to explain formations as impulses,

Mistaken impulses or volitional actions but that is forcing a new meaning on the word because people wanted to show that consciousness arises from past action.

But the 12 links were not taught by the Buddha to justify a theory of the cycle of Samsara or birth and death.

When we say that formations condition consciousness we mean that in ignorance we construe formations as being separate realities outside of each other.

This way of looking at things makes discriminatory consciousness possible and at the same time discriminatory consciousness makes seen formations as separate realities possible.

According to the traditional explanation of the 12 links feelings lead to craving.

That is only part of the truth because only pleasant feelings lead to craving and that's only true of people who do not practice and people who do not have wisdom.

Someone who practices like a Buddha and Arhat or an enlightened lay person knows that pleasant feelings can lead to suffering and are dangerous and so those feelings do not lead to craving.

So this link only presents part of the truth.

If it is a painful feeling it will lead to avoidance aversion.

So if we want to present the true spirit of Buddhism we have to say that contact leads to pleasant and painful feelings and that feelings can lead to hatred and aversion and not always to craving and grasping.

Grasping means being attached to being bound by or craving.

Craving is not just craving for being it can also be craving for non-existence.

People who do not want to live or who commit suicide long for non-being.

In the Digha Nikaya the Buddha teaches three kinds of craving.

One thirst for the desire realm thirst for existence and the last one thirst for non-existence.

The aim of our practice is to go beyond existence and non-existence not just to go beyond existence.

The 12 links of interdependent co-arising as they are usually explained are not able to show that.

In the Kachayayana Gautra Sutra the Buddha teaches that right view is the view that goes beyond being and non-being.

According to the usual explanation of the 12 links there is just the desire to escape from being.

This gives rise to a huge misunderstanding and people say that Buddhism just aims at removing being in order to arrive at non-being and that Buddhism is a path that teaches nihilism so that the aim of a Buddhist practitioner is nothingness eternal death.

I want to just stop there and say to understand this a little bit more we can think of non-being like no thought.

So if you think if you've heard that the practice of meditation is to generate no thought.

Thich Nhat Hanh is saying this is incorrect.

It's not to have thought or to not have thought.

It's to see beyond thought and no thought.

And I think this is also an important point to just make quickly that when Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about the sort of insufficiency of the teachings of the 12 links across time.

What he's saying is that they are incomplete because they are one mostly taught linearly and two mostly taught in a hierarchical way in this linear fashion and then three that they're missing their opposites.

So what Thich Nhat Hanh is suggesting is that to really understand interdependent co-rising we have to see that it's not being or non-being and it's not linear or hierarchical.

It's like a net like a web and everything is interconnected.

And so there is no one link second link third link fourth link.

There are all the links together at one time and it is not the Buddhist way to get rid of the idea of being to have no ego to have no thought.

It's to see no thought and thought.

It's to see no ego and no ego and then to go beyond and the Heart Sutra really gives this which I won't go too deep into.

Tens of Western scholars who studied Buddhism at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century have come to this conclusion.

They say that to overcome samsara means that on attaining arhatship the saint will never be born again.

One of the reasons for this huge misunderstanding is the mistaken transmission of Buddhist teachings by Buddhists themselves.

Therefore instead of saying that grasping leads to being we should say that grasping leads to being and non-being.

Being and non-being according to the Kajayana Gautra Sutra are two ideas that obscure right view.

Instead of saying that being leads to birth we should say that being and non-being lead to birth and death.

In our head we have become used to the idea that when we are born we come into being out of non-being and when we die we go from being into non-being.

If we remove the idea of being and non-being there is no more idea of birth and death.

That is a way of looking from the cognitive point of view and not the etiological.

So again you can think thought and no thought.

So you can think if I want to apply this in a different way where it may be a little bit more relatable you think a thought comes and you think it comes from nothing and when it goes it goes to nothing.

And Thich Nhat Hanh is inviting us to explore that truth and go deeper than what we might perceive on a superficial level.

To see that actually the thought goes somewhere when it's not here.

And it is here and when it leaves here it goes back to that place.

And this is the concept of store consciousness in Buddhism.

Interdependent co-arising is pointing to an understanding of cognition and is not an attempt to explain a dogma or theory.

The aim of the 12 links as we now have them in so many sutras is to explain the phenomenon of samsara and rebirth for people of average understanding.

The Buddha usually began the 12 links with old age and death to help us get in touch with suffering and find its roots.

This is closely linked to the teachings and practice of the Four Noble Truths.

It was after the lifetime of the Buddha that teachers more often than not began with ignorance to help prove why there is birth and death.

Ignorance became a kind of first cause.

Even though the Buddha always taught that no first cause can be found.

If ignorance exists,

It is because there are causes that gives rise to and deepen ignorance.

The Buddha was not a philosopher trying to explain the universe.

He was a spiritual guide who wanted to help us put an end to our suffering.

When we hear from commentators that some links are causes and others are effects,

We know that this is not consistent with the Buddha's teachings that everything is both a cause and an effect.

To think that ignorance gives rise to formations which later give rise to consciousness which then give rise to mind body would be a dangerous oversimplification.

When the Buddha said ignorance conditions formations he meant that there is a relationship of cause and effect between ignorance and formations.

Ignorance nourishes formations but formations also nourish ignorance.

The tree gives rise to and nourishes its leaves but the leaves also nourish the tree.

Leaves are not just the children of the tree.

They are also the mother of the tree.

Because of the leaves,

The tree is able to grow.

