This is an excerpt from Part 3 of the Discourse on Transforming Violence and Fear, given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on April 01, 2010, at the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall, Lower Hamlet, Dharma Nectar (Cam Lộ) Temple, in the Spring Retreat 2010.
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🔔 Video transcript
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"It's our human nature to search for pleasant feelings. Happiness, to us, is pleasant feelings first of all. We make sure that we can hide from and avoid all unpleasant feelings. And we make sure that we can find pleasant feelings.
"Sometimes when we sit there doing nothing, we feel an empty void inside. We've got 5 or 10 minutes to sit relaxing and doing nothing. But we're incapable of savoring those 5 or 10 minutes of 'nothing to do, nowhere to go.'...
"[W]e feel bored. We fail at taking care of that happiness. We cannot take proper care of that freedom. We let those moments be invaded by worries, sorrows, and pains.
"If we don't practice, we'll find every possible way to run away and hide from those unpleasant feelings, those sorrows and pains.
"We will either turn on the TV to watch a movie, or turn up the music. In the markets, they sell newspapers, magazines, movies, and all sorts of media products just for that, so that those who don't practice have something to fill and cover up the pain, the suffering, and the empty void they have inside. That's the way they do it out in the world."
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✩ Full talk's original title: "Duy Lâu Lạc Vương - Bài 3—Ngày 01 tháng 04 năm 2010"/"2010-04-01-TNH-VNM-Duy Lâu Lạc Vương-03.mp4"
✩ Full talk originally posted by Thich Nhat Hanh Archive Library Team, date posted unknown.
✩ Full talk given: on April 01, 2010, at the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall, Lower Hamlet, Dharma Nectar (Cam Lộ) Temple, in the Spring Retreat 2010
✩ Excerpt's length: 17 minutes 45 seconds
✩ Watch the full Dharma talk with English subtitles and transcript here.
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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 🙏