["Buddha" is the "Coming and Going (Phenomenal, Shakyamuni)" Teacher and the Eternal (Ultimate) Teacher]
Bo De Temple, Hanoi, Vietnam, March, 2005
Call Me By My True Names
"Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow; even today, I am still arriving. Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
"I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive.
"I am a mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river. And I am the bird that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
"I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass snake that silently feeds itself on the frog.
"I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
"I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
"I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to my people dying slowly in a forced labor camp.
"My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans.
"Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
"Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up and the door of my heart can be left open, the door of compassion."
Thich Nhat Hanh
"Le bouddha n'est pas où on le voit" [The Buddha is not where we see him]
Plum Village, near Ste. Foy la Grande, France, December, 2004
["Dharma" is both the Buddha's Teaching and the Phenomenal and Ultimate Cosmic Law]
"The Bell is the Voice of the Buddha," Meditation Hall, Plum Village, France, 2004
"Great Wisdom Beyond Wisdom Heart Sutra"
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva when deeply practicing prajna paramita clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty and thus relieved all suffering Shariputra form does not differ from emptiness emptiness does not differ from form form itself is emptiness emptiness itself form sensations perceptions formations and consciousness are also like this Shariputra all dharmas are marked by emptiness they neither arise nor cease are neither defiled nor pure neither increase nor decrease therefore given emptiness there is no form no sensation no perception no formation no consciousness no eyes no ears no nose no tongue no body no mind no sight no sound no smell no taste no touch no object of mind no realm of sight to no realm of mind consciousness there is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance neither old age and death nor extinction of old age and death no suffering no cause no cessation no path no knowledge and no attainment with nothing to attain a Bodhisattva relies on prajna paramita and thus the mind is without hindrance without hindrance there is no fear far beyond all inverted views one realizes nirvana all Buddhas of past present and future rely on prajna paramita and thereby attain unsurpassed complete perfect enlightenment therefore know the prajna paramita as the great miraculous mantra the great bright mantra the supreme mantra the incomparable mantra which removes all suffering and is true not false therefore we proclaim the prajna paramita mantra the mantra that says "gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha"
["Sangha" is the Community]
Zen Center Los Angeles, 1980
Learning the Practice on Normandie Avenue, LA, 1980
Sometimes we did 'kinhin' [walking meditation] very rapidly, which is a Rinzai "form."
"...Shariputra form does not differ from emptiness emptiness does not differ from form form itself is emptiness emptiness itself form sensations perceptions formations and consciousness
are also like this..."
Waiting to speak to the Teacher
I have no group pictures of the Hartford Street Zen Center Sangha between 1991 and 2001.
Austin Zen Center, Austin, Texas, with Reb Anderson, 2003
Plum Blossom Sangha, Austin, Texas, 2004
The Plum Village Sangha in France, December, 2004
(I'm standing directly behind Thich Nhat Hanh)