Every leaf is a factory synthesizing sunshine to nourish the tree.

The interbeing of leaf and tree is parallel to the interbeing of the links of interdependent co-arising.

We say that ignorance conditions formations but ignorance also conditions consciousness both through formations and directly.

Ignorance conditions mind body as well.

If there were no ignorance in mind body,

Mind body would be different.

Our six organs and the six objects of these organs also contain ignorance.

My perception of the flower is based on my eyes and on the form of the flower.

As soon as my perception becomes caught in the sign flower,

Ignorance is there.

Therefore,

Ignorance is present in contact and it is also present in feelings,

Craving,

Grasping,

Coming to be,

Birth and old age and death.

Ignorance is not just in the past.

It is present now in each of our cells and each of our mental formations.

If there were no ignorance,

We would not become attached to things.

If there were no ignorance,

We would not grasp the objects of our attachment.

If there were no ignorance,

The suffering that is manifesting right now would not be there.

Our practice is to identify ignorance when it is present.

Grasping is in formations,

Feelings coming to be,

Birth and old age and death.

Our infatuations are running away from this or toward that and our intentions can be seen in all the other links.

Every link conditions every other link and is conditioned by them.

With this understanding,

We can abandon the idea of a sequential chain of causation and enter deeply the practice of interdependent co-arising that will help us be in touch with the ultimate dimension.

It is not that consciousness is there before mind body,

But that consciousness and mind body enter our.

The six fields of the six of the senses are part of mind and body.

They are not just a result of mind body.

Moreover,

Craving is not the only mental formation that accompanies feelings.

Sometimes a feeling is not accompanied by craving,

But by aversion.

Sometimes the feeling is not accompanied by ignorance,

But by understanding,

Lucidity or loving kindness and the outcome will not be craving or aversion.

To say that feeling brings about craving is not precise enough.

Feeling with attachment and ignorance brings about craving in any description of the links,

Whether it is four,

Five,

Nine,

10 or 12.

We must link each link with all the other links.

This is what the heart Sutra means when it tells us no interdependent origins.

The links are empty because each of them would not exist without all of the others.

Feeling cannot be without craving,

Grasping,

Being birth,

Old age and death,

Ignorance,

Formations,

And so on.

The usual way of presenting interdependent co-arising in terms of the 12 links is not enough to help people be in touch with the true right view.

In other words,

The view that goes beyond being and non being birth and death,

Eternal and annihilated,

Coming and going,

Et cetera.

Right view is the foundation of the Noble Eightfold Path,

The Royal Road that leads to Nirvana.

Right view is not just the belief in the fruits of good and evil.

It is the highest insight for the practitioner of the spiritual path.

It is the insight into no birth,

No death,

No defiled,

No immaculate,

No being,

No non being,

No same,

No different,

No coming and no going.

It is the insight into interdependent co-arising that puts an end to all extreme views,

All discrimination,

All division,

Which are the root of all afflictions like fear,

Resentment,

Despair and craving.

Without right view,

It is not truly possible to have right thinking,

Right speech,

Right action and all the other seven limbs of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Not only is the doctrine of the 12 links as it is usually taught,

Unable to help us come to that insight,

But it also leads us to the harmful misunderstanding that the aim of the practice is eternal death.

This wrong view has been held by so many people,

Including a monk disciple of the Buddha named Yamaka,

And the 12 links have been inserted into many sutras where they do not belong.

The purpose of all of these sutras is to propound the absolute truth and inserting the 12 links into them causes inconsistencies.

If our understanding of the 12 links is the normal understanding of a linear progression,

Which cannot help us be in touch with emptiness,

Nirvana and true understanding.

The sutra on skillful adaptation,

Connecting to emptiness is specifically about touching emptiness through interdependent co rising.

The formula sunyata pratty samyukta pratyata samutpada anulomata means precisely the skillful adaptation of interdependent co rising is able to lead us into being in touch with emptiness.

If the links are to help us be in touch with emptiness,

They have to be understood in terms of the deepest teaching of the Buddha and not as an explanation of rebirth in the cycle of samsara.

Tidying up the links,

It is time for us to present the teachings of interdependent co rising in a way that is easy and approachable for people of our time.

In the light of what has been said above,

We can present a teaching of the 10 links that can help us be in touch with emptiness.

The 10 links are as follows.

One ignorance to formations,

Three consciousness,

For mind body,

Five pleasant and painful feelings,

Six craving and aversion,

Seven grasping and rejecting,

Eight being and non being,

Nine birth and death,

And 10 samsara.

You will see that the schema does not have the links of the six sense fields and contact.

That is because these links are already understood as being part of formations,

Consciousness and mind body.

Since birth and death are conceptually so close to each other,

They are one link and samsara the cycle of bondage has been added as the 10th link.

We can explain the 10 links as follows.

When there is ignorance,

People see formations in terms of separate entities lying outside of each other.

Because of this,

They see consciousness as the subject separated from its object.

They see body separated from mind.

There are pleasant,

Neutral and painful feelings based on body and mind.

Co arising with these feelings.

Some come the craving if they are pleasant and the aversion if they are painful.

With this arises the desire to grasp or to reject.

With this arises the attachment to ideas of being and non being.

And as a result of this,

We are continually imprisoned in the idea of birth and death.

We have to cycle in samsara and are not able to realize Nirvana.

Strictly speaking,

The two links of consciousness and mind body are not necessary because formations include the five skandhas that have that have all aspects of body and consciousness,

But in some cases to add them in can make for more clarity.

