This is a full Dharma talk given by Thay on July 29, 2001, in the Nectar of Compassion (Cam Lộ) Temple, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village France in the Summer Retreat 2001.

🔔 Video transcript

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"Around 6 years ago, on a teaching tour in Italy, Thay passed by a region where they cultivated only olive trees. "It dawns on Thay that the trees in those olive orchards grew in quite an amusing way. Instead of being planted apart from one another, these trees grew in groups of 3 or 4. They didn't grow separately, but they grew in groups of 3 or 4 in the same place. Those olive trees were still young. It was like they were only 7 or 8 years old.

"But when we asked again, they told us that, 7 or 8 years earlier, there was a very severe winter so all olive trees in that region died. Because of that, they had to cut them all down at the base of the trunks. Only the part above the ground died. The olive roots were still alive.

"So, after they chopped each one down at the base of the trunk, from the roots of one single mother tree, 3 or 4 baby trees were born. So, 9 or 10 years later, we see that the olive trees have grown in groups.

"In appearance, it was as if there were 3 or 4 olive trees. But looking deeply, those 3 or 4 trees were actually only one, all shooting up from one place. But we were wrong, mistaking them as 3 or 4 separate trees. Truth is, they all had the same roots.

"Let's say, if the 1st olive is jealous of the 2nd one, and the 2nd one gets into a fistfight with the 3rd one, it will be very funny because they are one tree but they behave as if they were 3 or 4 trees.

"Many young ones and many old ones—despite coming from the same root—are still jealous of each other and angry with one another. They behave as if they were different persons having nothing to do with one another. They don't know they all go up from the same root.

"With that, they are being divided by what we call 'discrimination' and 'dualistic thinking.' "

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✩ Original Vietnamese title: "Chung Một Cội Nguồn - Thực Tập Trí Vô Phân Biệt [Thực Tập Căn Bản Làng Mai] TS Nhất Hạnh" and also "Trí vô phân biệt—Pháp thoại ngày 29 tháng 07 năm 2001, Thầy Thích Nhất Hạnh"/"2001-07-29-TNH-VNM-TriVoPhanBiet.mp4"

✩ Originally posted by Làng Mai (Plum Village's Vietnamese YouTube Channel) on Sep 7, 2021, and by the Thich Nhat Hanh Archive Library date posted unknown

✩ Talk given on July 29, 2001, in the Nectar of Compassion (Cam Lộ) Temple, Lower Hamlet, Plum Village France in the Summer Retreat 2001.

✩ Length: 42 minutes 18 seconds

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RELEVANT MATERIALS

🌿 Invoking the Bodhisattva Sadaparibhuta’s Name We invoke your name Sadaparibhuta. We aspire to learn your way of looking deeply with the eyes of non-discrimination in order to see the true qualities of others. Whenever you meet anyone, you bow respectfully and say in appreciation: “I respect you deeply. You are a future Buddha.” We vow to look deeply into ourselves to recognize the positive qualities that are there, to accept and to love ourselves. We vow only to water positive seeds in ourselves and in those around us. By doing so, our thoughts, words and deeds will give rise to self-confidence and acceptance of ourselves, our children, grandchildren and all those we know. We vow to look deeply with the eyes of non-discrimination to see that the joy and success of the other person is also our joy and success. We vow to behave and to speak with humility and respect. We vow to practice loving speech to help people who underestimate themselves, see that they are wonders of the universe. We know that only when we are able to transcend the barriers of a separate self, shall we be able to transform the superiority, inferiority, and equality complexes and realize true happiness and freedom.

🌿 Thay on "Openness in the face of fanaticism and intolerance": https://plumvillage.org/articles/openness

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REFERENCES (Resources used to translate this Dharma talk): Please kindly visit 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 🙏