Three Dharma Talks by Thich Nhat Hanh

"The Hand of the Buddha"
Thich Nhat Hanh's Dharma Talks from the 2002 June retreat at Plum Village

In his dharma talks given at Plum Village, Thây approaches a variety of subjects and elaborates upon them in his own inimitable style. Three of these talks were transcribed by volunteers as part of Joseph Emet's transcription project. The abstracts of each talk are provided by Valerie Legge .
Please click on the underlined titles to link to the talks in PDF format .

Buddhist Doctrine of Reconciliation

This talk deals with the basic practice of Plum Village, the Dharma Seal: "I have arrived. I am home." If you truly have arrived, you enjoy the present moment, you enjoy the Pure Land, the Kingdom of God, then you radiate peace and joy. You have to look into action in order to see the ground of that action, which is the quality of being. That is why the value of actions should be viewed in terms of the quality of being. To be in the here and the now, solid, fully alive, is a very positive contribution to our situation.

The Lotus Sutra is studied in depth in this discourse, for it is the "gospel of reconciliation". It introduces us to the ultimate dimension which follows the historical dimension, or first division. In the ultimate dimension there is nothing to do anymore, for you are already a Buddha. Thây also states the case for adding another dimension which he calls the third division, the dimension of action. "Opening the door of action; this is the hand of Buddha"

Holy Sangha

In this talk the concept of the Sangha as an organism (rather than an organization) is explored. "The ground of to do is to be. If you know how to be it, then naturally you don't have to worry about to do... The question is whether the Sangha can come together and be together as an organism. The whole question is that."

The sangha becomes holy because of its practice of mindfulness. "Every time you look at something with mindfulness, every time you smile with mindfulness, you produce the element of holiness... The collective holiness of Sangha can embrace, can transform and can bring about insight and transformation in the world."

The Energy of Deep Listening and Compassion

Understanding and compassion are born from the ground of suffering and illusion, and we have to look deeply into the heart of suffering, into the nature of suffering, in order to really see the path of transformation and healing. In the teaching of the Buddha, we know already that happiness is made of non-happiness elements, namely suffering. You touch suffering, but touching suffering, you cultivate your understanding and your compassion. That is the basic practice - recognizing suffering, understanding suffering, seeing the path of transformation. Thanks to our practice - our practice of mindfulness of love, our concentration on love - understanding is the element that can make love possible.

To be peace is the foundation and to do peace is something that comes a little bit later. The practice is for the farmer to take care of that seed, to entrust that seed to the soil of store consciousness and to water it every day, to offer every condition for store consciousness to work in order to offer insight. If there are insights, there is concentration. If there is concentration, there is mindfulness. If these three elements are there, the Buddha is there.