We study interdependent co arising in order to diminish the element of ignorance in us and to increase the element of clarity.

When our ignorance is diminished,

Craving,

Hatred,

Pride,

Doubt and views are also diminished,

And love,

Compassion,

Joy and equanimity are increased.

In other words,

The transformation of ignorance leads to the transformation of all other links in the chain,

Or the transformation of any of the links entails the transformation of all of the others.

If we can guard the six senses and practice mindfulness of feelings and perceptions,

We can also transform the rest of the cycle,

Including ignorance.

As you can see,

There is also a positive side to the links.

Although Buddhist teachers since the time of the Buddha seem to have overlooked this,

We need to find words to describe the interdependent co arising of positive states of mind and body and not just of negative states.

The Buddha taught that when ignorance ends,

There is clear understanding.

He didn't say that when ignorance ends,

There is nothing there is co arising condition by diluted mind and co arising condition by true mind,

The world society and the individual have been formed by a cycle of conditions based on diluted mind.

Naturally,

In a world based on diluted mind,

There is suffering and affliction.

But when conditions are based on true mind,

They reflect the wondrous nature of reality.

Everything depends on our mind.

Those who teach the links of interdependent co arising need to understand their positive side and the role of the links in helping us to be in touch with Nirvana.

In this light,

We learn to see that there is a cycle that helps us be in touch with Nirvana,

Just as there is a cycle that helps us be in touch with samsara.

Ignorance is the lack of light.

It is connected to diluted mind.

Understanding or wisdom is connected to true mind.

The presence of light means the absence of darkness.

The presence of ignorance means the absence of understanding.

The Buddha said when ignorance comes to an end understanding arises just as ignorance conditions the other links of diluted mind.

So wisdom conditions other links of true mind.

The second link formations is the object of our perception.

As far as diluted mind is concerned,

They are separate entities.

When there is wisdom,

We see that formations or conditioned things do not have a separate nature and depend on each other to exist.

The father depends on the sun and the sun on the father.

If there were no sun,

There would be no father.

And if there were no father,

There could be no sun.

Seeing things as separate entities just makes our ignorance deeper.

So not only does ignorance condition formations,

But formations condition ignorance.

Seeing things lying in each other,

Interpenetrating each other strengthens our wisdom and comes from our wisdom.

Consciousness,

The third link is an important formation.

It is important enough for us to be able to make it a separate link.

When it belongs to the sphere of diluted mind,

It is known as discriminatory consciousness,

Because its function is to discriminate the perceiver from the perceived and make the objective world seem to be separate from the observer.

When the Buddha looks at a flower,

He knows that the flower is his own consciousness.

This is the state of consciousness.

When it is a link in a positive cycle.

There is nothing wrong with consciousness.

But having realized that all formations enter our,

We come to realize that there is not a separate world outside of consciousness,

Nor is there a separate consciousness outside of the world.

It is the wisdom of non duality that understands that the subject of consciousness is not separate from the object of consciousness.

Consciousness is the base for distinguishing,

Planning,

Helping and doing good work.

So it's necessary.

That kind of consciousness is present in the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas.

The Buddha said,

How lovely is the city of Vaishali?

He said,

Ananda,

Don't you think that the rice fields are lovely?

Shall we go into town and share the Dharma?

These statements are based on lucid consciousness,

Consciousness full of understanding,

Care and love.

Consciousness is described in the vision of ada schema in terms of eight consciousnesses.

And these are transformed into the four wisdoms.

When the seeds of awakening,

Love and compassion and store consciousness have been developed and matured,

Store consciousness is transformed and becomes the great mirror wisdom that reflects the reality of all that is all the seeds that can become the great mirror wisdom are already present in store consciousness.

We only have to water them.

Great mirror wisdom is the outcome of the practice of being in touch with the true nature of things by contemplation on inter being impermanence and non self.

We have to learn the ways to use our consciousness as a tool of transformation.

Our six sense organs,

Eyes,

Ears,

Nose,

Tongue,

Body and mind can contribute toward the arising of great mirror wisdom.

We see that the Buddha also has six senses that enter into contact with six sense objects.

But he knows how to guard his senses so that the more internal knots will not be tied.

The Buddha uses his six senses skillfully and realizes wonderful things.

The first five consciousnesses become the wisdom of wonderful realization.

We can use these five consciousnesses to serve others.

Mind consciousness upon emancipation becomes the wonderful observation wisdom,

Wisdom that can see things as they are.

The wisdom of equality comes from the seven consciousness.

Manas is the number one discriminator.

It says,

This is me,

This is mine,

This is not mine.

That is Manas specialty.

We have to keep this consciousness so that it can come become the wisdom of equality.

Our consciousness has to be transformed and not thrown away.

Wonderful observation wisdom transforms Manas into the wisdom of equality.

We are one,

We are equal.

I may think that you are my enemy,

But while touching the ultimate dimension,

I see that you and I are one.

Sometimes we only need to touch the earth once and the wisdom of equality appears right in the heart of our Manas consciousness.

Wonderful observation wisdom takes the place of the six consciousness,

Mind consciousness.

Before the disappearance of ignorance,

The six consciousness gives rise to many wrong perceptions like seeing a rope as a snake and a lot of suffering.

Thanks to transformation at the base,

The store consciousness becomes great mirror wisdom.

The six consciousness can be transformed into wonderful observation wisdom.

The fourth wisdom,

Great mirror wisdom brings about miracles.

