Nondiscrimination

from The Sun My Heart, Thich Nhat Hanh

Peace and compassion go hand in hand with understanding and nondiscrimination. We choose one thing over another when we discriminate. With the eyes of compassion, we can look at all living reality at once. A compassionate person sees himself or herself in every being. With the ability to view reality from many viewpoints, we can overcome all viewpoints and act compassionately in each situation.

The Energy of Love

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answers From The Heart

The teaching of the Buddha aims at helping us to generate the energy of love and understanding. If we can practice that energy, it will first of all help us to satisfy our need to be loved. And then, with that capacity of love and understanding, we can embrace the people who are with us now. We can make them happy while we are happy ourselves.

 

Walk With Me Screening in Cville

 

A screening of Walk With Me has been scheduled here in Charlottesville, VA.

7:30 PM on October 24, 2017 at Regal Cinema in Stonefield.

Follow this link to purchase your ticket NOW: https://gathr.us/screening/21279

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With unprecedented access, WALK WITH ME goes deep inside a Zen Buddhist

community who have given up all their possessions and signed up to a life of

chastity for one common purpose – to transform their suffering, and practice

the art of mindfulness with the world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.

Filmed over three years, in their monastery in rural France and on the road

in the USA, this visceral film is a meditation on a community grappling

with existential questions and the everyday routine of monastic life.

As the seasons come and go, the monastics’ pursuit for a deeper connection to

themselves and the world around them is amplified by insights from

Thich Nhat Hanh’s early journals, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.

 

 

Looking in the Mirror

Present Moment Wonderful Moment 

by Thich Nhat Hanh

#7 Looking in the Mirror

Awareness is the mirror

Reflecting the four elements.

Beauty is a heart that generates love

And a mind that is open.

The moments during the day of looking in the mirror can be moments of deep awareness. The mirror can serve as a tool for cultivating mindfulness so that we develop a broad capacity to understand and love others. Anyone who maintains awareness in the present moment becomes beautiful and naturally emanates peace, joy, and happiness. A calm half smile and a loving heart are refreshing, and they allow miracles to unfold. The Buddha’s smile is beautiful because it expresses tolerance, compassion, and loving kindness.

In Vietnamese culture, the four great elements are earth, water, fire, and air. The Vietnamese poet wrote;

The flower with its ephemeral fragrance,

Is made of the four elements.

Your eyes, shining with love,

Are also made of the four elements.

 The four elements are neither mind nor matter. They are the universe itself revealed to us. When your mind is the clear mirror of meditative awareness, you will know that you are the outward expression of the essence of reality. So please smile. Smile with your eyes, not just your lips. Smile with your whole being, reflecting the four elements of the mirror of mindful awareness.

An excerpt from Beginning Anew

An excerpt: Beginning Anew, Ceremony for the Deceased,

Chanting From the Heart, Buddhist Ceremonies and Daily Practices

by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Monks and Nuns of Plum Village

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…With all our heart we go for refuge.

Turning to the Buddhas in the 10 directions

and all the Bodhisattvas, noble disciples, and self-achieved Buddhas

very sincerely we recognize our errors

and the mistakes of our wrong judgements.

Please bring the balm of clear water

to pour on the roots of our afflictions.

Please bring the raft of the true teachings

to carry us over the ocean of sorrows.

We vow to live an awakened life,

to practice smiling and conscious breathing

and to study the teachings, authentically transmitted.

Diligently, we shall live in mindfulness.

 

We come back to live in the wonderful present,

to plant our heart’s garden with good seeds,

and to make strong foundations of understanding and love.

We vow to train ourselves in mindfulness and concentration,

practicing to look and understand deeply

to be able to see the nature of all that is,

and so to be free of the bonds of birth and death.

We learn to speak lovingly, to be affectionate,

to care for others whether it is early morn or late afternoon,

to bring the roots of joy to many places,

helping people to abandon sorrow,

to respond with deep gratitude

to the kindness of parents, teachers, and friends.

With deep faith, we light up the incense of our heart.

We ask the Lord of Compassion to be our protector

On the wonderful path of practice.

We vow to practice diligently,

cultivating the fruits of this path.

The Mind of Enlightenment

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Bodhicitta (Sanskrit) is the mind of enlightenment, beginner’s mind. When we’re inspired by the desire to practice and transform our suffering so we can help the many people around us who suffer, the mind of that moment is very beautiful. It’s a mind of a bodhisattva, one who attains his or her own liberation in order to help all beings. Sometimes we call it the “mind of love.” It’s because of love that we practice. We’re not just trying to run away from suffering. We want more than that. We want to transform our own suffering and be free in order to help many other people to transform their suffering.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Your True Home, the everyday wisdom of TNH