Knowing We Have Enough (EN subtitles)

This short teaching is excerpted from the full Dharma talk given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on November 22, 1998 in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France during the Winter Rains Retreat 1998-1999.

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🔔 Video transcript

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"Tri túc in Vietnamese means to be content with minimal living conditions, to find it unnecessary to spend or consume more than what we really need. Tri túc means 'knowing we have enough'.

"Thoughts like 'Having that many shirts are good enough', 'This pair of shoes can last me another year', and 'It's totally OK for the three or four of us to share a table to study, there's no need to have a table each, are called tri túc, i.e. 'knowing we have enough, or 'being content with minimal living conditions.'

"In Sino-Vietnamese, it's 'Tri túc, tiện túc, đãi túc, hà thời túc' (知足, 便足, 待足, 何時足). It's a famous ancient saying.

"Tri túc, tiện túc (知足, 便足) means 'When we know we have enough, there's immediately enough'...

"Đãi túc, hà thời túc (待足, 何時足) means 'If we wait until we have enough, then when will we have enough?'... Never. Because our bag of greed is bottomless."

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✩ Full talk's original title: "Kinh Phước Đức [CPNĐSNC 54] | TS Thích Nhất Hạnh (22-11-1998, Xóm Thượng, Làng Mai)"

✩ Full talk originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube Channel) on Nov 23, 2023

✩ Full talk given on November 22, 1998, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France ✩ Excerpt's length: 1 minutes 49 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 🙏