In the past,

Our eye consciousness made us infatuated or put us in the dark.

Now with our eyes open,

We can see the Dharmakaya,

The natural world as the teaching body of the Buddha.

When our mind is clear like a calm river,

The six consciousness is wonderful observation wisdom and our store consciousness is great mirror wisdom.

The fourth link in our schema of the 10 links is mind body.

Mind body is the five aggregates.

We don't say the five aggregates are suffering and throw them away.

If we do,

There will be nothing left.

No Nirvana,

No peace and no joy.

We need an intelligent policy for taking care of our garbage.

We have body and mind and in the sphere of diluted mind,

We experience them as a duality and our mind becomes alienated from our body.

When we sit in front of the computer,

We often forget that we have a body.

With wisdom,

We can experience body and mind as the same reality.

Bodhisattvas have body and mind and the Buddha has a body and mind.

We do not need to throw away our body in order to experience liberation.

And we should not see our body as a prison and obstacle for our mind.

We practice to realize an embodied mind and a mindful body.

In such a body and mind,

There is no longer ignorance,

No more formations as separate realities,

And no more discriminatory consciousness.

The function of this mind body is to awaken and liberate beings.

The fifth link in our schema is pleasant,

Painful and neutral fee feelings.

When we practice mindfulness,

We learn how to handle our feelings,

Which means recognizing,

Embracing and transforming painful feelings and nourishing the true happiness within us,

Not allowing ourselves to be dominated by neutral feelings.

So the positive side of feelings is mindfulness of feelings.

Every contact of the senses and every feeling has clarity and calmness.

When the six senses and their objects make contact,

This contact gives rise to a pleasant,

Unpleasant or neutral feeling.

When a Bodhisattva sees a child suffering,

She knows how it feels to suffer and she also has an unpleasant feeling.

But because of that suffering,

Concern and compassion arise in her and she is determined to act.

Bodhisattva suffer like the rest of us.

But in a Bodhisattva,

Feelings do not give rise to craving or aversion.

When a Bodhisattva sees a beautiful flower,

She recognizes that the flower is beautiful,

But she also sees the nature of impermanence in the flower.

That is why there is no attachment.

She has a pleasant feeling,

But it does not create an internal formation.

Emancipation does not mean that she suppresses all feelings.

When she comes into contact with hot water,

She knows it is hot.

Feelings are normal.

In fact,

These feelings help her dwell in happiness,

Not the kind of happiness that subject to sorrow and anxiety,

But the kind of happiness that nourishes.

When you practice breathing,

Smiling,

Being touched by the air and the water,

That kind of happiness does not create suffering in you.

It helps you be strong and sane,

Able to go further on your way toward realization.

Buddhas,

Bodhisattvas and many others have the capacity of enjoying a pleasant feeling,

The kind of feeling that is healing and rejuvenating without becoming attached.

The feeling that we have when we see people oppressed or starving can give rise in us to concern,

Compassion and the willingness to act with equanimity,

Not with attachment.

The sixth link is craving and aversion in the cycle of deluded mind and the four immeasurable minds in the cycle of true mind.

When feelings and contact are protected,

They lead not to craving and aversion,

But to love,

Compassion,

Joy and equanimity.

The four immeasurable minds,

When we see people suffering or in pain or when we see them enjoying themselves in a foolish way,

A feeling in us gives rise to the energy of loving kindness,

The desire and the capacity to offer real joy.

And this leads to the energy of compassion,

The desire and capacity to help living beings put an end to their suffering.

This energy gives rise to joy in us and we are able to share our joy with others.

It also gives rise to equanimity,

Not taking sides or getting carried away by the images and sounds brought to us through contact and feelings.

Equanimity does not mean indifference.

We see the ones we love and the ones we hate equally and try our best to make both of them happy.

We accept the flowers and the garbage with neither attachment nor aversion.

We treat both with respect.

Equanimity means to let go,

Not to abandon.

Abandoning causes suffering.

When we are not attached,

We are able to let go.

The seventh link is grasping and rejecting in the cycle of deluded mind and freedom in the cycle of true mind.

The four immeasurable minds are the basis for freedom.

When we are in touch with things by means of the mind of love,

We do not run away or seek and that is the basis of freedom.

Aimlessness takes the place of grasping.

The eighth link is being and non being in the cycle of deluded mind and right view or the insight that overcomes both the notions of being and non being in the cycle of true mind.

In his first Dharma talk,

The Buddha cautioned his disciples not to be attached to either bhava or vivava,

Being or non being,

Because bhava and vivava are just constructs of the mind.

Reality is somewhere in between.

With the transformation of grasping into freedom,

We see both being and non being as creations of our mind,

And we ride the waves of birth and death.

We don't mind birth,

We don't mind death.

If we have to be born again to continue the work of helping,

That's okay.

The ninth link is birth and death in the realm of deluded mind and no birth and no death in the realm of true mind.

The leaf has the appearance of being born and dying,

But it is not caught in either.

The leaf falls to the earth without any idea of dying and is born again by decomposing at the foot of the tree and nourishing the tree.

The cloud has the appearance of dying.

But if we look,

We see that it can never die.

It can only become rain or snow.

When a leaf is born,

We can sing happy continuation.

When a leaf falls,

We can sing happy continuation.

When we have awakened understanding,

Birth is a continuation and death is a continuation.

Birth is an appearance and death is an appearance.

People also appear to be born,

Grow old and die.

