This is a full Dharma talk on the importance of Buddhism in Vietnam's history and culture, as well as the taking care of children and women, given by Thay in the Summer Retreat 2002, on July 26, in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France.
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🔔 Video transcript
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Thay started the talk by sharing about many Vietnamese emperors, queens, and princesses leaving their palaces to become monastics, including the emperors of the Trần dynasty: Emperor Trần Thái Tông, Emperor Trần Thánh Tông, and Emperor Trần Nhân Tông—the founding patriarch of the Bamboo Forest Zen School.
Thay then shared about some Buddhist practitioners' bad habit of talking too much about the Buddhist teachings, while their practice often fell short.
"They just ask questions all day long. But we don't see them embody the practice of breathing mindfully, smiling in awareness, looking with the eyes of compassion, or walking in meditation. They cannot even eat breakfast in mindful silence. I wonder what good will come out of that."
In the next part of the talk, Thay went deep into the importance of women in Buddhism, family, and society.
"In many Buddhist countries, I don't know how they've allowed it to happen, but delegations of bhikkhunīs no longer exist. But now, when I propose to re-establish the delegation of bhikkhunīs, many monks disagree. [...]
"We have to 'break even' for the Buddha because the Buddha has incurred big losses in his 'business.' Why has the Buddha incurred losses?
"Because of the tendency to favor boys over girls—i.e. misogyny. It doesn't originate in Buddhism, but in the society. As Buddhism was not influential enough, slowly that tendency of favoring boys over girls was unfortunately carried straight over into Buddhism. With that, it has affected everyone in Buddhism. We have failed to do our 'business' in the right spirit.
"So, Thay really want boys and men to wake up. They need to see that women are their companions. They need to come to see the other person's hard work and good heart. They need to share the worries, sorrows, difficulties, and deep wishes of the other person. "
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✩ Original Vietnamese title: "Đánh Mất Con Là Mất Tất Cả | TS Thích Nhất Hạnh(26-07-2002, Xóm Thương, Làng Mai)"
✩ Originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube Channel), on Dec 23, 2023
✩ Talk given: on July 26, 2002, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France
✩ Length: 01 hour 04 minutes 09 seconds
✩ Video's note: "Some parts of this Dharma talk will be difficult to follow audio-wise, we hope for your kind understanding. The Plum Village Editorial Team."
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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk): Please kindly refer to the video transcript link for the full list.
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Republished on the Plum Village App with kind permission of Thich Nhat Hanh's Talks channel 🙏