Deep listening helps us to recognize the existence of wrong perceptions in the other person and wrong perceptions in us. The other person has wrong perceptions about himself and about us. And we have wrong perceptions about ourselves and the other person. And that is the foundation for violence and conflict and war. The terrorists, they have the wrong perception. They believe that the other group is trying to destroy them as a religion, as a civilization. So they want to abolish us, to kill us before we can kill them. And the antiterrorist may think very much the same way—that these are terrorists and they are trying to eliminate us, so we have to eliminate them first. Both sides are motivated by fear, by anger, and by wrong perception. But wrong perceptions cannot be removed by guns and bombs. They should be removed by deep listening, compassionate listening, and loving space.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Oprah-Talks-to-Thich-Nhat-Hanh/
Name of Simon. 18, finally. Franglais. Oboist. Baritone. Lazy Buddhist. Aspiring Doctor. Poor grammar is unacceptable in everyone but me. Also I love Misdreavus.
It's a pretty patchwork blog, but in short it contains music (of all genres), funny things, beautiful things,
manga, my personal life, food, and not really so much ranting anymore, since I'm trying to tone down. Anna Kendrick is my future wife and Studio Ghibli will be our baby.
“When your offensive line is lackin’, you just gotta whip out your titties and start smackin”
"You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day - unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour."
→ 21 Aug 12 at 1 pm
Calligraphy of the Heart Sutra - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Listen Sariputra: Form is emptiness and emptiness is form. Form is not other than emptiness, and emptiness is not other than form. The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.”
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The Heart Sutra expresses the Buddha’s most profound teaching, the not two-ness of all things. Because we habitually cut our selves off from the rest of existence, we resist any idea that we lack a separate self. In the Heart Sutra the Buddha tells us that all is shunyata, generally translated as emptiness. This emptiness is in fact fullness with all things.
Thich Nhat Hanh explains emptiness through a piece of paper. Where is the paper if we take away the rain, the earth, the sun, the logger who cut down the tree? Without these and many, many other conditions, the paper would not exist. It is empty of a separate self but full of all of the other things that make it up.
How does this knowledge give us comfort? While the emptiness of a piece of paper is interesting, its not particularly helpful in our daily lives. The answer is that emptiness applies to more than the material world of form.
Our mental processes are just as empty as the piece of paper. Thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes and all other mental phenomena are likewise the result of many external conditions which are quite beyond our control or even our knowledge. The knowledge of emptiness liberates us from guilt and sorrow. We must understand , however, that emptiness does not absolve us from responsibility for our actions.
The knowledge of emptiness allows us to practice mindfulness and see how mental phenomena arise and pass away. When we see this process we become free and we see how others are overwhelmed by life because of ignorance. Our responsibility is to practice loving kindness and help others see the path to liberation.
So basically this year at Plum Village, I decided to join the Young Adults group, instead of sticking with the teens.
BEST. DECISION. OF. MY. LIFE.
Long story short I’ve made a bunch of new awesome friends, I decided to stay another week, and my tumblr queue has gone from 80+ to 15. So sorry for the lack of proper posts, I’ve been enjoying myself immensely in the south of France, so gimme a break.
God I could do with done near though.
I’m leaving for Normandy tomorrow, in a long and arduous series of train journeys, so hopefully I’ll have a bit of a real holiday (you’d be surprised how doing nothing for 14 days can be so tiring)
Once you have generated an attitude of equality toward all, then it will be possible to view not just friends but neutral beings and even enemies with great endearment
Peace is a possession of the mind, and this possession, this wealth, is not obtained simply by desiring it
Politics is necessary as an instrument to solve human problems, the problems of human society. It itself is not bad; it is necessary. However if politics are practiced by bad persons, out of cunning and lacking the right motivation, then of course it is bad
While the practice of nonviolence is still something of an experiment on this planet, if it is successful it will open the way to a far more peaceful world in the next century
I hope that you engage in practice with a good heart and from that motivation contribute something good to Western society. That is my prayer and wish.
If it seems that you have spent a long time in meditation even though you have spent only a little, this is a sign that you should shorten the length of the session
