This is a teaching on the "Gatha On Impermanence" which is part 13A of the Dharma talk series "Daily training gets the thousand-petalled lotus to burst open," given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh during a Winter Retreat between 1997-1999 in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, on January 18, 1998.

🔔 Video transcript

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The day has now ended,

Our life is shorter,

Look deeply, 'What have I done?'

"The Gatha On Impermanence is usually recited near the end of the evening liturgy to remind us of the nature of impermanence, change, and decay of all phenomena. Typically, it is chanted aloud by only one person instead of by the whole sangha.

"How have we spent the twenty-four hours of today? Because twenty-four hours of a day are a very precious gift that life has given us. Perhaps in the past, out of unskillfulness, out of silliness, out of anger and resentment, we ruined our day.

"And today, we want to see whether we've appreciated and lived our day deeply or not, or whether we've done better than yesterday or the day before. This is a chance to look deeply."

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✩ Original Vietnamese title: "Bài Kệ Vô Thường [CPNĐSNC 13A] | TS Thích Nhất Hạnh(18-01-1998, Xóm Thượng, Làng Mai)"

✩ Originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube channel) on April 20, 2023

✩ Talk given: January 18, 1998, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France

✩ Length: 12 minutes 05 seconds

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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RELEVANT LEARNING MATERIAL:

🍁 The Way Out Is In podcast, 2021, "Lessons in Impermanence: How to Handle Life when Everything Changes | TWOII | Episode #2"

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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk):

1.Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching the Earth (revised edition), Chapter 5 "Impermanence and Interbeing", California, USA: Parallax Press, page 21.

2. Plum Village, 2011, Chanting from the heart, "Discourse on transforming violence and fears," page 193

3. Plum Village, 2013, 51 Mental Formations (downloadable PDF)

4. Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism (AIAB) Hong Kong, n.d., "Five Rememberances & Gatha on Impermanence"

5. Làng Mai, n.d., "Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn"

6. Thích Thông Huệ, 2009, "Vô Thường"

7. Phật Ân Temple, 2016, "NGHI THỨC MÔNG SƠN THÍ THỰC", "THỊ NHỰT" [Sino-Vietnamese name of gatha on impermanence]

8. Definition of "biến hoại", n.d., retrieved from Online Buddhism Dictionary

9. Definition of "hay sao"

10. Definition of "nào"

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Republished on the Plum Village App with kind permission of Thich Nhat Hanh's Talks channel 🙏