This teaching is excerpted from Part 4 of the Discourse on Transforming Violence and Fear given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on April 25, 2010, at the Still Water Meditation Hall, Upper Hamlet, Dharma Cloud (Pháp Vân) Temple, in the Spring Retreat 2010.
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🔔 Video transcript
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"In the majority, few have the capacity and inner strength to let go of greed and sensual desire—it is the same throughout generations and times. But once a practitioner can let it go, they do not feel like losing anything nor feel propelled to move elsewhere: That flood will subside all by itself, and nothing can bind them anymore."
In Chinese:
"捨 欲 力 其 輩 寡
悉 數 世 其 終 少
捨 不 沒 亦 不 走
流 已 斷 無 縛 結"
~ Stanza 12, Discourse on Transforming Violence and Fear
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In this short teaching, Thay goes into Stanza 12 of the sutra. He said,
"Because we don't feel satisfied with the current situation, thinking 'The grass is greener on the other side,' we want someone else's position. We're not satisfied or pleased with the conditions we have, that's why we're constantly on the move. ...
"When we still hold onto that block of greed and desire, it doesn't matter how much we have, we always feel lack. Having had 2 million, one thinks 'That's not enough. Maybe 2.5 million or 4 million will be better.'
"But when out of luck one has 4 million, one still finds that 4 million is barely sufficient. From there, one 'brown-noses' and bribes one's way up the ladder, or searches for another place to move to. It's a bottomless sack of greed.
"But for someone who has put down and let go of that block of greed and sensual desire, i.e. who practices 'knowing I have enough' (tri túc 知足), well, how strange! One doesn't feel like losing anything. One even feels like one has more than enough. ...
"And at that moment, we are very satisfied with whatever position we're standing in, or whatever conditions we have. We have happiness immediately."
You are invited to watch the subtitled video or read the transcript to learn more.
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✩ Full talk's original title: "Duy Lâu Lạc Vương - Bài 4—Ngày 25 tháng 04 năm 2010"/"2010-04-25-TNH-VNM-Duy Lâu Lạc Vương-04.mp4"
✩ Full talk originally posted: by Thich Nhat Hanh Archive Library Team, date posted unknown
✩ Full talk given: on April 25, 2010, in the Still Water Meditation Hall, Dharma Cloud Temple, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, in the Spring Retreat 2010
✩ Excerpt's length: 08 minutes 17 seconds (including Translator's note at the beginning)
✩ Watch the full talk with English subtitles and transcript here
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
🌿 The English translation for the stanza is done based on the original plain-Vietnamese translations done by Thay himself and his teachings for each line of the stanza, the audio recordings of Sister Chân Không’s simultaneous (live) English interpretation, and the meaning(s) of each original Chinese word used in the stanza.
🌿 The translations can involve as many as 6 languages: English, plain Vietnamese (used in modern-day Vietnam), Sino-Vietnamese (used in ancient Vietnam), Chinese (in which the sutra was originally written), Sanskrit, and Pali.
🌿 The English texts, plain Vietnamese texts (translated from original Chinese texts by Thay himself), Sino-Vietnamese texts, and original Chinese texts are shown alongside one another as they all play significant roles in understanding the sutra.
🌿 Although the translator tries to make the best of the available time for displaying captions, at times when times are too short and the captions (which can include multiple languages at a time) are relatively too long, the translator is left with no choice but to leave these captions in acutely short times. The translator wants to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused because of this.
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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk): Please kindly refer to 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 🙏