May 23, 2010. 50-minute dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh in New Hamlet, Plum Village. The talk was given Vietnamese and is translated into English by Sr. Chan Khong. This is the seventh in a series (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI). It is the conclusion of this commentary.
The talk is a little shorter than the others because some of the gathas have been discussed in other dharma talks as they are repeated here in the sutra. The focus of this section is the hero and freedom.
Here is the current translation (subject to change) of the gatha’s covered in this talk.
29. The five kinds of sensual desires arise, when our mind feels satisfied by them. When we can speedily put an end to those five kinds of sensual desires, we can truly be called a Hero.
30. When we no longer have sensual desire, we have no more fear. At that point we are free, peaceful and happy. When desire is ended the internal formations also end and because of that the practitioner comes out of the deep abyss.
31. Dear sensual love, I know your roots: the desiring mind comes from misperceived wishes and wrong perceptions. Now I don’t have any more wishes or wrong perceptions about you. So how can you arise?
32. If we have felled the tree of sexual desire, but we have not pulled up its roots, it will sprout again. If the monk or nun felled the tree of sexual desire and completely uprooted it, he or she will realize nirvana.
33. If a person doesn’t want to cut down the tree of sexual desire, its branches and leaves will continue to a greater or lesser extent arise. When our mind is still caught in sexual desire, we are still like the calf that always needs its mother’s utter.
This concludes the Spring 2010 Retreats at Plum Village.