The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching

With poetry and clarity Thich Nhat Hanh imparts comforting wisdom about the nature of suffering and its role in creating compassion love and joy – all qualities of enlightenment. “Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal inner peace and peace on earth.”—His Holiness the Dalai LamaIn The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching now revised with added material and new insights Nhat Hanh introduces us to the core teachings of Buddhism and shows us that the Buddha’s teachings are accessible and applicable to our daily lives. Covering such significant teachings as the Four Noble Truths the Noble Eightfold Path the Three Doors of Liberation the Three Dharma Seals and the Seven Factors of Awakening The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching is a radiant beacon on Buddhist thought for the initiated and uninitiated alike.|“Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha.”—Sogyal Rinpoche“If there is a candidate for 'Living Buddha' on earth today it is Thich Nhat Hanh.”—Richard Baker-roshi“Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal inner peace and peace on earth.”—His Holiness the Dalai Lama“Thich Nhat Hanh is a real poet.”—Robert Lowell|Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk poet and peacemaker who was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize. The author of many books including Living Buddha Living Christ he lives in France in the monastic community known as Plum Village and lectures and gives retreats regularly in North America.|Entering the Heart of the BuddhaBuddha was not a god. He was a human being like you and me and he suffered just as we do. If we go to the Buddha with our hearts open he will look at us his eyes filled with compassion and say Because there is suffering in your heart it is possible for you to enter my heart.The layman Vimalakirti said Because the world is sick I am sick. Because people suffer I have to suffer. This statement was also made by the Buddha. Please don't think that because you are unhappy because there is pain in your heart that you cannot go to the Buddha. It is exactly because there is pain in your heart that communication is possible. Your suffering and my suffering are the basic condition for us to enter the Buddha's heart and for the Buddha to enter our hearts.For forty-five years the Buddha said over and over again I teach only suffering and the transformation of suffering. When we recognize and acknowledge our own suffering the Buddha--which means the Buddha in us--will look at it discover what has brought it about and prescribe a course of action that can transform it into peace joy and liberation. Suffering is the means the Buddha used to liberate himself and it is also the means by which we can become free.The ocean of suffering is immense but if you turn around you can see the land. The seed of suffering in you may be strong but don't wait until you have no more suffering before allowing yourself to be happy. When one tree in the garden is sick you have to care for it. But don't overlook all the healthy trees. Even while you have pain in your heart you can enjoy the many wonders of life--the beautiful sunset the smile of a child the many flowers and trees. To suffer is not enough. Please don't be imprisoned by your suffering.If you have experienced hunger you know that having food is a miracle. If you have suffered from the cold you know the preciousness of warmth. When you have suffered you know how to appreciate the elements of paradise that are present. If you dwell only in your suffering you will miss paradise. Don't ignore your suffering but don't forget to enjoy the wonders of life for your sake and for the benefit of many beings.When I was young I wrote this poem. I penetrated the heart of the Buddha with a heart that was deeply wounded.My youthan unripe plum.Your teeth have left their marks on it.The tooth marks still vibrate.I remember alwaysremember always.Since I learned how to love youthe door of my soul has been left wide opento the winds of the four directions.Reality calls for change.The fruit of awareness is already ripeand the door can never be closed again.Fire consumes this centuryand mountains and forests bear its mark.The wind howls across my earswhile the whole sky shakes violently in the snowstorm.Winter's wounds lie stillMissing the frozen bladeRestless tossing and turningin agony all night.lI grew up in a time of war. There was destruction all around--children adults values a whole country. As a young person I suffered a lot. Once the door of awareness has been opened you cannot close it. The wounds of war in me are still not all healed. There are nights I lie awake and embrace my people my country and the whole planet with my mindful breathing.Without suffering you cannot grow. Without suffering you cannot get the peace and joy you deserve. Please don't run away from your suffering. Embrace it and cherish it. Go to the Buddha sit