December 2, 2010. 67-minute dharma talk given Thich Nhat Hanh at Upper Hamlet in Plum Village. The talk is in Vietnamese with English translation (French and original Vietnamese available and video version). The monastery is in the 2010-2011 Winter Rains Retreat. You can hear Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part VII (still working on parts VI-VI). We continue here with part eight and stanza’s 25-28 of Chinese Dhammada, Sutra #36.
Before the sutra commentary, Thay gives a 30-minute talk on the practice of touching the earth. It’s a lovely talk and explanation – definitely worth a listen. It’s a type of yoga where we coordinate the body and mind. We must make it a contemplation. It is not a devotion. The Buddha is not a god.
The one who bows and the one who is bowed to are both equally empty.
Really need to contemplate and look deeply. Open up to ancestors and descendants. We touch our brain and heart before touching the earth to help bring this forward.
Toward the end of this segment, Thay spends just a couple minutes discussing taking care of sexual energy. He has found calling on or chanting Avaloketeshvara to be very helpful. Lots of things are taking care of the sangha, including our energies (such as sexual).