This 41-minute teaching combines excerpts from a full Dharma talk given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on November 23, 1995, in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, during "The Living Tradition of Meditation Practice" Winter Retreats 1994-1996.
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🔔 Video transcript
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"In Vietnamese Buddhism, we have the terms trôi lăn ('drift and roll') and chìm đắm ('sink and drown'). [...]
"Luân means 'to roll, 'to rotate', or 'to move in circular motions'. It's a wheel that keeps rolling. [...] And trầm means 'to sink' or 'to drown'. When one sinks and drowns (chìm đắm) and drifts and rolls (trôi lăn), it's called trầm luân. [...]
"Our drifting and rolling happens in every second and every minute of our daily life. Sometimes, we seem to be putting on our robe, joining our palms together, walking, or standing, but indeed, there's drifting and rolling going on in our heart and mind. [...]
"And every time we can recognize non-judgmentally that we're running as if being chased by a ghost, we offer ourselves a kind smile, and we come back to the practice 'I have arrived, I am home.'
" 'Ghost' here is the ghost of mindlessness, the ghost of forgetfulness, and the ghost of unwholesome habit energies. It is real. That ghost is real. We thwart these ghosts with right mindfulness, with the full awareness of our breathing."
You are invited to learn more about how to sustain mindful awareness and anchor yourself to the present moment by watching this video or reading the transcript.
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✩ Full talk's original title: "Dừng Lại Tâm Đi Hoang [TTSĐCTTĐB 31] | TS Thích Nhất Hạnh (23-03-1995, Xóm Thượng, Làng Mai)"
✩ Full talk originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube Channel) on Jul 23, 2023
✩ Full talk given: on November 23, 1995, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village
✩ Excerpt's length: 41 minutes 29 seconds
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🌿 TRANSLATOR'S NOTE Please kindly note that this talk was given in 1995 when Plum Village was still called Persimmon Village. The name Persimmon Village went back to 1982 when Plum Village was just established. Because many things had happened, it is not clear as to when exactly the name Plum Village started to be used. You can read more about Persimmon Village and the early days of Plum Village here: “I have arrived, I am home,” 2013
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REFERENCE LIST (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk): Please kindly visit the video transcript link above for the full list.
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Republished on the Plum Village App with kind permission of Thich Nhat Hanh's Talks channel 🙏