with him and show him your pain. He will look at you with loving kindness compassion and mindfulness and show you ways to embrace your suffering and look deeply into it. With understanding and compassion you will be able to heal the wounds in your heart and the wounds in the world. The Buddha called suffering a Holy Truth because our suffering has the capacity of showing us the path to liberation. Embrace your suffering and let it reveal to you the way to peace.The First Dharma TalkSiddhartha Gautama was twenty-nine years old when he left his family to search for a way to end his and others' suffering. He studied meditation with many teachers and after six years of practice he sat under the bodhi tree and vowed not to stand up until he was enlightened. He sat all night and as the morning star arose he had a profound breakthrough and became a Buddha filled with understanding and love. The Buddha spent the next forty-nine days enjoying the peace of his realization. After that he walked slowly to the Deer Park in Sarnath to share his understanding with the five ascetics with whom he had practiced earlier.When the five men saw him coming they felt uneasy. Siddhartha had abandoned them they thought. But he looked so radiant that they could not resist welcoming him. They washed his feet and offered him water to drink. The Buddha said Dear friends I have seen deeply that nothing can be by itself alone that everything has to inter-be with everything else. I have seen that all beings are endowed with the nature of awakening. He offered to say more but the monks didn't know whether to believe him or not. So the Buddha asked Have I ever lied to you? They knew that he hadn't and they agreed to receive his teachings.The Buddha then taught the Four Noble Truths of the existence of suffering the making of suffering the possibility of restoring well-being and the Noble Eightfold Path that leads to well-being. Hearing this an immaculate vision of the Four Noble Truths arose in Kondañña one of the five ascetics. The Buddha observed this and exclaimed Kondañña understands! Kondañña understands! and from that day on Kondañña was called The One Who Understands.The Buddha then declared Dear friends with humans gods brahmans monastics and maras as witnesses I tell you that if I have not experienced directly all that I have told you I would not proclaim that I am an enlightened person free from suffering. Because I myself have identified suffering understood suffering identified the causes of suffering removed the causes of suffering confirmed the existence of well-being obtained well-being identified the path to well-being gone to the end of the path and realized total liberation I now proclaim to you that I am a free person. At that moment the Earth shook and the voices of the gods humans and other living beings throughout the cosmos said that on the planet Earth an enlightened person had been born and had put into motion the wheel of the Dharma the Way of Understanding and Love. This teaching is recorded in the Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma (Dhamma Cakka Pavattana Sutta).2 Since then two thousand six hundred years have passed and the wheel of the Dharma continues to turn. It is up to us the present generation to keep the wheel turning for the happiness of the many.Three points characterize this sutra. The first is the teaching of the Middle Way. The Buddha wanted his five friends to be free from the idea that austerity is the only correct practice. He had learned firsthand that if you destroy your health you have no energy left to realize the path. The other extreme to be avoided he said is indulgence in sense pleasures--being possessed by sexual desire running after fame eating immoderately sleeping too much or chasing after possessions.The second point is the teaching of the Four Noble Truths. This teaching was of great value during the lifetime of the Buddha is of great value in our own time and will be of great value for millennia to come. The third point is engagement in the world. The teachings of the Buddha were not to escape from life but to help us relate to ourselves and the world as thoroughly as possible. The Noble Eightfold Path includes Right Speech and Right Livelihood. These teachings are for people in the world who have to communicate with each other and earn a living.The Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma is filled with joy and hope. It teaches us to recognize suffering as suffering and to transform our suffering into mindfulness compassion peace and liberation.1. The Fruit of Awareness Is Ripe in Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh (Berkeley: Parallax Press 1993) p. 59.2. Samyntta Nikaya V 420. See p. 257 for the full text of this discourse. See also the Great Turning of the Dharma Wheel (Taisho Revised Tripitaka 109) and the Three Turnings of the Dharma Wheel (Taisho 110). The term discourse (sutra in Sanskrit sutta in Pali) means a teaching given by the Buddha or one of his enlightened disciples.