Appointment with Life: a Dharma talk by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh opens the Summer Opening at Plum Village by defining mindfulness as the energy that brings us back to the here and now. Using the image of an appointment with life, he describes mindful tea drinking, and seeing a cloud in the cup as an example of concentration giving rise to insight into no birth and no death.

He presents mindfulness, concentration and insight as three energies that include one another, and mindful breathing as a way to bring the mind home to the body. He says joy comes from them and suggests listing the conditions for happiness already present. He then turns to embracing anger, fear or despair tenderly, with the Sangha’s support, using the mud and lotus image. The talk is in English; he says the next day’s will be in French.