Thay feels alive to me when he begins by saying this is “dharma talk a la carte” and that he’ll invite about ten questions to get them started. He writes the questions on the white board and after about 20-minutes of audience questions, there are significantly more than ten questions. Our Teacher seems to enjoy hearing the questions as he continues to write on the board.

After the bell, we are reminded that all the questions appear to be linked together and if we answer one question then we can answer all the questions. The remain hour is spent hearing about peace, understanding, and compassion. The premise of this discussion is that even if we do get what we need, we still suffer. Examples of this are everywhere.

The question is how can I understand my own suffering. It is the art of listening. You have to train – to practice mindful living – so you can listen to the suffering in yourself. Intention is not good enough.

To Enjoy the Ultimate. Touching nirvana.

A few themes explored in the talk include:

• Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path
• Nirvana
• The construction of your mind

This sutra is like a song, like a poem. Do not be caught by it.

Happily enjoy the outer world in which we live.

The translation, enjoy the ultimate, is the initial translation and may not be completely correct. It is what we are working with now and Thay will let us know if he has a better translation. Thay compares and discussesin terms of Christianity – likes the term resting in God - if you are Christian, you may like calling sutra resting in God.

The talk has four parts.

1. Enjoying Every Moment
2. The Order of Interbeing
3. Engaged Buddhism
4. The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings

The last line of dhamapada, from the Chinese, is an inspiration for the early part of this talk. On my head, there begins to have white hair. My youth has been stolen. It seems like they have come to tell me that I should become a monk as soon as possible. We need to learn to stroll – to enjoy our stroll. We shouldn’t waste our opportunity of being a human. We should enjoy every moment. Taste every moment. How can this be done? Train with a sangha. Don’t wait till your hair is gray

Each member of the Order of Interbeing has to be a pillar. An inspiration. The brown color. The brown jacket symbolizes humility. We should manifest that spirit. The spirit of power of silence. The Vietnamese name is Tiep Hien. The word Tiep has many meanings. To receive is the first. To continue is second. To be in touch with (life, suffering) is third. The first thing we must do is to receive. The way Thay walks. Talks. This is his way of transmitting. The word Hien. First, it means the thing that is present. Now. The dharma  door of plum Village is the present moment. Second, it means realization. Realizing the practice. Third, manifestation. We could also add another meaning. Make it appropriate to the time and place. Actualization. With all these meanings, it can’t so easily translate into English. Therefore, we have Order of Interbeing and we must study to understand its meaning.

Engaged Buddhism means Buddhism that enters the world. Engaged Buddhism has been in our Vietnamese tradition for hundreds of years. Closely related to Engaged Buddhism is Applied Buddhism. Applied is a secular term, but it allows us to do more than simply study Buddhism but rather to actually apply the teachings to transform our suffering. There are many schools that teach Buddhism, but few that teach applied Buddhism. The Order of Interbeing members are the long hand of the fourfold sangha that stretches out to society. The lay order members are needed to do this. Build sangha.

Thay calls for a council, an assembly of Order members, to revise the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. This is our challenge. With the recent revision of the Five Mindfulness Trainings, they now contain all the good parts of the Fourteen, but the Fourteen are now missing new elements found in the five. A committee has already begun the work, but it needs to be expanded.

I hope you enjoy the talk as much as I did listening and making a few notes.

The talk is a little shorter than the others because some of the gathas have been discussed in other dharma talks as they are repeated here in the sutra. The focus of this section is the hero and freedom.

Here is the current translation (subject to change) of the gatha’s covered in this talk.

29.  The five kinds of sensual desires arise, when our mind feels satisfied by them.  When we can speedily put an end to those five kinds of sensual desires, we can truly be called a Hero.

30. When we no longer have sensual desire, we have no more fear. At that point we are free, peaceful and happy.  When desire is ended the internal formations also end and because of that the practitioner comes out of the deep abyss.

31. Dear sensual love, I know your roots:  the desiring mind comes from misperceived wishes and wrong perceptions.  Now I don’t have any more wishes or wrong perceptions about you.  So how can you arise?

32. If we have felled the tree of sexual desire, but we have not pulled up its roots, it will sprout again.  If the monk or nun felled the tree of sexual desire and completely uprooted it, he or she will realize nirvana.

33. If a person doesn’t want to cut down the tree of sexual desire, its branches and leaves will continue to a greater or lesser extent arise.  When our mind is still caught in sexual desire, we are still like the calf that always needs its mother’s utter.

This concludes the Spring 2010 Retreats at Plum Village.

Breathing Meditation for Sitting, Lying Down and Walking. The first 40-minutes of the talk explore this idea of breathing. If you really want to let your mind rest, then follow your breath. It’s very delicious, like ice cream. But, if you make an effort then it is not correct. Don’t force.

You can have happiness today. What I teach is what I’ve tried myself. Trust Thay.

The talk is followed by learning to sing the Five Contemplations, practiced before eating a meal.

In the final 30-minutes, Thay provides a commentary on the following gathas of the Net of Love (Attachment) sutta.

24. Seeing and understanding the true nature of things without being caught in any of them and we know how to undo the ties of sexual desire in our mind. Then we have grasped the meaning of the Buddha’s teachings.

25. Offering the right teaching is the most precious offering.  The scent of morality is the most fragrant one of all.  The most effective way to live according to right teaching is the greatest happiness amongst all kinds of happiness.  The practice of putting an end to sensual love once and for all is the practice of putting an end to sexual desires.
 
26-27. The ignorant person often ties himself with the rope of sensual desire.  He doesn’t yet desire to cross to the other shore.  Craving creates corruption and brings about disasters and misfortune to others and himself.  The greedy mind is the field; craving, anger and ignorance are the seeds.  For those who are capable of practicing generosity and liberating others, the merit he harvests is immeasurable.
 
28. With few traveling companions but a large amount of merchandise to convey, the merchant falls into the state of anxiety and panic. The wise ones don’t run after desires, because they know that the infatuation with sensual pleasures is the brigand, who can destroy his life.