This is a 21-minute excerpt from the second talk of the "Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness" series given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on February 15, 1998, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, in the Winter Retreat 1997-1998.
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🔔 Video transcript
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"In the Theravāda school, sometimes people push this practice to the point where it becomes quite meticulous.
"Let's say one is picking up a piece of food with chopsticks or spooning a morsel of food, and putting it into one's mouth.
"When one spoons a morsel of food, one says silently, 'Spoon. Spoon. Spoon.'
"When one brings it to one's mouth, one says, 'Bring it up. Bring it up. Bring it up.'
"When one puts it into one's mouth, one says, 'Put it into mouth. Put it into mouth. Put it into mouth.'
"Then, 'Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew.'
"One repeats the short description of one's action every time. And finally, 'Swallow.'
"That's how they practice sometimes.
"Probably, while practicing this way, the resolve to practice mindfulness diligently is there. But it can subject us to a situation of being too contrived and inflexible. We don't feel the sense of aliveness, the sense of inner peace, happiness, and contentment, nor the sense of naturalness in such a way of practice.
"Meanwhile, the Plum Village tradition is very well-defined, i.e. we practice mindfulness in such a way that, the whole time practicing, there is life, that there's this sense of our being present, that there's aliveness, and there's also joy and happiness.
"If in our practice we find no aliveness, no inner peace, no happiness, nor well-being, we know that, according to the standards defined by the Buddha, it's not yet true Dharma, it's not yet the 'living Dharma.'"
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✩ Full talk's original title: "Bốn Lĩnh Vực Quán Niệm 02 [CPNĐSNC 23] TS Thích Nhất Hạnh(15-02-1998, Xóm Thượng, Làng Mai)"
✩ Full talk originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube Channel) on Jun 20, 2023
✩ Full talk given: on February 15, 1998, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, in the Winter Retreat 1997-1998 ✩ Excerpt's length: (v9) 20 minutes 35 seconds
✩ Watch the full Dharma talk with English subtitles and transcript here
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE This Dharma talk series were given by the Zen master during the 1997-1999 period. Due to technological limitations in this period, audiovisual quality is not very good. The Plum Village Editorial Team hopes for your kind understanding.
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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk): Please kindly visit the video transcript link to see the full list.
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Republished on the Plum Village App with kind permission of Thich Nhat Hanh's Talks channel 🙏