{"product_id":"the-heart-of-the-buddhas-teaching-isbn-9780767903691","title":"The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWith 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. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal, inner peace, and peace on earth.”\u003cb\u003e—His Holiness the Dalai Lama\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching\u003c\/i\u003e, 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCovering 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, \u003ci\u003eThe Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching\u003c\/i\u003e is a radiant beacon on Buddhist thought for the initiated and uninitiated alike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e“Thich Nhat Hanh writes with the voice of the Buddha.”\u003cb\u003e—Sogyal Rinpoche\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If there is a candidate for 'Living Buddha' on earth today, it is Thich Nhat Hanh.”\u003cb\u003e—Richard Baker-roshi\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal, inner peace, and peace on earth.”\u003cb\u003e—His Holiness the Dalai Lama\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thich Nhat Hanh is a real poet.”\u003cb\u003e—Robert Lowell\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eThich Nhat Hanh\u003c\/b\u003e 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 \u003ci\u003eLiving Buddha, Living Christ\u003c\/i\u003e, he lives in France in the monastic community known as Plum Village and lectures and gives retreats regularly in North America.\u003cb\u003eEntering the Heart of the Buddha\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuddha 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.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I was young, I wrote this poem. I penetrated the heart of the Buddha with a heart that was deeply wounded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMy youth\u003cbr\u003ean unripe plum.\u003cbr\u003eYour teeth have left their marks on it.\u003cbr\u003eThe tooth marks still vibrate.\u003cbr\u003eI remember always,\u003cbr\u003eremember always.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSince I learned how to love you,\u003cbr\u003ethe door of my soul has been left wide open\u003cbr\u003eto the winds of the four directions.\u003cbr\u003eReality calls for change.\u003cbr\u003eThe fruit of awareness is already ripe,\u003cbr\u003eand the door can never be closed again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFire consumes this century,\u003cbr\u003eand mountains and forests bear its mark.\u003cbr\u003eThe wind howls across my ears,\u003cbr\u003ewhile the whole sky shakes violently in the snowstorm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinter's wounds lie still,\u003cbr\u003eMissing the frozen blade,\u003cbr\u003eRestless, tossing and turning\u003cbr\u003ein agony all night.l\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWithout 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe First Dharma Talk\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSiddhartha 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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 \u003ci\u003eDharma,\u003c\/i\u003e the Way of Understanding and Love. This teaching is recorded in the \u003cb\u003eDiscourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma\u003c\/b\u003e (\u003ci\u003eDhamma Cakka Pavattana Sutta\u003c\/i\u003e).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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003cb\u003eDiscourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma\u003c\/b\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. \"The Fruit of Awareness Is Ripe,\" in \u003cb\u003eCall Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh\u003c\/b\u003e (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1993), p. 59.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. \u003cb\u003eSamyntta Nikaya\u003c\/b\u003e V, 420. See p. 257 for the full text of this discourse. See also the \u003cb\u003eGreat Turning of the Dharma Wheel (Taisho Revised Tripitaka 109)\u003c\/b\u003e and the \u003cb\u003eThree Turnings of the Dharma Wheel (Taisho 110)\u003c\/b\u003e. The term \"discourse\" (\u003ci\u003esutra\u003c\/i\u003e in Sanskrit, \u003ci\u003esutta\u003c\/i\u003e in Pali) means a teaching given by the Buddha or one of his enlightened disciples.","brand":"Harmony","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304721404133,"sku":"NP9780767903691","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780767903691.jpg?v=1767739745","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-heart-of-the-buddhas-teaching-isbn-9780767903691","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}