Recognize Non-Afflictive States as Happiness, Instead of "Nothing"

This is a short teaching video excerpted from a Dharma talk given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on November 26, 2009 in the New Hamlet, Plum Village France.

🔔Video transcript

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"In the Discourse of The Four Establishments of Mindfulness, in the contemplation of mental formations, i.e. “contemplation of the mind in the mind,” it goes like this: “When anger manifests, a practitioner knows ‘There’s the mental formation of anger. The mental formation of anger is present in me.’ But the sutra also said, “When there’s no mental formation of anger,” we have to be aware that “the mental formation of anger is not present in me.”

"If we read the sutra, without the eye of a practitioner, we’ll think, 'Why do they have to make it so wordy?' But in fact, it’s not wordy at all ! Not a single word of the sutra is to spare. When you don’t have the mental formation of anger in you, that’s exactly the moment you have a lot of happiness. But at that moment, we don’t feel happy at all."

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✩ Original video's Vietnamese title: "Chuyển Hoá Khổ Đau [bài 03] -TS Thích Nhất Hạnh (26-11-2009, Xóm Mới, Làng Mai)"

✩ Full Dharma talk originally posted: by Plum Village (YouTube channel) on Jul 22, 2019

✩ Talk given: November 26, 2009, New Hamlet, Plum Village France

✩ Length: 09 minutes 03 seconds

✩ You can watch the full talk with English subtitles and transcript here

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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk):

1. Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness

2. Plum Village UK's Manual of Practice (downloadable PDF)

3. The list of 51 Mental Formations (Plum Village)

4. Uncle Teacher Thích Chí Mậu obituary (in Vietnamese) with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's hand-written letter for Uncle Teacher