The 10th link is Samsara in the sphere of deluded mind and Nirvana in the sphere of true mind.

In the 11th century in Vietnam,

A monk asked his meditation master,

Where is the place beyond birth and death?

The master replied,

In the midst of birth and death.

If you abandon birth and death in order to find Nirvana,

You will not find Nirvana.

Nirvana is in birth and death.

Nirvana is birth and death.

It depends on how you look at it.

From one point of view,

It is birth and death.

From another,

It's Nirvana.

When we have freedom,

What seemed to be suffering becomes wondrous being.

It can also be called the kingdom of God or Nirvana.

Someone who is free has the ability to establish a pure land,

A place where people do not need to run.

Wondrous being is beyond being and non being.

If a Bodhisattva needs to manifest being,

If he needs to be born in this world,

He will be born in this world.

There is still life but he is not caught in the ideas of being,

Non being,

Birth or death.

Let us not present the teachings of the Buddha as an attempt to escape from life and go to nothingness or non being.

Bodhisattvas vow to come back again and again to serve not because of craving,

But because of their concern and willingness to help.

Imagine 1000 people whose minds are full of misperceptions,

Wrong views,

Envy,

Jealousy and anger.

If they come together,

They will create a hell on earth.

The surroundings they live in their daily lives and their relationships will all be hellish.

If two people full of misunderstanding live together,

They create a hell realm for each other.

How much greater the hell of 1000 people to make hell into paradise,

We only need to change the mind on which it is based.

To change the minds of 1000 people,

It may be necessary to bring in some element from the outside,

Like a Dharma teacher or a group of people practicing the Dharma.

Imagine 1000 people who do not have wrong perceptions,

Anger or jealousy,

But who have love,

Understanding and happiness.

If these people come together and form a community,

It will be paradise.

The mind of the people is the basis of paradise.

With your deluded mind,

You make hell with your true mind,

You make paradise.

If two people come together with true mind,

They make a small paradise for themselves.

If a third person wants to join them,

They should be careful.

Should we let them join us or not?

If their paradise is solid,

They can allow him to join with two true minds.

There is hope that one diluted mind can be gradually transformed.

Later,

There will be three true minds and this small paradise will continue to grow.

Many volumes have been written about the 12 links of interdependent co arising based on diluted mind.

We have to open a new door and teach the practice of the links based on true mind in order to bring about a world of peace and joy.

From the positive point of view,

We can explain when there is wisdom,

People see the nature of formations as inter being.

And because of this,

They realize that consciousness as the subject is not separate from the object.

They see the body and mind as two aspects of the same reality and is inseparable from each other.

And they know how to take care of painful feelings and nourish feelings of true happiness.

From this come compassion and inclusiveness and the desire to transform and help the situation or the person.

This ability to stay with the situation as it is to see the inter being nature of all things means that they are free from the notions of being and non being and the notions of birth and death that depend on the notions of being and non being and they can transform their suffering at the base.

Realizing Nirvana.

According to the Udana 8.

3 there is Beku's the unborn,

The non being the non made the non conditioned to be a way out for the born the being the maid the conditioned.

Based on this,

We can establish five links,

Ignorance,

Birth and death,

Being a non being,

Doer and inheritor of action,

Conditioned and unconditioned.

From the positive point of view,

Wisdom takes us beyond birth and death and ideas of being and non being.

There is no longer a separate self who owns the body and mind and performs actions and receives the results of those actions.

Nor are there formations that lie outside of each other.

There is not a conditioned world that is separate from the world of conditioning.

When we see deeply the condition we are in touch with the unconditioned.

In short,

There can be many ways of presenting interdependent co arising that can help us be in touch with right view.

And the best way of presenting it is a nonlinear way that shows how every link is linked to all the others simultaneously.

There is no link that can be there before the others.

The greatest advantage of the 10 or the five links as described,

Is that being and non being are one and the same link as our birth and death.

For as long as we have the idea of being we have to have the idea of non being and when the Buddha said being he always meant non being as well as in the katyayana gautra sutra.

When the Buddha says that right view is the view that transcends being and non being.

If we do not make this clear,

People will continue to think that being is the culprit that makes us suffer birth,

Old age and death.

Being and non being are ideas in our head,

Just as birth and death are ideas.

They are not objective realities.

And it is the ideas we have to transcend if we want to experience Nirvana.

If you want to learn one thing about Buddhism,

You need to study the lack of separateness between all things.

And I love the word Thich Nhat Hanh uses continuity,

Because I think that that's a wonderfully relatable word that we can bring into our daily activities.

We can see the continuity of all things.

See that without the sun,

The soil,

The gardener,

The flower could never exist.

But that,

That these things inter are there is no separation of them.

And in this way,

It's it's not links,

It's a web,

It's a net.

When one thing dies,

Another thing is born.

And this is the continuity of all things.

So this chapter really drives that point home.

And Thich Nhat Hanh is really reinventing a normal way of understanding this teaching.

And that's why this chapter is so long and so rich.

So this is really a chapter to listen to,

Or to read again and again,

So that it can help you with right view and right understanding.

But this chapter is really bringing all other chapters that we have read so far together.

So it's important not just to read this chapter alone,

But to see it as the culmination of all of the teachings that we have gone through so far.

So that's why it's such an important ending chapter.

The last chapter is short.

I hope you'll stay with me for our final practice,

Which I'm really looking forward to sharing with you.

Touching the Buddha within.

