This is an excerpt from a Dharma talk on 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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"The Heart Sutra speaks of vô đắc (無 得, aprāpti) and vô sở đắc (無 所 得, aprāptitva).
"Vô đắc (無 得, aprāpti) means 'nothing to grasp' or 'non-attainment.' It’s because the object of grasping, as a separate self-entity, never exists. It's because the reality of all dharmas or phenomena is they’re empty of separate existence.
"Take an onion. We use onions in our cooking every day. When we peel off a layer of an onion, and then another layer, we think there must be a core at the center. But the truth is, once all layers are removed, there's nothing left.
"Everything is an onion. Our 'self' included. We are an onion bulb made of five layers: body/form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. Once all layers are peeled off, there's literally nothing inside.
"It's the same with the person whom we're romantically in love with. And it's the same with the Buddha. The Buddha is also an onion like us."
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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: 06 minutes 53 seconds
✩ Watch the full talk with English subtitles and transcript here.
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RELEVANT MATERIALS 🌿 [Short teaching] Non-self is the Crème of Buddhism [The basics of Plum Village practice] (November 22, 2012) by Thich Nhat Hanh
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Republished on the Plum Village App with kind permission of Thich Nhat Hanh's Talks channel 🙏