Living Here and Now

UPDATE: The audio file has been fixed; thank you for the patience.

September 11, 2010. 112-minute dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh in Singapore during the Peaceful Mind, Open Heart Retreat at the Kong Meng San Pu Jue Zen Monastery. The talk is given in English and then translated into Chinese. The theme of the talk is the art of living here and now.

Thay reminds us there are many sutras on this topic of living happily in the present moment. We have the ability to live in Amit?bha’s Pure Land. He shares the story of a businessman who brings 500 other businessmen to hear the Buddha talk. In the discourse given, the Buddha mentions happiness five times because he knew this was what the businessmen needed to hear.

It is possible to live happily in the present moment and mindful breathing and mindful walking can bring us to the present moment. Discussion of dharmakaya, the dharma body. Dharma body is the same as practice. We need a good practice and this produces living dharma; mindfulness of the dharma. To nourish the dharma body, we need the sangha body. If we cultivate a living sangha, then you can find the Buddha.

Thay spends a few minutes presenting the true love mantra. This is our ability to be present. We are reminded that breathing and walking are the key to you free. And to love someone is to offer our true presence to him. To her.

The last third of the talk focuses on the Five Mindfulness Trainings. We need to see the suffering of society and this global spiritual ethic manifested in the Five Mindfulness Trainings has been offered to the world.