In 1968,

I was in India with Samdak Maha Goswamanda,

A leader of Cambodian Buddhism,

And Sister Chan Khong,

My dear student,

Friend and colleague.

For several days,

We sat together on Vulture Peak until sunset and I realized that in former times,

The Buddha had looked at the same setting sun with the same eyes.

Afterwards,

We walked down the mountain slowly and mindfully not saying a word.

And since that day,

I've continued to walk in the same way.

Vulture Peak is beautiful.

In Europe,

Asia,

Africa,

Australia,

And North and South America are also beautiful.

When there is mist on the mountains,

It's beautiful.

And when there's no mist,

It's beautiful.

All four seasons are beautiful.

You are beautiful and your friends are beautiful.

There is nothing to stop you from being in touch with life in the present moment.

The question is,

Do you have eyes that can see the sunset feet that can touch the earth?

If the Buddha were trying to transmit his eyes to you,

Would you know how to use them?

Don't think that happiness will be possible only when conditions around you become perfect.

Happiness lies in your own heart.

You only need to practice mindful breathing for a second and you'll be happy right away.

Confucius said,

What greater joy can there be than putting into practice what you have learned?

Sometimes we feel as though we are drowning in the ocean of suffering,

Carrying the burden of all social injustice of all times.

The Buddha said,

When a wise person suffers,

She asks herself,

What can I do to be free from the suffering?

Who can help me?

What have I done to free myself from the suffering?

But when a foolish person suffers,

She asks herself,

Who has wronged me?

How can I show others that I'm the victim of wrongdoing?

How can I punish those who have caused my suffering?

Why is it that others who have been exposed to the same conditions do not seem to suffer as much as we do?

You might like to write down the first set of questions and read them every time you are caught in your suffering.

Of course,

You have the right to suffer.

But as a practitioner,

You do not have the right not to practice.

We all need to be understood and loved.

But the practice is not merely to expect understanding and love it is to practice understanding and love.

Please don't complain when no one seems to love or understand you.

Make the effort to understand and love them better.

If someone has betrayed you ask why.

If you feel that the responsibility lies entirely with them,

Look more deeply.

Perhaps you've watered the seed of betrayal in her.

Perhaps you've lived in a way that has encouraged her to withdraw.

We are all co responsible.

And if you hold on to the attitude of blame,

The situation will only get worse.

If you can learn how to water the seed of loyalty in her,

That seed may flower again.

Look deeply into the nature of your suffering.

So you will know what to do and what not to do to restore the relationship.

Apply your mindfulness,

Concentration and insight and you will know what nourishes you and what nourishes her.

Practice the first noble truth,

Identifying your suffering,

The second noble truth,

See its sources,

And the third and fourth noble truths,

Finding ways to transform your suffering and realize peace.

The four noble truths and the Noble Eightfold Path are not theories.

They are ways of action.

We begin the practice by seeking meaning for our life.

We know that we don't want to run after fame,

Money or sensual pleasure.

And so we learn the art of mindful living.

In time we develop some understanding and compassion.

And we find that these things are the energies we can use to alleviate our suffering and the suffering of others.

This already gives some meaning to our life.

We continue the practice,

Looking deeply into the five aggregates that comprise the self.

And we touch the reality of no birth and no death that is in us and in everything.

This touching brings us the greatest relief.

It removes all of our fears,

Offers us true wisdom,

And gives real meaning to our life.

We need places where we can go to sit,

Breathe quietly and look and listen deeply.

When we have difficulties at home,

We need a room like that where we can take refuge.

We also need parks and other peaceful places where we can practice walking meditation alone and with others.

Educators,

Architects,

Artists,

Legislators,

Businessmen,

All of us have come together to create spaces where we can practice peace,

Harmony,

Joy and looking.

There is so much violence in our schools.

Parents,

Teachers and students need to work together to transform the violence.

Schools are not just places for transmitting technical know how.

They must also be places where children can learn how to be happy,

Loving and understanding.

Where teachers nourish their students with their own insights and happiness.

We also need places in hospitals where family members,

Healthcare workers,

Patients and others can sit,

Breathe and calm themselves.

We need city halls where responsible people can look deeply into local problems.

We need Congress to be a place where our real problems are truly addressed.

If you are an educator,

A parent,

A teacher,

An architect,

A healthcare worker,

A politician or a writer,

Please help us create the kinds of institutions we need for our collective awakening.

Our legislators need to know how to calm themselves and communicate well.

They need to know how to listen and look deeply and to use loving speech.

If we elect unhappy people who don't have the capacity to make their own families happy,

How can we expect them to make our city or our nation happy?

Don't vote for someone just because he or she is handsome or has a lovely voice.

We are entrusting the fate of our city,

Our nation and our lives to such people.

We have to act responsibly.

We need to create communities of deep looking,

Deep sharing and real harmony.

We need to be able to make the best kinds of decisions together.

We need peace within and without.

The heart of the Buddha is in each of us.

When we are mindful,

The Buddha is there.

I know a four year old boy who whenever he is upset stops what he's doing,

Breathes mindfully and tells his mommy and daddy,

I'm touching the Buddha within.

We need to take care of the healthy seeds that are in us by watering them every day through the practice of mindful breathing,

Mindful walking,

Mindfully doing everything.

We need to touch the Buddha within us.

We need to enter our own heart,

Which means to enter the heart of the Buddha.

To enter the heart of the Buddha means to be present for ourselves,

Our suffering,

Our joys and for many others.

To enter the heart of the Buddha means to touch the world of no birth and no death.

The world where water and wave are one.

When we begin the practice,

We bring our suffering and our habit energies with us,

Not just those of 20 or 30 years,

But the habit energies of all of our ancestors.

Through the practice of mindful living,

We learn new habits,

Walking,

We know that we are walking,

Standing,

We know that we are standing,

Sitting,

We know that we are sitting.

Practicing this way we slowly undo our old habits and develop the new habit of dwelling deeply and happily in the present moment.

With mindfulness in us,

We can smile a smile that proves our transformation.

The heart of the Buddha has been touched by our being wonderfully together.

Please practice as an individual,

A family,

A city,

A nation and a worldwide community.

Please take good care of the happiness of everyone around you.

Enjoy your breathing,

Your smiling,

Your shining the light of mindfulness on each thing that you do.

Please practice transformation at the base through deep looking and deep touching.

The teachings of the Buddha on transformation and healing are very deep.

They are not theoretical.

They can be practiced every day.

Please practice and realize them.

I'm confident that you can do it.

You hear my words,

But they're not coming from my mouth.

They are manifesting from your ear consciousness into your brain consciousness and then your mind consciousness is interpreting them.

You are the creator.

The Buddha is within you.

If you understand the teachings from the last chapter,

This is a pretty easy place to arrive at,

But if you don't quite understand the teachings of the last chapter of interdependent co-rising,

This can be more challenging,

But just because it's challenging doesn't mean it's impossible.

And in fact,

As Thich Nhat Hanh tells us,

That challenge may be just the seed that you need to develop deep,

Rich insight.

So rather than run from the challenge,

Hide the challenge,

Disguise the challenge,

Go right into the challenge and look deeply at it.

And that challenge may be the exact food that you need to develop the wisdom that will change the world.

And it's not from telling the world that it's to blame.

It's from taking personal responsibility and recognizing the web,

The net of life.

We are all gardeners.

We all have the power to water the seeds within each of us.

A thought comes into being and then it goes into non being.

No,

A thought is not coming from nowhere.

Just like a cloud is not coming from nowhere.

Like rain is not coming from nowhere.

And when the cloud disappears,

It doesn't go nowhere.

When we say to look at the mind and see the thoughts,

The emotions,

The feelings,

Like passing clouds,

Understand the nature of a cloud and apply that to the nature of the thoughts,

To the emotions,

To the sensations.

The cloud is formed,

But not from nothing.

The thought arises,

But not from nowhere.

The cloud goes away,

But not to nothing.

It continues on in a new form.

And that is true for your thoughts,

Your emotions,

And your sensations.

So we have to recognize the gardener within us.

I'm a terrible gardener,

A brown thumb,

I barely can grow a thing.

It's like I'm only if I'm in a good part of the world will things grow for me.

But if I'm in a place where things take effort to grow,

Then I do a terrible job.

But just because I may not be able to grow food well,

Doesn't mean that I cannot on a daily basis,

Water the seeds of love and compassion inside of myself.

And then inside of other people.

I feel so emotional because these teachings are so rich,

But they are enough to change all of mankind.

If we stop looking out and blaming other people watching the news fervently,

Like,

Oh,

Look at this politician or that politician or this policy or that policy.

And if we start looking at how we are responsible for the world that we live in,

And then we make those changes inside of ourselves.

Don't give love only to them and not to them.

Don't give understanding only to them and not to them.

Give it to everyone because you are not separate from them.

You are one with them.

And so every time you give understanding to someone who in the past you wouldn't have given to it to you grow,

You bloom,

You blossom.

And that is beyond important for changing our world right now at a crucial time where change is so needed.

Let's sit together.

Let's let's practice like Tich Nhat Hanh has invited us to do.

Let's sit together and practice.

Just a short meditation.

Wherever you are,

You can say you can lie down,

You can walk.

You can just breathe,

Just be where you are and and get bigger.

Take up more space.

Not in this selfish,

Egoic way like,

Aren't I great?

Aren't I wonderful?

But in this way that says,

I am change.

I am transformation.

I am Buddha.

Get bigger in this way.

Get wiser in this way.

And then drop into yourself.

Just breathe.

Just breathe a few moments here.

Just breathing.

The breath comes,

Comes from somewhere.

It's not coming from nowhere.

It goes.

It goes somewhere.

It's not going nowhere.

Just feel that experience for a few moments here in silence as you allow this energy of the mental body and the physical body to soften.

Take a moment to acknowledge the good things you have done in this world.

Bring some memories up.

Times that you've been generous,

Patient,

Loving,

Compassionate,

Wise,

Really savor it.

See the wisdom that you have inside of yourself.

Take a few moments now and revel in some memories.

Maybe they just happened where these things naturally have moved through you.

Generosity,

Compassion,

Patience,

Wisdom.

Just notice the good you've done in the world.

What has being alive taught you?

When has vengeance or hatred,

Greed or anger helped you?

See those times too.

You know,

We've all been generous,

Patient,

Loving.

We've all been angry,

Hateful,

Spiteful.

Notice and acknowledge both of those sides in you and then look deeply.

Which is the side that truly helps you and others live a joyful life.

What has life taught you?

See that you contain the seeds of gratitude,

Of loving kindness,

Of joy.

Be joyful.

Be joyful right now.

Smile right now and feel this joy.

Maybe you take a deep breath in followed by a deep breath out.

You are okay right now.

You are here listening to the words of the Dharma.

You've been led here to this life.

You have a precious human life and you have been blessed to find this path.

Be a witness to your good luck.

Be a witness to your good luck.

For some reason you have incurred this merit,

This luck and for that reason you are here right now listening to these teachings.

This is your good karma.

Feel this joy.

Smile and feel this joy.

You are so blessed.

You are so special.

You have so much to give.

Just breathe and feel that.

Just breathe and know that.

You,

Beautiful,

Special,

Perfect you have given your time to listen to these teachings.

Teachings other people may never even think about because you have love,

Compassion and joy within you yearning to come out.

You are an incredibly prosperous person.

Just take a moment to feel how lucky you are to study to learn to listen and to hear these words of the Buddha through these words of Thich Nhat Hanh read from my mouth and manifesting in your mind.

Feel your luck,

Your joy.

Smile.

Be with your breath.

Feel the magic of your life.

Feel the beat of your heart.

Experience the magic of your life.

You are a precious human being.

You are a precious human being who has so much to give.

Don't hold back.

Don't hold back.

Give love.

Give joy.

Give understanding,

Acceptance,

Compassion.

Give freely and endlessly what you have inside of you.

Just be with your breath.

Just hear breathing,

Smiling,

Experiencing your wonderful magical life.

I'm going to leave you with my favorite poem by Zongzi.

Just listen.

Just breathe and listen.

Just be here and listen.

Do not seek fame.

Do not make plans.

Do not be absorbed by activities.

Do not think that you know.

Be aware of all that is and dwell in the infinite.

Wander where there is no path.

Be all that heaven gave you,

But act as though you have received nothing.

Be empty.

That is all.

We're called.

We are called.

We are called.

We are needed and necessary.

And the work is not without.

It is within.

And when we use the Buddhist teachings to understand that,

Remember we don't have to give up our religions.

We don't have to give up our current values or our friendships.

We just have to practice these methods of overcoming the afflictions of the mind so that we can experience Nirvana in this moment.

Just think when you feel good,

Everyone around you feels good.

Be that.

Just be that and forget about the rest.

Thank you for those of you who have been here all along.

For those of you who have come in and out.

For those of you who are here for the first time.

For those of you who I sit with live or who watch in the recordings.

Thank you.

Without you there could be no me and vice versa.

So we are so blessed to be here together recognizing the net that keeps us connected and our interdependent nature.

I really am so grateful to have experienced this because selfishly for me,

The teachings have really deepened in my own heart and my practices have really blossomed even more as a result.

So I really appreciate your presence and you're allowing me to experience that through you.

So I just want to say I'm just about to start this very big project on Friday.

I'm hosting a 200 hour yoga teacher training in the area that I am at right now in the world.

I live part time in California,

Part time in the Caribbean island of Bonaire and part time in Holland.

And so we're here in California right now.

I'm hosting this yoga teacher training.

It's 200 hours.

It's over the next 11 weeks.

So it's the first time I'm doing it.

I'm just sort of anticipating how much effort is going to go into it in terms of planning on a daily basis.

This kind of thing.

And so I'm going to pause book club for a couple of weeks as I identify how you know free my time feels.

And then once I feel settled into the process,

It's feeling pretty good right now.

Not that you all want to hear all of this,

But it's feeling pretty good right now.

So I think it's going to come back online very soon.

So then I'll be starting with the next edition of book club.

I'm still deciding what book to pick.

You know,

I vacillate between this idea of picking like a very popular sort of modern new age book versus a less popular,

Deeper transmission of the Buddhist teachings.

I personally prefer that,

But I think,

You know,

I want it to be very accessible for people.

So if you want to connect with me and share an idea for a book that you have,

Just please know that I would love that.

And in general,

I would love to connect with you.

And yes,

Thank you so much for sharing this time with me.

As I said,

If you want to connect with me,

You can contact me.

I think through insight timer,

It's a more challenging contact.

I kind of still am learning the navigation of it.

Otherwise I'm on the social media is the ones that you can think of.

These recordings are also up on insight timer and then they're also on my personal YouTube channel.

And I have a website that you can go to.

I'm not supposed to plug it here,

But just know my name is Sarah Satie and you can find me.

Um,

You can find me,

So find me if you want to and connect with me.

If you feel like it,

Know that I love that.

And if you feel like you have a book that you think would be cool,

Um,

Just know I'm still in the selection process and I really loved this.

So I'm definitely going to be doing it again.

Otherwise we've gone long today.

That's okay because it's our last session.

Thank you so much for being here.

I hope you have a beautiful remainder of your week.

I hope you just have a beautiful life.

I hope that these teachings move you and and transform you as they have for me.

And until next time,

Live mindfully.

Be well.

Reviews

Thank you Sara for doing this series. These teachings have been a part of my Life for a long time. I am not a Buddhist but, I have found that what arose naturally in myself finds resonance and continuity in the teachings of the Buddha. I currently am a member of a artist collective that is undergoing growing pains. But, when I found your series, you breathed fresh air into my practice and purpose. Our Sangha wishes to create a space to liberate. I can think of no better place to start than within and with these words you have so skillfully shared.

I am so sorry that others criticised you for your devotion. Passion does create enthusiasm and with every sentence that reached my heart and mind that is what I heard. A soul invigorated by Truth. And besides, Thich Nat Hahn's words are written down for us to consume at our own pace, anywhere at any time.

I cannot wait to hear your next series. You have touched me at a distance and that is nothing less than a miracle. A band I adore said it best in 1982, "Don't change for you...don't change a thing...for me." 🫶